BusinessDay 19 Dec 2017

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12 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Tuesday 19 December 2017 EDITORIAL PUBLISHER/CEO Frank Aigbogun EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Prof. Onwuchekwa Jemie EDITOR Anthony Osae-Brown DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja Bill Okonedo NEWS EDITOR Patrick Atuanya EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SALES AND MARKETING Kola Garuba EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SERVICES Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Adeola Ajewole MANAGER, SYSTEMS & CONTROL Emeka Ifeanyi HEAD OF SALES, CONFERENCES Rerhe Idonije SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Patrick Ijegbai CIRCULATION MANAGER John Okpaire GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North) Bashir Ibrahim Hassan GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES Adeola Obisesan EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Dick Kramer - Chairman Imo Itsueli Mohammed Hayatudeen Albert Alos Funke Osibodu Afolabi Oladele Dayo Lawuyi Vincent Maduka Wole Obayomi Maneesh Garg Keith Richards Opeyemi Agbaje Amina Oyagbola Bolanle Onagoruwa Fola Laoye Chuka Mordi Sim Shagaya Mezuo Nwuneli Emeka Emuwa Charles Anudu Tunji Adegbesan Eyo Ekpo NEWS ROOM 08022238495 08034009034}Lagos 08033160837 Abuja ADVERTISING 01-2799110 08116759801 08082496194 ENQUIRIES $1 billion dollar for fighting defeated insurgents We were taken aback by the announcement, last week, that the National Economic Council has approved $1 billion to be spent by the federal government from the Excess Crude Account to fight Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast region – the same Boko Haram the government and the army repeatedly assured it had defeated technically, had been dislodged from their stronghold of Sambisa forest and which no longer controls an inch of Nigeria’s territory but whose remnant and fleeing members could only attack soft targets. The excess crude account had a balance of only $2.317 billion as at December 13, 2017. The natural question to ask therefore since there was no specifics or breakdown of how the money is to be spent is; why devote a whole $1 billion dollars (N360 billion) to fighting a defeated and fleeing enemy? Also, for added measure, the Chairman of the governor’s forum, Abdulaziz Yari, told the media the governors of the 36 states of Nigeria approved the withdrawal even though Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose has denied ever agreeing to such plan. Regardless, many questions beg for answers. First, the money in the Excess Crude Account belong to the three tiers of government (the federal, state and local governments) and by extension the entire citizenry. The federal and state governments or more appropriately, their executives alone cannot decide on what to do with it to the exclusion of the local governments and especially the representatives of the people. It is not some personal money; therefore the governors have no right to grant permission to the federal government to use it for whatever purpose without due process. Secondly, when have the National Economic Council and the Governor’s forum become a legislative institution with the power of the purse when there is a legitimate National Assembly in place and constitutionally assigned to perform that function? This is impunity that must not be allowed to pass. Besides, the government is proposing to spend another N422 billion (the second highest in the proposed budget) for Defence in the 2018 budget. This is separate from the $1 billion approved by the NEC and governor’s forum. What is more, there are several interventions being undertaken in the Northeast both by government and the private sector including the Presidential Initiative in the North East (PINE), whose money the sacked Secretary to the Federal Government helped himself and his associates generously to, the Northeast Development Agency, private sector led Northeast fund, interventions by national and international Non-Governmental Organisations, the dedicated focus by the World Bank as requested by the president; all targeted at rebuilding the region. The lack of clarity and accountability in the release and utilisation of funds to prosecute the war on insurgency is beginning to expose the farce that is the war on terror. It appears, like many informed analysts and watchers of events in Nigeria have been insinuating, that there’s a huge industry sustaining the war on Boko Haram and ensuring the war never ends. We demand that the National Assembly refuse and insist on the government not touching any funds from the Excess Crude Account without its approval. Before such approval is granted, the government must come clean on the state of the war on terror, the particular items and programmes it needs funds for and also exhaustively account for all previous funds approved for the war. Just like the government has been regaling us with tales of how the previous administration used the funds meant for buying weapons to prosecute the 2015 elections, we may not be surprise to learn, after the tenure of this administration, that similar or worse practices were perpetrated under this administration. It is time the National Assembly act to prevent a few individuals from continually looting of the commonwealth in the name of fighting a nonexistent war on terror. SUBSCRIPTIONS 01-2799101 07032496069 07054563299 www.businessdayonline.com The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. 