Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), PZ Cussons Nigeria, and John Holts Plc have been fined by the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX) for failing to file their audited and interim financial statements by the regulatory due date in 2022.
For failing to file their audited and interim financial statements in 2022, the three companies were fined a total of N11.2 million.
Ecobank was fined N3.2 million for submitting its financial statements after the regulatory due date, PZ Cussons was fined N4.8 million, and John Holt was fined N3.2 million. The NGX’s X-Compliance report detailed the fine.
According to the Exchange’s X-Compliance report, the initiative was created to maintain market integrity and protect investors by providing compliance-related information on all listed companies.
The report stated that “companies that are listed on the Exchange are required to adhere to high disclosure standards which are prescribed in Appendix 111 of the Listing Rules.
“Financial information which is periodic disclosure and on-going material events disclosure should be released to The Exchange promptly to enable it efficiently perform its function of maintaining an orderly market.”
NGX Regulation Limited (NGX REGCO) applied sanctions following the Rules for Filing of Accounts and Treatment of Default Filing, Rulebook of NGX (issuers’ rules)
Market participants agreed that the sanctions were justified, claiming that such sanctions would compel more publicly traded companies to disclose information to the market on a timely basis.
Mr. Mike Eze, Managing Director of Crane Securities Limited, stated that NGX’s action would boost investors’ confidence in the market because it sends a clear message to investors about the importance of receiving companies’ financial reports on time.
He went on to say that investors must always make informed decisions about which stocks to buy, and that they can only do so if companies release their regulatory filings on time.
The founder of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sunny Nwosu, also agreed that the companies deserved to be sanctioned.
Nwosu noted that the affected companies ought to have filed their earnings reports on time to help shareholders to understand their financial health for investment decisions.
“It is not a new thing and it does not come to us as a surprise. We have constantly written to the exchange and raised the issue at annual general meetings that there is a need to know the status of these companies to enable us to take investment position,” he noted.
According to Mr. Boniface Okezie, president of Progressive Shareholders Association (PSAN), penalizing companies for non-compliance with the rules of listing on NGX is a welcome development that will lead to more appropriate pricing of securities.
He stated that more entities would be required to provide timely information to the market, increasing investors’ confidence in NGX and the market’s regulatory capacity.
