Author: Businessam Staff

Transcorp Hilton Abuja today announced the reopening of its executive floors and lounge, following the completion of the renovation of the floors. The reopening marks a milestone in the on-going $100 million renovation project of the 5-star hotel.

Valentine Ozigbo, Managing Director/CEO, Transcorp Hotels Plc, while speaking on the reopening said, “Our guests have grown to expect nothing less than the very best from us. That includes the pinnacle of customer service, overall comfort, and a level of aesthetical appeal rivaled by no other hotel in Nigeria. The complete overhaul of the executive floor and lounge is a testament to our commitment to delivering extraordinary experience to our guests.”

Businessamlive gathered that award-winning Swedish interior designer, Living Designs, redesigned the executive floor rooms. The rooms were specifically upgraded with an extra touch of luxury with exquisite furnishing, fixtures and equipment.

“In order to enhance guest experience, the all-new rooms have been fitted with the latest amenities and technology, including high definition interactive television and a dock that instantly transforms mobile phone into a sound system,” a statement from the hotel said.

Etienne Gailliez, General Manager, Transcorp Hilton Abuja said, “The renovation is more than just an upgrade of a physical hotel. It is a complete overhaul of the experience. If you are one of many guests that already enjoyed what the Transcorp Hilton Abuja had to offer, you are in for a pleasant surprise when you revisit our new executive floors.”

Tony O. Elumelu CON, Chairman Transcorp Plc, while sharing his first impression of the new executive floors said, “I am extremely proud of the commitment and attention to detail our team put into getting the job done. Our well-travelled and discerning guests will quickly come to realize that Transcorp Hilton Abuja is delivering a quality that can rival any other 5-star hotel anywhere in the world. We are committed to upgrading the hotel’s facilities and services to meet the expectations of our guests.”

The unveiling of the new executive floors would be followed with the upgrade of all the hotel’s 667 rooms and suites.

By Business a.m. live staff

*All-share index rising by 2.8%…

The stock market all share index (ASI) rose 2.8 percent to settle at 30,314.14 points, lifted by gains in First Bank Holdings, Dangote
Cement, Nigerian Breweries and Zenith Bank. The index thus crossed the 30,000 points mark for the first time since almost a year ago.

To this end, market capitalization increased N282.0bn to close at N10.5tn. Specifically gains in DANGCEM (+5.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES
(+4.9%), FBNH (+10.0%) and ZENITH (+2.9%) kept the bears out of the market.

Market activity also strengthened as volume and value traded rose 26.6% and 38.6% to settle at 434.4m units and N4.6bn respectively in 5,107 deals.

Performance across sectors largely trended in the same direction as the benchmark index as all indices closed higher save for the oil & gas index, which fell 0.2% as investors continued to take profit in OANDO (-5.3%) and SEPLAT (-0.6%).

The consumer and industrial goods indices surged 2.5% and 2.4% respectively on the back of uptrend in DANGCEM (+5.0%) and NIGERIAN
BREWERIES (+4.9%). Similarly, the banking index rose 1.7% on the back of gains in ZENITH (+2.9%), UBA (+4.9%), ACCESS (+5.5%) and ETI (+3.8%). Likewise, the Insurance index trended 1.5% northwards as MANSARD (+4.9%), NEM (+4.2%) and AIICO (+3.8%) closed higher.

Investor sentiment stayed strong in today’s trading session as evident in the market breadth (advancers/decliners ratio), which surged to 3.9x (from 1.7x yesterday). The best performing stocks were FBNH (+10.0%), MAYBAKER (+9.4%) and LEARNAFRICA (+8.1%) while the worst performing stocks were LINKASSURE (-9.5%), OANDO (-5.3%) and 7UP (-5.0%).

“Despite the sustained market rally and the benchmark index’s 14-Day RSI closing at 85.7 points (indicating that market is in the overbought region) trading multiples show that Nigerian equities remain cheaper and attractive when compared to SSA peers,” say analysts at Afrinvest.

