By Dipo Olowookere
The board of directors of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc has informed its shareholders and the investing public that the auditing of the company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 is yet to be completed.
In a disclosure sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the firm explained that the delay in completing the audit of the 2019 earnings was caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Since last week, movements have been restricted in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State due to COVID-19. The lockdown of these three places was to manage and prevent the further spread of the virus in the country.
Since the first case of the global virus was reported in Nigeria on February 27, 2020, over 230 people have contracted the disease in the country, with five deaths.
Globally, more than 1.2 million have been infected and over 60,000 deaths recorded so far, with the United States recording more than 10,000 fatalities from over 300,000 infections.
In the notice today, NAHCO said its board meeting, earlier scheduled for tomorrow for the approval of the financial statements and proposal of dividends, will no longer hold because of the development.
“This is to inform the Nigerian Stock Exchange and our esteemed shareholders that the meeting of the Board of Directors of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc scheduled to hold on April 8, 2020, in Lagos to consider and approve the company’s 2019 audited financial statements and recommend the payment of dividend, has been postponed until further notice.
“This postponement is because the 2019 Audited Financial Statements has still not been completed due to disruptions of the auditing process by the impact of COVID-19,” the disclosure said.
It further said, “You will be adequately notified of the date of the meeting when it is fixed in accordance with the rules of the exchange.”
NAHCO, however, disclosed that “the closed period declared by the company from March 12, 2020 will continue until 24 hours after the 2019 audited financial statements is released to the market.
“Accordingly, all insiders have been advised not to directly or indirectly deal in the shares of the company in any manner during the closed period.”
As at the time of filing this report, Business Post observed that shares of NAHCO were trading up by one kobo or 0.43 percent to N2.35 per unit.
