Airtel Africa Becomes Most Capitalised Company On Nigeria Stock Exchange

Airtel Africa crossed the N5 trillion mark for the first on Friday as the stock gained 9.9% to close at N5.4 trillion making it the first time any Nigerian company has surpassed N5 trillion in Market Capitalization.

The second-largest telecoms company in Nigeria first surpassed Dangote Cement as the most capitalized stock on Thursday after it gained 10% closing at N1,271. In contrast to this, Dangote Cement fell on Thursday by 8.53% from its 52-week high of N284.90 to close the trading session at N260.60, on profit-taking by investors. This resulted in Dangote’s market capitalisation falling by N414.1 billion, from N4.86 trillion to N4.44 trillion and it remained flat.

On the other hand, Airtel gained another 9.9% taking its share price to N1,390 as it continued its bullish run. Meanwhile, Airtel’s share price has now gained over 46% this year on the back of improved operational performance, share buybacks, and investor sentiments.

The telco giant has been notably expanding its business beyond just the offerings of telecommunications services. In 2021, it got an approval-in-principle to launch its payment service arm in Nigeria, known as SMARTCASH Payment Service Bank Limited.

Asides this, it announced that its subsidiary, Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Limited, was granted approval in principle by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to operate as a super-agent in Nigeria.