We have just completed our weekly listings reconciliation and record 1,552 primary listed companies in Africa.
522 in Egypt and 376 in South Africa and 228 in Nigeria. There are 45 companies primarily listed in African markets and dual listed on African exchanges, and 38 companies primarily listed outside of Africa with secondary listings in Africa. There were 3 de-listings in the week.
Why do we track this information? To operate in Africa you need to understand Africa.
Very interesting. What are the trading volume characteristics of these companies. Are they held primarily by African investors? Are they held mostly by individuals or institutions? Do they travel to other continents to meet with institutional investors?
Most of the shares are highly illiquid. I do not have stats on the ownership profiles, but would guess an extremely high percentage would be institutionally owned – here are more stats on listed subsidiaries from a subsahara perspective. Very high ownership by institutions. Only a very few travel overseas to meet investors – the larger market caps. African markets are so illiquid and relatively small that relatively few play in these markets. For those that can get exposure they have in the long run done well, subject to being in the more robust industries in Africa such as beer and banking (except Nigeria). A few more insights appear here.