African Financials Report for the first quarter of 2021 indicates MTN Ghana is among the top 20 companies in West Africa by market capitalization (market cap).
Market cap refers to the total dollar market value of a company’s outstanding shares, and it’s usually calculated by multiplying the current stock price of the company by the total number of shares outstanding.
For example, if MTN had two billion shares outstanding and its stock price was $20 per share, its market cap would be US$40 billion.
Per the report, as of March 2021, MTN Ghana was the seventh biggest company in West Africa, with a market cap of US$1.806 billion.
The report also said MTN Ghana posted a dividend yield of 9.4 per cent and a 41.8 percent return on equity (ROE) over the last 12 months.
MTN Ghana posted some impressive performance in the first quarter of this year. Per the Q1 report, the rolled out 36 each of 2G, 3G and 4G sites and also modernized 223 existing sites to 4G sites in the quarter.
“This investment helped them to reach a total of 2,160 4G sites nationwide resulting in an increase in our 4G population coverage from 71.7% to 76.1%, leading to a 64.0% growth in data traffic,” the report said.
Again, over the quarter in review, MTN Ghana’s subscriber base grew by 600,000 to 25.0 million, while data subscribers grew by 400,000 to reach 11.2 million, and mobile money users also shot up by 100,000 to reach 10.7 million.
MTN Ghana is on the path to become a complete digital operator by 2023 and is also embarking on drive dubbed Agenda 2025, aimed at making the company a platform player rather than a mere service provider.
Meanwhile, its sister company, MTN Nigeria was number two on the list with almost US$8 billion market cap, a 7.4 per cent dividend yield and 31.4 per cent return on equity same period.
The only other Ghanaian company that made the list was StanChart Ghana, which was at the bottom of the list with a market cap of US$423 million and a 34.3 per cent ROE.
Senegalese telecoms leader, SONATAL was the only other telecom company that made the list at number six with a market cap of US$2.309 billion, a 10.6 per cent divided per yield and 27.3 per cent ROE.
Meanwhile, Nigeria overwhelmingly dominated the list with 13 companies – Dangote Cement at number 1, MTN Nigeria – 2, BUA Cement – 3, Nestlé Nigeria – 4, GT Bank – 5, Zenith Bank – 8, Nigeria Breweries – 10, Lafarge Africa – 11, Seplat Petroleum – 12, Access Bank – 13, First Bank Nigeria – 14, UBA – 15, and Dangote Sugar – 16.
Find the list of the top 20 companies in West Africa below:
| Company | Cap Rank | Market Cap US$ Millions | Dividend yield | ROE Last 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dangote Cement | 1 | $8,947bn | 7.4% | 31.4% |
| MTN Nigeria | 2 | $7,963bn | 5.9% | 115.0% |
| BUA Cement | 3 | $6,078bn | 2.4% | 18.8% |
| Nestlé Nigeria | 4 | $2,662bn | 4.4% | 133.8% |
| GTB | 5 | $2,361bn | 9.1% | 25.0% |
| SONATEL | 6 | $2,309bn | 10.6% | 27.3% |
| MTN Ghana | 7 | $1,806bn | 9.4% | 41.8% |
| Zenith Bank | 8 | $1,729bn | 13.3% | 24.2% |
| Stanbic IBTC | 9 | $1,390bn | 2.9% | 21.8% |
| Nigerian Breweries | 10 | $947m | 1.9% | 4.6% |
| Lafarge Africa | 11 | $869m | 4.5% | 8.6% |
| Seplat Petroleum | 12 | $764m | 7.4% | -4.5% |
| Access Bank | 13 | $694m | 8.1% | 14.1% |
| First Bank Nigeria | 14 | $636m | 6.2% | 11.6% |
| UBA | 15 | $589m | 7.4% | 10.6% |
| Dangote Sugar | 16 | $498m | 8.8% | 23.9% |
| Oragroup Togo | 17 | $481m | 1.7% | 0.3% |
| Société Générale-CI | 18 | $443m | 5.1% | 19.4% |
| Coris Bank – Burkino Faso | 19 | $435m | 0.0% | 21.2% |
| StanChart Ghana | 20 | $423m | 0.0% | 34.3% |
