By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in a bid to bring sanity into the stock market and make shareholders get better value, has come up with new rules that will mandate companies trading their shares on its platform provide some vital information for the investing public beforehand.
The new regulation titled ‘Rules on Release Calendar for Regulatory Announcements and Filings of Listed Companies’ was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, May 6, 2019.
Under the new rule, quoted firms would be required to provide information on their expected and actual filing dates of specific financials, corporate actions like interim/final dividend and board meetings.
According to the NSE, these details must be submitted “by the third (3rd) quarter of its current financial year, but not later than the last day of its current financial year” and these items must be posted on the websites of the companies.
The stock market regulator said, “Changes to any dates already disclosed by an Issuer, shall be promptly communicated to The Exchange via the Issuers’ portal at least five (5) business days prior to the date of the relevant event.
“Where the Issuer does not disclose the date changes within the time specified above, or is unable to do so within the specified time, the Issuer shall release a notice to the market, prior to the earlier disclosed date of an event, stating the reasons for such changes and the new proposed date for the event.
“A company newly listed on The Exchange shall submit information on the items in Rule 2, for the current year to The Exchange, and release it to the market, at least three (3) business days prior to the date on which its securities are set to begin trading on The Exchange.”
It further said, “Where an Issuer fails to file information on the items in Rule 2 after the due date, the exchange shall on its own volition, within five (5) business days after the due date, populate the Release Calendar with relevant information on the defaulting Issuer, on the basis of: (a) the regulatory deadline by which each Issuer’s obligations in respect of each specific filing became due, and (b) for announcements of dividends, and dates of Board and Annual General meetings, the earliest date on which an Issuer took such corporate action in previous years, and the Issuer shall be bound to fulfil its regulatory obligations by the above dates.
“Where an Issuer defaults in filing any expected returns by the above dates, the applicable penalties for failure to comply and submit such returns shall begin to run from those dates.”
