MTNN Maintains Lead as Dangote Edged Out Airtel
Telecom giant, MTN Nigeria Plc, maintains the lead in the trillion naira valuation gang on the Nigerian Exchange. Tracking behind is Dangote Cement Plc, a former heavyweight lifter in the local bourse.
Airtel Africa has actually dropped to third position while BUA Cement came behind. On the bottom of the wrung is another BUA group member – the food producer, BUA Foods which has seen its price skyrocket since listing.
At the close of the trading session on Friday, the trillion naira gang – MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Airtel Africa, BUA Cement, and BUA Foods Plc were worth N18.2 trillion. Last week, the local bourse ended with about N28.4 trillion in market capitalisation.
For MTN Nigeria, the journey has been smoothly given sustained earnings jump right stock market pricing. While some of the market leaders sought to repurchase their own shares, MTN group increased Nigerian participation in ownership. The buying momentum has been positive for a telco with solid fundamentals.
Dangote Cement Plc has not stopped its share buyback to stem share price volatility and talks across the Broadstreet remain that the group is seeking the right price to effect the London Stock Exchange listing.
Before now, Dangote Cement was the most valuable before Airtel Africa popped higher significantly to about N8 trillion in September 2022. Unlike Dangote and Airtel, MTN Nigeria has been trading on a relatively stable note.
BUA Cement Plc ranked fourth among the market movers. The company has been positive with capital investment to boost capacity, though earnings was affected; analysts remain positive about its performance outlook.
Its sister company has also seen a higher valuation increase to N2.106 trillion. The members of the BUA group listed in the stock market are now worth more than N5 trillion, an equivalent of 28% of the heavyweight valuation.
MTN Nigeria’s market cap was N4.661 trillion, and Dangote Plc was N4.6 trillion. While Airtel Africa settled at N4.4 trillion after it lost 42% of its peak valuation. BUA Cement was N3.047 trillion while BUA Foods clicked at N2.106 trillion,
The five companies were valued at N18.2 trillion at the time when stock market capitalisation printed at N28,4 trillion.
