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.