They believe the improvements made in FX management will continue to buoy foreign participation in the market.

By Business a.m. live staff

Barclays Plc said it will sell a further 22 percent stake in its South African unit, a holding worth about $2 billion at current prices, as part of the U.K. bank’s plan to shrink its operations and bolster capital strength.

The London-based lender is offering about 187 million shares of Barclays Africa Group Ltd. in an accelerated bookbuild after it received approval from South African authorities, it said in a statement Wednesday. The bank has demand for all the shares on offer, according to a person with knowledge of the plan. Barclays, which currently holds 50.1 percent of Barclays Africa, said it has a long-term target of reducing its shareholding in the unit to 15 percent.

The placement marks the second phase of Barclays’s plan to gradually sell down its stake and deconsolidate the unit from its accounts, releasing capital that can be invested elsewhere in the business. Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley, 60, decided to reduce the lender’s presence on the continent in favor of supporting a trimmed-down investment bank focused on London and New York.

“Regulatory approval for the separation” is “a key milestone in the execution of our strategy and the restructuring of Barclays,” Staley said in an email.

Public Investment Corp., South Africa’s biggest money manager, plans to purchase a 7 percent stake through the sale, subject to regulatory approvals. The state-owned money manager was prevented from following through on its intention of buying a bigger stake because of regulatory issues, Johannesburg-based newspaper Business Report said, citing PIC CEO Dan Matjila.

Barclays Africa shares fell 4.8 percent to 139 rand in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Gordhan firing

The second sale follows the disposal of a 12.2 percent stake to fund managers in South Africa and abroad in May 2016. The latest phase was said to have been delayed after South African President Jacob Zuma fired Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan at the end of March, replacing him with Malusi Gigaba. Gordhan had given provisional approval to a separation agreement that involves the U.K. lender paying its subsidiary 765 million pounds ($987 million).

Barclays will also contribute 110 million pounds to help establish a “broad-based black economic empowerment scheme” in the country as part of the separation, the lender said in a separate statement Wednesday. The bank said it expects more costs to be incurred during the transition process after taking an 884 million-pound writedown on the division in the first quarter.

The British bank, which has had a presence on the continent for more than 100 years, first bought a controlling stake in the South African lender in 2005 when the Johannesburg-based company was still called Absa Group Ltd. It paid $5.4 billion for a 60 percent holding. That stake increased to more than 62 percent in 2013 as part of a reshuffle that saw Absa take over Barclays’s operations in eight African countries.

Deconsolidating Africa will boost Barclays’s common equity Tier 1 ratio, the key measure of capital strength, by at least 0.75 percentage point from 12.5 percent at the end of March, the bank has said.

The share placement is being coordinated by Barclays itself, aided by Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG, according to the statement. Barclays can’t sell any more Barclays Africa stock for 90 days after the latest placement is settled, a provision known as a lock-up restriction.

Courtesy Bloomberg

The local- and foreign-currency ratings were affirmed at BB+, Fitch said in an emailed statement Thursday. The outlook on both assessments was kept at stable.

Fitch and S&P Global Ratings cut their assessments of South Africa’s foreign-currency debt to the highest junk level in early April after a late-night cabinet reshuffle in which President Jacob Zuma replaced Pravin Gordhan as finance minister with Malusi Gigaba, a former home affairs minister. The rand lost as much as 11 percent against the dollar after the president called Gordhan back from meetings with investors in the U.K. and subsequently dismissed him.

The move sparked street demonstrations pushing for Zuma’s removal from office while opposition parties tabled a motion of no confidence against him in parliament. The country’s High Court last month ordered Zuma to explain his cabinet changes. The ruling African National Congress’s national executive committee debated and rejected the option of removing Zuma at a meeting that ended May 28.

The cabinet changes are “likely to undermine governance of state-owned enterprises, weaken fiscal consolidation and reduce private-sector investment as a result of weaker business confidence,” Fitch said.

