Net worth of Jim Ovia, Nigerian billionaire banker and the founder of Zenith Bank Plc grew by N27.9 billion or $61.3 milllion in less than four months.

This was a result of the 29% increase in the value of Zenith Bank shares from N19 a unit on October 5, 2022 to N24.5 per unit on January 23, 2023.

Zenith Bank, a leading financial services provider in Nigeria and anglophone West Africa, Nigeria’s most profitable bank and the Nigerian Exchange’s largest listed financial services group,  has continued to see its shares rise after falling to a record low of N19 in October 2022.

Jim Ovia, founded the tier-one bank in 1990 spearheading a pivotal role in both the evolution and digital transformation of Nigerian banking. He owns a 16.2-percent stake or 5,072,104,311 ordinary shares.

Investors King can confirmed that the value of the billionaire stake in the bank had risen to N124.3 billion, a gain of N27.9 billion ($61.3 million).

This was after Zenith bank reported profit after tax of N174.33 billion in the first nine months of 2022, a significant 8.55-percent increase from the N160.6 billion ($367.5 million) achieved in the previous year.

The growth was primarily driven by strong performance in core banking operations, which led to a 20-percent increase in interest income from N518.7 billion ($1.2 billion) to N620.57 billion ($1.42 billion). Additionally, the bank saw an increase in fee and commission income from N78.3 billion ($179.2 million) to N100.06 billion ($229 million).

This significant increase in the bank’s share price on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) has propelled it to become the seventh most valuable company on the local bourse. The impressive performance on the stock market can be linked to its consistent and robust financial results, which continue to garner the attention and investment of both institutional and individual investors.

Board Chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu has bagged $2.36 million to see his net worth rise significantly in the first 17 days of 2023.

This is a result of the increase in UBA share price which has seen UBA’s market capitalization rise to $600 million with the bank’s shares trading at N8.05 ($0.0178) a unit.

Elumelu, founder of Heirs Holdings and chairman of Transcorp PLC owns a 6.9-percent stake, estimated at $42 million in UBA.

2023 has seen United Bank of Africa shares rise by nearly six percent, rising from N7.6 ($0.0168) at the close of the Nigerian Exchange last year to N8.05 ($0.0178) at the start of 2023. This has consequently led to a significant increase in the market value of Elumelu’s stake in the bank, from N18.09 billion ($39.92 million) in 2022 to N19.17 billion ($42.29 million).

This bump in the market value of his stake translates to a total gain of N1.071 billion ($2.36 million) for the Nigerian businessman, and this further cements his status as not only one of the richest investors on the Nigerian Exchange but as one of the richest men in the country.

Elumelu is also a philanthropist who through his foundation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, gives African entrepreneurs a space to grow their own ideas by providing them with mentorship, funding, and other necessary resources they need to succeed.

Investors King can confirm that The Tony Elumelu foundation since it was established in 2010 has elevated over 14,000 entrepreneurs from 54 African countries.

Tony Elumelu led  UBA as Group Managing Director from a single-country banking group after its merger with Standard Trust Bank to a pan-African bank with subsidiaries in 20 African countries, France, USA and UK. He is currently the bank’s Board Chairman after stepping down as Managing Director in 2010.

Ever since, UBA has become one of Nigeria’s leading financial services groups and a pan-African bank that operates in 24 countries on four continents with its most recent opening in the United Arab Emirates.

Some Nigerian billionaires have been confirmed to have run losses in billions for the year 2022 as the Nigerian banking sector experienced a significant fall in stock. 

According to an analysis by Nairalytics, Investors King can confirm that the total amount of the loss is N10.33 billion.

The analysis shows that the banking index of the Nigerian equities market in 2022 only managed a 2.81% gain which is a drastic fall compared to 3.32% and 10.14% recorded in 2021 and 2020 respectively. This contributed to huge selloffs in banking stocks, which consequently saw the price of most banks decline in the review year compared to the previous year. 

Although, the performance of the Nigerian equities market according to the All-Share index which is the benchmark for performance ratings showed a total growth of 19.98% in the year 2022, surpassing the 6.07% gain recorded in the previous year. 

Investors King can report that notable shareholders in the Nigerian Banking industry have marked their losses in their direct and indirect shareholdings in the banking sector for 2022. Investors King can confirm that these billionaires include Jim Ovia who lost N5.84 billion with Zenith bank and the Group Managing Director of Access Holdings, Herbert Wigwe who has a loss of N1.21 billion.

Joining the list are the chairman of the board of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu who has a loss of N1.07 billion and Femi Otedola who lost N999.67 million with FBN Holdings.

Others include Tunde Hassan-Odukale of FBN Holdings (N787.96 million), GTCo’s Segun Agbaje (N124.9 million), Ifeoma Esiri of Stanbic IBTC (N110.9 million), Zenith Bank’s Ebenezer Onyeagwu  (N92.2 million) and Adaora Umeoji (N81.1 million)  and Kennedy Uzoka of UBA (N16.7 million). 

However, According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the financial sector grew by 12.03% in real terms in Q3 2022 albeit lower than the 20.06% recorded in the previous period and 25.5% recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.