Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote suffered a huge loss due to coronavirus on Wednesday March 11, as he lost N240 billion in five hours.
Dangote’s firms under the parent-company ‘Dangote Group’, suffered huge losses just after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared coronavirus a pandemic.
The Nation reported that Dangote Cement Plc which is Nigeria’s most capitalized quoted company and accounts for more than 20 per cent of the total market capitalization, led the decline with the maximum daily allowable drop of 10 per cent or N17, which is equivalent to net depreciation of N289.68 billion.
Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR) Plc and NASCON Allied Industries Plc lost N1.8 billion and N3.05 billion. Dangote Cement’s share price dropped by N17 from N170 to close at N153.
NASCON Allied Industries declined by N1.15 to close at N3.05 while DSR lost 15 kobo to close at N9.75 per share.
Allaying public fears about development in the market, the Association of Securities Dealing Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) assured investors that the market would soon bounce back.
ASHON chairman Chief Oyinyechukwu Ezeagu explained that the stock market remained part of the global exchanges and as such any development in the world market would impact on its operations.
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Ezeagu said: “The effect of the coronavirus is gradually affecting trading all over the world and whatever happens elsewhere reflects in our market.
“The centre of it all is China and being a major world power both in productive and consumption capacities, any ill wind affecting China would naturally cause a big sneezing to the rest of world.
“Investors should not panic. The share prices will bounce back. The companies’ fundamentals remain strong. Many investors are taking advantage of the bearish run to beef up their portfolios.”
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