Nigerian firms shut out of Africa’s top 10 as currency pressures drag valuations

Nigeria failed to place any company among Africa’s ten most valuable firms in the Africa’s Top 250 Companies 2025 ranking, due to the impact of currency devaluation and weak market confidence on the continent’s largest consumer economy.

South Africa and Morocco dominated the upper tier of the list released by African Business, with South African firms taking eight of the top 10 slots and Moroccan companies filling the remaining two. Nigeria’s top entry, Airtel Africa, ranked 17, well outside the elite group.

The London-based media attributes the shift partly to global risk aversion and sharp movements in African currencies. “The fluctuating value of African currencies is partly to blame, as is the retreat of international investors from frontier markets because of uncertainty stemming first from the Covid-19 pandemic, then from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and now the ongoing trade war,” it reported.

Despite a modest rebound in overall valuations, Nigerian firms continued to lose ground in the continental hierarchy. African Business said: “The performance of large Nigerian companies is particularly disappointing given the size both of Africa’s biggest market and of its natural resources, but currency devaluation has much to do with this year’s poor results.”

Read also: FRC pushes Nigerian firms toward credible, globally competitive sustainability reporting

Airtel Africa led the Nigerian troupe at number 17, followed by Dangote Cement (28th), BUA Foods (31st), MTN Nigeria (43rd), Geregu Power (67th), BUA Cement (69th), and Transcorp Power (71st).

None came close to breaking into the top 10, where South Africa’s Naspers retained its long-held position as the continent’s most valuable company with a market capitalisation of $40.3 billion.

The report highlighted that Africa’s 250 biggest listed companies recorded a combined valuation of $564bn at the end of March 2025, up from $503bn last year but still far below the $948bn peak reached in 2015. “The overall trend since then has been largely downwards despite the continent’s rapidly growing population and undoubted economic potential,” it said.

South Africa accounted for 16 of the top 20 firms, illustrating a sustained dominance driven by deep capital markets and the global operations of its financial and telecoms giants. The report noted that this dominance has persisted “despite long-term stagnation in the domestic economy.”

Nigeria, meanwhile, accounted for only 7 percent of the total value of the Top 250. This is a 7.8 percent drop from last year and well below its 15.4 percent share of Africa’s population.

African Business explained that their methodology survey “focuses on the biggest listed companies, with the ranking determined by the market capitalisation (total value of the listed shares) as at 31 March 2025.”

“The market capitalisation is converted into US dollars on the same date. Companies with more than 50% of their revenues from Africa are excluded if they are not listed on an African stock exchange.”

Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date