Damco, one of the world’s leading freight forwarding and logistics service providers, reports a 6% increase in Quarter 1 net revenue with a total of 773 million USD, compared to 728 million USD in 2012. EBIT ended up at 9 million USD for the first quarter, compared to 13 million USD in 2012.
Auteur/autrice : Rédaction Financial Afrik
Femi Oyetunji, CEO of Continental Reinsurance, explain the vision and the philosophy of his company. Exclusive
The Egyptian government is facing an increasingly difficult set of economic circumstances that could raise inflationary pressures and lead to further social unrest, says a report by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. Titled « Reliance On Central Bank Finance Could Raise Inflationary Pressures In Egypt, » the report points out that since the popular uprising of 2011, economic growth in the country has been weak and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has seen a sharp drop in its foreign exchange reserves.
The EU will provide some €37 million to strengthen the fight against piracy in several Eastern and Southern African countries through support for the Programme to promote Regional Maritime Security (MASE). In the past decade, the level of maritime insecurity in the region’s waters has become the highest in the world, undermining development and affecting the wellbeing of millions of people.
ohannesburg – South African mass market lender African Bank Investments posted a 26 percent drop in first-half earnings on Monday, hit by rising bad debts from its heavily leveraged customers.
Addis Ababa, 19 May 2013 – A press briefing was held today to brief the media on the level of preparedness ahead of the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of the Organisation of African Unity and the African Union (OAU-AU). The briefing was also aimed at briefing the media on the side and parallel events taking place within the framework of the Jubilee and at informing the public on the steps to be taken to draw up the vision for Africa for the next 50 years.
Legislation for Africa’s first covered bond market, in Morocco, is only at a preliminary stage and requires further clarification before it’s ready for investors, says a report by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. Titled « Morocco Looks To Covered Bonds To Support Housing Finance, » the report points out that under the proposed covered bond legislation, universal banks will be allowed to issue on-balance-sheet mortgage covered bonds called Obligations Sécurisées Hypothécaires (OSHs) and public sector covered bonds referred to as Obligations Sécurisées Territoriales (OSTs).
Formerly mono-crop dependent, Mauritius is today a diversified economy thanks in large part to inward foreign direct investment (IFDI). Before the 1990s, annual IFDI flows were not significant, amounting to an average of US$ 10 million in 1980-1989. It was only in the mid-1980s that IFDI flows began to increase rapidly. With the implementation of the Export Processing Zone Act, many investors from Asia established textile factories in Mauritius to benefit from preferential access to the European market.
Euroclear and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a joint collateral processing service which will significantly increase efficiency, reduce risk and support the growing collateral needs of industry participants. Initially, the joint services will offer automatic transfer and segregation of collateral based on agreed margin calls relating to over-the-counter derivatives and other collateralised contracts.
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission and Head of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), former President Pierre Buyoya, has reiterated the support of the AU and ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, to the on-going political transition in Mali. President Buyoya was speaking in Bamako, on 09 May 2013, during visits to Mali’s General Delegation for Elections (DGE) and Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI).
“Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance”, is the theme that will be at the center of discussions during the 21st Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), scheduled to take place from 19 to 27 May 2013 at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Summit will officially kick off on Sunday 19 May 2013, with the 26th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC). The PRC will discuss items on the agenda in preparation of the upcoming AU Summit, to be submitted to the Executive Council for adoption.
Oragroup, the Togo-based, regional commercial banking holding company with operations spanning six countries in West and Central Africa, today announced that it has closed a first tranche of equity fundraising at US$18 million from investors including Development Finance Institutions BIO and PROPARCO. This investment marks a new milestone in an ongoing focus on fundraising and growth expansion at Oragroup, led by pan-African private equity firm, Emerging Capital Partners(ECP).
CGF Bourse reiterate it’s BUY rating on Sonatel, and have revised it’s target price up to XOF 18,500, mainly due to its demonstrated ability to defend and grow its market share in key geographies such as Senegal and Guinea, besides implementing strong cost control initiatives that have expanded margins.
Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment and communications group, today announces that Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, will deliver the keynote opening address at the Africa investor (Ai) CEO Infrastructure Investment Summit and Awards.
Fidelity Bank issued a 5-y USD300m Eurobond with a coupon of 6.875%. The issue price was 99.48 and the spread 635 bps over UST (7% yield). In our view, fair value was probably initially between 6.5% and 6.75%, slightly below the actual yield at issuance. That said, we expected the bond to trade at a premium to Access Bank 17s (475 bps over UST) and GTB 16s (421 bps) which is consistent with the fundamentals of these respective institutions.
“This should be a wake-up call to the global community not to dismiss these countries as lost causes. These signs of progress do signal that development can and is being achieved, even amid fragility and violence. But the challenges ahead for many countries are extremely tough. While these successes offer hope, the reality is that far too many fragile and conflict-affected countries lag behind the rest of the world. We need to offer timely and critical support to improve the lives of people living in these fragile countries.” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, May 1, 2013.
