Oando Beats Dividend Forecasts as Net Profit Rises by 527%

Oando logo

By: Eromosele Abiodun

The board of Oando Plc has recommended the distribution of N5.1 billion as cash dividends for the year ended December 31, 2012, representing more than 59 per cent above N3.2 billion projected as cash payouts for the year in the recent forecasts of the integrated energy company.

The upbeat dividend recommendation followed impressive growths across key performance indicators in 2012 as the company rode on the back of increased cost efficiency to grow net profit by 527 per cent. Basic earnings per share leapt by 532 per cent from 75 kobo in 2011 to N4.74 in 2012, providing adequate ground for current increase in payout and sustainable future payouts.

Key extracts of the audited report, prepared in line with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), showed that all indices surpassed earlier management’s estimates. Net profit stood at N10.79 billion in 2012 compared with N1.72 billion in 2011. The bottom-line performance underscored the courageous decision of the company to once and for all deal with nagging extraordinary item in the previous year.

The report showed that profit before tax rose from N12.97 billion to N17.55 billion. Gross profit had risen from N65.83 billion to N81.62 billion. Turnover stood at N673.18 billion in 2012 as against N571.31 billion in 2011.

The earnings report justified the show of confidence by shareholders during the recent rights issue, which was oversubscribed. Oando had raised about N55.2 billion from the rights issue to existing shareholders, slightly above the initial target of N54.6 billion.

The company had issued 4.548 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to existing shareholders at N12 per share between December 2012 and February 2013 with the intention of raising N54.6 billion.

However, details of the allotment showed that a total of 11,714 acceptances for 4,596,055,622 ordinary shares, valued at N55.153 billion were received in connection with the rights issue. All 11,714 acceptances were found to be valid under the terms of the rights issue and were all processed, leading to a subscription of 101 levels.

In the forecasts to the rights issue, shareholders were expected to receive about N3.2 billion for the 2012 business year. Gross dividend is expected to more than double to N8.83 billion in 2013 and N17.83 billion in 2014. Shareholders are projected to receive about N17.06 billion in 2015.

Market analysts see Oando as a low cost route into Nigeria’s attractive energy sector, citing the company’s investments in the high margin upstream division that will transform the business significantly and increase value creation for the shareholders.

According to analysts, Oando is entering a new frontier in its integrated energy business model which will see the company increase investments in the upstream segment of the Oil & Gas space.

Analysts said the acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ entire oil and gas assets in Nigeria put the company on the stead to increase its oil production to almost 50,000 barrels of oil per day while it also extends its footprint into the liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as power generation.

Oando had paid an initial $435 million deposit and the balance of $1.3 billion will be paid from the net proceeds of the rights issue. A syndicate of international banks has lined up to finance the $800 million debt portion of the transaction.

Bishop Seeks ’Peaceful and Perfect End’ for Mandela

Nelson Mandela

•Icon on life support, says South African newspaper

Paul Ohia with agency report

Iconic former South African leader Nelson Mandela has been put on life support as he battled for life in a South African hospital just as an archbishop in the country prayed for "peaceful and perfect end" for him.

As his health remains in critical condition, 19 days after he was evacuated to the hospital, leaders from his tribal homeland have been told to prepare for the end of the man who fought for the emancipation of blacks during the apartheid era in South Africa.

A leading South African cleric, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, prayed for the ex-president’s "peaceful and perfect end," according to a report by BBC.

He visited Mandela in the hospital and prayed with his wife, Graca Machel.

Cape Town Archbishop Makgoba's prayer, delivered during a visit to the private hospital late on Tuesday, seemed to echo the growing feeling in South Africa that Mandela is reaching the end of his life.

“May we be filled with gratitude for all the good that he has done for us and for our nation, and may [we] honour his legacy through our lives...” reads the prayer, which was posted on Archbishop Makgoba's Facebook page.

"Grant Madiba eternal healing and relief from pain and suffering. Grant him, we pray, a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect, end.”

Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, who also visited her father, was quoted by the BBC as saying that her father had “opened his eyes and smiled”.

Zindzi, the youngest of Mandela's three daughters, told a United States broadcaster from ABC News in a phone conversation that she had held her father's hand whilst talking to him about recent events, including the news that US President Barack Obama was due to visit South Africa at the end of the week.

A report in a South African newspaper said the 94-year-old liberation hero was on life support but there was no official response to the report in The Citizen, a Pretoria-based newspaper, which said Mandela was breathing with the assistance of a life support ventilator and was undergoing renal dialysis.