The rand strengthened 0.8 percent to 13.0100 per dollar by 4:11 p.m. in Johannesburg on Thursday. Yields on rand-denominated government bonds due December 2026 fell 4 basis points to 8.55 percent.

Fiscal Pledge

Gigaba has committed to fiscal discipline in an attempt to meet the budget-deficit target of 3.1 percent of GDP in the year through March. Fitch estimates a gap of 3.3 percent, saying budget cuts it anticipates the National Treasury will make later this year won’t be sufficient to offset a tax shortfall.

“Fiscal consolidation remains firmly on track,” the National Treasury said in an emailed statement after Fitch’s decision. Gigaba “is currently re-engaging with the private sector to make sure that the joint work of government, business, labor and the civil society continues and that the pledges made thus far are fulfilled.”

South Africa has 477.7 billion rand ($36.7 billion) of guarantees available for public institutions, 308.3 billion rand of which has been used, according to the February budget. State-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. is the biggest recipient, using 218.2 billion rand of the 350 billion rand available to it.

“Sizeable contingent liabilities and deteriorating governance” at state-owned companies weigh down the rating, Fitch said.

On Tuesday, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown ordered that Brian Molefe be removed as the electricity producer’s chief executive officer after a committee of cabinet ministers found his reinstatement was incorrect.

Molefe had quit in November after a graft ombudsman indicated he’s made decisions favoring members of the Gupta family who are friends with President Zuma.

Brown said earlier this month she had agreed with a board decision to rehire Molefe after rejecting a pension payout of 30 million rand to the former CEO, because the utility would get better value from him returning to work.

Moody’s, S&P

While Moody’s Investors Service still rates South Africa’s foreign-currency debt at two levels above junk, the company put its assessment on review for a downgrade in April and hasn’t published the outcome yet. S&P is scheduled to make an announcement about its rating on Friday.

The Treasury is hoping for a positive outlook from both Moody’s and S&P, said Mampho Modise, the department’s chief director for strategy and risk management.

“We have shown signs of progress in reform implementation,” she said by phone.

Africa’s most-industrialized economy expanded by 0.3 percent in 2016, the slowest pace since a 2009 recession. Gross domestic product will probably grow 1 percent this year and 1.8 percent in 2018 as political uncertainty will continue to weigh on private investment, Fitch said. A deterioration in growth could result in a negative rating action, the company said.

South Africa had enjoyed investment-grade standing at all three major ratings companies since at least 2000.

Courtesy Bloomberg

UK firms suffer the highest number of cyber attacks in Europe in any given week, according to a new poll.

UK firms are second only to US firms when it comes to being attacked. However, British firms are far more likely to have specialised tools in place and have the fastest response times of the 600 firms polled by data analytics firm Splunk and research firm IDC.

The study also found that UK firms are increasingly targeted compared to other countries with 16 per cent of UK firms have seen a 10 – 20 per cent increase in attacks versus 12 per cent overall.

Thirty seven per cent of UK firms said they “cope comfortably” with the number of security incidents, compared with 27 per cent overall.

Earlier this month, more than 200,000 individuals in 150 countries were targeted by a cyber virus called “Wannacry” that brought down NHS services and hit companies such as O2 owner Telefonica, Nissan and Renault.

“The amount of time companies are spending on analysing and assessing incidents is a huge problem,” said Duncan Brown, associate vice president, security practice, IDC.

“The highest-paid, most skilled staff are being tied up, impacting the cost and efficiency of security operations. This is exacerbated when considered alongside the security skills shortage, which has most impact in high-value areas like incident investigation and response. Organisations must ensure that they are using their data effectively to gain key insights quickly to determine cause and minimise impact.”

“It’s time to change how we approach incident response,” said Haiyan Song, senior vice president, security markets, Splunk.

