BusinessDay 19 Dec 2017

Tuesday 19 December 2017 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 15
COMPANIES & MARKETS
Reckitt Benckiser deepens distribution of
health products with N900m warehouse
...moves to create more jobs, earn forex for Nigeria
Business Event
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
Reckitt Benckiser,
manufacturer
of world leading
health and hygiene
products
has invested N900 million in
warehouse and logistical infrastructure
as part of effort to
boost distribution chain and
adequate penetration of its
products in Nigeria and West
African markets.
The newly inaugurated
warehouse which serves as the
main distribution centre and
logistical infrastructure located
in Agbara in Ado-Ota Local
Government Area of Ogun, a
gateway to West African market
and Nigerian economic nerve
centre - Lagos, was conceived
as a way of reaching millions
of existing and new consumers
residents in Nigeria and West
African coast.
With improved production
of health and hygiene products
such as Dettol, Harpic,
Mortein, Airwick, Durex, Gar-
Egypt’s Eni SpA-operated
Zohr natural gas field
has started production,
bringing the country
closer to its goal of energy selfsufficiency.
Gas from the Mediterranean’s
largest offshore field is
pumped to a facility in Port Said
city, to be prepared for delivery
to the national distribution network,
with initial production of
350 million cubic feet per day,
oil minister Tarek El-Molla said
in a statement Saturday. Daily
output is set to rise to about 1
billion cubic feet in June and
2.7 billion by the end of 2019,
he said.
Production from Zohr will
help the most populous Arab
nation achieve “self-sufficiency
of natural gas, ease the burden
on the state budget and cut the
imports bill,” El-Molla said.
Zohr could put an end to
the tenders that suppliers from
Glencore Plc to Trafigura PTE
Ltd. have won in past years.
The field also will help ease
pressure on Egypt’s economy,
viscon, among others, Reckitt
Benckiser intends to increase
production capacity, create
more wealth, job opportunities
through aggressive penetration
of both Nigerian and West
African markets with a view to
increasing the nation’s gross
domestic product and earn
more foreign exchange for the
country.
Speaking at the inauguration
of a N900 million distribution
centre and logistical
infrastructure held in Agbara
recently, Rahul Murgai, General
Manager, Reckitt Benckiser,
said, “We believe that these
investments will scale up our
manufacturing by facilitating
bigger production and all these
efforts should create more jobs
to help grow state and federal
economies.
“At Reckitt Benckiser, our
vision is to provide our customers
with innovative products
and solutions for healthier
lives and happier homes. And
having been in Nigeria for 50
years, we are happy to invest in
a scale manufacturing facility
which has been plagued by a
shortage of foreign currency
since a 2011 uprising. Egypt
now imports liquefied gas at
high costs to meet its energy
needs. However, Eni’s discovery
of Zohr in August 2015
promises to satisfy much of
the local demand and could
restore the nation as a gas supplier
for the eastern Mediterranean
region.
No Deficit’
“One of the biggest issues
Egypt had over the past years
was the big shift in its energy
balance from a net exporter to
a net importer because of an
increase in consumption versus
a decline in production,”
said Mohamed Abu Basha,
Cairo-based economist at investment
bank EFG-Hermes.
“With the new gas finds, it’s
returning to this balance, if not
exporting, then at least there’s
no deficit.”
The North African nation
had to give up gas exports in
2014 to meet local demand and
because sporadic sabotage on its
here in Agbara, Ogun state, and
the Company still remains committed
to Nigeria. We see Nigeria
as epicenter of Africa’s growth
and especially Ogun state as the
gateway to Nigeria and Africa.
“Hence, we have invested
N900 million in building a world
class distribution and logistical
infrastructure. For all our
brands, we have partnered with
Ogun state, Ministry of Health,
Nigerian Medical Association
and save children on various
initiatives and these include:
‘Dettol Saving Lives with Stop
Diarrhoea’, ‘Mortein Scaled
Awareness Building for Malaria
Prevention’.
