First Bank gains over 30% in stock market following subsidiary sale announcement

First Bank of Nigeria saw a significant surge in the Nigerian stock market during the second week of September, with its share price climbing by 31.81 percent.

This jump followed the bank’s announcement on Friday, 7th September 2024, of the 100 percent sale of its stake in FBNQuest Merchant Bank to EverQuest, on the heels of the bank’s strong first-half results, which included an 100.9 percent year-on-year growth in pre-tax profit.

The divestment reflects the bank’s strategic focus on core operations, cost-saving measures, and strengthening its balance sheet, which investors viewed favourably, leading to a sharp rise in share price the following week.

First Bank has been on a long-term upward trend since 2020, with only minor corrections along the way.

However, the recapitalisation policy introduced earlier this year stirred uncertainty across the banking sector, leading to a 32 percent decline in FBNH’s share price in April. The downward trend continued through July, with the bank closing at N20.95 by the end of the month.

The release of the bank’s half-year results, which showed an 18.9 percent year-on-year increase in net interest income and a remarkable 132 percent rise in pre-tax profit, sparked renewed investor interest in August, pushing the stock into recovery mode.

In the first week of September, the bank announced the sale of FBNQuest Merchant Bank, which the market perceived positively, triggering a price surge the following week.

In July 2024, the bank released its financial statement for the first half of 2024, reporting a pre-tax profit that stood at N411.9 billion compared to the N205 billion reported by the group in 2024.

Interest income also spiked by 155% climbing to N947.6 billion from N371 billion reported the previous year for the period between January 1- June 30.

The group’s earnings per share from common stocks also doubled at a value of N10.11 compared to N5.19 of the previous year.

Nevertheless, total assets also climbed by 38% and cash and cash equivalents spiked to 86.7 percent.

Stock performance

First Bank is currently riding a monthly volume of up to 205 million shares in the second week of the month already as market volume spiked from 194 million shares for the entire month of August.

The stock surged by over 30 percent spurred by a weekly volume of 175 million shares as it corrects from the low of N20.95 it printed in July.

Compared to the other tier one banks, it is the first to appreciate by 30% weekly since the recapitalisation news spurred a share price decline in banking stocks.