Zenith extends lead over GTCO as Nigeria’s most capitalized bank

GTCO has further dropped behind its market rival, Zenith Bank on the most capitalized or valuable company and financial institutions in Nigeria after its shareholders lost N89.76 billion last week, with total investment held by stakeholders now worth N681.33 billion as of Friday last week, against the N771.09 billion owned on March 18.

This further extends the gap between GTCO and its market rival, Zenith Bank as the Jim Ovia-led bank is worth N844.56 billion.

Last week, the Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Segun Agbaje lost a whopping N98.04m in five days as fear forces GTCO’s investors to take out funds

Investors are selling off their Holdings in GTCO, taking out profits, as the board moved to approve its N2.70kobo per share final dividend paid to shareholders for 2021 period, which will take its total dividend for the year to N3.

READ ALSO: GTB, Zenith Bank, 8 others grow combined profit by N120bn

It was gathered that the April 8 Meeting will also have the shareholders voting on the uninsured shares, considering its existence creates a possibility of diluting shareholders stakes and depleting share value.

Agbaje’s investment movement in GTCO, alongside other stakeholders, have been suffering from declining confidence in the capital market, amid fear that the bank stock will struggle to attract investors optimistic about its future growth.

With the bearish sentiment trailing Guaranty Trust, investors engaged in massive sell off which resulted in GTCO’s stock losing value, with its share becoming cheaper, falling to N23.15 kobo, against its asking price of N26.20kobo per share on March 18.

As the share of GTCO lost -11.64 percent, Agbaje lost N98.04 million within the five days of trading last week, out of his N842.24 million direct investment in the company as of March 18.

However, the loss of Agbaje was more significant compared to that of GTCO chairman, Hezekiah Oyinlola, who lost N1.07 million from the N9.24 million indirect shares he owned before last week’s trading.

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For the first time since September 22nd, 2011, Zenith Bank share price traded higher than that of Guaranty Trust in January, 2022.  At the close of market, Zenith Bank witnessed a 0.20 percent gain for the day, with its stock closing at N25.50, with a trading volume of 4.5 million units valued at N114.2 million, while GTCo remained flat for the day, trading at a share price of N25.45, with a trading volume of 10.9 million valued at N277.9 million.

This flipping increases the gap by approximately N51 billion in terms of market capitalization between the two banks as Zenith Bank’s market capitalization soars above N800 billion while GT Co’s remains at approximately N749 billion.