Airtel Africa has leapfrogged Dangote Cement to become Nigeria’s largest listed firm by market capitalization at N5.22 trillion.
Airtel shares are up 54% in the past year, compared to Dangote Cement which is up 13.49% in the same time period.
Dangote Cement closed trading Friday with a market capitalization of N4.4 trillion to come in at second place, while MTN Nigeria is the third largest listed firm on the NGX with a market capitalization of N3.87 trillion.
MTN Nigeria shares are up 2.7% in the past year.
Investor’s are bullish on growth prospects for Airtel after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently granted approval in principle for payment service bank licenses to the two major telecommunications firms, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa which should help to unlock a N2 trillion revenue opportunity for the Telco’s.
Airtel Africa, a provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, on its part announced that its subsidiary SMARTCASH Payment Service Bank Limited (“Smartcash”) had been granted approval in principle to operate a payment service bank business in Nigeria.