Posted by From BASHIR UMAR, JAMES OJO and ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Abuja on
Nigeria's premier financial institution, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, made history on Monday when at the close of business on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the bank's market capitalization closed at N1,039,254,191,332.50k, thus making it the first Nigerian financial institution, and indeed, the first quoted company in Nigeria to achieve that feat.
Nigeria's premier financial institution, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, made history on Monday when at the close of business on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the bank's market capitalization closed at N1,039,254,191,332.50k, thus making it the first Nigerian financial institution, and indeed, the first quoted company in Nigeria to achieve that feat.
The bank achieved this result when its share price peaked at N52.25k. It's issued and paid up share capital had increased to 19.89 billion units upon completion of its recent Public Offer which was oversubscribed in excess of 750%. The share price has continued to appreciate in the last two weeks after recording a low of N42.00 upon resumption of trading post hybrid offer.
With this development, FirstBank became the most valuable company to be quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The bank has also demonstrated its capacity to add value to its teeming shareholders in particular and the Nigerian economy in general. Investors in the company's shares have recorded about 58 percent capital appreciation since the completion of its recently concluded offer. FirstBank's journey to this landmark success began with its Hybrid Offer, 'The Big Offer" which sought to raise N100 billion from the existing and new subscribers and was lauded as the biggest and most successful in the history of public offers in Nigeria.
In its recently released nine months unaudited result ending December 2007, the bank grew earnings by 65.1% to close at N105.2 billion, compared to N63.7 billion it recorded for the same timeline in the previous year. Consequently, profit before tax grew by 70.4% to close at N32.8 billion, compared to N19.2 billion recorded as at December 2006, while profit after tax recorded a 74.9% growth to close at N25.9 billion.
The bank was recently rated highest in Corporate Governance. Based on JIC Governanceplus (an associate of Moody's Investors USA) current rating assessment, FirstBank's industry and global ratings are the highest amongst publicly quoted banks and the top 100 companies in Nigeria. The report which was titled 'The Basic Corporate Governance Rating Report" was prepared using publicly available information and according to the Code of Corporate Governance in Nigeria issued by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and Code of Corporate Governance for Banks in Nigeria, post-consolidation, issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
As part of its international business expansion, the Bank recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Guangdong Xinguang International Group, a Chinese financial institution on the financing of a proposed $500 million project in Ogun State Free Trade Zone. This is in addition to another agreement with China Construction Bank (CCB) which seeks to further strengthen the business cooperation between both parties within the framework of each Party's respective articles and memorandum of association and applicable laws and regulations.