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Business

GSK, producers of panadol shut down operations in Nigeria after 51 years

by Folarin Kehinde August 4, 2023

written by Folarin Kehinde

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc has announced plans to shut down its operations in the country.

This was disclosed in a press statement issued on Thursday and filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited. It was signed by the Company Secretary, Frederick Ichekwai.

The company, whose primary activities include marketing and distribution of consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical products, said that its parent company, GSK Plc UK, had revealed its intent to cease commercialization of its prescription medicines and vaccines through its Nigerian subsidiary.

Part of the statement read, “In our published Q2 results we disclosed that the GSK UK Group has informed GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria PLC of its strategic intent to cease commercialization of its prescription medicines and vaccines in Nigeria through the GSK local operating companies and transition to a third-party direct distribution model for its pharmaceutical products.”

The company said it will be briefing its employees, whom it promised to “Treat fairly, respectfully and with care, meeting all applicable legal and consultation requirements.”

In responsibility to shareholders, the statement said that the “Board is conscious that shareholders will have many questions; we have been working assiduously with our professional advisors to agree on the next steps and we will be shortly submitting to the Securities and Exchange Commission, a draft Scheme of Arrangement which may, if approved, see shareholders other than GSK UK, receive an accelerated cash distribution and return of capital.”

Meanwhile, GSK said it will appoint a third-party distributor in Nigeria for the supply of its consumer healthcare products.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc was incorporated in 1971. 46.4 per cent of the shares of the Company are held by Setfirst Limited and Smithkline Beecham Limited (both incorporated in the United Kingdom); and 53.6 per cent by Nigerian shareholders. The ultimate parent and ultimate controlling party is GlaxoSmithKline Plc, United Kingdom (GSK Plc UK). GSK Plc UK controls the Company through Setfirst Limited and Smithkline Beecham Limited.

August 4, 2023 0 comments

Meta starts blocking news, over law on paying publishers

by Leading Reporters August 2, 2023

written by Leading Reporters

Meta Platforms (META.O) has begun the process to end access to news on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada, it said on Tuesday, in response to law requiring internet giants to pay news publishers.

The Canadian government quickly denounced the move as “irresponsible,” and said the world is watching the process play out in Canada.

The Online News Act, passed by the Canadian parliament, would force platforms like Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) and Meta to negotiate commercial deals with Canadian news publishers for their content.

“News outlets voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to expand their audiences and help their bottom line,” Rachel Curran, Meta’s head of public policy in Canada, said. “In contrast, we know the people using our platforms don’t come to us for news.”

Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, who is in charge of the government’s dealings with Meta, said in a Tuesday statement: “This is irresponsible.”

“They would rather block their users from accessing good quality and local news instead of paying their fair share to news organizations,” St-Onge said.

“We’re going to keep standing our ground. After all, if the Government can’t stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who will?” she added.

In a campaign against the law, which is part of a broader global trend to make tech firms pay for news, both Meta and Google said in June they would block access to news on their platforms in the country.

Canada’s public broadcast CBC also called Meta’s move irresponsible and that it was “an abuse of their market power.”

The Canadian law is similar to a ground-breaking law that Australia passed in 2021 and had triggered threats from Google and Facebook to curtail their services.

Both the companies eventually struck deals with Australian media firms after amendments to the legislation were offered.

But on the Canadian law, Google has argued that it is broader than those enacted in Australia and Europe as it puts a price on news story links displayed in search results and can apply to outlets that do not produce news.

Meta had said links to news articles make up less than 3% of the content on its users’ feed and argued that news lacked economic value.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said in May that such an argument was flawed and “dangerous to our democracy, to our economy.” NewsCredit Reuters

August 2, 2023 0 comments

Business

Fidelity Bank reclassified as medium price stock

by Leading Reporters July 22, 2023

written by Leading Reporters

Following a bullish run in the stock market in recent months, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (“NGX”) on Friday announced the reclassification of Fidelity Bank Plc. from small price stock to medium price stock.

A statement by the NGX said the reclassification became necessary because Fidelity Bank Plc. shares have been trading above the N5.00 mark since February 2023.

“Rule 15.29 of the Rulebook of The Exchange, 2015 (Dealing Members’ Rules) notes that equities priced above N5 per share for at least four of the most recent six months of trading, or new security listings priced above N5 per share at the time of listing on NGX are classified as medium price stock,” the statement said.

