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Telkom Acquires Business Connections, Strengthens Operations

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  • Telkom Acquires Business Connections, Strengthens Operations

Business Connexion Group has merged with Telkom South Africa. Done in a landmark industry deal, the former now adopts BCX as its name formally. Both are South African firms with global footprints.

According to information gathered by The Guardian, the process of acquisition actually started in 2013, when Telkom SA embarked on a strategy to improve performance, with one key considerations of the strategy being to grow beyond its core business of connectivity by expanding into Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services. The deal was formerly sealed on August 24, 2015 and brand launch took place last week in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The implication of this synergy will see improvement in Telkom services, especially as it relates to IT operations in South Africa, while in Nigeria, which has an arm of BCX, the coming together would see the company provide more services beyond the usual Business to Business (B2B) to Human to Human (H2H) operations.

According to the Managing Director, BCX, Ayo Adegboye, who formally informed the press about this development last Tuesday, said that this synergy is a business transformation targeted at improving services and offer customers more access at both ends.

Adegboye, who stressed that the new strategy would offer customers more, added that because of the vertical integration leading to horizontal integration, BCX would become Africa’s end-to-end digital solution provider.

“Although, this is an acquisition, but the two firms are bringing together their capabilities to be able to deliver more for the customers. It is something that should happen. BCX is an IT company and encourages more digital transformation. Telkom, a telecom operator now to tap from our IT capabilities and it will result in improved converged technology across countries of operations,” he stated.

Denouncing any form of job cuts at the Nigerian end as a result of the acquisition, the BCX boss rather posited that coming together of the two firms would create more jobs, “as there will be room to employ more seasoned individuals who will be willing to add value to the business. The focus is about the future development.”

He stressed that the merger was necessary, which will make the company to be ahead of competition, especially now that the world goes converged.

According to the Chief Financial Officer, BCX, Mrs. Olusike Bamisebi, the acquisition has nothing to do with either firm been illiquid, “but to further strengthen value propositions for customers. What Telkom bought into was not a weak business. BCX is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Telkom actually bought into our strengthen. What they wanted to tap into because they won’t be able to do it as much as we do was ICT and that is our primary business and secondary to Telkom. They bought us so that they can leverage on our footprints and expertise across countries of operations.”

Bamisebi, who said BCX is a 20 billion Rand business with 8000 employees, further explained that Telkom business division had to move into Business Connection to then have a merge name BCX. “We pride ourself to say that Business Connection is not moving into Telkom, but other way. We have footprints in Europe, Middle East and Africa.”

According to her, BCX offers clients a full range of IT solutions and services that can meet all their ICT needs from business consulting to communication, data centre management to acclaimed information security services, the firm has the expertise and wherewithal to effectively help client’s regardless of the scale and scope of the professional services solutions they require.

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Crude Oil

Oil Prices Surge as Hurricane Threat Looms Over U.S. Gulf Coast

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Oil jumped in Asian trading on Monday as a potential hurricane system approached the U.S. Gulf Coast, and as markets recovered from a selloff following weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data on Friday.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 72 cents, or 1.06%, to $68.39 a barrel while Brent crude oil was up 71 cents, or 1%, at $71.77 a barrel.

Prices had gained as much as $1 during early Asian trading before pulling back.

Analysts said the bounce was in part a reaction to a potential hurricane in the U.S. Gulf Coast.

A weather system in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico is forecast to become a hurricane before it reaches the northwestern U.S. Gulf Coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday.

The U.S. Gulf Coast accounts for some 60% of U.S. refining capacity.

“Sentiment recovered somewhat from last week’s selloff,” said independent market analyst Tina Teng.

At the Friday close, Brent had dropped 10% on the week to the lowest level since December 2021, while WTI fell 8% to its lowest close since June 2023 on weak jobs data in the U.S.

A highly anticipated U.S. government jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls increased less than market watchers had expected in August, rising by 142,000, and the July figure was downwardly revised to an increase of 89,000, which was the smallest gain since an outright decline in December 2020.

A decline in the jobless rate points to the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by just 25 basis points this month rather than a half-point rate cut, analysts said.

Lower interest rates typically increase oil demand by spurring economic growth and making oil cheaper for holders of non-dollar currencies.

But weak demand continued to cap price gains.

The weakness in China is driven by economic slowdown and inventory destocking, Jeff Currie, chief strategy officer of energy pathways at U.S. investment giant Carlyle Group, told the APPEC energy conference in Singapore on Monday.

Refining margins in Asia have slipped to their lowest seasonal levels since 2020 on weak demand from the two largest economies.

Fuel oil exports to the U.S. Gulf Coast fell to the lowest level since January 2019 last month on weaker refining margins.

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Crude Oil

Oil Prices Rebound on OPEC+ Output Delay Talks and U.S. Inventory Drop

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Oil prices made a modest recovery on Thursday on the expectations that OPEC+ may delay planned production increases and the drop in U.S. crude inventories.

Brent crude oil, against which Nigerian oil is priced, rose by 66 cents, or 0.9% to $73.36 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude appreciated by 64 cents or 0.9% to $69.84 per barrel.

The rebound in oil prices was a result of the American Petroleum Institute (API) report that revealed that the U.S. crude oil inventories had fallen by a surprising 7.431 million barrels last week, against analysts 1 million barrel decline projection.

The decline signals better than projected demand for the commodity in the United States of America and offers some relief for traders on global demand.

John Evans, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates, attributed the rebound in crude oil prices to the API report.

He said, “There is a pause of breath and light reprieve for oil prices.”

Also, discussions within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, are fueling speculation about a potential delay in planned output increases.

The group was initially expected to increase production by 180,000 a day in October 2024.

However, concerns over softening demand in China and potential developments in Libya’s oil production have prompted the group to reconsider its strategy.

Despite the recent rebound, analysts caution that lingering uncertainties around global oil demand may continue to weigh on prices in the near term.

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Energy

Power Generation Surges to 5,313 MW, But Distribution Issues Persist

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Nigeria’s power generation continues to get better under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

According to the latest statement released by Bolaji Tunji, the media aide to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, power generation surged to a three-year high of 5,313 megawatts (MW).

“The national grid on Monday hit a record high of 5,313MW, a record high in the last three years,” the statement disclosed.

Reacting to this, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, called on power distribution companies to take more energy to prevent grid collapse as the grid’s frequency drops when power is produced and not picked by the Discos.

He added that efforts would be made to encourage industries to purchase bulk energy.

However, a top official of one of the Discos was quoted as saying that the power companies were finding it difficult to pick the extra energy produced by generation companies because they were not happy with the tariff on other bands apart from Band A.

“As it is now, we are operating at a loss. Yes, they supply more power but this problem could be solved with improved tariff for the other bands and more meter penetration to recover the cost,” the Disco official, who pleaded not to be named due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, said.

On Saturday, the ministry said power generation that peaked at 5,170MW was ramped down by 1,400MW due to Discos’ energy rejection.

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