Fakoyejo OlalekanWithin five days of trading, shareholders of telecommunications companies, Airtel Nigeria and MTN Nigeria lost a whopping sum of N1.93 trillion.
Prime Business Africa (PBA) gathered that investment held in the only quoted network providers by Nigerian and foreign shareholders fell by -27.1 per cent in Airtel, while those of MTN depreciated by -2.54 per cent last week.
According to analysis of the companies by PBA, it was gathered that Airtel shareholders lost the largest sum of over N1.80 trillion, as the telco was largely snubbed in the stock market.
The reduction in demand for Airtel’s stock caused the price of the equity’s share to plummet by -27.1%, indicating it was undervalued, as investors were only willing to buy it for N487.8kobo cheaper.
Low interest in Airtel’s stock pulled down the share price from N1,800 to N1,312.2kobo. As a result, the market valuation of the telco fell to N4.93 trillion by Friday, from N6.76 trillion market cap held at the start of last week.
While MTN also shared the same downward phase, the loss recorded by its shareholders was limited to N103.80 billion, but it reflects that the yello network suffered from poor demands.
MTN Nigeria’s stock was underpriced at N195 per share by the end of last week, depreciating by -2.54 per cent, hence, ending up on the loser’s table during the review period.
The poor demand for MTN share among investors in the stock market saw the share price decline from its opening week level of N200.1 kobo.
In response, MTN Nigeria’s market valuation was reviewed downward from N4.07 trillion to N3.96 trillion within five days of trading on the capital market.
The fall in Airtel and MTN shares signals a distress in telco shares, revealing lack of interest from moneybag investors.
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