TheCable

TheSignature50, a ranking of Nigeria’s biggest corporations, has listed Dangote Cement as the biggest Nigerian company by market capitalisation.

The ranking is done annually in partnership with The Nigerian Stock Exchange to rank Nigerian companies by minimum market capitalisation of $50 million.

Market capitalisation is the total value of a company based on the current market price of its shares and the total number of outstanding shares.

Dangote Cement led the pack with a market capitalisation of $9.6 billion while MTN Nigeria was ranked the biggest telecommunications company with a market capitalisation of $7.7 billion.

Nestle Nigeria was ranked as the largest consumer goods company with a market capitalisation of $3.8 billion and Guaranty Trust Bank, the biggest in the banking sector, with a market capitalisation of $3 billion.

Nigerian Breweries was rated the largest brewery in the country with a market capitalisation of $1.5 billion.

Seplat led the oil and gas category with a market capitalisation of $1.1 billion.

BUA Group, Airtel and Zenith Bank were ranked the second largest in their respective cement, telecommunications and banking sectors.

BUA Cement had a market capitalisation of $4.5 billion; Airtel Africa, $3.7 billion and Zenith Bank, $2.2 billion.

“By market capitalisation, Dangote Cement is bigger than the largest cement company in Mexico – Cemex ($5.6 billion), Japan-Taiheyo Cement ($3.3 billion), Indonesia- Semen Indonesia ($4.7 billion), Taiwan- Taiwan Cement ($7.8 billion), Colombia-Cementos Argos ($2 billion), Saudi Arabia- Yanbu Cement ($1.7 billion), Denmark -Aalborg Cementir Holding ($1 billion), Argentina-Loma Negra ($1 billion) and Qatar-Qatar National Cement ($802 million),” the magazine said.

In terms of market capitalisation, the magazine said Dangote Cement, which is owned by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is equal to Emaar Properties, the owners of Burj Khalifa.