SWOOTs Market Update: Airtel Africa Slips, MTN Nigeria Takes the Lead

SWOOTs, which are stocks valued at over N1 trillion, encompass Airtel Africa, MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, BUA Foods, and BUA Cement.

During the trading session of the week, SWOOTs experienced a collective decrease in market capitalization of -1.47%, amounting to N18.83 trillion, reflecting a loss of N281.86 billion compared to the previous week. It is noteworthy that only Airtel Africa witnessed a negative change in share price, while the others remained stable.

As a consequence of Airtel Africa's -6.0% drop in share price, MTN Nigeria emerged as the most valuable company listed on The Nigeria Exchange, with a market valuation of N4.66 trillion.

Now, let's delve into the individual performance of each stock:

MTN Nigeria Plc:

- Share price remained steady at N229 per share.

- Market capitalization stood at N4.66 trillion.

- In the unaudited financial report for Q1 2023, MTN recorded a revenue growth of 20.6% to N568.14 billion, compared to N470.98 billion in Q1 2022. Additionally, the company's Profit After Tax increased by 4.6% to N101.30 billion from N96.82 billion in Q1 2022.

BUA Cement Plc:

- Share price remained unchanged at N90 per share.

- Market capitalization amounted to N3.05 trillion.

- BUA Cement's unaudited financial report for Q1 2023 revealed a 9.65% revenue growth to N106.35 billion, compared to N96.99 billion in the same period in 2021. However, the company experienced a -19.1% decline in Profit After Tax for Q1 2023, dropping to N26.80 billion from N33.14 billion in the corresponding period. The Earnings Per Share (EPS) also declined by -19.39%, from N0.98 to N0.79.

BUA Foods Plc:

- Share price remained stable at N117 per share.

- Market capitalization remained unchanged at N2.11 trillion.

- In the unaudited financial statement for Q1 2023, BUA Foods reported a substantial revenue growth of 60.2%, amounting to N144.32 billion compared to N90.06 billion recorded in Q1 2022. Moreover, the Profit After Tax for the period increased by 77.1% to N40.47 billion, up from N22.84 billion in Q1 2022. The Earnings Per Share (EPS) also experienced significant growth, reaching N2.25, representing a 77% increase from Q1 2022.

Airtel Africa Plc:

- Airtel Africa's share price experienced a decline of -6.0%, closing at N1175 per share.

- The market capitalization decreased by N281.86 billion, concluding the week at N4.41 trillion. This decline allowed its telecom competitor, MTN Nigeria, to claim the title of the most capitalized stock at The Nigeria Exchange.

- According to the audited financial report, Airtel Africa generated a total revenue of N980 billion ($2.128 billion) from its services in the financial year ending on March 31, 2023. This represents a year-on-year growth of 20.3% compared to the N864.9 billion ($1.878 billion) recorded in the same period last year.

Dangote Cement PLC:

Dangote Cement Plc, maintaining its share price at N270 per share, demonstrated stability in the market during the previous week. As the most capitalized cement producer on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX), the company holds a total market capitalization of N4.60 trillion.

In the unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2023, Dangote Cement Plc experienced a slight decline in revenue. There was a marginal loss of -N6.46 billion (1.56%), bringing the revenue down to N406.72 billion compared to N413.18 billion in Q1 2022.

On the other hand, the company saw a marginal increase in Profit After Tax for the same period. The figure rose by N3.65 billion (1.56%) to reach N109.50 billion, compared to N105.85 billion in Q1 2022.

During the week, the NGX All-Share Index experienced a slight decline of -0.05%, closing at 52,187.93. Similarly, the Market Capitalization decreased to N28.417 trillion.

The SWOOTs, which have a collective market valuation of N18.83 trillion, account for over 60% of the entire NGX. As a result, they significantly impact the overall performance and development of the exchange.