In spite of its potential to spur economic growth, the retail sector in Nigeria has remained unorganised. To this end, BusinessDay Media is convening the first ever retailers’ forum. The forum will lead to the launch of Retailers Council of Nigeria (RCN), a body whose mission is to formulate, facilitate, and propagate practices and processes in line with international best practices so as to grow the Nigerian retail sector, leading to increased consumption, a boost in production, employment generation, and ultimately, the growth of the economy. The symposium, which holds on November 18, 2013 at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, will have Olusegun Obasanjo, former president and chairman, board of trustees of RCN, as chief host, while Olusegun Aganga, minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, will be the guest of honour.
Updated 6 Years ago

A Federal High Court in Jos, Plateau State, has asked the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and the Special Task Force to pay N2m as damages to a Jos-based businessman, Mr. Chijioke Achi, for violating his fundamental human rights.
Updated 6 Years ago

Eleven Deposit Money Banks had so far disbursed the sum of N109.3bn to 20 companies from the N300bn Power and Airlines Intervention Fund provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2010, the Governor, CBN, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, said on Monday. Sanusi, who stated this in a keynote address at the second biennial regional conference of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management in Lagos, said the disbursement was meant to fast-track the development of electric power projects in the country. The two-day conference entitled, ‘Financing infrastructure for sustainable development in West Africa’, was being attended by governors and top officials of central banks in the region.
Updated 6 Years ago

In order to take advantage of the favourable global market conditions, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) has concluded plans to issue a new five-year $500 million Eurobond. This emerged just as Access Bank Plc disclosed that it recently raised $100 million in seven-year international bilateral debt priced below its Eurobond yield of 7.25 percent. The proposed fixed income instrument by GTBank will be the bank’s third external issuance since 2007.
Updated 6 Years ago

Secrecy has served Samsung Electronics well. Keeping its rivals guessing has helped Samsung, the South Korean technology giant, build a formidable lead in the smartphone industry, where it now sells more than one in three handsets worldwide.
Updated 6 Years ago

United kingdom gets an annual boost of up to £78 billion ($124 billion) as a result of belonging to the European Union (EU), one of the country's biggest business lobbying groups said on Monday. EU membership has become an increasingly contentious topic in the U.K., with detractors panning the 28-country union as overly bureaucratic and a threat to individual countries' sovereignty. Political hostility towards the EU has grown in Britain since the onset of the financial crisis, and Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to hold a referendum on membership if his Conservative party wins a majority at the 2015 election
Updated 6 Years ago

For the last decade, the diamond industry has been the poor cousin in the portfolios of large, diversified mining companies. Weak prices and poor consumer demand have constrained profits, while a paucity of diamond discoveries have limited new sources of supply. 2012 was a particularly tough year, one which most players in the industry would rather forget. Costs rose, and a liquidity crisis in India nearly caused the collapse of the country’s diamond-cutting and manufacturing business. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto put their diamond assets on the market in a bid to cut costs and focus on more profitable industries. Just a year earlier, the Oppenheimer family had sold the balance (40 percent) of their diamond empire to Anglo American in a $5.2-billion deal. Some critics said the move reflected a lack of faith in the future of the industry, as well as in the company itself. All of this negativity was turned on its head in June this year. Rio Tinto, which is the second largest mining company in the world, announced that it had scrapped the sale of its $1.3-billion diamond business. It was not prepared to sell its assets at bargain prices when in fact the medium to long-term fundamentals for diamonds look increasingly attractive. “We have valuable, high-quality diamond businesses that are well positioned to capitalise on growing demand for luxury goods in Asia and continuing strong demand in North America,” said Alan Davies, CEO of Rio Tinto Diamonds & Minerals, at the time.
Updated 6 Years ago

Eike Batista is quickly becoming the poster boy for the new age of high-beta wealth. The Brazilian oil tycoon—who didn't have much oil, as it turned out—has seen his fortune drop from an estimated $34 billion to under $1 billion in a year and a half. The shares in his various companies have crashed and his main company, oil and gas driller OGX, could file for bankruptcy in the coming days. Batista declared in 2011 that he would soon become the richest man in the world. Instead, he's closing in on a different wealth record: the largest personal-wealth loss in the world.
Updated 6 Years ago

Walking slowly to the windows facing the meadow of green that is Central Park, Gary Barnett slips into salesman mode as he spreads his arms wide, embracing the sweeping bird's-eye view he has from the 87th floor of his shimmering skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. Noting a visitor's gasp at the stunning vista, he smiles. "That's what we want. We want the 'Oh, wow,' " he says. That 'oh wow' factor is part of a 6,250-square-foot, full-floor apartment in his soaring skyscraper, One57, complete with a soon-to-arrive master bedroom tub carved from a single piece of Italian marble. The apartment comes with a hefty price tag of $67 million. Or, put another way, nearly $11,000 per square foot. That's Per. Square. Foot.
Updated 6 Years ago

Enormous was the challenge that led a well-respected academician to subscribe to the culpability of the metaphysical in what has become a hydra-headed monster undermining the growth and development potential of Nigeria’s economy. During his mandatory screening on the floor of the Nigerian Senate – a prelude to being confirmed a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria– in January 2013, Prof. Chinedu Nebo reportedly said the everlasting epilepsy associated with the nation’s power sector may require more than just a scientific diagnosis. According to him, there appears an involvement of “some witches and demons,” which would stop at nothing to frustrate and truncate any attempt at resolving the national problem.
Updated 6 Years ago