Responding, Governor Ibikunle
Amosun of Ogun state
declared that additional investment
as being undertaken by
the Company confirmed intensive
economic drive currently
embarked by government and
a further confirmation to the
status of Ogun state as preferred
investment destination in the
country, adding that Government
would do more to improve
on ease of doing business.
Egypt’s Giant Zohr Gas Field Starts Production
main pipeline in the Sinai Desert
throttled shipments. Zohr, with
an estimated reserve of about
850 billion cubic meters of natural
gas in place, is expected to
close the gap between supply
and demand, helping to end
Egypt’s reliance on imported
LNG next year and may eventually
enable a return to exports,
El-Molla said last month in an
interview.
Russia’s state-owned producer
Rosneft PJSC closed a deal
in October to acquire 30 percent
of the Zohr field. BP Plc bought a
10 percent stake last year.
‘No Deficit’
“One of the biggest issues
Egypt had over the past years
was the big shift in its energy
balance from a net exporter to
a net importer because of an
increase in consumption versus
a decline in production,” said
Mohamed Abu Basha, Cairobased
economist at investment
bank EFG-Hermes. “With the
new gas finds, it’s returning to
this balance, if not exporting,
then at least there’s no deficit.”
Bank of Japan meeting to end active month for central banks
US dollar, set for another heave, also in focus as is bitcoin futures contract fight
L-R : Nike Oyewolu, head, sales and markets, KPMG in Nigeria ; Adewale Ajayi, partner, tax, regulatory
and people service, KPMG in Nigeria, Nneka Jethro-Iruobe, manager, tax, regulatory and people
services, KPMG in Nigeria, and Nike Yomi-Faseun, associate director, tax, regulatory and people
services, KPMG in Nigeria, during a press briefing and launch of KPMG survey report on non-executive
directors’ remuneration in the top 25 listed companies in Nigeria, in Lagos. Pic by Pius Okeosisi
L-R Adedotun Owolabi, Nutrition Manager, FreislandCampina, Omolara Banjoko, Marketing Manager
Three Crowns Milk, Bukunola Olateru, Company Sec./Legal Adviser FreislandCampina, Kingsley K.
Akinroye, Exec. Director, Nigerian Heart Foundation, Tola Atinmo, Chairman Nutrition Committee, Nigerian
Heart Foundation, Ademola Sadipe, Legal Adviser, NHF, Dele Adetiba, Chairman, Communications
Committee NHF at the Heart Mark Food Labelling agreement signing event.
L-R: Tony Fadaka , registrar/chief executive, Nigerian Institute of Management,; Olukunle Iyanda ,
president/chairman of council, NIM, and immediate past President, Munzali Jibril, during the investiture
of Iyanda as the President of NIM in Lagos
FT Reporters
Here’s what investors
are watching and discussing
as a new trading
week for markets
beckons.
Central bank policy and asset
prices at an inflection point?
This week, the Bank of Japan’s
policy meeting will mark the last
of what has been a very active
month for central bank gatherings.
With global equities on
course for their best year since
2013, signs of window dressing
abound, as investors chase
strong performing sectors. Demand
for US equities is picking
up with the biggest weekly flows
into large-caps since April and
into value since March, according
to Bank of America Merrill
Lynch.
Some see the late-year rally in
performance as further evidence
of the “Fomo trade”, or fear of
missing out, a classic late-cycle
sign of investor exuberance that
shows signs of rhyming with
what we saw in Japan in 1989,
the US in 1999 and China in 2007.
Once the calendar flips into
2018, and in contrast with the
usual bullish analyst outlooks for
next year, some investors starting
with a clean slate may be less
inclined to aggressively chase
richly valued equities and bonds.
Particularly as central banks are
slowly moving towards the exit
door of easy money. While inflation
pressure remains subdued,
stronger growth prospects —
with US tax reform looming large
— look increasingly at odds with
loose financial conditions.
As fixed income analysts
at Fidelity note: “Central bank
policies are converging against
the most synchronised (positive)
global growth backdrop in
decades.
L-R Rotimi Oladele, president & chairman of council, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and Calixthus
Okoruwa, chief executive officer, XLR8 Limited during the award of Corporate PR Practitioner of the Year
2017 to XLR8 by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations in Lagos.