Dipo Olowookere
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The inability of the board of Oando Plc to release to the investing public the audited 2019 and first quarter of 2020 unaudited financial reports has been blamed on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The energy company, in a disclosure on Monday, explained that the decision of the apex capital market regulatory agency to suspend its Annual General Meeting (AGM) last year has made it impossible for the firm to audit its 2019 financial statements.
“Following the SEC’s suspension of Oando’s AGM, the company has been unable to appoint auditors to commence the company’s 2019 audit exercise,” Oando said in the notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
On Monday, June 10, 2019, SEC informed the investment community that it has indefinitely barred Oando from holding its yearly shareholders’ gathering following an ex-parte order obtained from a federal high court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos in suit no: FHC/L/Cs/910/19 in Mr Jubril Adewale Tinubu & Anor v Securities & Exchange Commission & Anor.
According to Oando, this suspension has made it impossible for the company’s board to present the “company’s 2018 audited financial statements [to] shareholders for approval.”
It further stated that it has also prevented shareholders “to re-appoint the auditors of the company to hold office for the 2019 financial year.”
Furthermore, the energy firm said the SEC’s action has caused the “inability of the company to meet its FYE 2019 NSE filing of accounts obligation within the due date of March 31, 2020.”
While apologising for any inconveniences this might have caused, Oando promised to “update the market on the outcome of the above-mentioned case in due course.”
Business Post reports that Oando should have filed its results for the year ended December 31, 2019, on or before May 29, 2020, and its financial statements for Q1 2020 on or before June 29, 2020, but none have been submitted at the time of filing this report.
This is not the first time the company has failed to submit its financial results to the investing public as at when due.
For over two year, Oando and SEC have been at loggerheads over a forensic audit of the company.