01-2799100 LEGAL ADVISERS The Law Union MISSION STATEMENT To be a diversified provider of superior business, financial and management intelligence across platforms accessible to our customers anywhere in the world. OUR CORE VALUES BusinessDay avidly thrives on the mainstay of our core values of being The Fourth Estate, Credible, Independent, Entrepreneurial and Purpose-Driven. • The Fourth Estate: We take pride in being guarantors of liberal economic thought • Credible: We believe in the principle of being objective, fair and fact-based • Independent: Our quest for liberal economic thought means that we are independent of private and public interests. • Entrepreneurial: We constantly search for new opportunities, maintaining the highest ethical standards in all we do • Purpose-Driven: We are committed to assembling a team of highly talented and motivated people that share our vision, while treating them with respect and fairness. www.businessdayonline.com
Tuesday 19 December 2017 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 13 COMPANIES & MARKETS Company news analysis and insight Outsourcing minimises cost and maximises the value of a firm as it saves time, energy - CEO, ACE Human Resources Consulting P 14 PZ Cussons surmount headwinds as profit beats estimate BALA AUGIE PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc has surmounted the headwinds caused by scarcity of foreign exchange, soaring inflation and a weak consumer demand as profit beats analysts’ estimates. The soap maker has now delivered top line growth for 5 consecutive quarters since the first quarter of 2017 as it found a winning formula for its product mix. For the half year ended 30 November 2017, PZ Cussons recorded a profit after tax of N288.95 million as against a loss of N586.55 million it recorded in the corresponding period of 2016. The N288.55 million profits beat the N195.16 billion estimates of 8 analysts surveyed by BusinessDay. Driving the performance was higher sales and a reduction in foreign exchange losses. Sales increased by 23.50 percent to N41.12 billion in the period under review, thanks to improved consumer spending. Foreign exchange losses dipped by 47.90 percent to N2.57 billion as at half year ended November 2017 as against N4.93 billion the previous year. The continued strengthening of the Naira against the Dollar since the central bank introduced the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I and E) Window mid-year and subsequent liberalization of the local currency ease the pains of consumer goods firms. Last year was horrendous for these firms as a sudden drop in price of oil and a severe dollar scarcity prevented them from importing raw material and equipments. Some of them were forced to buy foreign currencies at the inaccessible parallel market popularly known as black market. Dollar denominated debt in the balance sheet of firms ballooned in the period as the country slipped into its first recession in 25 years. However, a rebound in oil production and favorable foreign exchange policies saw the country exist a recession as GDP expanded by 0.52 percent and 1.4 percent in the first and second quarter the year. PZ Cussons has a time coverage ratio of 7.74 times earnings, which means interest expense, is not a burden on operating income. The consumer goods giant’s finance costs surged by 171.25 percent to N544.72 million in the period under review, as against N200.17 million the previous year. Total trade and other payables were down by 13.38 percent to N34.15 billion in the period under review, which means PZ Cussons is reducing the backlog of dollar debt owed to suppliers. “PZ’s Q2-18 result is impressive in our view. That said, we think market reaction would be neutral to negative, given that net profit trailed Q2- 17’s by 45%. The stock has accumulated 67% YtD, but has lost 19.30% QtD,” said analysts at Cordros Research Limited. Further analysis of the financial statement of PZ Cussons financial statement shows cost of sales spiked by 31.90 percent to N28.79 billion as the company continues to grapple with imported inflation. Cost of sales ratios moved to 70.01 percent in the period