Just three months after listing, MTN Nigeria briefly overtook Dangote Cement for a day as the most valuable company by market capitalisation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The telecom giant closed Monday’s trading with market capitalisation peaking at ₦2.82 trillion and ₦138.7 per share while Dangote Cement was ₦2.81 trillion, closing at ₦164.5 per share.
However, 0.91% increase in Dangote Cement’s share price from ₦164.5 on Monday to ₦166 on Tuesday saw Dangote retake its place at the top of the local exchange market with a market capitalisation of ₦2.83 trillion.
MTN dropped to ₦132.6 and a market cap of ₦2.6 trillion rose on Wednesday to a share price of ₦136 and a market cap of ₦2.76 trillion, but Dangote firmly held on at the top with ₦2.83 trillion.
In May 2019, MTN listed on the NSE with a market capitalisation of ₦1.3 trillion and ₦90 per share, then broke into the top five on the NSE barely two days after their public listing. In just three months MTN became the most valuable company on the bourse by market capitalisation even though it was short-lived.
This feat is even more impressive considering the fact that as at the time of listing, Dangote Cement’s market capitalisation was higher than MTN’s by about ₦782 billion.
Having listed on the NSE in July 2019, Airtel Africa joined MTN as the second telecom company and the ninth ICT company on the local stock exchange.
Suggested read: 8 Nigerian tech companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange
With a market capitalisation of ₦1.26 trillion as at 21st August 2019, Airtel -- trading as AIRTELAFRI -- comes close behind MTN and Dangote cement. AIRTELAFRI is currently the most expensive share among the listed ICT companies, trading at ₦323 per share as at 21st August 2019.
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On Monday, Courteville Business Solutions Plc also recorded the highest percentage price gain of 10% on the trading chart, to close at 22k per share.
As surmised in an earlier report, MTN threw down the gauntlet, and Airtel could be the first of other telcos to get listed.
With less than favourable performances over time, the telco companies on the bourse could increase trust in the ICT sector and be a big boost to the NSE now and in the future.
Photo credit: S Remeika on Flickr (cc)