Airtel, Dangote Cement overtake MTN on top five most valuable Nigerian firms, amid N427.44bn loss

MTN Nigeria lost its position as the most valuable firm in the Nigerian capital market to telecoms rival, Airtel, as shareholders investment in the firm led by Karl Toriola fell by -7.78%.

The y’ello network provider had a market capitalisation of N5.49 trillion on Thursday, after MTN share rose to its highest in 52 weeks, however, the growth was shortlived, according to The Harmattan News analysis, with MTN falling from the top spot to third on the most valuable firms in the capital market behind Airtel and Dangote Cement.

MTN market value lost a whopping N427.44 billion within two days, crashing down to N5.06 trillion on Friday, due to sell off among investors, who do not believe the growth would maintain momentum.

This comes shortly after their investment had rose by 5.6% on Thursday, when the equity appreciated to N270 per share, up from N255.5kobo.

Casting a wider net on the week’s activities on MTN’s exchange floor, the capital market saw more growth prospect in Airtel, resulting to a disappointing performance last week, as investors exit their investment in the y’ello firm – the sell off resulted to the share closing at N240, below its opening of N261.6kobo per share.

While MTN shareholders investment slumped to the sell off, investment held by investors in Airtel grew by 5%, as demand for the Bharti Airtel subsidiary surged amid low confidence in its rival.

The hike in demand lifted Airtel’s market capitalisation to N5.52 trillion on Friday, against the N5.26 trillion the company opened trading with last week, making it the most capitalised firm in the Nigerian bourse, ahead of Dangote Cement, which is worth N5.11 trillion.

Meanwhile, BUA Cement held the fourth position on the list after last week’s trading with N2.51 trillion, and Nestle completed the top five with N1.11 trillion.