After a peaceful election and a rebound in growth, investor confidence in Kenya looks likely to rise. What’s more, barring political shocks and droughts, the Kenyan economy should grow robustly, in Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services view. However, political risks loom.
The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 372nd meeting held on 26th April 2013, was briefed by the Department of Political Affairs of the African Union Commission on its activities relating to past and upcoming elections in 2013 on the continent. Council also followed statements that were made by Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Didier Acouetey is the President and Founder since 1996 of the AfricSearch Group, first human resources consulting firm based in France, specializing in Africa, with branches in Abidjan, Dakar, Douala, Johannesburg, Lome and others African capitals.
The National Union of Mineworkers, an ally of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, said it will ask for a double-digit increase in pay when negotiating with the Chamber of Mines in May. The demand will apply across the mining industry, NUM’s Secretary-General Frans Baleni said by mobile phone today. “We will try to conclude the negotiations before July 1,” he said.
Alcatel-Lucent has signed two contracts for marine maintenance services over the West Africa Cable System (WACS) and Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) cable system.
Vodacom, South Africa’s largest wireless carrier, rose the most in almost three years as the company said its full-year earnings per share increased as much as 25 percent. The shares advanced 5.7 percent, the most on an intraday basis since May 2010, and were 5.2 percent higher at 110.36 rand by 11:46 a.m. in Johannesburg. Earnings per share excluding one- time items were up 20 percent to 25 percent in the 12 months through March, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement today. That implies an outcome of as much as 8.86 rand, ahead of the 8.40 rand median estimate of 16 analysts surveyed…
Sonangol EP, Angola’s state oil company, and Cohydro of neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo will develop a shared oil block off the coast of the two countries, Congolese Oil Minister Crispin Atama said. The nations each control half of the block, which is in a so-called zone of common interest that overlaps with part of Angola’s block 14 in the Atlantic Ocean, he said in an interview in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, on April 19.
The International Monetary Fund urged Sudan to divert more than $3 billion in compensation it’s set to receive from South Sudan to back reforms that will provide the government with more reliable revenue streams. Sudan will get the funds over three-and-a-half years as part of an agreement last year to help the country cope with the loss of oil revenue it suffered when South Sudan seceded in July 2011. The country will also collect transportation and processing fees from South Sudan, which exports its crude via Sudanese pipelines to a terminal at Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
Africa’s health sector needs at least US$30billion of investment in the next ten years to bridge the infrastructure gap, Dr. Khama Rogo, a senior health specialist of the World Bank, has said. “The deficit in terms of investment that is needed for Africa just to reach the level that we are supposed to be right now is about US$30billion dollars,” Dr. Rogo told the B&FT in an interview.
Two young Nigerians, Tokunboh Ishmael, an impact investment pioneer; andLai Yahaya, an oil sector transparency advocate; have been named the 2013 Yale University World Fellows for their enterprise and industry, Yale UniversityPresident, Richard Levin, said on Thursday.
On Saturday, April 20, 2013, Safmarine received the South African Maritime Industry’s ‘Commitment to CSI’ Award for its pioneering Containers-in-the-Community programme which uses decommissioned shipping containers for community development purposes. The award – which was presented to Safmarine by event sponsor, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) – aimed to recognise the efforts of those within the maritime sector who reached beyond their own structures to uplift, empower and skill fellow South African citizens.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has been selected as one of the few securities from 19 African Stock Exchanges included in the FTSE African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) Pan African Index.
Seven out of the 10 fastest-growing countries in the last few years are in Africa. A new report by the African Development Bank (http://www.afdb.org) explores how structured finance techniques can mobilize African domestic capital to support economic infrastructure projects and economic growth.The report, “Structured Finance – Conditions for infrastructure project bonds in African markets”, will be launched by AfDB Vice President Finance Charles Boamah next 19th April in Washington, DC, on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings.
At least 30 investors have indicated interest in 10 Nigerian power plants put up for sale by the government, an official in charge of the process said.Africa’s most populous country is offering as much as 80 percent of its shares in thermal power plants located across the country, James Olotu, chief executive officer of Niger Delta Power Holding Co. of Nigeria, which owns the facilities, said today in a phone interview from Abuja, the capital. “We have organizations showing interest from all parts of the world,” he said without giving further details.
“75% of the corporates that issue in dollars from the emerging markets are investment grade. This is a defensive place for investors that are looking to get some incremental pick-up in a low yield environment for credit.”
ZimFund’s Urgent Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project (Phase One) will increase the reliability, quality and availability of water, restore wastewater treatment capacity and reduce the incidence of cholera and other water related diseases.
In August 2012, US Secretary of the State Hilary Clinton offered a thinly veiled criticism of China’s role in Africa, calling upon African countries to guard against those that “come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave.”[1] The Chinese official news agency, Xinhua, retorted immediately that “Clinton’s implication that China has been extracting Africa’s wealth for itself is utterly wide of the truth.”[2] By Xiaofang Shen*
A plan to give investors the same level of protection when buying South African investment-grade corporate debt as they get with junk bonds is dividing the nation’s money managers. The proposals being debated include limits on further borrowing, which will enhance the safety of the debt, said Jason Lightfoot, a portfolio manager at Futuregrowth Asset Management.
