Markets react to petrol market liberalization

… Naira depreciates further by 7.7% … Petroleum stocks bounce back … Money market yields in mixed reaction
By Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

Financial markets across segments have reacted to the quantum increase in the price of petrol with foreign exchange rate and petroleum stocks in the upbeat while money market rates moved in mixed direction.   In the foreign exchange market the Naira extended its losses against the US Dollar on Friday following continued demand pressure which had started a day earlier on the heels of the pump price adjustment closing at N350/ USD1, bringing its total depreciation to 7.7 per cent in the first two trading days after the pump price adjustment. Though analysts had also fingered the speculative spur arising from federal government’s hint that the official foreign exchange market would be overhauled for flexibility, currency traders said there has been sudden scarcity of the US Dollar, apparently due to sudden surge in demand coming from oil marketers setting out to import the products. Government had announced a liberalization of petroleum imports on Wednesday, directing fuel marketers to import products sourcing the foreign currency payments from sources other than the official foreign exchange market controlled by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. On the official market, the exchange rate is quoted at N197.50/ USD1, and with last Friday’s rate in the unofficial market segment the parallel market premium has now widened to over 72 per cent, about one of the highest in the world. Reacting to the development analysts at United Capital Plc, a Lagos based investment house, said “the autonomous dollar supply has always been available but the major bottle neck prior to now appears to be more around pricing with most holders preferring to sell at the parallel market rate, while buyers understandably favor the official window. With oil marketers now forced to look at the parallel market, we believe potential supply at that market is robust enough to take-in increased demand at current price”. Consequently, the present sharp depreciation and the wide premium on parallel market, according to them, will be short-lived. Also reacting to the forex market developments on the heels of petroleum marketing liberalisation analysts at Vetiva Capital Limited, another Lagos based investment house, said “we are aware of the arrangement between oil marketing majors and related upstream companies but anticipate that as other independents enter the market, the currency could come under pressure outside of the official window and expect the premium between both markets to further widen. “We liken this to a pseudo-devaluation or possibly, the takeoff of a formal two-tier foreign exchange market”.    In the stock market, investors swopped on the stocks of oil marketing companies leading to their domination of the top gainers chart. Aside Nestle Nigeria Plc the top five gainers in the Nigerian Stock Exchange as at last weekend were all   major petroleum product marketers, with Mobil Oil Nigeria, Total Oil Nigeria, and Forte Oil, appreciating by N14.34, N10.40 and N4.50 to close at N175.00, N170.00 and N225.00 per share respectively. The other top five gainer was Seplat Petroleum which is not into fuel marketing. Reviewing the impact of last week’s liberalization on the stocks of petroleum marketing sub-sector, analysts at Vetiva Capital said “for years, Downstream Majors had lobbied for the deregulation of the sector in a bid to rid themselves of huge subsidy receivables that had stifled profitability. We think the liberalisation of the sector will allow Majors leverage economies of scale to dominate the fuel import market. “We note that in the revised pricing template of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, retailer, transporter and dealer margins were increased from N5.00, N3.05 and N1.95 to N6.00, N3.36 and N2.36 respectively.    “Following from this, we expect to make upward revisions to our coverage”. Consequently Vetiva analysts recommended the following target stock prices: Total Oil (TP: N208.77 BUY), Mobile Oil (TP: N150.46 SELL) and OANDO (Under Review). Vetiva said it expects consensus ratings on stocks not covered by its ratings which include Forte Oil, Conoil and MRS, to be revised upward as well. In the money market attention was on fixed income segment where, in the Nigerian interbank treasury bills, true yields (NITTY) moved in mixed directions. Yields on 1 month and 3 months maturities increased to 4.63% and 8.16% respectively, while 6 months and 12 months yields fell to 10.04% and 12.97% respectively. Meanwhile, Nigerian interbank rates increased across all tenor buckets on sustained financial system liquidity strain. Nigerian Interbank Offer Rate, NIBOR, for overnight funds, 3 months and 6 months increased to 0.96%, 0.27% and 0.15% respectively. Analysts see yields likely to continue upwards in the near term.

Fuel crisis is hurting Nigeria’s economy, NIM laments

The Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM, yesterday, lamented that the unending fuel crisis witnessed across the country is having a negative impact on the economy, while he disclosed that the crisis is mainly a management issue. Speaking during the NIM/ National Defence College Executive Member Conversion Programme Induction Ceremony in Abuja, Mr. Munzali Jibril, President and Chairman of Council of the NIM, called on the Federal Government to urgently address the crisis before it escalates. According to him, the crisis has had a tremendous negative impact on the economy; the man hours lost on the queues, the things that ought to have been done could not be done, because of lack of fuel. He, however, expressed confidence on the ability of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, adding that the crisis was temporary and would soon be addressed. He said, “Hopefully, this is a temporary thing; it is not a problem that is beyond solution. All you need is good planning, discipline and so on. I believe the Minister has very good intentions and he is a competent professional, but he is facing challenges that he has never faced before. Working as General Counsel in Mobil, he never faced these challenges. But I am sure that after this baptism of fire he would improve.” He explained that the crisis is mainly a management issue, especially as the country does not have an accurate figure of its fuel consumption. He further advised the Federal Government and the Nigerian national Petroleum Corporation NNPC, to draw up an importation plan that would guard against disruptions in the fuel supply chain, while ensuring that at all times, the country has 10-day supply of the product in its depots. He also called on the Federal Government to fix all the country’s refineries so as to stop the importation of fuel. He said, “Ultimately, the long term solution is what the government is trying to do; to domesticate the refining of petroleum within the country, because it is very stupid of us to be a leading oil producer and yet have so little refining capacity to the extent that we rely on supplies from abroad for our own domestic consumption. It is very stupid indeed. “I think ultimately, we should make all the refineries work at maximum capacity and ultimately stop importing from abroad. People argue that for that to happen, you have to deregulate the downstream market so that people that would come and establish the refineries would do so at a profit. “The government can do it even if it is subsidizing. But if private investors are coming, they have to be assured that they would be a market and they would not be forced to subsidise.”

