By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Shareholders of Royal Exchange Plc have been assured that the financial statements of the company for the year ended December 31, 2018 would be released on or before Friday, August 30, 2019.
In a statement, the management of Royal Exchange attributed the delay in filing the results to regulatory approval from two of its subsidiaries.
Royal Exchange, which boasts of five arms, said its insurance subsidiaries, Royal Exchange General Insurance Company and Royal Exchange Prudential Life Plc, submitted their accounts to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on June 25, 2019 and were still expecting approval.
It was disclosed that the results were initially not submitted to NAICOM earlier because of the IFRS 9 and the need to restate the financials in line with this requirement.
“The management of Royal Exchange Plc would like to advise our esteemed shareholders, stakeholders and the investing community that we are unable to issue our audited financial statements within the extended due date as approved by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and published in both The Guardian Newspaper of March 6, 2019 and Daily Trust Newspaper of same day.
“As a holding company with five different subsidiaries, the audit exercise for the group is yet to be consolidated and concluded, as our insurance subsidiaries, Royal Exchange General Insurance Company and Royal Exchange Prudential Life Plc, are yet to receive regulatory approval for their accounts from their regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) due to IFRS 9 and the need to restate the financials in line with this requirement.
“The accounts of the two (2) insurance subsidiaries were submitted to NAICOM on June 25, 2019 after the accounts were restated in line with the new requirements and we are hopeful that we will get the approval as soon as possible,” the statement said.
Royal Exchange assured that, “Once all the subsidiaries have obtained approval for their financial statements, consolidation of the group’s accounts will be concluded and approved by the board of directors for onward submission to both the NSE and Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).
“We are optimistic to submit the Audited Financial Statements to the exchange on or before August 30, 2019.”
