Dangote Cement, MTN, Airtel, BUA Cement, Nestle, Zenith, Others Contributed 90% to N22.3trn Market Cap in 2021

Kayode Tokede

Dangote Cement Plc and 14 other highly capitalised stocks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) contributed 90.2 per cent or N20.10 trillion to overall N22.3 trillion market capitalisation in 2021.

The other highly capitalised stocks were MTN Nigeria Plc, Airtel Africa Plc, BUA cement, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holdings Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and FBN Holdings Plc.

It also included Nigerian Breweries Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, Seplat, Access Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Ecobank Transitional Incorporated (ETI) and Dangote Sugar Plc.

On the other hand, other listed companies on the NGX contributed 9.84 per cent or N2.19trillion to overall market capitalisation in the year under review.

Dangote cement and MTN Nigeria were the only companies with over N4 trilllion in market capitalisation, while Airtel Africa crossed N3.5trillion in market capitalisation threshold in 2021.

The breakdown by THISDAY revealed that, Dangote Cement’s market capitalisation gained N4.37 trillion in 2021 when it stock price gained nearly five per cent to close at N257 from N244.90 it opened for trading.

MTN Nigeria’s market capitalisation closed 2021 at N4.01trillion in 2021 following a 16 per cent gain in stock to N197 per share. Airtel Africa also gained 12 per cent in stock price to drive market capitalisation to N3.59trillion in 2021.

Also, while Zenith Bank’s market capitalisation stood at N789.622 billion as at December 31, 2021, that of GT Holdco was N765,211; Stanbic – N466.452 billion and FBN Holdings – N409.206 billion.

Capital market analyst, Mr. Rotimi Fakeyejo, explained that that a one per cent gain or decline in Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria stock price affects the capital market movement in a day.

He added that the fundamentals of both companies attracted foreign investors in taking position.

Also, the Chief economist/head, Investment Research of PanAfrican Capital Holdings, Mr. Moses Ojo noted that foreign investors’ participation in the trading of Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa stocks drive price appreciation.

He was quick to add that impressive corporate earnings and dividend pay-out to shareholders contributed to these companies’ price appreciation in 2021.

Dangote cement in nine months of 2021 recorded 49.10 per cent increase in profit before tax to N405.49billion, while MTN recorded N220.31billion profit, an increase of 52.74per cent.

According to Ojo: “The three companies are the largest companies by market capitalisation on the NGX. If these companies record one per cent gain, it will affect the direction of the stock market.

“The financial results of these companies have been impressive despite foreign and domestic challenges. Despite reporting high operating cost, the likes of MTN and Airtel Africa have maintained robust fundamentals.”

However, BUA Cement market capitalisation dropped to N2.27 trillion, while Nestle Nigeria closed 2021 with a market capitalisation of N1.23 trillion.

Zenith bank leads the banking sector in terms of market capitalisation, followed by GTCO.

The stock price of Zenith bank gained one per cent to close 2021 at N25.15, while GTCO dropped by 20 per cent from N32.35 to N 26.00.

Others are Nigerian Breweries – N399.85billion; Lafarge Africa, N385.78billion – Seplat, N382.49billion; Access Bank – N330.57 billion; UBA – N275.32 billion; ETI – N215.15billion and Dangote sugar, N211.36billion in market capitalisation.