People walk past a Safaricom shop in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG Safaricom has been ranked the 10th most valuable firm on the continent in a ranking dominated by South African companies.
South Africa-based African Business disclosed in a ranking of the continent’s top 250 firms that Safaricom had climbed from position 14 last year.
Only four Kenyan-based firms, including East African Breweries Limited (EABL) , Equity and KCB Group , were ranked among the top 100 most valuable companies in Africa.
In the ranking, which is based on a firm’s market capitalisation at the end of March, Equity Bank was ranked at position 82, followed by EABL (90) and KCB Group (92).
Safaricom’s market value was placed at $9.96 billion (Sh1.06 trillion) compared to Sh12.74 trillion of South Africa’s technology firm Prospus—which is the continent’s most valuable firm.
The top seven most valuable firms are from South Africa, underlining its economic dominance in the continent on the back of its mining and financial sectors.
Safaricom and Morocco’s telecom giant, Maroc Telecom, were the only firms outside South Africa ranked in the top 10.
But the East African region is still the continent’s most attractive investment destination based on capital gains, according to the survey.
“Some of Africa’s most attractive investment destinations are found in the East. But this did not stop the region’s share of the Top 250 ranking falling from 21 companies totalling $26.3bn (four percent of total market cap) last year to 17 entries totalling $20.2bn (3.4 percent of the total) this year,” the report notes.
“South Africa’s share of the Top 250 Company ranking continues to slip back because other African markets have been growing more strongly – at least before the crisis hit. South Africa now has 100 companies on the list, down from 109 in 2019,” the report states.
Kenyan firms remain dominant in East Africa. Ugandan firms missed out in the top 100 ranking while Tanzania had two firms—Tanzania Breweries Limited at position 75 and Vodacom Tanzania (98).Safaricom’s dominance of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has hit a new peak after the telecommunication firm’s market valuation exceeded 50 percent of the Sh2.06 billion Nairobi bourse. Safaricom’s valuation of Sh1.1 trillion at close of trading Monday is now 53.3 percent of total investors’ wealth on the NSE Nairobi Securities Exchange, a factor that is largely attributable to the bear run that has precipitated a sharp drop in the market capitalisation of other listed […]
