DELVE INTO AFRICAN WEALTH
DON'T MISS A BEAT
Subscribe now
Skip to content

Nigerian businessman Herbert Wigwe loses $3.14 million as Access Bank shares retreat from record highs

Wigwe nonetheless ranks among the wealthiest investors on the Nigerian Exchange.

Table of Contents

Nigerian banking mogul Herbert Wigwe has seen the market value of his stake in Access Bank decline by more than N1.29 billion ($3.14 million) in the past 35 days, as shares in the bank slumped by over eight percent from record levels.

Wigwe, the CEO of Access Bank, a pan-African banking group with an operational footprint in more than 12 countries across Africa, holds a significant 4.27-percent stake, or 1,517,850,729 ordinary shares, in the company.

The $3.14-million loss in his stake in the past 35 days can be linked to a fall in the stock price of the Lagos-based financial services group.

Access Bank is Nigeria’s largest banking group by assets. It has a market capitalization of N323.46 billion ($787.14 million), making it one of the most capitalized financial services groups on the Nigerian Exchange.

The decline in its stock price since Oct. 13 can be linked to investor profit-taking actions despite the double-digit growth that it reported in profit from N102.3 billion ($248.9 million) in 2020 to N121.9 billion ($296.6 million) in the first nine months of 2021.

The nine-month results did not do well to impress investors, who paid significant attention to the group’s rising operating costs and its unrealized losses, which soared from N5.72 billion ($13.9 million) in 2020 to N44.17 billion ($107.5 million) in 2021.

The surge in unrealized losses in the nine-month period pressured the group’s comprehensive income downward to N77.72 billion ($189.1 million), compared to the N96.58 billion ($235 million) that was reported last year.

As a result of investor profit-taking and portfolio-rotation activities, Access Bank shares on the Nigerian Exchange fell from a record high of N9.95 ($0.02421) per share on Oct. 13 to N9.1 ($0.02214) per share as of the time of writing. This translates to an 8.5-percent loss for shareholders.

Research conducted by Billionaires.Africa revealed that the market value of Wigwe’s 4.27-percent stake has declined from N15.1 billion ($36.76 million) on Oct. 13 to N13.81 billion ($33.62 million) as of the time of writing, accruing a loss of N1.29 billion ($3.14 million) for the multimillionaire in 35 days.

Despite the recent decline in the value of his stake, he remains one of the richest investors on the Nigerian Exchange.

Latest