Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Information reaching Business Post has it that some companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) are making frantic efforts to meet up with the Sunday, March 31, 2019 deadline for the filing of their earnings for the year ended December 31, 2018.
Though not all the listed companies run the January 1 to December 31 financial year, majority of them do.
Technically, quoted firms yet to submit their financial scorecards for the 2018 fiscal year have only today and tomorrow to do so.
According to the NSE rules on filing of annual results, “Audited annual accounts shall be filed with The Exchange not later than 90 calendar days after the relevant year end, and published in at least two national daily newspapers not later than 21 days before the date of the Annual General Meeting, and posted on the company’s website with the web address disclosed in the newspaper publications.
“An electronic copy of the publications shall be filed with The Exchange within two business days of the publications.”
However, the stock market regulator warned that “Any late submission of accounts shall attract the following fines:
“(a) One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000) per day for the first ninety (90) calendar days of non-compliance;
“(b) Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N200,000) per day for the next ninety (90) calendar days of non-compliance;
“(c) Four Hundred Thousand Naira (N400,000) per day thereafter until the date of submission.”
It is important to note that the NSE created a window for those who may not meet the deadline to apply for time extension.
“Where an Issuer has a reasonable belief that it will not be able to file its accounts by the relevant due date, the Issuer may before the due date submit an application for an extension of time, supported by compelling reasons and evidence in support of its inability to file its accounts by the due date. The Issuer’s application shall be received by The Exchange not later than: (a) thirty (30) calendar days before the filing due date for annual accounts; and (b) fourteen (14) calendar days before the filing due date for quarterly accounts.
“The Exchange may in its sole discretion decide whether to grant such extension or not, provided that any extension granted shall not exceed ninety (90) calendar days from the relevant due date (the Cure Period),” the rules stressed.
A check by Business Post showed that less than 20 percent of the listed companies have released their results so far.
For example in the banking sector, only GTBank, Access Bank, UBA, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Zenith Bank have released their results, while in the insurance sector, virtually all the companies are yet to release their annual accounts.
From what we gathered, some companies are planning to bombard the market tomorrow with their results, while others are seeking an extension because they await approval from their regulators.
Companies in the banking sector normally first forward their results for approval to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after board’s approval before releasing to the public, while those in the insurance sector take theirs to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
However, companies are also told to factor the different factors in the preparation of their financial statements.
In recent times, shareholders of companies fined for late submission of their results have asked the regulators to go tough on the directors.
They argued that these directors fail to meet up with the deadline because they know nothing will happen to them, while the fine is paid by shareholders, reducing what should come to them as dividend.
