Business
Notore Nets N26bn Revenue
Leading Nigeria’s agro-allied and chemical company, Notore Chemical Industries Plc, has recorded group revenue of N26.28 billion for the six-month period ended 30th June 2022, a 178.7 per cent growth compared to N9.43 billion for the corresponding period in 2021 half-year.
The company also reported N2.6billion net profit before tax in the same period, representing 116.4 per cent improvement on year-on-year analysis, according to a statement.
According to the statement, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Notore Chemical Industries Plc, Mr. Ohis Ohiwerei, said the modest growth in revenue is attributable to improvements in plant reliability and increased production output, a positive outcome of the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) programme implemented in most part of last year.
“Notwithstanding, operating income for the period was N10.85 billion, a significant increase of 328.7 per cent as compared to a loss (N3.30 billion) in 2021H1.
“This was as a result of increased profitable operations during the period. The Group reported a net profit before tax of N2.60 billion during the period as compared to a loss of (N15.84 billion) for 2021H1 (an improvement of 116.4% YoY), a significant milestone towards its drive to a return to profitable business operations.,” he said.
He continued that Notore showed remarkable progress and achieved important milestones during the period as it strives towards return to profitability and repositioning for a great future.
“The period witnessed an increase in Plant reliability and relatively stable operations, resulting in significant increases in production output and sales.
“The production of Notore NPK fertiliser has continued to ramp up, with significant increases in NPK production output and sales anticipated in the second half of the on-going year.
“Additionally, the sale of Notore seeds to Nigerian farmers to enhance the yields of farm produce continued in furtherance of our corporate vision to be a significant contributor to the development of Africa.
“Notore intends to continue to expand into other products to further diversify the company’s revenue streams and boost profitability.
“As part of measures to return the Group and the Company to profitability and improve working capital, Notore had during the period, successfully restructured a substantial part of its short-term loans into fixed long-term loans, thus boosting its debt service management,” he noted.
On the company’s outlook given the disruptions in the international market, he said whilst the Russian-Ukraine war has had some disruptive impact on the dynamics of global fertilizer markets during the period, the domestic fertilizer market demand is quite robust and is expected to continue to grow, considering the Federal Government’s strong and decisive policy focus on agriculture as one of the keys to unlock the diversification of the Nigerian economy.
According to him, “While leveraging the company’s robust supply chain and distribution network, Notore is well positioned to continue to serve our customers in all our markets. With the achieved improvement in Plant reliability and increased production output and sales, the Company intends to sustain its current trend of profitable operations all through the remaining period of the ongoing financial year.”
Banking/ Finance
Ripple Survey Reveals Appetite for Digital Assets
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
