FCMB Plc has announced an operating income of N45.67 billion for the half year ended June 31, 2014 indicating a modest increase of 12 per cent over N40.77 billion earned in the corresponding period of 2013. Analysis of the results released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that the bank’s operating expenses grew proportionally to N32.04 billion when compared against the N28.49 billion recorded in the half year of 2013, leading to the retention of cost to income ratio at 70 per cent over the period.
Updated 5 Years ago

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc aims to boost its loan portfolio by 30 per cent in the second half of 2014, after increasing it by 10 per cent in the first six months. The bank is targeting retail and business customers, its Chief Finance Officer, Oyinkan Adewale said. "In the second half we would do 30 per cent (in loans). We closed December 2013 at N231 billion loan book. We are looking generally in the region of 40 percent growth for 2014,"Adewale told Reuters.
Updated 5 Years ago

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has gone into partnership with Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group LP, the world’s two biggest private-equity firms, to invest in energy infrastructure in Nigeria and Africa. “They want to invest heavily,” Dangote said in an interview with Bloomberg news. They couldn’t really find a local partner to work with and you are not going to move down here and sit here and make sure it is done, because you are doing business all over the world,” he added.
Updated 5 Years ago

The Kwara State government has redeemed the N17 billion bond it issued in 2009 for infrastructural development projects. The State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, who disclosed this during a meeting with stakeholders in Ilorin yesterday expressed satisfaction that the state had meet all its obligations in terms of the fixed income instrument.
Updated 5 Years ago

As part of the US-backed Power Africa initiative, the World Bank Group has disclosed plan to commit $5 billion in new technical and financial support for electricity projects in six African countries. The countries are Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia and Tanzania. They are all partners in the President Barack Obama led Power Africa initiative which aims to increase access to electricity of citizens in African countries.
Updated 5 Years ago

When the time comes to expand your retail business, how will you know? Some shop owners decide purely on gut feeling. Some people decide based on excess cash-flow. Forward-thinking retailers decide because they see the signs in the data. As cloud technology has become affordable and accessible to small retailers, now they can take advantage of store data - like foot-traffic converting into sales - that illuminates opportunities for growth from one store to many.
Updated 5 Years ago

With the midpoint of the calendar year behind us, and the distractions of summer in full swing, there is likely a temptation among your employees to lose focus in the second half of the year. In truth, it’s more than a temptation. It’s a reality that must be managed, both for high and under-performers alike. Managing people is a year-round obligation but it’s on the downhill side of the year when it is especially important. With revenue projections perhaps under target, and the window for closing sales narrowing, a focused plan that lays out measurable performance metrics is critical. We call these plans “cookbooks” as they hold the recipe for success. Here are some necessary ingredients.
Updated 5 Years ago

Any manager who has decided to test remote working at a company is probably pretty confident in his or her leadership abilities. But be careful: The skills of a traditional manager do not always translate well in a distributed work environment. Maintaining a fun, creative culture is an important aspect of remote leadership. The chat system of my company, Formstack, is stuffed with terrible puns, funny gifs and pop culture references.
Updated 5 Years ago

JSE-listed gold miner, AngloGold Ashanti, on Wednesday said it had successfully hoisted 3,300 workers at its Great Noligwa and Moab Khotsong mines to surface yesterday. The workers were brought to the surface after a 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit South Africa yesterday.
Updated 5 Years ago

Reproved and reviled for damaging hearts, Tobacco may soon win the heart of even the most hard-line anti-smoking campaigner if the made-with-tobacco-Ebola-drug proves to be the genuine cure for the virus that has claimed close to a thousand lives since February. The Tobacco plant, (un)popular for helping make smokers liable to die young is the crucial component of a trial drug that is helping Ebola patients live longer, and, it is hoped, even fully recover.
Updated 5 Years ago