NSE Market cap gains N28.6bn in bullish trading - by Chinenye Anuforo

The Nigerian equities market closed Thursday on a positive note for the fourth consecutive trading session as investors gained N28.60 billion with market capitalisation closing at N9.523 trillion.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NSE ASI) also appreciated by 0.30 percent to settle at 27,725.40 points as Year to Date (YtD) loss trimmed to 3.20 percent.
Market activity as measured by volume traded appreciated by 9.87 percent and Value traded depreciated by -10.72 percent to settle at 200.28 million units and N1.59 billion respectively.
The top three most traded stocks were First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc with the sale of 49.4 million shares worth N49.4 million, followed by Access Bank Plc that exchanged 23.5 million shares worth N130.7 million, and N.E.M Plc traded 17.1 million stocks valued at N13.7 million.
The day’s trading activities showed investor sentiment turned positive as market breadth closed with 28 gainers to 16 losers. Conoil topped the day’s 28 advancing stocks for the third consecutive trading sessions with a gain of 10.23 percent or N2.68 to close at N28.89 per share following the declaration of an impressive 2015 full year results.
On the flip side, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Plc led the day’s losers with a decline of 8.47 percent or 10 kobo to close at N1.08 per share, Skye and Wema Bank Plc followed with a depreciation of 4.55 percent or 3 kobo each to close at 63 kobo per share respectively.

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IDL Limited excites consumers with spirit of Naija product engagement
As part of its drive to connect and reward customer loyalty, The International Distilleries Limited has announced its Chelsea London Dry Gin Consumer Engagement fiesta which will be showcasing Nigerian dance, music and lifestyle.
Tagged “Spirit of Naija Unleashed,” the programme is aimed at connecting and rewarding customer loyalty in continuous and consistent engagement.
Mobolaji Alalade, Head of Marketing of the company in a statement said the theme of the fiesta was conceived to celebrate the rugged spirit of Nigerians, especially the youth through such platforms like music, dance and lifestyle.
He said: “The spirit of Naija is strong and resilient; the Spirit of ‘Naija’ is always reinventing itself and it is fresh; the Spirit of ‘Naija’ is easily seen in the lives of Nigerians, always ready for a challenge – the ‘never say die’ attitude. The Spirit of ‘Naija’ is seen in Chelsea London Dry Gin.”
Alalade said that spirit will be demonstrated by dance and music contests featuring only ‘Naija’ songs during the consumer engagement activations, because “Nothing demonstrates the Spirit of ‘Naija’ Unleashed than ‘Naija’ music that has taken over the world.”
Participants will have the opportunity of experiencing the Chelsea brand in a unique way, according to the Head of marketing, saying there would be loyalty reward scheme.
Chelsea London Dry Gin activation will take place across selected bars in Lagos, Ibadan, Warri, Benin, Port Harcourt, and Owerri and several prizes are expected to be won.
Other highlights include free Mixology Master Class in Lagos which will be attended by bartenders and brand ambassadors and conducted by certified mixologists.

Culled from Sun

Your Parents have little or less to ensure your happy Retirement-Odunze Reginald

According to recent research, the latest life expectancy figures reveal that a 6o year old pensioners today are expected to live off their pension for an average of 15 years- this is nearly a quarter of their whole life. According to Robert Kiyosaki (1999) in his book ‘Cash flow quadrant, the Rich dad guide to financial freedom’ he noted that people invest for two basic reasons,

      

         To save for retirement

        To make lot of money

The first one underscores the importance of pension schemes; it all means that you should be at the top of your game in all cases pertaining to pensions.

Yours parents or family members have little or nothing to offer, so the earlier you start working out plan, measures, schemes to ensure your happy retirement, the better for you.

Experience has shown that nearly most businesses owned both the rich and the poor all fizzled out following the death of the bread winner or the owner of the business.

According to research also most family members are also enmeshed in family squabbles over who takes over the estates of the deceased especially if he dies interstate. So what happens if the deceased do not bequeath anything to a family member?  Will they decide not to bury the deceased, what about if the deceased willed all his or assets to charity. What will the family members do?  And even when the family member that dies has no will, there is that squabble between the relations  and the wife and children of the deceased, as there is unwritten maxim in Africa that the relations of the deceased has been before the coming of the wife and children of the deceased.

This calls for self awakening and a deliberate programme and strategies in ensuring your own successful retirement devoid of family input.

There are steps to achieving that and according to Wall Street cheat sheet “TCRS offers the following three strategic steps for achieving retirement readiness and success:

1. Save for retirement. Start saving as early as possible — and as much as possible to maximize potential compounding of investments. Save consistently over time. Avoid taking loans and early withdrawals from retirement accounts as they can severely inhibit the growth of long-term retirement savings.
2. Calculate retirement savings needs, develop a retirement strategy, and write it down. In creating a plan, consider lifestyle, living expenses, healthcare needs, government benefits, and other factors, as well as a backup plan in case retirement comes early due to an unforeseen circumstance.
3. Get educated about retirement investing. Whether relying on the expertise of professional advisers or taking a more do-it-yourself approach, gain the knowledge to ask questions and make informed decisions. Seek assistance from a professional financial adviser, if needed.” (Wall street cheat sheet)

What we are trying to say is that every human being should endeavor to put in place measures towards achieving a successful retirement during old age and not to look upon family estates as a means to survival.

Putting a hope on family estates and parents’ retirement pot portrays a lack of confidence among family members and in most extreme cases built up of hatred, murder, kidnap and other vices that the love for money can aggravate.

You can also be excluded from the will, even it exits based on family intrigues, power play, politics and insider dealings, where one unscrupulous member may have connived with the lawyer to doctor the will to his own advantage remember, money has its own issues, and tendencies that seems to play when it is a huge amount. And according to Kiyosaki “the world of money is filled with con men and charlatans”

How then do you deal with con men and charlatans, there are no defined rules, the basic rule is to rely on your own judgement and never be greedy.

Odunze Reginald is the Lead Consultant, Chareg Consulting, a management and marketing  consultant  a social media and social marketing consultant , you can visit our twitter anchor @dunzreg, find us on Facebook @ Reginald odunze and reginaldodunze.com, at google+ @ Reginald Odunze and at Linkedin@reginald odunze.