Fakoyejo Olalekan
Shareholders of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Access Corporation and Zenith Bank suffered heavy losses in the Nigerian Stock Exchange during the First Half (H1) of 2022.
Investors snubbed the tier-one commercial banks, resulting to a sell off that saw GTCO end the period as the worst performing bank stock in the period under review, according to Prime Business Analysis of their exchange floor activities in H1 this year.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelIt was gathered that GTCO shareholders suffered -21.15% decline in their investment value, Unity Bank shareholders recorded a -16.6% dip, Zenith Bank (-13.71%), UBA (-7.45%), Stanbic IBTC (-6.80), Access Corporation (-5.3%).
During the period shareholders of the tier-one bank saw their investment go downhill, investors were buying up shares of Wema Bank, Fidelity Bank, Ecobank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN), findings showed.
Best performing Nigerian bank stocks for H1 2022
The stock market activities of 12 Nigerian banks were analysed for the period in review. The ranking of the best performing Nigerian bank stocks starts from the fifth to the first.
Union Bank (+4.23%)
Shareholders of Union Bank recorded 4.23% growth in their investment between January to June, representing a gain of N7.28 billion, as high demand hiked the equity’s share value.
As a result of increased investors’ interest, Union Bank’s share rose to N6.15kobo, from the N5.90kobo it began the year with. This raised the firm’s market valuation to N179.09 billion, from N171.81 billion.
FCMB (+15.71%)
The stock of FCMB had began at N2.99kobo per share at the start of January, but following renewed investors interest in the financial institution, the company’s share was selling at N3.46kobo at the end of June.
Within six months, FCMB’s stock had risen by 15.71%. This means shareholders gained N9.30 billion in the first half of this year, taking the total shareholders’ investment from N59.21 billion to N68.51 billion during the review period.
Ecobank (+21.83%)
Ecobnak took the third position after handing its shareholders N34.86 billion in six months due to a 21.83% increase in share value between January and June 2022.
The firm was one of the lenders that benefited from the snub of tier-one banks, as demands for its shares flood in, raising the stock value to N10.60kobo, from N8.70kobo.
Following the hike in the price of the firm’s share, Ecobank closed June with N194.50 billion market capitalisation, up from the N159.64 billion it was valued at the start of January.
Fidelity Bank (+34.11%)
Findings from the analysis of the stock activities placed Fidelity Bank as the second-best performing stock after its share value rose 34.11% between January to June, from N2.55kobo to N3.42kobo.
Prime Business Africa gathered that the 34.11% gain in share value added N21.73 billion to shareholders investment at the end of June. This dragged Fidelity Bank’s market cap up to N95.61 billion from N73.88 billion.
Wema Bank (+343.05%)
Wema Bank outperformed eleven other lenders in the equity market to become the best performing bank stock in H1 2022, as shareholders’ investment increased by 343.05% within six months.
This represents a gain of N32.65 billion for shareholders, as they profited from the migration of investors from tier-one banks to tier-two banks between January to June.
High demands for Wema Bank’s stock led to a bullish run that saw the share selling for N3.19kobo at the end of June, significantly above the N0.72kobo it sold for at the start of January. As a result, the creditors’ market capitalisation went from N9.25 billion to N41.91 billion.
