First Bank Leads Tier 1 Banks As FUGAZ Investors Gain N158.89 Billion During The Week

First Bank leads Tier 1 banks as FUGAZ investors gain N158.89 billion during the week

The market capitalization of the top five banks referred to as the Tier-1 banks increased to N2.73 trillion at the close of business on Friday, 15th of October, 2021 as investors in these banks gained N158.89 billion during the trading week, with FBN Holdings Plc (FBNH) outranking other banks.

After the five (5) trading days of the week, all of the FUGAZ banks enjoyed positive market sentiments and recorded gains. According to data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), the market capitalization of the top five banks grew to N2.73 trillion, appreciating by 6.2% during the week.

A summary of performance for each bank is captured below.

FBNH PLC
First Bank Holdings Nig. Plc performed impressively during the week to gain a whooping N104.10 billion, taking its market capitalization to N455.87 billion at the end of the week. This constitutes 16.71% of the Fugaz capitalization. Amid sell-offs and buy-interests, at the end of the trading week, FBNH share price appreciated by 29.60% from N9.80 to N12.70.

In addition, investors’ appetite for the bank’s shares drove prices to attain a three-year high, since April 2018, during the week.

During the week also, investors traded 1,569,098,025 units of the bank’s shares valued at N18.24 billion, making the bank’s stock the most traded in volume and value among the FUGAZ.

The volume of shares traded appreciated by 241.00%, when compared to 460.15 million units traded the previous week. The bank traded the highest number of shares in volume amongst the FUGAZ, trading its highest on Thursday at 602.77 million units of shares, valued at N7.11 billion.

FBNH Plc’s second-quarter result revealed that Interest Income for the period decreased by 19.36%. However, net profit for the period reported a growth of 79.76% from N12.50 billion in Q2 2020 to N22.47 billion in Q2 2021

UBA PLC
United Bank for Nigeria Plc gained N11.97 billion as its market capitalization closed the week at N283.86 billion, with its share price closing the trading week at N8.30.

UBA Plc, during the week, traded a total of 73,995,378 units valued at N607.11 million at the end of the trading day. In comparison, the bank’s share volume appreciated by 4.27%, from 70.97 million traded last week.

UBA Plc released its half-year financials revealing a 33.4% growth in profit before tax which rose to N76.2 billion, up from N57.1 billion in the same period of 2020. In addition, the company’s gross earnings appreciated by 5.0% to N316 billion from N300.6 billion, while total assets grew to N8.3 trillion from N7.7 trillion.

GT Holding Company Plc
GTCO Plc gained a total of N29.43 billion after market capitalization appreciated to N871.16 billion from N841.73 at the end of the week’s trading session.

The growth can be attributed to the increase in the share price, from N28.60 traded at the end of the previous week, to N29.60 at the close of business on Friday, October 15, 2021, reflecting a growth of 3.50%.

During the trading week, Investors traded a total of 151,338,962 units of the bank’s shares valued at N4.32 billion.

In contrast with the volume traded last week, share volume for this week increased by 88.82% from 80.15 million.

In Q2 2021, the Group reported a decline of 15.2% in profit before tax from N109.7 billion recorded in the corresponding period of June 2020 to N93.1 billion in the current period. Also, post-tax profit depreciated by 15.76% from N94.27 billion in 2020 to N79.41 in the current period.

Access Bank Plc
Access Bank Plc’s share price appreciated by 2.1% from N9.40 to N9.60 at the end of the week as the market capitalization grew from N334.13 billion to N341.23 billion to close the week.

At the end of the week, investors had traded a total of 54,625,306 units of the bank’s shares valued at N527.48 million. The total volume traded for the week declined by 24.64%, from a total of 72.49 million traded in the previous week.

Access Bank Plc released its Q2 financial result for the year which recorded an improvement in gross earnings by 14 percent to N450.6 billion, while profit rose by 42.4 percent, surging from N61.03 billion in June 2020 to N86.94 billion in half-year 2021.

The bank approved the payment of interim dividend to the tune of N0.30 which has been paid to existing shareholders on the 29th of September, 2021.

Zenith Bank Plc
Zenith Bank Plc gained N6.28 billion after its market capitalization appreciated to N775.49 billion from N769.21 billion at the end of the week. This appreciation can be attributed to the 0.8% increase in its share price from N24.50 traded at the end of the previous week to N24.70 on Friday, October 15, 2021.

A total of 37,988,915 units of the bank’s shares were traded during the week, valued at N936.66 million. The total volume, in comparison with the previous week, depreciated by 17.07%, from 45.81 million units traded last week.

The bank released their second-quarter result which revealed that net Interest income for the period increased by 1.61%. However, post-tax profit for the period reported a slight growth of 2.21% from N103.83 billion in Q2 2020 to N106.12 billion in Q2 2021.

Zenith Bank approved an interim dividend of N0.30kb which was paid to shareholders on the 20th of September, 2021.

What you should know
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed positive week-on-week as ASI appreciated by 1.39% to close at 41,438.15.

The FUGAZ banks make up over 70% of the NSE Banking Sector Index, hence, strongly influence the growth or otherwise of the index. The NGX banking Index closed positive, appreciating by 2.64% and closing at 397.89.