MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement hit three trillion market cap

MTN Nigeria (MTNN) and Dangote Cement on Wednesday hit the N3 trillion market capitalisation at the close of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

MTNN’s market capitalisation stood at N3.25 trillion — the biggest company by market capitalisation, followed by Dangote Cement at N3.15 trillion, while GTBank also crossed the trillion naira market cap to end at N1.05 trillion.

The nation’s bourse now has five companies with a trillion naira market capitalisation; MTNN, Dangote Cement, BUA Cement, Nestle Nigeria and GTBank.

Local investors have continued to flock the stock market in search of returns, as yields on government debt tanked after a surprise September rate cut by the monetary policy committee (MPC).

An analysis of dividend yield of these companies by TheCable shows that they offer a higher risk premium than fixed income — the lowest dividend yielding trillion-naira stocks still offer yields that are higher than the one-year treasury bill which currently yields 0.30 percent.

As at Wednesday, Dangote Cement offered a dividend yield of 8.89 percent; GTBank (8.08 percent) Nestle Nigeria (5 percent); MTNN (4.48 percent) and BUA Cement (3.91 percent).

A dividend yield is the financial ratio that measures the quantum of cash dividends paid out to shareholders relative to the market value per share.

Shares of GTBank have gained 21.21 percent this year, and traded at N36 on Wednesday — the highest seen this year — while MTNN and Dangote Cement have also recorded double digit growth in 2020.