Nigeria’s biggest listed companies have delivered a major boost to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), with nine megacap stocks adding a combined N46.69 trillion in market value in the first eight months of 2026. Data from the NGX shows that the combined market capitalisation of companies valued at N5 trillion and above climbed from N60.90 trillion at the end of December 2025 to N107.59 trillion by August 31, 2026, representing a 76.7% increase.
Airtel Africa emerged as the biggest winner, adding N15.15 trillion to its market value during the period. Its market capitalisation surged from N8.53 trillion to N23.68 trillion, representing a 177.5% increase and making it the largest listed company among the nine megacaps by the end of August. Dangote Cement followed with a N7.17 trillion gain, while MTN Nigeria added N6.21 trillion. Their market capitalisations rose to N17.45 trillion and N16.94 trillion respectively.
Other major contributors included First HoldCo, which gained N4.59 trillion, taking its market value to N6.59 trillion, while BUA Cement added N4.42 trillion and Seplat Energy gained N3.91 trillion. Aradel Holdings increased by N3.24 trillion, while Zenith Bank added N2.69 trillion, pushing its market capitalisation above the N5 trillion megacap threshold to N5.23 trillion. BUA Foods was the only decliner, losing N689 billion as its market value fell from N14.38 trillion to N13.69 trillion.
The dominance of these companies becomes clearer when compared with the wider NGX market. Overall NGX equity market capitalisation increased by N58.36 trillion, rising from N99.38 trillion in December 2025 to N157.74 trillion at the end of August, a 58.7% increase. The nine megacaps accounted for 79.9% of that total growth, while Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria alone contributed N28.53 trillion, or about 61% of the megacap gains. The five largest stocks—Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria, BUA Foods and BUA Cement—also accounted for 76.4% of the nine-company group’s combined value.
The strong market performance has come alongside improved earnings from several of the companies, although the relationship between profit growth and share-price performance has not been uniform. Seplat Energy recorded a 430.3% increase in reported profit after tax in H1 2026, while Airtel Africa posted 147.9% PAT growth for FY 2026. First HoldCo, BUA Cement and MTN Nigeria also reported strong profit growth of 81.6%, 79.6% and 70.6%, respectively. Beyond earnings, changing investor expectations and market valuations also appear to have played a significant role in driving the sharp increase in the value of Nigeria’s largest listed companies.
source: nairametrics
