Alex Omenye
Airtel Africa on Thursday, saw an impressive trading day, with 1.009 million shares exchanged, resulting in a significant boost to the group’s market value, which surged by N665 billion to reach N8.08 trillion.
This marks an 8.97% increase from the previous day’s value of N7.41 trillion.
Airtel’s stellar performance played a pivotal role in driving up the NGX’s All-Share Index, which had been experiencing a downturn since the start of the week beginning May 13, 2024.
The NGX closed May 16 with an All-Share Index of 98,156.71 points, marking a 0.84% appreciation from the previous day’s 97,343.42 points.
Equities gained N467 billion during the day, propelling the NGX’s market capitalization from N55.058 trillion to N55.525 trillion.
Royal Exchange and Guinea Insurance emerged as top performers, each gaining 10%, followed by Airtel Africa with an 8.67% increase. International Energy Insurance rose by 7.84%, and Prestige Assurance gained 5.88%. Conversely, Eterna Plc suffered the largest loss, declining by 9.89%.
Banking stocks, including FCMB, Unity Bank, FBNH, and GTCO, experienced losses of 8.28%, 5.88%, 5.36%, and 5.33%, respectively. Notably, FBNH and GTCO witnessed declines in market values by N46.7 billion and N66.2 billion, respectively.
Airtel Africa’s market performance marked its best single-day return since February 14, 2024, when it gained 10%, reaching a share price of N2200.
Following a consistent price of N2200 until May 6, 2024, Airtel’s share price dropped by 10% to N1980. This decline continued with the release of its full-year financial results, revealing a net loss of $3.89 million for FY 2023/2024.
Currently, Airtel Africa is executing the first phase of its share buyback program on the London Stock Exchange, intending to repurchase $50 million of its shares within six months.
As of May 16, the group has completed the buyback of 13,941,626 ordinary shares at 100.63 GBp per ordinary share, totaling £14 million.
Trading volume witnessed a 15.25% increase to 409.766 million units, with Custodian, Nigerian Breweries, UBA, Access Holdings, and GTCO Holding leading the charge. The value of shares traded amounted to N8.925 billion, marking a 25% increase from the previous day.
In terms of SWOOT (Stocks Worth Over One Trillion), Airtel Africa recorded an 8.97% gain, while GTCO and Zenith Bank declined by 5.33% and 2.40%, respectively. Other category members saw no price changes.
As of May 16, the NGX concluded with a year-to-date gain of 31.27%, slightly below the April inflation figure of 33.69%. Despite starting the year with robust returns, the NGX has stabilized over the last two months, failing to surpass the 100,000 mark since April 16.
