Between January 1 and April 1 this year, the top 30 largest listed companies in Africa lost a common value of $62.2 billion, according to data collected by Ecofin Agency. Twenty-seven (27) of these companies experienced a decline in value over the period compared to only three increases.

The top 3 most hit companies include South African Impala Platinum, Absa Group and MTN Group, which experienced a decline by almost half in their stock values. However, in the absolute figure, this top 3 includes Anglo American (-$8 billion), FirstRand Limited (-$7.3 billion) and Standard Bank (-$5.8 billion).

This poor performance on the stock market is somehow linked to the spread of covid-19, which has forced many countries to take measures whose main consequence is to limit economic activities. We also note that the biggest declines in this top 30 were suffered by South African companies. According to information on capital flows around the world, investors have been divesting their portfolios of several assets associated with emerging markets.

Other companies that experienced sharp declines were the Egyptian financial group Commercial International Bank, and the three large and growing Moroccan banking groups: Attijariwafa Bank (-25.4%), BMCE Bank of Africa (-18.7%), and Banque Centrale Populaire (-22.7%). The company with the most complex collapse is Maroc Telecom. The group, which has a strong presence in Africa, has a share price to earnings ratio of 41x. This is a high level when compared to its competitors in Africa such as the MTN Group (8.8x) and Vodacom (12.5x).

Over the last week, the pressure on the stock market loosened. Only 19 companies in the top 30 African stock markets experienced a decline, while 11 rose. MTN Group has recovered well, with 20% more capital gains. The biggest decline was only 18.2%.

Idriss Linge