On Thursday, 1.009 million shares of Airtel Africa were traded, leading to the group’s market value rising by N665 billion to N8.08 trillion.
This marks an 8.97% increase from the previous day’s value of N7.41 trillion.
Airtel’s gain played a significant role in driving up the NGX’s All-Share Index, which had been experiencing a downturn since the beginning of the week starting May 13, 2024. The NGX closed May 16 with an All-Share Index of 98,156.71 points, representing a 0.84% appreciation from the previous day’s 97,343.42 points.
During the day, equities gained N467 billion as the NGX’s market capitalization moved from N55.058 trillion to N55.525 trillion.
Some of the top performers were Royal Exchange and Guinea Insurance which gained 10% each; Airtel Africa which gained 8.67%; International Energy Insurance which rose by 7.84%, and Prestige Assurance which gained 5.88%.
On the other hand, Eterna Plc lost 9.89% to close as the top loser.
Banking stocks such as FCMB, Unity Bank, FBNH, and GTCO lost 8.28%, 5.88%, 5.36%, and 5.33% respectively, while FBNH and GTCO’s market values declined by N46.7 billion and N66.2 billion respectively.
Highlight on Airtel Africa
Airtel Africa’s market performance marked its best single-day return since February 14, 2024, when it gained 10%, with its share price closing at N2200. Airtel maintained a consistent price at N2200 until May 6, 2024, when its share price crashed by 10% to close at N1980.
Its share price further declined upon the release of its full-year financial results where it was depicted that Airtel hit a net loss of $3.89 million for FY 2023/2024.
Airtel Africa is currently carrying out the first phase of its share buyback programme on the London Stock Exchange, the other exchange where it is listed. The group is expected to buy back $50 million of its shares in six months while implementing another $50 million share buyback in the second phase.
As of May 16, the group has completed the buyback of 13,941,626 ordinary shares at 100.63 GBp (pence) per ordinary share, amounting to £14 million.
Market highlights
During the trading day, there was a 15.25% increase in the trading volume to 409.766 million units, from the previous day’s 355.554 million units. Major contributors were Custodian with 115.83 million shares traded; Nigerian Breweries with 83.747 million shares; UBA with 26.064 million shares; Access Holdings with 24.183 million shares; and GTCO Holding with 22.930 million shares.
The value of shares traded during the day was N8.925 billion, marking a 25% increase from the N7.143 billion traded in the prior day. Leading the charge was Airtel Africa with N2.167 billion worth of shares traded, followed by Nigerian Breweries with N1.93 billion, Custodian with N1.38 billion, GTCO with N946.86 million, and UBA with N560.54 million.
Stocks worth over one trillion (SWOOT) recorded mixed trading sentiments during the day as Airtel Africa recorded an 8.97% gain, while GTCO and Zenith Bank declined by 5.33% and 2.40% respectively.
Other category members such as BUA Foods, BUA Cement, Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria, Seplat Energy, Geregu Power, Transcorp Hotel, and Transcorp Power recorded no price changes.
As of May 16, the NGX concluded with a year-to-date gain of 31.27%, below the April inflation figure of 33.69%. The NGX, which recorded bolstering returns at the start of the year, has now calmed over the last two months, with the ASI failing to cross the 100,000 mark since falling below it on April 16.
