Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority Posts N111bn Profit

• Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority Posts N111bn Profit

The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, which is the agency managing the Sovereign Wealth Fund of the Federal Government, has recorded an increase of N101.29bn in profit after tax in the first half of 2016.

The agency, in its interim financial statement for the first six months of 2016, stated that profit after tax rose from the N9.84bn made as of June 2015 to N111.13bn at the end of June 2016.

The 2016 half-year report was signed by the Managing Director, NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji; Executive Director, Mrs. Stella Ojekwe-Onyejeli; and the Financial Controller, Mrs. Olubisi Makoju.

The financial report, obtained by our correspondent on Friday, stated that during the period, the agency recorded an increase of N100.64bn in gross income from N11.66bn to N112.3bn.

A breakdown of the N112.3bn gross income showed that N46.99bn was generated from interest and other income, while the balance of N65.3bn came in through net foreign exchange gains.

As of the end of June 2015, interest and other income was N3.02bn, while foreign exchange gains were N8.63bn.

Further analysis of the financial report showed that the sum of N266m was spent on management fees as of the end of June 2016 as against N218m spent in the same period of 2015.

Local custodian fee was N11.76m as against N6.9m the previous year, while foreign custodian fee was put at N22m as against N50.44m previously.

In terms of total assets, the report stated that this grew from N213.67bn to N380.3bn within the same period.

Orji explained that despite all economic challenges, the SWF would continue to show resilience owing to the fact that the management team had taken steps to invest in various private equity investment funds.

He added that if the fund continued to make profit as it had done in the last three years, the shareholders, which are the federal and state governments, will get their first dividend by 2018.

The NSIA boss said, “The law setting up the NSIA stipulates that if we make returns consistently for five years after commencing operations, then we will have to pay dividend.

“So going by this, if we continue along this line of profitability, then by 2018, we will be paying our first dividend to our shareholders.”

The fund, which was set up in 2013 with about $1.55bn, has three pots from which investments can be anchored.

The pots are the Future Generation Fund, Infrastructure Fund and Fiscal Stabilisation Fund.

The NSIA had allocated 20 per cent of the SWF to the Stabilisation Fund; 40 per cent to the Future Generation Fund; and another 40 per cent to the Infrastructure Fund.