All the consultants noted that Airtel Africa will be saved by London within the nexus of stock market. But it seems Nigerian investors will help the company. Airtel Africa listing in London was no-good! But the listing in Nigeria is looking really great. In short, the secondary listing is now bigger than the primary listing. Go figure. MTN Nigeria is also doing great in the Nigerian Stock Exchange despite the challenges in the global telecom stock market value (Bloomberg uses black market rate, I used official rate in my MTN market cap).
MTN Nigeria now enjoys a market cap of N2.636 trillion ($8.5 billion), clearly more than 20% of the total value of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. This is simply amazing because the global average of telecom stocks is actually below water, according to data compiled by Quartz. Yes, despite the largely boom stock era in the developed world, the telecoms have struggled. In the developed world, telcos have been normalized – dead pipes powering modern commerce. Yes, they are stuck at the center of that smiling curve.
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Nothing is attractive in telecom company listing in a developed market, the sector is largely commoditized in such market.
As for NSE’s listing, when investors can’t get MTN shares, at least Airtel is there as second option.
I believe both stocks will continue to go north, the sector is yet to mature here.
You need to check if both are not in the same framework.