Most valuable companies in Nigeria as of February 2022

Airtel retained the top position as the most valuable listed company in Nigeria as of February 2022, with Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria also racing for the top spot as both gained in the review month to close the gap with Airtel.

This is according to analysis carried out by Nairalytics, the research arm of Nairametrics from data collected from the Nigerian stock market.

The most valuable companies are based on companies with the largest market valuations per the Nigerian Exchange capitalization. The companies are all quoted on the exchange.

• Airtel’s valuation dipped by N41.34 billion in the month under review, giving the opportunity for the likes of cement giant, Dangote Cement and telco firm, MTN Nigeria to reduce the gap, after both companies gained N219.82 billion and N71.24 billion respectively in February.
• However, the N4.74 trillion market valuation of Airtel was still enough to position the telco giant as the most valuable company listed on the local equities market.

How the market stock performed

• The Nigerian stock market traded bullish in the month of February, evidenced by the 2.57% increase in the market All-Share index from 46,205.05 to 47,394.53 index points as of the end of the month.
• In the same direction, the equities market capitalization grew by 1.67% from N25.1 trillion at the beginning of the month to close at N25.5 trillion by the end of February 2022.
• The oil and gas index was the best performing sub-index in the review month, with 11.92% returns in February 2022, followed by the NGX Premium index which gained 5.04%.
• Meanwhile, some of the notable sub-indices with positive growth include Pension index (4.01%), NGX 30 index (3.84%), and NGX Banking index (3.21%).

Top companies by market capitalization

Airtel Africa remains the most capitalized company listed on the Nigerian Exchange with a valuation of N4.74 trillion as of the end of February 2022. However, the company lost N41.34 billion of its valuation in the month from N4.78 trillion recorded as of the previous month.

• Dangote Cement followed with a valuation of N4.66 trillion, having gained N219.82 billion in the review month, from N4.44 trillion recorded in the previous month. MTN Nigeria was third on the list with a market capitalization of N4.09 trillion.
• BUA Cement and Nestle Nigeria maintained the fourth and fifth spots with a valuation of N2.39 trillion and N1.14 trillion respectively, remaining unchanged compared to the previous month.
• Others on the list of top 10 companies include Bua Foods (N1.11 trillion), Zenith Bank (N850.8 billion), GT Bank (N791.7 billion), Seplat (N506 billion), and Stanbic IBTC with a valuation of N453.5 billion.

Highest gainers

Cement manufacturer, Dangote Cement recorded the highest gain in terms of valuation in the review month as its market capitalization rose by 5% from N4.44 trillion recorded as of the end of January 2022 to N4.66 trillion by the end of the review month.

• Similarly, MTN Nigeria also gained N71.24 billion in the review month to close at N4.09 trillion while Guinness Nigeria recorded an appreciation of N42.6 billion to close at N148.9 billion..
• Oil and gas giant, Seplat Energy also recorded an appreciation of N41.13 billion in its market capitalization, while Zenith Bank gained N32.9 billion to close at N850.8 billion.