BancABC rules the roost

overtaking Barclays Bank Zimbabwe.
Market capitalisation is the value of a company after multiplying the share price and the number of shares in issue.
The dual-listed pan-African blue chip counter got the market’s cheer on the recent solid financial performance to surge 13 percent on Tuesday to a new high of US85c to record a market capitalisation of US$124 million.
ABCH, the parent company of BancABC poses the greatest threat to the big banking groups including CBZH that dominated the sector for the greater part of 2010. However, CBZ remains the biggest bank in the country in terms of assets, deposits and lending.
Analysts yesterday said BancABC emerged a formidable force in the banking sector after injecting US$57 million in lines of credit in the country in addition to rolling out two retail units.
“Even in terms of the market share we are likely to see figures changing – BancABC is coming up with meaningful lines of credit and they are also unveiling new products on the market,” said one analyst.
As of yesterday, Barclays Bank Zimbabwe was the second largest bank of the quoted financial houses with a market capitalisation of US$106 million.
CBZ, after a poor performance of its share price in the mid-term, was valued at US$95 million. The counter yesterday closed at US13,50c.
CBZ buoyed by the majority of Government transactions and other big corporates holds a significant chunk of deposits and the lending market share. It is understood that about 80 percent of the deposits are within the top five banks in the country.
FBC is at US$42 million in terms of market capitalisation but the bank has been growing over the past six months. Having surpassed 2011 profits within the first five months to full year 2011, FBC has regained footing on core business since the take-up of Turnall.
Bringing fundamentals into perspective, FBC at US6c remains grossly undervalued as this price negates the group’s investment into Turnall that is currently trading at US14,3c.
As of yesterday, ZB market capitalisation was at US$15 million and Interfin was the least with just US$1,9 million.
Zimbabwe has 26 banking institutions and only six are listed on the local bourse. Barbican is still suspended and Kingdom is expected to relist soon following its demerger from Meikles Limited.
As of June 30, 2011 BancABC was capitalised to the tune of US$30 million, Barclays was at US$31 million, FBC with US$18 million and CBZ was the most capitalised at US$51,6 million.
BancABC last week said they were considering roping in a third party through a private placement to inject about US$50 million into the business.
Given the geographical spread of BancABC, the bank is likely to bring in a powerful regional or international partner further strengthening its position both on the local and regional market.
BancABC that is also listed on the Botswana Domestic Board now has a balance sheet of US$1 billion, the first in the history of the company.
In the six months to June 30, 2011 BancABC Zimbabwe and Tanzania were the major contributors to attributable profit of the company.
The two operations recorded increases of 421 percent and 69 percent.