Safaricom has set a new record after its market value rose to Sh635 billion at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), at the close of business on Thursday.
That was a Sh5 billion gain from the Sh630 billion it had set on Wednesday and the trend may continue. Shares were trading at an all time high of Sh15.85.
With that Market Capitalization, Safaricom is larger than the next 3 biggest firms on the NSE combined.
Number two on the list is EABL with a market capitalization of Sh248 billion, followed by Equity at Sh190 billion and KCB at Sh183 billion. These 4 companies are more than half the entire NSE.
Now, how does Safaricom compare to the GDPs of African countries?
If Safaricom was a country, it would be a healthy number 36 in Africa, just below Rwanda.
Here’s a table from Wikipedia.
| 1 | Nigeria | 594.257 | |
| 2 | South Africa | 341.216 | |
| 3 | Egypt | 284.860 | |
| 4 | Algeria | 227.802 | |
| 5 | Angola | 131.407 | |
| 6 | Morocco | 112.552 | |
| 7 | Sudan | 70.030 | |
| 8 | Kenya | 62.722 | Revised to $53.40 billion[8] |
| 9 | Ethiopia | 49.857 | |
| 10 | Libya | 49.341 | |
| 11 | Tunisia | 49.122 | |
| 12 | Tanzania | 36.620 | Revised to $41.33 billion[9] |
| 13 | Ghana | 35.475 | |
| 14 | Ivory Coast | 33.963 | |
| 15 | DR Congo | 32.665 | |
| 16 | Cameroon | 32.163 | |
| 17 | Uganda | 26.086 | Revised to $24.69 billion[10][11] |
| 18 | Zambia | 25.611 | |
| 19 | Gabon | 20.675 | |
| 20 | Mozambique | 16.590 | |
| 21 | Botswana | 16.304 | |
| 22 | Senegal | 15.881 | |
| 23 | Chad | 15.841 | |
| 24 | Equatorial Guinea | 15.396 | |
| 25 | Congo | 14.114 | |
| 26 | Zimbabwe | 13.739 | |
| 27 | Burkina Faso | 13.382 | |
| 28 | Mauritius | 12.720 | |
| 29 | Mali | 12.043 | |
| 30 | Namibia | 11.982 | |
| 31 | South Sudan | 11.893 | |
| 32 | Madagascar | 11.188 | |
| 33 | Benin | 9.237 | |
| 34 | Niger | 8.290 | |
| 35 | Rwanda | 8.002 | |
| 36 | Safaricom | 6.91 | |
| 37 | Guinea | 6.770 | |
| 38 | Sierra Leone | 5.411 | |
| 39 | Togo | 4.838 | |
| 40 | Malawi | 4.408 | |
| 41 | Mauritania | 4.286 | |
| 42 | Eritrea | 3.870 | |
| 43 | Swaziland | 3.842 | |
| 44 | Burundi | 3.037 | |
| 45 | Lesotho | 2.458 | |
| 46 | Liberia | 2.073 | |
| 47 | Cape Verde | 1.975 | |
| 48 | Central African Republic | 1.731 | |
| 49 | Djibouti | 1.582 | |
| 50 | Seychelles | 1.473 | |
| 51 | Guinea-Bissau | 1.040 | |
| 52 | The Gambia | 0.918 | |
| 53 | Comoros | 0.722 | |
| 54 | São Tomé and Príncipe | 0.362 | |
| 55 | Somalia | ||
| 56 | Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic |
*Wikipedia figures
Well, as big as these figures may be, lets not forget that Apple has a market capitalization of nearly $800 billion and recently just announced first quarter profits of $18bn. If it were an African country, it would essentially be the wealthiest.
