Three months after listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), MTN Nigeria has bridged the over N782 billion value gap with Dangote Cement to become Nigeria’s largest company by market capitalisation.
The telecommunication company’s stock gained 2.74 percent to N138.70 in early trading Monday on the Lagos bourse, bringing its market value to N2.82 trillion as against Dangote Cement’s N2.81 trillion.
“It’s an interesting race to watch out for,” Gbolahan Ologunro, an equity research analyst at Lagos-based investment house, CSL Stockbrokers Limited, told BusinessDay. “Unlike what we had in the past when the most capitalised stock was held by Dangote Cement, both stocks would now rotate the title.”
MTN’s shares have continued to rally on the telco’s imminent inclusion into the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Frontier Markets Index and after it declared an interim dividend payment of N2.95 per share.
