Dangote Cement, First HoldCo, MTN, Zenith, GTCO, others meet Frontier Index Series listing

FTSE Russell has included 31 Nigerian companies in its FTSE Frontier Index Series as the country prepares to return to Frontier Market status after a three-year absence from the global index provider’s classification.

The global index provider rsaid this in its September 2026 review of the Index. Top on the index are 10 large-cap stocks, are Aradel Holdings; Dangote Cement; First HoldCo; Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO); MTN Nigeria Communications; Nestlé Nigeria; Nigerian Breweries and Presco. Others are Stanbic IBTC Holdings; Zenith Bank.

FTSE Russell also listed 10 Nigerian stocks classified as Mid Cap, while 11 are listed as Small Cap in the Index. The Mid Cap stocks are Access Bank; Dangote Sugar Refinery; FCMB; Fidelity Bank; Guinness Nigeria; Oando; Okomu Oil Palm; Unilever Nigeria; United Bank for Africa; Wema Bank.

Listed in the Small Cap category are Custodian And Allied Insurance; Fidson Healthcare; Julius Berger; National Salt; Nigerian Aviation Handling; Nigerian Exchange Group; Sterling Financial Hold Co; Transnational Corp; U A C Nigeria; United Capital PLC and Vitafoam Nigeria

The inclusion of the stocks is as a result of FTSE Russel’s decision to reclassify Nigeria stocks from unclassified to Frontier Market status effective from the open of trading on September 21, 2026.

The FTSE Frontier Index Series provides benchmarks covering large, mid and small cap companies across eligible Frontier markets and is designed to serve as a performance benchmark for investors and as a basis for index tracking products.

FTSE Russell noted that the Indices can be segmented by Size, Region, country, and Industry Sectors and are calculated on a price and total return basis.

While some global stocks were moved from ‘Mid Cap’ to ‘Large Cap’ on the Index, FTSE Russell classifies the 10 Nigerian stocks as ‘Newly Eligible’ and are listed as large-cap stocks.

The large-cap listing also largely reflects Nairametrics’ categorization of Megacap Nigerian stocks, a list dominated by the companies indexed by FTSE Russell.

It will be recalled that Nigeria was removed from Frontier Market to Unclassified status in September 2023 following significant and continuing delays affecting the ability of international institutional investors to repatriate capital and execute foreign exchange transactions.

However, the journey to reclassification began in October 2025, when FTSE Russell placed Nigeria on its Watch List for potential reclassification following improvements in foreign exchange liquidity, capital repatriation, and market accessibility.