Ghana’s richest stock investor loses another $1 million from stake in GCB Bank - Report

As a result of the sustained sell-off of shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange, which has impacted the market value of publicly traded companies, Daniel Ofori, a Ghanaian businessman and serial investor, has seen the market value of his stake in GCB Bank fall by more than $11 million since the start of 2022.

According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, the market value of his stake has dropped by GH¢25.6 million since the beginning of 2022, resulting in a total value loss of $11.2 million after adjusting for the recent depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi against the U.S. dollar.

GCB Bank, which ranks as the ninth most valuable company on the Ghana Stock Exchange, is one of Ghana’s largest banks in terms of total operating assets and industry deposits.

According to Tesah Capital, a Ghanaian asset management firm, the bank is the country’s second-largest bank, accounting for more than 11 percent of banking industry deposits.

Ofori, a prominent businessman and the wealthiest investor on the Ghana Stock Exchange, owns 7.49 percent of GCB Bank, making him the banking group’s third-largest shareholder after the Social Security and National Insurance Trust and the Ghanaian government.

The market value of his stake has dropped by GH¢25.6 million ($11.2 million) since the start of the year, from GH¢104 million ($16.92 million) on January 1 to GH¢8.4 million ($5.69 million) at the time of writing this report.

The drop can be attributed to the bank’s share price falling 24.6 percent year to date, from GH5.24 ($0.853) at the start of the year to GH¢3.95 ($0.286). The group’s market capitalization is worth GH¢1.05 billion ($75.5 million) at the current price level.

Despite a recent drop in GCB Bank’s market capitalization, which has resulted in millions of dollars in losses for shareholders and investors, the Ghana-based financial services group continues to create value for its shareholders, with profits exceeding GH¢463 million ($33.3 million) at the end of the first nine months of its 2022 fiscal year.

The group’s profit after tax increased by 28.4 percent from GH¢360.4 million ($26 million) to GH¢463.14 million ($33.4 million), according to figures contained in its recently published financial statement for the nine months period of its current fiscal year.

The increase in the bank’s earnings puts Ofori and other shareholders on track to receive a substantial dividend from the bank’s operations when the 2022 dividend is declared and approved in 2023.

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