The information was confirmed by five sources, including two that had recently visited him in his Pretoria hospital ward, the newspaper said.

Also, the Mandela family neither denied nor confirmed that he is on life support.

Following the Mandela family meeting, senior tribal leaders, including Mandela's tribal heir and grandson, Mandla Mandela, are expected to visit the hospital for further talks with family members.

Mandela remains in critical condition, according to the South African Government and multiple sources have confirmed that he is no longer able to breathe unassisted.

In the Eastern Cape, where Mandela will be buried, a member of the tribal authority confirmed that the clan had been told that he is extremely ill and although it is against Xhosa tradition to even discuss the death of a living person, they should prepare for the worst.

There are a series of tribal rituals that will be observed by the family and the nation throughout this period and during the funeral, although Mandela, a Methodist, will be given a Christian burial.

Outside the Pretoria hospital where Mandela has been treated for the past 19 days, well-wishers continue to lay flowers and cards supporting this national and world icon.

Police have increased security and blocked the road to traffic outside the rear entrance to the hospital.

An officer said this was to allow the free passage of family and VIPs who have been visiting the hospital throughout Mandela's stay.

For the first time, South African people appear to be accepting that the end of the remarkable life of Mandela is approaching.

“He has done so much for this country, it is terribly sad but we have to accept it however hard it may seem,” said a lady reading messages pinned to the hospital wall.

The office of President Jacob Zuma said Mandela remains in critical condition, but the president, asking the nation to pray, added that South Africa had to accept that "Madiba is old".

Mandela, known by his clan name Madiba, is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in South Africa and then preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years. He left power after five years as the country's first black president.

Unity Bank to Raise Share Capital to N40bn

By: James Emejo

Shareholders of Unity Bank Plc  Wednesday approved the move by the bank to increase its authorised share capital to N40 billion from the current N30 billion.

The additional N10 billion share capital translates into 20 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo per unit of share.

Speaking in Abuja at its seventh Annual General Meeting (AGM), Chairman, Board of Directors, Unity Bank, Alhaji Nu'uman Barau Danbatta, said despite stiffer competition and stringent regulatory environment in the 2012 financial period, the bank recorded an impressive performance.

He said the bank's overall assets grew by six percent to N375.72 billion from N372.92 billion the previous year while its profit after tax grew by 85 per cent to N6.1 billion from N2.6 billion in 2011.

The bank's gross earnings also climbed to N41.24 billion in 2012 from N34.60 billion the previous year, while its deposit base increased to N270.1 billion in the period under review, from N266.9 billion in the previous year.

He said: "For the financial year 2013, Unity Bank has been repositioned to deliver our strategic objective of significantly growing our size (earnings assets and deposits), improving our efficiency and profitability.

"This will be achieved through cost optimisation and the implementation of the new retirement policy which is aimed at revitalising and rejuvenating the workforce to reposition our bank for the challenges ahead."

The Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Ado Yakubu Wanka, said the bank was at an advanced stage of raising additional Tier-1 capital to enhance its lending and investment capacity.

He said the additional capital would be deployed to branch expansion, IT infrastructure, deployment of more automated teller machines (ATMs) and point of sales (PoS) terminals and staff training.

He added that the bank was well-positioned to take full advantage of the positive developments in the financial sector including the forbearance package to brokers and the introduction of market maker as well as establish mitigants for risks arising from such developments.

He said the bank had achieved the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS) certification to enable it carry out ongoing plans to roll out massive retail banking infrastructure including card based-products to its customers.

Ashiru: Britain Yet to Communicate £3,000 Visa Bond to Nigeria

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru

David Cameroun

 House says it's unacceptable

Damilola Oyedele and Nzeshi Onwuka

The federal government has said it is yet to receive any official communication from the United Kingdom (UK) over the plan to compel first time visitors from Nigeria to deposit a £3,000 cash bond before they can enter the UK. The money would be forfeited if the visitor overstays his visa duration.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, said this  Monday while fielding questions during the 2013 Ministerial Platform to commemorate the mid-term anniversary of the current administration in Abuja.

Ashiru added that Nigeria would respond ‘appropriately’ when it receives a formal notification from the UK and gave the assurance that the interests of Nigerians would be protected.

The new rule, which would take effect in November this year, will target first time visitors from “high risk” African and Asian countries to discourage immigration abuse.

Ashiru urged Nigerians not to flout the laws and regulations of other countries to reduce the unnecessary burden of Nigerian missions having to deal with the legalities surrounding incarcerated Nigerians.

He particularly singled out drug trafficking, an act which is more detectable due to the sophistication of equipment at airports all around the world.

