Zenith Bank’s Share Price Makes History, Outperforms GTCO on NGX

Kayode Tokede

For the first time in many years, the stock price of Zenith Bank Plc on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has overtaken that of Guaranty Trust Holdings Plc (GTCO).

According to capital market analysts, the stock price of Zenith Bank in the last 10 years has never outpaced GTCO.
The stock price of Zenith Bank since the beginning of 2022 maintained a positive trajectory, gaining 1.39per cent in 7-day active trading on the bourse to close yesterday at N25.50 from the N25.15 it opened for trading.

On the other hand, GTCO depreciated by 2.1 per cent to close yesterday at N25.45, from the N26 the stock market price opened this year.

The stock price of GTCO over the years traded higher than GTCO on the bourse.
According to capital market analysts, the anticipation of a robust dividend for 2021 financial year and the strong fundamentals of Zenith Bank had been attracting investors.

The Vice Chairman, Vice president, Mr. David Adnori said investors were losing confidence in GTCO stock over the lender’s legal tussle with Chairman of Innoson Group, Innocent Chukwuma.

A capital market analyst, Mr. Rotimi Fakeyejo said the GTCO’s reported weak nine months unaudited result and accounts for September 30, 2021.

According to him: “Records in the last five years have shown that Pension Fund Administrators and foreign investors are always sceptical about investing in Holdings structure.”

Zenith Bank’s total market capitalisation stood at N789.622 billion as at December 31, 2021, as it led the banking sector on the NGX. The bank’s share price gained one per cent to close 2021 at N25.15 in 2021. Zenith Bank in its unaudited results for the nine months period ended September 30, 2021, posted a profit before tax (PBT) of N180 billion. This represented a one per cent growth over the N177 billion recorded in the same period the previous year, amidst a challenging macroeconomic environment exacerbated by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.