NSIA Grows Assets To N649.84bn In 2019

– Records N36.15bn Total Comprehensive Income

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority has recorded a Profit After Tax of N34.46bn for the 2019 financial period. During the period, the Authority also recorded a Total Income of N47.39bn.

The figures are contained in the 2019 audited financial statement of the investment institution which was released on Friday.

In the audited account, which was made available to THE WHISTLER, the N36.15 bn Total Comprehensive Income recorded in 2019 represents a decline when compared to the N44.34bn recorded in the same period of 2018.

If the foreign exchange gain of N18bn in 2018 and N1.28in 2019 is excluded, the net income in 2019 was N34.87bn compared to N26.28bn in 2018.

In real terms, NSIA performed better in 2019.

The audited financial statement also showed that the Authority grew it’s assets by N32.15bn during the period from N617.69bn in 2018 to N649.84bn in 2019.

Also, it closed key transactions and increased capital deployment on domestic infrastructure projects specifically in agriculture, healthcare, and infrastructure enabling financial institutions.

In the healthcare sector, the NSIA said it operationalized the Cancer Centre at Lagos University Teaching Hospital in May 2019.

The NSIA also said it completed civil and construction works at the Advanced Diagnostic Centres in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in 2019 and operationalized the facility in February of 2020.

It said that as of early 2020, construction and civil works at the Advance Diagnostic Centre in the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia had been concluded.

It noted that commissioning and operationlization of the FMCU centre would happened once the lockdown imposed on account of covid-19 pandemic is eased.

On the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, the NSIA said it delivered 6.5 million 50kg bags of NPK 20:10:10 while accredited participating blending plants increased from 18 to 31 in 2019.

For the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, the Authority said a total of ₦181.9bn had been deployed across all the three projects under PIDF including 2nd Niger Bridge, Lagos – Ibadan Expressway and Abuja-Zaria-Kaduna-Kano Road.

Speaking on the financial performance, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji, told THE WHISTLER that the international market was favourable for the Authority in terms of its investments.

He said almost all the investments which the NSIA made in equities, hedge funds and private equity were profitable.

He said, “The international market was very positive for us last year. Almost all the investments we made in equities, hedge funds and private equity all did well last year.

“A lot of the returns you see came from our international investments in dollars and some domestic investments also made money in 2019.”

However, he said the negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic affected the performance of the market between February and April this year.

The CEO expressed optimism that with the rebound which the market had begun to witness as of June this year, the outlook for the Fund remains promising.

He added, “The international market unfortunately in 2020 became caught up with impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and it has been weak for much of the year but I’m still hopeful that markets will recover from this issue.”

He added, “We are still hopeful that the rest of 2020 will be much better because we’ve seen the market rally through May and June.”

When asked what accounted for the profitability which the NSIA recorded in the 2019 financial period, Orji said this was largely due to gains recorded in its foreign asset classes.

He also said the domestic investments made by the company performed very well during the period.

On the outlook for 2020, he said the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic had caused an unprecedented human and health crisis with significant impact on global market.

Orji said it may be difficult to predict the markets overall reaction to the development.

He added that the Authority would continue to monitor the market conditions with a view to leveraging the upside risks that avail themselves in the market.

He said, “We expect that our strategy will continue to deliver positive returns in the long term in 2020 as the market rally and new opportunities emerge.

“Further progress in the Gas Industralisation programme and the Basic Chemicals Platform should move the country closer to developing a basic chemicals industry.

“The Authority will continue to deploy capital into vital sectors of the economy with an increased focus on sectors that will engineer real growth.”

The NSIA boss said asset allocation strategy remains stable across the various funds adding that Future generations fund remains 25 per cent public equities, 25 per cent private equity, 25 per cent Absolute Returns and 25 per cent Other diversifiers.