Investors Update: DangCem becomes largest public company in Nigeria

DangCem becomes the largest public company in Nigeria

Highlights

• Dangote Cement Plc became the most capitalized on NGX Tuesday after its market capitalization surpassed MTN Nigeria’s, previously the most capitalized stock at N5.66 trillion.
• The rise in the company’s market cap is on the back of a positive reaction to the company’s announcement of the Tranche I shares buyback program
• The share price of the cement giant gained 9.27% to close trading at N360.7 per share with a market capitalization of N6.15 trillion (~$8 billion).

Source: Nairametrics

Our Takeaway

Dangote Cement has been one of the best-performing stocks in Nigeria this year, helping the market soar to levels not seen in a decade and a half. On Tuesday, the NGX benchmark index closed trading at 65,669.29, crossing the 65,652.4 end-of-month all-time high points recorded in February 2008, an era that is often recognized as the peak of the stock market boom of the early 2000s. Nigerian equities have been on a bullish run since the new president’s raft of policy reforms kicked off after taking office about two months ago.

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Visa launches fintech accelerator for African startups

Highlights

• Visa has launched a new Africa Fintech Accelerator program to help enable African startups through expertise, connections, technology, and investment funding. 
• The launch of the Africa Fintech Accelerator program follows Visa’s recent pledge to invest $1 billion in Africa’s digital transformation and its long-term commitment to advancing Africa’s economies and driving inclusive growth.
• The accelerator will enable up to 40 startups each year to accelerate and grow through a three-month intensive learning program focused on business growth and mentoring. 

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

The new program is a sign of Visa’s growing ambitions on the continent and the direction of this ambition. African fintech companies receive the most venture capital funding compared to other technology categories. In 2022, they raised over $2 billion out of over $5 billion invested in the entire ecosystem. Following the program completion, Visa intends to further support fintech growth with capital investment in select participating businesses, while accelerating their commercial launch through access to its technology and capabilities.

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Uganda imposes a new levy on foreign ‘Big Tech’ companies 

Highlights

• Uganda’s parliament on Tuesday passed a new tax law that imposes a 5% levy on income earned in the country by foreign digital services providers such as Twitter and Meta’s Facebook.
• Authorities in the East African country have been exploring ways of tapping into the fast-expanding digital economy to help boost revenue needed to pay off mounting public debt.
• The Ugandan parliament said in a Twitter post that lawmakers had passed a new tax law called “The Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023” containing the new levy.

Source: Zawya

Our Takeaway

Uganda joins a growing list of African countries that have so far introduced various forms of digital taxation aimed specifically at big global tech companies that make money across Africa without being domiciled here. Just recently, a Nigerian regulatory agency announced a code of conduct that would, among other things, require such companies to pay taxes. These come on the back of an OECD-led agreement between about 130 countries last year, which aims to reform the global tax rules in such a way that gives countries more rights to impose taxes on multinational digital corporations like Facebook and Google.