« We have just under a thousand days to go before our deadline to meet the MDGs expires. In the last 12 years 600 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty. The MDGs deserve some of the credit for this – the greatest ever achievement in poverty reduction ». Find a full statement from Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development, today in Ireland.
Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), the pan-African private equity firm, today announces that its portfolio company Finagestion, the African utility sector operating group, has been selected byREGIDESO (Régie de distribution d’eau), the DRC’s public sector water distribution company, for a three-year technical services contract. The contract is partly funded by the World Bank as part of its Water Supply Project.
China’s government has reportedly allocated 45bn yuan ($7.2bn) to fund the global expansion of state media. Africa is in a frontline of this vision. After opening an office in Nairob, CCTV is seeking to increase its African news coverage and is also commissioning local factual programmes.
Driven by strong domestic demand, economies of developing East Asia and Pacific continue to be an engine of global growth, growing at 7.5 percent in 2012 — higher than any other region in the world, says the World Bank in its latest analysis of the regional economy. As the global economy recovers, the report, released today, projects that regional growth will rise moderately to 7.8 percent in 2013 and ease to 7.6 percent in 2014.
The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria today revealed at a public event that over N6 billion was recovered for customers who have been cheated in various transactions with NIgerian banks in 2012. He said this at the annual Isaac Moghalu Foundation (IMOF) Lecture and Symposium in Abuja; adding that the recovery is to fulfill the bank’s policy of protecting customer interest.
DIAMOND Bank is planning the biggest fundraising by a Nigerian lender this year as banks seek dollars to finance oil, power and other infrastructure projects, while meeting central bank requirements for capital reserves. The Lagos-based lender planned to raise as much as $750 million (R6.7bn) in shares or bonds this year to fund more projects and raise its capital adequacy ratio, a measure of financial strength, to between 20 percent and 25 percent, chief financial officer Abdulrahman Yinusa said on Tuesday.
MTN, Africa’s largest mobile-phone operator, may spend as much as $8 billion on an acquisition, building on an increase in spending on networks last year that held back earnings. The company is seeking targets in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East and will look at those that are worth at least $4 billion, Johannesburg-based MTN said by e-mail today.
Job Title: Infrastructure Desk Manager Reports to: Chief Operating Officer Deadline: Monday, 22 April 2013 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa (only those with South African work permits need apply) Duration: 1 year, renewable
The International Capital Market Association (ICMA), the leading trade association for the international capital market, has today published the 2013 legal opinions which support the Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA), the standard agreement used for international repo transactions. The 2013 opinions support the use of the GMRA in 63 jurisdictions worldwide, with the notable addition of an opinion for Russia and an expansion of counterparty coverage in a number of key jurisdictions.
Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited announced today that it expects its gold production for the quarter ended 31 March 2013 to be approximately 15% lower than in the previous quarter. Harmony Gold attributes this dip in gold production to a number of factors, including the temporary closure of the Kusasalethu gold mine in South Africa for safety reasons. Although more than half of the employees have returned to Kusasalethu, the company anticipates normal production levels to only resume in June 2013. Other factors which affected production were the ventilation challenge at Phakisa and the all around slow start-up at other operations following the festive…
Recanati Business School of Tel Aviv University, The Manufacturers Association of Israel, and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC), a joint center of the Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York, are releasing the results of their fifth annual survey of Israeli multinational enterprises (MNEs) today. The survey is part of the Emerging Market Global Players (EMGP) project, a long-term study of the rapid global expansion of MNEs from emerging markets. The results released today focus on data for the year 2011.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Mr Thierry Tanoh, said on Monday that the bank was targeting a 50 per cent revenue growth this financial year. Making the disclosure at the bank’s “Facts Behind the Figures” forum at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos, Tanoh said that the bank’s revenue appreciated by 46 per cent last year.
The African Development Bank (http://www.afdb.org) and The Carlyle Group will host their inaugural joint initiative called ‘In the Board Room’ program in partnership with the University Of Cape Town Graduate School of Business “UCT”.The ‘in the Board Room’ initiative is envisaged for global leaders in business to business schools and campuses across Africa to share their views with Sub-Saharan students.
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GUARANTY), Nigeria’s largest lender by market value, will open units in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as it seeks to expand in East Africa, Chief Executive Officer Segun Agbaje said. The bank will “acquire lenders that are not that large, but profitable in those countries in the short term,” he said in a conference call from Lagos, the commercial capital.
Pan-African lender Ecobank Transnational has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to partner with India’s second-largest bank, ICICI, to make itself a hub for Indian investment into Africa, Ecobank’s CEO said on Monday. CEO Thierry Tanoh told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit that a similar alliance with South Africa’s Nedbank had helped it gain better access to markets in southern Africa.
Standard Bank Group and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have inked a R20 billion (US$2.2 billion) deal to fund renewable energy projects in South Africa. The finance deal was signed by ICBC’s chairman Jiang Jianqing and Standard Bank Group’s joint chief executive Ben Kruger.
