NIGERIA: FirstHoldCo , the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria PLC has never been the same since the shrewd investor, Mr Femi Otedola took over its reigns as Chairman of the company. He has since set out to transform the company and has made several strategic decisions and moves in line with that. Recent reports from late 2025 show that his stake in the Holdco is over 17%, with some reports placing it at over 40% considering acquisitions through his investment vehicles, making him the major shareholder. But this did not happen without a fight with the previous significant shareholders before displacing them and taking over the institution. Shareholders and investors in the company have also had good returns investing in the company since Otedola took over, with the share price rising from sub ₦20 to over ₦55 recently (52 week high). Some savvy investors who understand Femi Otedola's antecedents and the turnaround that was likely to follow with his entry, took position immediate...

Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC (GTCO), the parent company of Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, notified the NGX on the 30th of December, 2025 of its intention to raise additional capital through private placement of its ordinary shares, having obtained the approvals of both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Like Access Holdings PLC, this comes as a surprise to shareholders of GTCO who had thought that the company had completed their capital raise following Central Bank of Nigeria's directive in 2024 to shore up the capital base of Nigerian banks. Recall that in a previous article, we had written about Access Holdings PLC when they released a notice for an Extraordinary General Meeting in December 2025 to get shareholders approval to raise additional capital of N40 billion  in a similar situation.  GTCO was one of the first commercial banks to meet up with the new minimum Capital base requirement of ₦500 billion ahead of the 2026...

NIGERIA: Vitafoam Nigeria PLC released its full year Audited Financial Statements for the year ended September 30, 2025 some days ago after the close of trading last week, and it has got investors talking. What Does Vitafoam Do?   Vitafoam Nigeria PLC is Nigeria's foremost manufacturer of flexible, reconstituted, and rigid foam products, with the largest foam manufacturing and distribution network in the country, ensuring efficient and just-in-time delivery of high quality products across Nigeria and West Africa sub-region. It operates manufacturing facilities in Aba, Ikeja, Jos, and Kano, supported by an extensive network of distributors, comfort centers, and retail outlets nationwide. Key Highlights of Vitafoam's 2025 Audited Result From the audited results, Revenue grew by 35% from previous year to close at  ₦ 111bn, as Profit before tax increased by 1,775% to close at  ₦ 21bn and Profit after tax increased by 1,427% to close at  ₦ 14.5bn. Earnings per share close...

Small businesses are the drivers of any economy. In our opinion they are the mainstay of capitalism / societal economic development, creating wealth while closing the employment gap in the society. However, as much as a great number of small businesses exist in the developing world, a huge percentage of them barely succeed owing to several inhibitors. And even when some of them succeed, they barely grow beyond mum and pop level mainly because of omission of some “common sense” secrets that are not necessarily taught in schools but one has to pick up along the way. It is for this reason and more that we will be sharing some nuggets to help small businesses not just to survive but to thrive and attain their full potential. Let's talk about Cash in this article.  As a small business owner, you probably would have heard the phrase "Cash is king" enough to the extent that it now bores you. But you see that short three-worded sentence? It is a life saver. CASH IS KING. It is li...

Access Holdings PLC has released an explanatory note to their Shareholders on the resolutions to be considered at their Extraordinary Meeting scheduled to hold on December 18, 2025, where they would be considering raising additional capital through Private Placement of 1.975 billion ordinary shares at ₦20.25 per share. In a recent article we had outlined this plan as announced by the company, and concerns expressed by shareholders regarding the exercise, especially as   Access Holdings was one of the first commercial banks to meet up with the new minimum Capital base requirement of ₦500 billion set by the CBN ahead of the 2026 deadline through a rights issue done between July and August 2024, where they raised over ₦350 billion with the offer priced at ₦19.75 per share, which took up their shares outstanding to over 53 billion shares.  The Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting which was published on the NGX on the 27th of November, 2025 outlined that the company w...

