Shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) surged past the ₦100 mark on Tuesday, making it the first Nigerian banking company to reach triple digits on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).
The milestone comes after the financial institution’s landmark listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) earlier this month and a string of robust earnings results.
Stocks of the parent company of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) climbed as high as ₦103 per share during mid-day trading, up over 27% month-to-date and solidifying its lead as the best-performing FUGAZ stock in July. It closed at N101.
The company now stands ahead of rivals such as Stanbic IBTC Holdings, which continues to trade just below ₦99.20.
The rally follows the group’s dual listing on July 9, when 2.29 billion ordinary shares were admitted to trading on the LSE, marking GTCO as the first Nigerian banking company to pursue a direct listing of its common stock in London.
“The listing of our ordinary shares in London marks a significant step in our evolution as a pan-African financial institution,” said Segun Agbaje, GTCO’s Group CEO.
He added that the firm is targeting a 15% dividend yield and 25% return on equity (ROE), a signal of aggressive growth plans and capital discipline.
GTCO is also on a capital-raising drive to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ₦500 billion minimum capital requirement for international banks by March 2026. In Q1 2025, the group reported a ₦300.4 billion pre-tax profit, with interest income rising 41.1% and fee income up 41.2%, reinforcing optimism about its fundamentals.
The broader NGX Banking Index is up over 22% in July, buoyed by the central bank’s crackdown on banks under regulatory forbearance. GTCO has cleared all forbearance issues as of December 2024, positioning it favourably after the CBN barred affected lenders from paying dividends or expanding offshore FX operations.
In contrast to a sluggish February, GTCO’s share price has gathered momentum steadily—up 12.4% in March and 18.1% in Q2, despite April’s brief pullback. The July rally underscores deepening investor interest in quality financial stocks with strong capital buffers and transparent expansion strategies.
What to know about GTCO
GTCO first listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on June 28, 2021, following the restructuring of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc into a holding company structure. At the time, GTBank’s shares were officially delisted, and the entire issued share capital of 29,431,179,224 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each was admitted for trading under the new entity, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc.
In February 2025, GTCO expanded its share base by listing an additional 4.71 billion ordinary shares on the NGX. The listing followed a public offer of 9 billion shares at ₦44.50 per share, part of the group’s wider effort to raise capital ahead of new regulatory requirements.
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