Zenith Bank grows gross earnings by 5.5% as NSE sustains positive performance
Zenith Bank Plc, unaudited first quarter (Q1) 2020 result released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that its gross earnings grew by 5.5 per cent Year-on-Year to N168.6 billion from N158.1 billion in the first quarter (Q1) 2019.
The commercial bank, also, while profit after tax PAT, declined by 1.3 per cent Y-o-Y to ₦5.8 billion from N5.9 billion in Q1:2019.
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Meanwhile trading at the NSE closed in the green as the All-Share Index rose 62bps to 22,868.40 points due to gains in MTNN (+2.4%), FBNH (+3.4%) and WAPCO (+2.7%). Consequently, YTD loss eased to -14.8per cent while market capitalisation increased N73.2 billion to N11.9 trillion.
Activity level was mixed as volume traded advanced 4.0% to 277.3m units while value traded declined 7.4 per cent to N2.5 billion. The most active stocks by volume were FBNH (56.6m units), UBA (52.8m units) and LASACO (23.9m units) while GUARANTY (₦470.4m), DANGCEM (N374.4m) and ZENITH (N322.1m) led the value chart.
Across sectors, the performance was a bullish performance as 4 of 6 indices under our coverage closed positive. Buying interest in MTNN (+2.4%) and ARDOVA (+9.9%) drove the AFR-ICT and Oil & Gas indices up 1.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively. Trailing, the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices advanced 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively due to price appreciation in INTBREW (+4.4%) and WAPCO (+2.7%).
Similarly, gains in ACCESS (+1.6%) and FBNH (+3.4%) drove the Banking index 0.2 per cent higher. Conversely, the Insurance index declined 0.2 per cent due to selloffs in CORNERSTONE (-6.8%).
Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), weakened to 1.2x from the 1.7x recorded in the previous trading session as 14 stocks advanced relative to 12 decliners. The best performers were COURTVILLE (+10.0%), VITAFOAM (+10.0%) and ARDOVA (+9.9%) while ETERNA (-9.6%), UPL (-7.6%) and LASACO (-7.1%) led the losers. We expect more corporate earnings releases to shape the direction of the market for the rest of the week.
