Thread by @Nairametrics

Hello everyone and welcome to @Nairametrics Corporate News Roundup for the week ended April 5, 2020. This thread is brought to you by @BluechipTechNG.   
  
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As usual, kindly retweet this thread so that others on your timeline may see and engage. If you are just seeing this thread for the first time, we do this every Sunday at 10pm, basically bringing you bitesize news from Corporate Nigeria.

The week was quite eventful in corporate Nigeria, especially as the Coronavirus pandemic ate deeper into the global economy.

We’ve got news about more companies that are either supporting state or federal governments with funds, or providing facilities for curbing the killer disease, which is gradually forcing the whole world to embark on holiday.

We have news about corporates that shut down their operations, even as more companies continue to ask their employees to work remotely.  
We also have news about companies that posted either 2019 Full Year or First Quarter financial results. 
  
Let’s begin...

1/ Last week, some companies went above and beyond expectations, as they not only donated funds, but went ahead to donate facilities that would help curb COVID-19 in Nigeria. One of such is GTBank.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State was elated when he announced that the fully-equipped Covid-19 isolation centre at Onikan, donated by the bank, had been commissioned.

Sharing pictures of the 110-bed facility on his Twitter page, Governor Sanwo-Olu expressed excitement over GTBank’s swift response to the state’s call for help.

The facility will go a long way in ensuring that those who contract the disease are given the best care possible, whilst being isolated from the rest of society in order to prevent further infections.

2/ More corporate firms had to shut operations when President Muhammadu Buhari gave the sit-at-home order in Lagos, and Ogun States, as well as the Federal Capital Territory. These, aside from Ogun, were the states with high number of COVID-19 cases.

Polaris Bank Limited was among the companies that closedl down most of its banking halls across the country on March 30th, 2020. This development, according to the bank is part of its commitment towards preventing further spread of the highly contagious Coronavirus.

In a statement shared via Twitter, the bank noted that its “virtual branches” would remain open to serve customers in the meantime. In other words, customers are advised to make use of the bank’s internet banking facilities.

With the move, Polaris Bank joined a growing list of other banks and numerous other companies that have resorted to limiting physical presence in a bid to contain the virus spread.

3/ First Bank of Nigeria Limited also joined counterparts, as it announced last week that it had donated the sum of N1 billion to facilitate the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.

This happened amid similar donations by other top companies in the country, especially banks, many of which are acting in accordance with agreements reached by the CBN’s Bankers’ Committee.

First Bank explained that the donation would enable the Federal Government to acquire some critical medical equipment such as testing kits, as well as provide isolation centres which are essential in the ongoing fight against the virus.

4/ More organisations and billionaires also contributed to the COVID-19 relief fund, which is warehoused by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

One of the billionaires and richest woman in Nigeria, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija disclosed that her family through Famfa Oil limited contributed N1 billion to support the fight against Coronavirus in Nigeria.

She also disclosed via Twitter that the donations symbolize their resilience, character, and strength as they plan to work with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

5/ One of the challenges that came with COVID-19 was that several flights had to be cancelled, causing many to call for compensation, especially for hotel reservations.

Here, Airbnb offered to pay its hosts $250 million for two and a half months reservations that have been cancelled as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak.

The hospitality company stated that the affected hosts would get 25% of their normal cancellation fee for stays booked between March 15 and May 11, 2020.

Airbnb said it recognised that there might still be uncertainty over reservations booked on or before March 14 with check-in after May 31. In the coming weeks, it would ask hosts and guests to revisit these reservations and choose to either cancel or re-commit to it.

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6/ Some corporate firms also released their financials last week. In its case, Unilever Nigeria released its audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2019, as it declared a turnover of N60.5 billion in the year under review.

This represents a decline compared to N92.89 billion recorded for the corresponding year, 2018. The results show the company also recorded a loss after tax of N7.42 billion in 2019 relative to profit after tax of N10.55 billion recorded for the comparative year 2018.

The company explained that its performance reflected the challenging operating conditions but also the company’s decision to tighten credit terms...

...to address exposure from trade receivables and excess stock in trade in order to better position the company for innovation and a return to competitive growth.

7/ Following the President Buhari’s sit at home order, Uber had to announce that it would temporarily shut down its operations in Nigeria following the Federal Government lockdown directive across its revenue-driven routes in the country.

