Transcorp Group market capitalization hit $3bn

…power sector vital to transforming Nigeria – Elumelu

Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) Plc, has created tremendous value for shareholders, similar to esteemed American value investor Warren Buffett since take over of the corporation by banking icon, Mr. Tony Elumelu MFR.

The market value of the Transcorp Group listed entities is $3 billion (N4.6 trillion) today. This comprises Transcorp Plc N403 billion, Transcorp power N2.737 trillion and Transcorp Hotels N1.485 trillion, according to Bloomberg data of April 9th 2025.

When the Chairman of Transcorp, Elumelu took over the company in 2011, the market cap was less than N20 billion.

This is an astonishing 22,900 percent gains for investors over the 13-year time period (2011 – 2024), a story similar to how Buffett took over an ailing textile firm and grew it into the conglomerate known as Berkshire Hathaway whose market value climbed by roughly 20% a year from 1965 through last year — nearly double the S&P 500’s annual return in that time.

Transcorp listed firms growth is equivalent to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 61.4% per annum over the time period.

Going by dollar returns, N20 billion in 2011 was roughly $125m (N160/$), so the surge in Transcorp Group listed firms to $3 billion (N1,536/$) still gives a solid 2,300% USD gain over the period.

“Your company indeed is growing. Last year, we took Transcorp Ughelli Power public and its value today is in excess of N2.7 trillion,” Elumelu said at the 19th Annual General Meeting of Transcorp Plc held in Abuja yesterday.

“When we say Transcorp is about improving lives and transforming Nigeria and Africa, it is based on the role we play in catalysing development. Power is critical for the development of every economy.”

Transcorp has continued to be successful through long term vision, resilience and strategic focus on the levers of value and understanding what it means to serve its stakeholders.

Transcorp Plc recorded 107% revenue growth to N407.9 billion ($271 million) in 2024, while Full Year profit rose a massive 189.7% to N94 billion ($62.6 million), signaling strength.

The Transcorp Group power business includes its subsidiary Transcorp Power and another power business, Trans Afam where it has 2 plants.

Transcorp Power reported a 115% increase in revenue to N305.9 billion for 2024. Profit after tax surged by 165% to N80 billion in Full Year (FY) 2024, from N30.2 billion in FY 2023.

Transcorp Hotels which owns the flagship Transcorp Hilton Abuja, is also a major subsidiary

Transcorp Hotels delivered 69% revenue growth to N70.134 billion in Full Year 2024, while profit after tax rose 138% to N14.895 billion.

Transcorp Power Ughelli has an installed capacity of 1,000 MW of electricity generation and Transafam has 1,000 MW capacity. That is a combined capacity of 2,000 MW.

However, available capacity for both; Ughelli at 625 MW and Transafam at 305 MW, combined is almost 1,000MW in Nigeria, which consumes less than 5,000MW, showing how valuable Transcorp is to the economy.

Despite the challenging economic climate, one of the Group subsidiaries, Transcorp Power, fully repaid a $215m loan it took in 2014 for the acquisition of Transcorp Power Ughelli.

The flagship Transcorp Hilton Abuja, a 670 room Hotel facility has also just completed a 5,000-capacity event centre, the first of its kind, in Nigeria in Abuja.

“We believe Nigeria should be able to attract global, international, world-class events and you cannot achieve this if you do not have an event centre that can accommodate a huge number of people,” Elumelu said.

“Rwanda, Dubai and even Kenya have become hubs for events, so we want to put your country on that map, and we have succeeded in doing so and the Transcorp event centre is now open, and people are booking to use the facility.”

The Transcorp Group Chairman reiterated that access to electricity remains the single most critical factor in fixing the Nigerian economy especially as the country seeks to make the non-oil sector become a greater contribution to the economy.

“We must therefore fix the power sector to fix and transform Nigeria,” Elumelu said.

Elumelu listed the main dominant challenges of the power sector to be, liquidity, infrastructure and gas availability which remain unresolved 12 years after investing heavily in this sector.

“As at date our federal government owes your company over N600 billion ($400 million). Much as we as patriotic Nigerian investors are committed to supporting the efforts of the Federal government in fixing the Nigerian economy we have been under excruciating burden of subsidising the sector as producers who do not get paid for the electricity we generate; we put on the grid and is consumed on the grid,” Elumelu said.

“This you will agree is totally not sustainable, it requires urgent attention.”

Elumelu praised the Tinubu administration for well-intended initiatives of the federal government in the power sector, including efforts that commenced last year, targeted at paying the debt owed GENCOs, the presidential metering initiative targeted at increasing access to meters, the separation of the independent system operations from TCN among others.

The completion of the ongoing OB3 (Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben) gas pipeline will positively impact gas to power supply as the pipeline is expected to link the Eastern gas network where there is currently acute gas supply shortage; to the western network, with relatively better gas supply availability, according to Elumelu.

“While the intentions behind these initiatives are very good, these intentions can only be achieved through ruthless, result oriented and timely execution of the initiatives before this sector collapses in front of our every eye with these attendant consequences,” Elumelu the Transcorp Group Chairman said.

“Let me therefore use this opportunity of our AGM to call on all those involved in executing our president’s directives on this initiative to please prioritise this critical national task immediately.”