“As attacks become more advanced, frequent, and take advantage of IT complexity, we must become proactive in our approach to security – how else will we know we have been breached? As demonstrated by the swift, global spread of WannaCry, it has never been more important for organisations to proactively monitor, analyse and investigate to verify whether there are real threats, then prioritise and remediate the most critical.”

Courtesy Newsrep

The Murdoch brothers have held secret talks with Ofcom in a bid to persuade the regulator to wave through 21st Century Fox’s planned £11.7bn takeover of Sky.

It is understood that Sharon White, chief executive of Ofcom, has met James and Lachlan Murdoch in London in the last week to discuss the proposed deal. Rupert Murdoch, their father, was not present.

Both sides have sought to keep the meeting out of the public eye amid swirling political controversy.

Fox has made a bid for Sky six years after an earlier takeover attempt under the News Corp banner failed as the phone hacking scandal engulfed the Murdoch family’s British newspaper group. This time, James, Fox chief executive, and Lachlan, joint chairman with their father, have eschewed political lobbying and public arguments over the proposed deal.

Their meeting with Ms White is part of normal scrutiny procedures but comes with the Murdoch family facing new questions over behaviour at their companies.

Ofcom is conducting an in-depth review of the effect full Fox control could have on Sky and the British media. The Murdoch family’s television and film holding company currently owns 39pc of Britain’s biggest pay-TV operator.

The review includes a public interest assessment of Fox’s record on broadcasting standards. Ofcom is also looking at how full Murdoch ownership of Sky could reduce media plurality. Fox has argued that Sky’s good record of compliance with on-air rules and the rise of the internet mean there should be no objections on these grounds.

In a separate but parallel review, the family’s fitness and propriety as media owners is also under the microscope.

Ofcom chief executive Sharon White has also met opponents of the deal

As part of the fitness and propriety work it is understood that Ofcom has sought detailed information and discussion on the ongoing sexual harassment scandal at Fox News, the right-wing US cable channel. Regulators are said to be interested both in allegations and the Murdoch response to them.

The most-watched Fox News anchor, Bill O’Reilly, and its chief executive Roger Ailes, were ousted over allegations of serious misconduct. Both men denied the claims. Mr Ailes died a fortnight ago.

The scandal has plunged Fox News into turmoil and triggered more senior executive departures. While James and Lachlan are leading the takeover of Sky, Rupert Murdoch is said to be focused on steadying the highly profitable cable news channel.

As Ofcom watches on it has also taken submissions and held meetings with lawyers for their alleged victims, as well as the Murdoch family’s US political enemies. A group of British politicians including Ed Miliband and Vince Cable has also met Ms White to call for the Sky takeover to be blocked, claiming events at Fox News show the Murdoch family should not be allowed more control of the British media.

It is understood that a further meeting between Fox and Ofcom is planned as the regulator approaches the June 20 deadline by which it must report its findings to the Government. Ministers could decide to refer the takeover of Sky to the Competition and Markets Authority or ask Ofcom to agree remedies such as more independence for Sky News.

Courtesy Newsrep

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit rose 16.7 percent in April against the same month in 2016, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said Wednesday.

The monthly deficit was $4.9 billion as imports rose 9.9 percent year-on-year to $17.7 billion while exports were up 7.4 percent to $12.8 billion.

In the first four months, exports rose 8.7 percent to $50.6 billion as imports rose by 8.3 percent to $68.2 billion, TurkStat said. The deficit during that period was $17.5 billion, a 7.1 percent increase on the same period in 2016.

Exports to the EU rose by 2.2 percent to $5.7 billion in April, up from $5.6 billion in April 2016.

Germany was Turkey’s largest export market ($1.1 billion in April), followed by the United Arab Emirates ($1.02 billion), Iraq ($857 million) and the U.K. ($737 million).

Most imports came from China ($1.64 billion worth), then Germany ($1.62 billion), Russia ($1.4 billion) and the U.S. ($980 million).

Courtesy Newsrep