“According to NGX, Fidelity Bank Plc. traded above the N5.00 mark on 20 February 2023 and has remained above the N5 mark up until close of business on 30 June 2023.

“This indicates that FIDELITYBK has been trading above N5 for at least four (4) months in the last six (6) months. Therefore, it should be reclassified from small price stock to medium price stock.”

The Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe-led bank has continued to post commendable financial performance every quarter as it cements its position amongst tier-one banks in the country.

July 22, 2023 0 comments

Business Headlines

Agusto & Co. affirms Fidelity Bank’s ‘A’ rating, with a Stable Outlook

by Leading Reporters July 19, 2023

written by Leading Reporters

Pan-African credit rating agency, Agusto & Co. has affirmed the ‘A’ rating assigned to Fidelity Bank Plc and assigned an ESG score of ‘2’ in reflection of the agency’s view that environmental, social and governance issues have minimal contribution to the Bank’s credit rating.

According to a note on the Agusto & Co. website, “The rating reflects Fidelity Bank’s improved profitability, strong ability to refinance, adequate capitalisation and low level of impaired credits.”

Fidelity Bank is a full-fledged commercial bank operating in Nigeria with over 7.5 million customers serviced across its 250 business offices and digital banking channels. The bank was recognized as the Best Payment Solutions Provider, Nigeria, 2023 and Best SME Bank, Nigeria, 2022 by the Global Banking and Finance Awards. The bank had previously also won awards for the “Fastest Growing Bank” and “MSME & Entrepreneurship Financing Bank of the Year” at the 2021 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.

July 19, 2023 0 comments

Africa & World Business

JUST IN: UK Increases Visa Fees, Health Surcharge, Nigeria Affected

by Leading Reporters July 14, 2023

written by Leading Reporters

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced an increase in visa application fee paid by immigrants.

He also said the surcharge paid for the state-funded national health service (NHS) by visa applicants by immigrants will “increase significantly”.

The announcement is coming a few weeks after the United States embassy said it is increasing fees for processing non-immigrant visa (NIV) applications.

The US embassy, according to a statement on its website said the new fees for various visa categories will be implemented from June 17, 2023.

Sunak explained that this was “entirely right” as these fees have not been increased recently.

He said: “If we’re going to prioritise paying public sector workers more, that money has to come from somewhere else because I’m not prepared to put up people’s taxes and I don’t think it would be responsible or right to borrow more because that would just make inflation worse

“So, what we have done are two things to find this money. The first is, we are going to increase the charges that we have for migrants who are coming to this country when they apply for visas and indeed something called the immigration health surcharge (IHS), which is the levy that they pay to access the NHS.

According to Sunak, this move will have no effect on inflation because there would be no new borrowing or spending to fund the increases.

He said the government believes it is appropriate given that the costs have risen since the last hike.

In a tweet, Sunak said: “I just announced a fair way to end the strikes – and already all teaching unions are backing it. It’s a fair deal for workers. And a fair deal for the British taxpayer. This is a major breakthrough for parents and families across the country.”

July 14, 2023 0 comments

Business

Unilever to Stop Producing Omo, Sunlight, Lux

by Folarin Kehinde April 6, 2023

written by Folarin Kehinde

Unilever Nigeria Plc says it is stopping the production of the legendary OMO, Sunlight and Lux home care brands as it struggles to sustain its operations in Nigeria.

The company is “exiting the Home Care and Skin Cleansing categories to concentrate on higher growth opportunities,” according to a statement it issued on March 17.

Unilever began trading in Nigeria in 1923, introduced the OMO brand in 1960, and opened a production facility to manufacture the popular laundry brand locally in 1964. In 1982, it opened a factory in Agbara, which still operates to date.

Formerly known as Lever Brothers (West Africa) Limited, the company changed its business name to Unilever Nigeria Plc in 2001.

“We’re the longest-serving manufacturing company in the country, marking 100 years in Nigeria in 2023,” the company stated.

“The exit of these two categories over 2023 will boost the vision to make Unilever Nigeria great, building on the impressive progress made in other key aspects of the business, and is envisaged to result in overall improvement in profitability, growth and a more sustainable Unilever Nigeria Plc business.

“The Company will in due course review the optimal treatment of redundant resources and assets, in accordance with due process,” Unilever stated.

Unilever had shocked most Nigerians when it announced it was cutting back operations of some of its production in the country.

The announcement to cut production of the key product lines came just two years after the fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG) spun off its tea businesses (e.g. Lipton) to a separate legal entity under the Unilever global group.

