Dangote Cement, MTN hit N3 trillion market cap, as GT Bank crosses N1 trillion

Great performance for Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria as they each hit the N3 trillion market capitalisation mark.

By Samuel Oyekanmi

 Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria have both crossed the N3 trillion market capitalisation mark, while GT bank also hit N1 trillion during the week, as their Investors gained N1.93 trillion from January to

date.

As at the close of trading session on Tuesday, 10th November 2020, MTN Nigeria was worth N3.18 trillion to be the most capitalised firm on the Stock Exchange, Dangote Cement closed with a valuation of N3.15 trillion while GT Bank with N1.03 trillion, all three boasting an aggregate value of N7.36 trillion, which represents 43.2% of the total equity value of the Stock Exchange.

Highlights

• Dangote Cement grew its market capitalisation by 30.28% year-to-date, from N2.42 trillion recorded as at the end of trading on the 31st December 2019 to N3.15 trillion as of 10th November 2020.
• MTN recorded a year-to-date growth of 48.76% from N2.14 trillion as of December 2019 to a current valuation of N3.18 trillion, hitting a record high at N156.2 per unit of share.
• The most capitalised financial institution on the Stock Exchange, GT Bank saw its market capitalisation grow by 17.85% year-to-date, with a cost per share of N35.
• The Stock Exchange Equity cap is currently valued at N17.06 trillion.
• Investors in Dangote Cement, MTN and GT Bank gained a sum of over N1.9 trillion, from January to date.

What is their financials saying?

MTN

A cursory look at the financial performance of MTN in the 9-month period between January and September 2020 showed that the Telco giant boosted its revenue by 13.9% as it generated a sum of N975.8 billion and posted an operating profit of N307 billion.

However, it recorded a 3.3% drop in profit after tax from N149.2 billion in the comparable period of 2019 to N144.2 billion while its earnings per share also dropped by the same margin to close at N7.09 as at the end of September.

According to the report, the 7.8% growth in operating profit was largely impacted by the increase in finance costs as a result of increased borrowings (September 2019: N381 billion, September 2020: N509 billion) leading to 0.6% decline in profit before tax to N211.6 billion.

Dangote Cement

Dangote Cement grew its revenue by 12.2% from N678.8 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2019 to N761.4 billion as of September 2020. It also recorded a marginal increase in gross profit margin from 57.4% as of September 2019 to a current margin of 58.3%.

The Industrial giant, posted a profit after tax of N208.7 billion in the review period, representing a 35.2% increase when compared to N154.4 billion recorded in 2019 while earnings per share grew by 34.6% to N12.25.

Nairametrics earlier reported that the Nigerian government has given Dangote Cement the approval to export Cement to West African countries through the Nigerian land borders, which has been closed for over a year, an avenue to increase revenue, reduce cost of transportation, hence profitability.

GT Bank

The banking giant, which just received approval from the Central Bank to operate as a financial holding company boasted of 1.5% revenue growth as of June 2020 despite the COVID-19 induced lockdown in the country for most parts of the second quarter.

GT Bank however, recorded a 4.9% decline in profit of N94.3 billion as against N99.1 billion in 2019 half-year. This reflected in the earnings per share as it declined by 5.1% to stand at N3.31. It should be noted that as at the time of writing this article, GT Bank is yet to release its Q3 financial report.

Below is the table of the top 10 most capitalised companies on the Stock Exchange and their sectors, as of November 10th 2020;

Bottom line

As these Stock keeps appreciating in value, it shows a sign of the confidence Investors have in them as buying pressure was seen across major listed stocks. This is likely to continue in the short-term as many Investors will look to take their share of the market gain before the end of the year.

Samuel Oyekanmi