In a statement issued by the company and obtained by Nairametrics in Tuesday, the Uber disclosed that its operations would no longer be available for the next 14 days following the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to restrict movement in the Federal Capital Territory...

...Lagos and Ogun States.  The directive was given after the confirmed cases of Coronavirus increased within these states, and spread across nine other states. According to President Buhari, only companies that render essential services would be allowed to operate in the states

8/ While the whole world concentrated on government to meet the needs of curbing COVID-19, Facebook chose to support media houses with $100 million investment as the pains of Coronavirus pandemic bite harder.

The fund, according to the social media firm, is meant for media firms that the pandemic is affecting their finances, despite the growing views in the first quarter of 2020. It is expected to be an intervention for news reportage and decline in ad revenues.

9/ On deal, Telecommunication giant, MTN Group Ltd, has resolved to go ahead with plans to reduce its stake in its Nigerian subsidiary.

The South African based firm, whose Nigerian business unit is the largest telecommunication firm in Nigeria, will have to sell off those shares in smaller units than earlier anticipated due to the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy and the capital market.

Concern of observers is that Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market, as it accounted for a third of overall 2019 revenue and almost 40% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

With about 69 million customers, it is the biggest provider of telecommunication services in the country. 

10/ Still on results, FCMB Group Plc. released its full-year 2019 results, as it posted Gross Earnings of N181billion up from N177 billion recorded in 2018.

This amounts to a 2.3% increase year on year. The bank's Profit before tax jumped to N20 billion in 2019. This amounts to a 9.2% increase year on year. 

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11/ Curbing COVID-19, Union Bank of Nigeria shut a number of its branches nationwide while maintaining skeletal activities in some others, and full operations in a few.

In a message to its customers, it attributed the development to the impact of COVID-19 and its intention of modifying how to serve the customers.

The modification will see most branches across the country shut with only the Automated Teller Machines operational, while some will stay open but only accept envelope deposits in order to prevent crowd in the banking halls.

Only a few branches in major cities will still have full operations.

12/ Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (Ikeja Electric) appears to be the first among its peers to show concerns for consumers in the power sector when it announced the suspension of all disconnection activities of non-paying customers for the period of two weeks.

This was disclosed in a special message by the Acting Chief Executive Officer (Ag CEO) of Ikeja Electric, Folake Soetan, to all the customers of the company on April 1, 2020.

The measure, according to her, was to ensure that customers, who cannot afford to pay their March bills due to the restriction order by the government, continue to enjoy power supply until the stay at home order is lifted.

13/ Also as the world faces the Coronavirus pandemic, Standard Chartered Bank disclosed that it had committed the sum of $1 billion towards financing companies whose production activities are crucial at this time.

To qualify for the credit facility, potential beneficiary must engaged in the production of essential goods and services are eligible to benefit from the credit facility.

In specific terms, the statement named producers and distributors of pharmaceuticals and healthcare products as the main targets.

Also, companies that are planning to start manufacturing products that are needed in the fight against the pandemic also qualify to benefit from the $1 billion credit facility.

14/ Still on financials, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc also released its audited full-year 2019 results . Its Total Revenue surged to N6. 41 million in 2019 as against N5.73 million recorded in 2018, an increase of 12% year to year.

Cash and equivalents stood at N1.71 billion in 2019 as against N2. 94billion recorded in 2018 a decrease of 42% year to year. 
Total assets also rose to N11.74 billion in 2019 as against N10.82 billion recorded in 2018 an increase of 9% year to year.

15/ British Airways is one of the hardest hit by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, globally.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the industry was estimated to have lost between $63 billion and $113 billion worth of revenue as at March 5, 2020, due to reduced numbers of flights.

This will be further compounded by a slump in demand as a result of total lockdowns, and travel restrictions that are being implemented across countries globally. 

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16/ Search engine giant, Google, has disclosed plans to tackle the spread of fake news and misinformation on coronavirus with a $6.5 million fund.

Google reportedly wants to use the fund to help fact-checking organizations, who have been affected by the pandemic, and are now operating on relatively small budgets.

According to Alexios Mantzarlis who serves as the News and Information Credibility Lead at Google News Lab, many fact-checking organizations have recently witnessed a surge in demand for their work.

This is amid wide-spreading misinformation about the pandemic, even as people try to clarify the rumours.

Your thoughts are as good as mine...

That's our thread for this week.

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Until we do this again.....do have a profitable week ahead.

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