Stopping operations in some product lines is part of a global brand strategy for Unilever’s parent company to improve profit margins.

Stears, an online new medium, reported that the group had sold off its entire tea business for €4.5 billion, and the Nigerian unit, Unilever Nigeria Plc, earned a one-off income of €6.3 million (i.e. N2.8 billion) — which helped boost profitability in 2021.

In 2017, Unilever had sold off its spreads business, the Blue Band butter, for €6.8 billion, and in February 2023, the British-owned FMCG warned that customers would buy fewer of its products, following a 2.1 per cent decline in volume growth in 2022 and expectations of worse volume growth this year, the reported added.

April 6, 2023 0 comments

Leading Reporters Meet Adanma Njumogu, a resilient Nigerian entrepreneur who is at the fore of promoting and shipping eco-friendly palm broomsticks. Image

Business Headlines

Meet a Nigerian lady at the fore of promoting and shipping eco-friendly palm broom sticks

by Leading Reporters March 17, 2023

written by Leading Reporters

Meet Adanma Njumogu, a resilient Nigerian entrepreneur who is at the fore of promoting and shipping eco-friendly palm broom sticks to the international market, as alternative to synthetic and non-biodegradable sweeping brooms.

Adanma, just like many other Nigerian young entrepreneurs believes that the issue of climate change should go beyond rhetoric, and should rather integrate promotion of lifestyles, products and the needed sensitization that tend to stir a healthier, and neater environment consciousness.

Adanma is the founder of Kedad Online Store, an affiliate of Peppico Impex Limited. Both companies source and export organic agricultural products and biodegradable cleaning materials to Asia, Europe and the Americas. They as well maintain local sales point in major cities across Nigeria.

Adanma is a graduate of Public Administration. She worked and consulted with many organizations, including Family Tree. It was in the course of a research work that took her to many rural areas that she found out the need to increase environmental consciousness,

“My association with the rural people stirred a new urge to reengage them on the need to protect the environment and by extension their health by resorting to healthy alternative products and lifestyles.

“My desire is to become a voice in health and environmental protection. From what we consume to what we use, we should ensure that we are staying free from what harms our health and our environment.

In an interview with Shedrack Light, an SME ideation and promotion specialist, Adanma said that her interaction with Nigerians, especially those living in rural places afforded her the opportunity to identify not only challenges, but also workable solutions towards promotion of eco-friendly options and products.

“Part of my job took me to rural places in riverine parts of Nigeria. I interacted with the people. I understand first hand that the people are victims of environmental degradation and that they are willing to do the needful if they have enough information about global warming, climate change and the risk of environmental degradation. This consciousness birthed Kedad Online Store and her sister company, Peppico Impex Limited.

“The company deals on eco-friendly cleaning and organic agro-allied products. We sale and export palm broom sticks to both local and international markets. Our research showed that people are becoming more conscious of their environment so much now that they are resorting to products that are biodegradable, healthy for them and the environment. As a matter of fact, most countries overseas are making laws that promote eco-friendly and biodegradable products.

“We are selling organic and biodegradable products. Beyond selling these products, we advocate for higher engagement, collaboration and sensitization for a safer environment. Rightly said, we are both dealers in palm broom sticks and advocates of a safer, and neater environment through the use of safe and biodegradable products.

March 17, 2023 0 comments

Leading Reporters CBN Reviews Tenure Of MDs, DMDs, EDs, Non-Executive Directors of Banks, Other Financial Institutions Image

Business Headlines

Emefiele: To sweep MDs, DMDs, EDs, Non-Executive Directors of Banks, Other

by Leading Reporters March 9, 2023

written by Leading Reporters

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) document revealed that tenure of Executive Management and Non-Executive Directors of banks and financial institutions, saying the move would strengthen the governance practices in the banking industry.

The new guidelines specifies the tenure of Managing Directors, Deputy Managing Directors as well as Executive Directors.

According to the circular, “The tenure of Executive Directors (ED), Deputy Managing Directors (DMD) and Managing Directors (MDs) shall be in accordance with the terms of their engagement approved by the Board of Directors of banks, subject to a maximum tenure of ten (10) years.

“Where an Executive who is a DMD becomes the MD/CEO of a bank or any other DMB before the end of his/her maximum tenure, the cumulative tenure of such Executive shall not exceed twelve (12) years.

“However, for an Executive (ED) who becomes a DMD of a bank or any other DMB, his/her cumulative tenure as ED and DMD shall not exceed 10 years.

“Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), with the exception of Independent Non-Executive Director (INED), shall serve for a maximum period of twelve (12) years in a bank, broken into three terms of four years each.

“EDs, DMDs and MDs who exit from the Board of a bank either upon or prior to the expiration of his/her maximum tenure, shall serve out a cooling-off period of 1 year before being eligible for appointment as a NED to the Board of Directors.

“NEDs who exit from the Board of a bank either upon or prior to the expiration of his/her maximum tenure of 12 years (3 terms of 4years each), shall serve out a cooling-off period of 1 year before being eligible for appointment to the Board of Directors of any other DMB.

“The cumulative tenure limit of EDs/DMDs, MDs and NEDs across the banking industry is 20 years.”

The circular added that the tenure requirements takes effect from 24th February, 2023.

Leading Reporters was unable to determine if any of the country’s bank management is affected by this review as at the time of writing.

However, a source in the banking sector said this move will force persons at ED, DMD, and MD level to leave early so that younger bankers can aspire to be at these positions instead of migrating to Canada, Europe, or America.

**CBN Reviews Tenure Of MDs, DMDs, EDs, Non-Executive Directors of Banks, Other Financial Institutions**

March 9, 2023 0 comments

Business

Ways and Means: CBN lends FGN over N22.8 Trillion

by Folarin Kehinde January 25, 2023

written by Folarin Kehinde

Nigeria’s central bank increased its ‘Ways and Means’ loans to the federal government in September by N749 billion, the latest data reveals.

The total ways and means loans to the federal government have now increased to N22.8 trillion as of September 2022 and rising.

Ways and means was about N648 billion when the current government came to power at the end of May 2015.

What is “Ways and Means”? The ways and means provision allows the government to borrow from the Apex Bank if it needs short-term or emergency finance to fund delayed government expected cash receipts of fiscal deficits.

Provisions in the act cap monetary financing of fiscal deficits at 5% of the prior year’s revenues.
However, since the government started experiencing a significant shortfall in revenue, it has relied heavily on the central bank to finance its expenditure programs via Ways and Means.

2022 is on track to record the highest loan extension to any government in Nigeria’s history via ways and means.

Big picture: September’s increase of N749 billion is the most the central bank has lent to the government after the whopping N1.4 trillion dolled out in August.

Report indicates the ways and means crossed N22 trillion in August after the apex bank increased lending by N1.4 trillion

According to records, the central bank has now lent the government a whopping N5.3 trillion this year alone and more than the N4.3 trillion lent in the whole of 2021.

Optics: The federal government confirmed it has missed out on its revenue target when it published its 2022 budget assessment.

As of August 2022, FGN’s retained revenue was N4.23 trillion, 64% of the pro-rata target of N6.65 trillion.
Meanwhile, the FGN share of oil revenues was N395.06 billion (representing 27.1% performance), while non-oil tax revenues totalled N1,549.91 billion – a performance of 102.9%.

The actual expenditure amount was N9.56 trillion (N3.5 trillion on debt service) compared to the target of N11.55 trillion.
Debt Issues: While the government struggles with revenues its budget deficit continues to widen ballooning past its pro-rate target.

According to the government, the N5.33 trillion deficit as of August is N430.82 billion above the prorate level.

The level of borrowing is also N1.26 trillion ahead of the July target.
Meanwhile, the total deficit included in the 2023 budget is about N10.8 trillion compared to the N7.35 trillion planned for 2022.
Repayment: The government has said it will convert CBN ways and means  loans to bonds over 40 years.

The Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Dr. Zainab Ahmed, confirmed this when she said she has received approval to securitize the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) N20 trillion-worth Ways and Means portfolio.
The government also included N1.2 trillion as debt service for ways and means in 2023.

January 25, 2023 0 comments

Business

Amazon To Sack Over 18,000 Staff

by Folarin Kehinde January 5, 2023

written by Folarin Kehinde

American multinational company, Amazon, has revealed that it will lay off over 18,000 members of its workforce.

The layoffs will primarily affect the company’s human resources and e-commerce organizations, and will be communicated to the company’s staff starting January 18.

Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, disclosed this in a public staff note, Reuters reports.

“Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles.

“We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support,” Jassy said in the note.

Media in the US had reported late last year that the company planned to let go of 10,000 people after Amazon announced the layoffs but did not give a specific figure.

The CEO however explained that the sudden nature of this announcement was “because one of our teammates leaked this information externally.”

“This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years.

January 5, 2023 0 comments

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