The Nigerian equity market has continued its bullish start to the year as it posted gains in February, despite global macro-economic worries. The All-Share Index (ASI) in the month of February has gained 1.65% for the month starting at 46,624.67 basis points to ending at 47,394.53 basis points.
The market capitalization also grew in similar fashion from N25.1 trillion at the beginning of the month only to end the month trading N25.5 trillion, representing a 1.67% gain.
It is still earnings season in the market and the month of February has seen a lot of the listed companies on the exchange release their financial report for the period. Having a cursory overview of the results released so far, we have seen recording breaking performances by some companies.
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After witnessing MTN Nigeria’s stellar revenue generation in January 2022, we now see Dangote Cement, the cement producing giant of Africa, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, doing the same. The company reported a 32% increase in its profit to N364 billion. The firm also increased its dividend payout by 25% compared to the previous year. Impressive performance in the banking and manufacturing sectors
Banking giant, Zenith bank, also posted impressive profits as it was able to increase by 6.07% despite the inflationary concerns of 2021. Dangote’s competitor, Lafarge PLC also posted an impressive 65% growth in profit to approximately N51 billion.
Another impressive performance was seen by United Capital, which grew its profits by 44.14% to N11.26 billion. United Capital is one to be noted as the month of February has seen its share price appreciate by 25.90% due to an attractive dividend yield which currently stands at 11.32%.
Speaking on the SWOOTs, collectively they were able to grow their market capitalization by N195.7 billion, representing a 1.09% increase from N17.9 trillion at the beginning of the month to N18.1 trillion on the last day of February 2022.
The SWOOTs now account for 70.96% of the total market capitalization of the stock exchange. Notably, in the month of February, the increase seen is majorly attributable to the 4.95% increase in Dangote Cement’s share price and market capitalization.
Asides from Dangote Cement, we also saw a marginal 1.77% increase in MTN Nigeria. Due to Dangote Cement’s weight among the SWOOTs, representing 25.71% at the end of February, the SWOOTs […]