“If you know that the penalty for trafficking of drugs to a certain country is death, why would you do it? If you willfully commit this crime, then you want to willfully commit suicide as the sophisticated detectors would catch you,” he said.

Ashiru, however, noted that Nigerian diplomats all over the world were still bound to provide consular services for all Nigerians, including the incarcerated ones in their countries of accreditation.

Speaking on attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, Ashiru who once served as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa, said the members of local chapter of the African National Congress (ANC) during the anti-apartheid struggle were not aware of the contributions made towards their independence by their fellow Africans.

“The apartheid regime jammed all broadcast from Radio Nigeria, VON and all foreign broadcasting networks, so they did not know the role Nigeria and others played.

“They had the feeling that they fought alone, and the ANC (foreign) did not tell the ANC local of the activities of other Africans,” Ashiru explain.

This, he said, resulted in the xenophobia against other Africans, adding that this was brought on by the resentment that fellow Africans want to enjoy the resources of South Africa after the collapse of apartheid.

Ashiru recalled that as high commissioner, he had to deliver several lectures to university students on the topic to get the right message across.

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in Abuja has dismissed reports credited to Nigeria’s ambassador to the country, Ambassador Assam E. Assam, regarding Nigerian sex workers in Moscow.

The embassy, in a news release posted on its website, expressed concern over the information that some Nigerian nationals involved in the sex industry are issued visas from the Russian embassy in Abuja.

It described the opinion as “incorrect and groundless”.

“All Nigerian applicants, excluding government officials and diplomats, are subject to a substantive interview with a consular officer and thorough document checking,” the embassy said.

Last week, Ambassador Assam was quoted as saying that at least 200 Nigerian girls are trafficked into Moscow every month and forced into sex work.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday kicked against the proposed visa bond by the UK, describing it as discriminatory and unacceptable to Nigeria.

Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje (PDP/Abia), said such policy was not in the best interest of Nigeria and its bilateral relations with Britain.

The policy, she said, appeared to have been targeted at non-white Commonwealth countries. The lawmaker said that the Committee on Foreign Affairs would take a critical look at the policy with a view to exploring ways of resolving the challenges it would pose to Nigerians.

“The policy is totally unworkable and impractical. It is contrary to the commitment made to our president (Goodluck Jonathan), by the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, during their last meeting.

“We believe it is for political reasons ahead of the general election in the United Kingdom.

“We seek that our long historical relationship should take precedence over political expediency,” Elendu-Ukeje said.

Oil companies returning to Warri – Uduaghan

Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan

By Emma Amaize

WARRI — DELTA State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, said yesterday, that some oil companies, which fled Warri because of the uncooperative attitude of youths, some years back, were returning to the state.

Speaking while inspecting road and school projects under construction by his government, the governor urged the people to maintain the new found peace, noting that the companies were coming back with new names, adding, “By God’s grace, Warri will come up again.

“We should not disturb them; we should cooperate with them and help government in its efforts to create employment opportunities for our people.”

Uduaghan said he was perturbed when the oil companies initially deserted the city and sold their assets because he knew they were not leaving with the oil, but would come back later.

“I will be meeting with some of the companies soon and on Delta Steel Company, DSC, Ovwian-Aladja, we are working with the Federal Government to see that the place is re-opened.”

He also said about 5,000 citizens of the state would be offered employment when the Oleri Resort and Leisure Park under construction by his government was completed, emphasising that the Delta Beyond Oil programme of  the government was a plan for the future.

Expressing satisfaction with the level of work on the Enerhen Junction improvement project, the governor, who relived his youthful days in the area, said he was determined to give Warri and environs a new look.

He said the Junction improvement project would extend to other major junctions in Warri, Effurun, Asaba and other parts of the state.

At Ogedegbe Primary School and other model schools visited, the governor lamented that vandals were vandalizing facilities in the schools, saying, “In some of the new schools, the doors, windows, burglary proof had been vandalized and people are even defecating in some of the classrooms.”

South Africa Keeps Vigil, Prays for Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Family gathers around his bedside

By Paul Ohia with agency report

Anti-apartheid icon and former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, remained in a critical condition in hospital yesterday, leaving millions of his

countrymen and admirers across the world keeping vigil and praying, even as they feared the worst.

“Former President Mandela remains in a critical condition in hospital.

The doctors are doing everything possible to ensure his wellbeing and comfort,” President Jacob Zuma was quoted by the Agence France Presse (AFP) as saying  Monday.

Mandela, the hero of black South Africans’ battle for freedom who spent 27 years in jail during the apartheid regime, was rushed to hospital on June 8 with a recurrent lung infection.

