Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, and Abdulsamad Rabiu, owner of BUA Cement and Foods, as well as Owen Omogiafo, Femi Otedola, Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu and Herbet Wigwe, have increased their wealth by additional N6.32 trillion in the first three weeks of 2024, caused by sustained bullish sentiment on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX).
Aliko Dangote, with his direct and indirect shareholdings in Dangote Cement and Dangote Sugar Refinery, increased his wealth in Dangote Cement by N3.16 trillion and N201.84 billion in Dangote Sugar, cumulatively amounting to N3.36 trillion within the three weeks of trading in 2024.
The share price of Dangote Cement rose from N319.9 per share, its closing price in 2023, to N535.8 per share on January 19, 2024, representing a year-to-date return of 67.5 percent. In Dangote Sugar, its share price rose from N57 per share to N80 during the same period, representing a year-to-date return of 40.35 percent.
Abdulsamad Rabiu, owner of BUA Foods and BUA Cement earned N2.49 trillion during the same period. His investments in BUA Foods increased by N1.71 trillion while those in BUA Cement increased by N776.99 billion. The share price of the former increased from N193.4 per share to N240 per share, amounting to a year-to-date return of 24.1 percent, while that of BUA Cement rose from N97 per share to N148.5 per share.
Owen Omogiafo with her direct and indirect investments in Transcorp Hotels and Transcorp, earned N232.73 billion increase in the market worth of her investments in the two aforementioned listed firms.
Another billionaire, Femi Otedola, the owner of Geregu Power, earned additional N174.99 billion from his investments in Geregu Power and FBN Holdings, where he controls about 5 percent shareholding. The share price of Geregu Power increased by 17.72 percent from N399 per share on December 29 2023 to N469.7 per share as of January 19, 2024. On the other hand, the share price of FBN Holdings rose to N26.6 per share, up from N23.65 per share on the last trading day of 2023.
Founder of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, realised additional N18.40 billion from his investments in Zenith Bank, through direct and indirect shareholdings. Zenith Bank’s share price returned 16.4 percent year-to-date, from N38.65 to N45 per share last week Friday.
Herber Wigwe earned an extra N12.02 billion during the reference period. The share price of Access Holdings recorded a year-to-date return of 29.6 percent, increasing from N23.15 per share to N30 per share during the same period.
The market capitalisation of listed equities closed last Friday at N51.73 trillion, setting another record which is consistent with the trend in the market since the beginning of the year. The All-Share Index closed at 94,538.12 points last week Friday, January 19, 2024.
Year to date market return increased to 26.43 percent, making the Nigerian equity market, one of the best performing in Africa.
Only four sub-sectoral indices are the odd one out in terms of market returns as others posted double digits year-to-date returns. The underperforming indices are the NGX AseM Index which closed at zero percent YTD; the NGX Pension Index that closed also at zero percent, the NGX Growth Index which returned negative 1 percent year to date, and the NGX Sovereign Board Index which returned negative 0.68 percent.