EFCC may probe Nigerians named in Panama Papers

There were strong indications yesterday that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may probe Nigerians associated with secret offshore companies.

Apart from Senate President Bukola Saraki, others mentioned in the secret leak that has been generating worldwide ripples are: Former Senate President David Mark, Saraki’s wife, Toyin, former Delta State Governor James Ibori, Mr. Laolu Saraki, Mr. Obi Asika and Mr. Olufela Ibidapo.

Yesterday, former Defence Minister Gen. Yakubu Danjuma’s name was linked with some firms.

According to a top EFCC source, the EFCC has already obtained a copy of the Panama Papers, which its operatives are studying.

The source said: “We are studying all the documents and definitely we will investigate the allegations against all the Nigerians implicated in the Panama Papers.

“These allegations may lead to further clues on whether or not public funds were used in acquiring some of these secret assets.

The Panamanian law firm, reputed as one of the most secretive companies in the world, had helped clients to register offshore entities, some of which are then used to launder money, evade tax and dodge sanctions.

Gen. Danjuma, the wealthy philanthropist and one-time Defence minister, according to the Mossac Fonseca files, floated Eastcoast Investments, which he incorporated in Nassau, Bahamas, on March 25, 1997.

At inception, Gen.  Danjuma and a certain Colin Marcel Dixon were directors of the company.

According to Premium Times, Gen. Danjuma formed the company to enable him do business with Scancem International of Norway when the latter decided to expand its business frontiers to Nigeria.

But the company became embroiled in a bribery scandal, with Scancem, according to court papers, later buying out Eastcoast Investment from the project on December 1, 2003.

Gen. Danjuma reportedly resigned as director of the company.

He is also reported to have used other offshore entities.

The database, Opencorporates, indicate that the ex-minister. served as director and vice-president of Cross Group Holdings International, which was registered in Panama on October 15, 1976.

Gen. Danjuma was also director of Zara Logistics, a company registered in Cyprus on September 2, 1993.

He could not be reached for comment yesterday. Sources close to him said he is out of the country.

Also, Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss attorney hired by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to track missing Abacha loot in Swiss banks is himself operating over 178 companies in offshore tax havens.

Mr. Monfrini was hired in 2000 by the government to help establish the existence of and repatriate over $4 billion allegedly looted by the former military dictator.

The documents showed that Mr. Monfrini, an influential legal practitioner in Switzerland, is director of 178 companies scattered around Panama and the British Virgin Islands.

Although the documents did not directly implicate Mr. Monfrini as having committed any crime, still, the revelation points to the hypocrisy of a man widely revered for his remarkable ability to dismantle tax evaders and looters across jurisdictions.

Justin Bieber pictured smoking

Justin posted a picture of him holding a cigarette on his IG page. What advise do you have for him?

The weekend just got a new cut of the rock

The rock posted a picture on his IG page showing a The weekend look alike who just got a fresh cut of him.The post was captioned: I was like "damn that's cool The Weekend got a fresh cut of me". My question is can this really happen.

Pinnick travels to London to meet Akpom, Iwobi’s parents

Amaju Pinnick has paid a visit to parents of Arsenal youngsters Chuba
Akpom and Alex Iwobi, to discuss with them the possibility of both players
featuring for Nigeria.
The two Gunners have represented England at all youth levels, but are still
eligible to feature for their country of origin.
Iwobi is currently in Nigeria’s Olympic team, but Akpom has not been clear
on if he will switch allegiance.
Pinnick stopped over to watch Arsenal’s FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough
on Sunday and took the opportunity to meet the parents.
“I was able to see Kenneth Omeruo and Chuba Akpom at the match. I am
meeting the parents of a number of these youngsters this time and have
plans to meet all of them and also their parents in due course,” he said
through his media aide Ademola Olajire.
“You see, some of them might have represented England at junior level, but
they are willing to represent Nigeria at senior level, and that is what we are
looking at.
“We are looking at strengthening our teams at all levels and these players
are willing, once we can convince them that there is a new set-up in Nigeria
football.”
The NFF president is also planning to visit Southampton’s centre back
Joshua Debayo, Stevenage’s Fejiri Okenabirhie, Chike Kandi of Brighton, Ola
Daniel, Mayowa Balogun and Semi Ajayi.

Thierry Henry begins coaching at Arsenal

Thierry Henry is taking steps to becoming a coach in the forseeable future.
The former Arsenal and Barcelona striker, started his coaching badges with
the FA in Wales and has been granted permission by the Gunners, to work at
Hale End with the youth academy.
According to reports in the UK, Henry has already handled some sessions
with the various youth groups. The Frenchman is picking up invaluable
experience as Hale End and will earn his A and B UEFA licences.
Henry has been tipped to become an Arsenal coach soon, but although this
may look like a move in that direction, it must be noted that Arsene Wenger
always allows former players to coach at the club, while undertaking their
badges.
Henry announced his retirement from football last year and is currently a TV
pundit with Sky.