Stanbic Overtakes GTCO, Zenith in Market Value
In the banking segment, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has become the most valuable brand according to data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX). The group has 12.956 billion shares outstanding, the majority of which is owned by Standard Chartered Group.
In June, Stanbic Africa Holding Limited owned 67.55% of the group’s outstanding shares. This excluded directors’ shareholding which then kept the free float rate at 30.84% valued at about N216 billion.
Detail from its regulatory filing showed that Stanbic IBTC bolstered earnings performance in the first half of the year, reporting double-digit growth on key items on its income statement. Its earnings surge boosted investors’ confidence about the group’s future earnings stream, driving increasing demand at the local bourse.
In their outlook, analysts expect the bank to continue to deliver healthy profit performance after it doubled down on the bottom line in the first half. It declared a net profit of N67.92 billion in the first half of 2023, an increase of about 122% supported by increased appetite for credit creation and moderate FX gain among others.
In the stock market, the financial services boutique surged to N1.037 trillion, data from the local bourse showed.
This was higher than the market valuation of N1.021 trillion placed on GTCO, a financial services group which also was valued above Zenith Bank’s N1.004 trillion stock valuation. The unit price of Stanbic IBTC settled at N80 on Friday, Zenith Bank closed the week at N32 while GTCO was sold at N34.7, details from the NGX website showed.
In its update, the research unit of the Nigerian leading investment firm CardinalStone is prospecting higher earnings for the group, citing improvement in operating income as a major driver. According to CardinalStone, Stanbic’s earnings will likely cross the N100 billion mark to about N125.5 billion in the financial year 2023 based on the improvement in operating income.
The firm said, unlike most banks, Stanbic’s relatively modest FX gains of about N14.0 billion recorded on the bank’s $50 million net-open position in the first half of the year was not at the forefront of the earnings drive.
The investment firm also noted that the ex-revaluation gain, the bank’s most noticeable tailwind emerged from a 44.3% surge in net interest income to N72.7 billion. The financial services holdings reported more than 121.6% year-on-year growth in profitability in the first half of 2023 to N67.979 billion from N30.669 billion in the comparable period.
Supported by a healthy growth in net income, Stanbic IBTC’s return on equity rose by 100.28% in the first half to N15.07 from N7.52 12 months earlier. Demonstrating a better use of assets, the group’s return on assets jumped by 50.84% to N1.53 from N1.01 in the comparable period.
The financial services group’s profit after tax consideration grew by 121.5% year on year to N67.92 billion, bringing the first half of 2023 Return on Equity (ROE) to 15.07%. #Stanbic Overtakes GTCO, Zenith in Market Value #Naira Devaluation Deepens Economic Crisis in Nigeria