Access Holdings has released a notice of an Extraordinary General Meeting of Access Holdings PLC on the 18th of December, 2025 to get shareholders nod to raise additional capital for the company. This comes as a surprise to shareholders who had thought that Access Holdings PLC had completed their capital raise following Central Bank of Nigeria's directive last year to shore up the capital base of Nigerian banks. Access Holdings was one of the first commercial banks to meet up with the new minimum Capital base requirement of ₦500 billion ahead of the 2026 deadline through a rights issue done between July and August 2024, where they raised over ₦350 billion with the offer priced at ₦19.75 per share, which took up their shares outstanding to over 53 billion shares. The Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting which was published on the NGX on the 27th of November, 2025 outlined that the company will be raising an additional capital of up to ₦40 billion or such other amount or their equ...

There are various types of participants in the stock market- Traders, Speculators, Investors, spectators, enthusiasts, etc. And various participants are in the market for various reasons. Just like in an open market there are traders, shoppers, window shoppers, company sales representatives, etc, who are there for various objectives. It is always productive for one to be clear about, and determine why one is in the market and how one can achieve their objectives. Retail investors often lose focus chasing price action instead of understanding businesses. As a retail investor who is looking to grow wealth through value investing in stocks for the long term, what are some useful tips to keep one grounded and focused, with a view to facilitating the achievement of one's investment objective over time? This question continues to recur over and over from our readers, and this article is an attempt to provide some guidance. We  break down the mindset, company analysis steps, valuation bas...

  NIGERIA: Access Holdings PLC recently finally released its long awaited Audited Financial Results for June 30, 2025.Recall that they had notified the investing public of the delay in publishing their half year result twice, engendered by the complexity of the post-completion audit activities of their newly acquired sub-subsidiaries within the banking group, and getting Central Bank of Nigeria's approval for the result.  The delay in releasing the result had led to some shareholders selling off their stocks in the Financial institution, as some of them had expressed fear on the underlying reason for the delay. It was further exacerbated when a recent news revealed Access Bank's CEO, Roosevelt Ogbonna's splurge of millions of dollars on a UK property . While some investors did not see anything wrong with that news, others expressed concern, as Bankers are generally expected to be conservative in their vanity pursuits, especially in the eyes of curious and inquisitive custom...

Stock market participation in Africa remains extremely low. A report published in Nigeria by Nairametrics some months ago indicated that there were about 5 (five) million Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) accounts in Nigeria, of which only about 100,000 were active. That means that less than 2% of Nigerians have CSCS accounts at all, and only 0.05% of the population were active on the Nigerian Stock market. Of course the picture is similar across most African countries.  While this is so, we have come across a lot of questions from people recently requesting to understand how to get started participating in the Stock market and investing in shares of quoted companies. This article is an attempt to provide a response to such requests and help get as many people as possible get started in their wealth creation journey. The Stock market is where securities or stocks or shares of Publicly listed Companies are traded every working day. In Nigeria, to participate in trading such...

    Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc Opened Series 15 – 16 Commercial Paper Issuance Worth Up to ₦50 Billion- Closes on the 15th of October. Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has commenced its Series 15 & 16 Commercial Paper (CP) issuance, aiming to raise up to ₦50 billion as part of its ₦300 billion Commercial Paper Issuance Programme. A subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited, the company specializes in refining, distributing, and marketing granulated sugar to wholesalers and major clients across various sectors. The current offer, which opened on Monday 13th of October, is expected to close on Wednesday, October 15, 2025.  With an installed refining capacity of 1.49 million metric tonnes annually, DSR remains the largest sugar refiner in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company has set its sights on producing an additional 1.5 million metric tonnes of refined sugar using domestically cultivated sugarcane, advancing its strategy to become a globally competitive, fully integrated sugar p...

Augustine Azuka "Jay-Jay" Okocha, according to Wikipedia, is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. B orn 14 August 1973,  he had 73 caps for the Nigeria national team between 1993 and 2006, scoring 14 goals, and was a member of three FIFA World Cup squads. He is regarded as one of the greatest African footballers of all time and one of the most influential dribblers in World football history. He played across multiple leagues, starting his career at Enugu Rangers in the Nigerian Professional Football League before moving to Borussia Neunkirchen in the Oberliga Südwest, Germany's third division, in July 1990. He played in the Bundesliga, Süper Lig, Ligue 1, Premier League, EFL Championship, and Qatar Stars League before his retirement in 2008. But behind the flair lies the untold story: the pressures of fame, the silence after retirement, and the hard financial lessons every African player must learn. We recently saw an interview ...