under review as against 66.15 percent the previous year. In other words the consumer goods giant is spending more input cost to produce each unit of products. Steinhoff Africa Refinancing $1.2bn in Shareholder Loans Steinhoff Africa Retail Ltd. said it is refinancing loans to its Frankfurtlisted parent Steinhoff International Holdings NV that amounted to about 16 billion rand ($1.2 billion) following an accounting scandal that has left the German retailer’s finances in tatters. FirstRand Ltd.’s Rand Merchant Bank has been appointed to handle the refinancing of the shareholder loans and ring-fence funding facilities for STAR, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Friday. The financing structures to be created by RMB will be used to repay Steinhoff’s shareholder-loan funding and provide STAR with stand-alone financing facilities, it said. Steinhoff said on Wednes- day its accounting errors stretch back into 2016, highlighting the extent of wrongdoing at the retailer that’s led to an 80 percent slump in the stock since the beginning of last week. The retailer is due to meet with banks to try to navigate a way out of its crisis, which has wiped more than 10 billion euros ($11.8 billion) off the value of the company. Steinhoff’s chairman and largest shareholder, South African billionaire Christo Wiese, stepped down from the supervisory board on Thursday while former Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste quit last week. “RMB is in the process of engaging certain banks and financial institutions” to set up STAR’S new funding facilities, the South African retailer said. Heritage Bank Plc, Nigeria’s Most Innovative Banking Service Provider has been bestowed with the inaugural Nigeria Sustainable Banking Award convened by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “For Sustainable Transaction of The Year in Agriculture.” The award which was in recognition of its outstanding success and leadership in Nigeria’s sustainable development in 2017 was presented to the bank recently during the Bankers Committee meeting held in Lagos. The MD/CEO of Heritage Bank, Ifie Sekibo in recognition of the award said, “We are highly honoured to be awarded by the regulator as one of the most supportive financial institutions to the Agric sector, which is a key sector of the economy and this validates the hard work and success story of the bank to create, preserve and transfer wealth across generations.” According to him, Heritage Bank has continued to Heritage Bank receives CBN’s Sustainable Banking Award in Agric compliment the efforts of CBN by making funds available to both individuals and corporate organisations in their efforts to increase agricultural output. He explained that the bank has taken the front seat in financing critical agricultural projects in several states in the country, especially in Oyo, Kaduna and Zamfara States. Specifically, Sekibo explained, “The Award is in recognition of what we are doing with Biase Plantations Limited (BPL) a subsidiary of Wilmar International in supporting Oil Palm industry and Triton Aqua Africa Limited (TAAL) involved in aquaculture and reforestation projects. “Being a Bank with sustainability as part of our DNA, our relationship with BPL that has sustainability as one of its core values provides a natural fit. The project is being implemented in full compliance with all relevant national legal requirements in Nigeria, following best international management practices, including compliance with requirements of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).” The bank’s Group Head, Agriculture Finance, Olugbenga Awe explained further that the Heritage Bank is currently implementing an Outgrowers Scheme that is sustainable, fair, adapted to the local context and that will positively impact on the lives of the rural poor. “The objective of the Outgrowers Scheme is to improve the livelihood of rural people, increase the product supply of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to BPL and to help close the palm oil deficit in the Nigerian market with commitment to the ‘No Deforestation and No Exploitation policy’,” he said. Awe also expressed the excitement about the prospects of working with CBN to expand the Anchor Borrowers Programme to cover cash crops such as Oil Palm and Cocoa. According to him, our track records and experience in this field will be leveraged to offer a seamless rollout. He, however stated that Heritage Bank was not only actualizing its vision of partnering with individuals, organisations and governments to create, preserve and transfer wealth across generations, but is also playing a crucial role in helping to achieve the government’s ambition of diversifying the economy.
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BusinessDay 19 Dec 2017

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