Despite intensive treatment at Pretoria's Mediclinic Heart Hospital, the 94-year-old’s condition appeared to have suddenly deteriorated over the last 48 hours.

“All of us in the country should accept that Madiba is now old,” Zuma said, using Mandela’s clan name.

“I think what we need to do as a country is to pray for him to be well and that the doctors do their work.”

Zuma hailed the life of a man seen as the father of the nation and globally as a moral beacon that continues to shine long after he retired from public life.

“He is the father of democracy and this is the man who fought and sacrificed his life,” said Zuma, who spent 10 years in jail on Robben Island at the same time as Mandela.

Zuma visited Mandela on Sunday evening.

“Given the hour that we got to the hospital it was late, he was already asleep,” Zuma said. “(We) saw him and then we had a bit of discussion with the doctors and his wife, Graca Machel.”

Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994 to end almost 50 years of apartheid rule, is due to celebrate his 95th birthday on July 18.

He has been hospitalised four times since December, mostly for the pulmonary condition that has plagued him for years.

As the world looked on, South Africans resigned themselves to the inevitability of Mandela's death.

Flowers, cards, balloons and messages of support were left outside the gate of his Pretoria hospital, where family members were gathered.

“Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do but to pray for him and the doctors that are helping him,” said Phathani Mbath outside the hospital.

In Mthatha, a rural town in the region where Mandela grew up, there was also a sense of anxious resignation. ”It is not up to us to decide what happens now. There is nothing we can do,” said Aphiwe Ngesi a teacher in Mthatha. “All we can do is hope for the best.”

Meanwhile, Mandela’s family gathered around his hospital bedside yesterday as millions in South Africa and across the world feared for the worst.

Ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela — herself a figurehead of the anti-apartheid struggle — and daughters Zindzi Mandela-Motlhajwa and Zenani Mandela-Dlamini were among those who flocked to the hospital on Monday.

Their visits, while common since Mandela was admitted 17 days ago, come amid heightened fears for the former statesman’s health.

In Washington, the White House said its thoughts and prayers were with Mandela, as US President Barack Obama prepares to visit South Africa.

“We have seen the latest reports from the South African government that former President Mandela is in critical condition,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and the people of South Africa,” she added.

Obama leaves tomorrow on a tour of Africa that will take him to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. Zuma said the visit would go ahead.

The possibility of a meeting between the first black presidents of both South Africa and the United States has been hotly anticipated, but the White House has said it will defer to Mandela’s family.

Upon his release from jail in 1990, in one of the defining moments of the 20th century, Mandela won the country’s first fully democratic elections.

N25bn scam: EFCC closes case against Igbinedion in Sept

 

Lucky Igbinedion

Michael Igbinedion

By SIMON EBEGBULEM

BENIN CITY—THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, will on September 23, close its case in the trial of Mr. Michael Igbinedion before a Federal High Court sitting in Benin-City.

Mr. Michael Igbinedion is younger brother to former governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, who is standing trial alongside others.

Igbinedion, Patrick Eboigbodin and four companies:  Gava Corporation Limited; Romrig Nigeria Limited; PML Securities Company Limited and PML Nigeria Limited are facing trial over an alleged N25 billion scam. At the resumed hearing in the matter, EFCC called three witnesses.

The first witness, Mr. Ajoyo Sowale, an Accounts Officer with Guaranty Trust Bank, identified various account statements and account opening documents of the accused persons and also confirmed the lodgments made into the various accounts. He told the court that he printed the various account statements and got them certified.

Also led in evidence was the second witness, Mr. Eriyo David, who was the Personal Assistant to Micheal Igbinedion. David narrated to the court how Michael Igbinedion instructed him on several occasions to make lodgments into his GTB accounts and those of Romrig Nigeria Limited and Gava Corporation. According to David, he often received cash from the Accountant at Government House and paid same into the account of the second accused person.

During cross-examination, counsel to the first accused, asked the witness if he ever stole government money with the first accused person, Mr. Patrick Eboigbodin, to which the witness responded in the negative.

EFCC counsel,  before calling the third witness, prayed the court to grant his plea for the charges to be amended, arguing that the testimony of the third witness centred more on the amendments. EFCC also prayed the court for an adjournment to enable the defence study the amended charge. But defence counsel objected on the grounds that the amendments could not be accommodated as the prosecution was expected to close its case.

The court in a short ruling turned down the application and asked the prosecution to go ahead and call its last witness.

The court subsequently adjourned the case till September 23 and 24, 2013.