The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will sanction 28 companies for failing to meet post-listing requirements including timely release of operational reports and financial statements.
The list of offenders released by the exchange includes three commercial banks, one microfinance bank, three mortgage banks, five insurance companies, one investment management firm and 15 other firms in various non-financial sectors.
The commercial banks are Unity Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, and Fidelity Bank Plc; and Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc. The mortgage banks are Aso Savings & Loans Plc, Resort Savings & Loans, and Union Homes Savings & Loans Plc. The five insurance firms are Staco Insurance Plc, African Alliance Insurance Plc, Goldlink Insurance Plc, UNIC Insurance Plc, and International Energy Insurance.
The investment firm is Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc.
NSE said the companies failed to submit their interim reports and accounts for the period ended June 30, 2018.
Such default is marked out by the exchange as a corporate governance failure, which attracts monetary fines, “naming and shaming” tag, suspension of shares from trading and delisting in incurable cases of default.
It further noted that 20 of the firms missed the regulatory deadline of July 30, while Fidelity Bank, which audited its half-year results, missed the August 29 deadline.
Under the listing rules, late submission attracts N100,000 fine daily for the first 90 days of non-compliance (N9 million), another N200,000 per day for the 90 days (N18m) and N400,000 daily thereafter until it is submitted.
Delay beyond the first 180 days to the next 180 days could attract as much as N72m, bringing fines payable by a defaulting company within a year to N99m, it noted.
The list of sanctions showed fines ranging from a low of N0.1m to as high as N51.4m. Companies had been fined more than N400m and N500m in 2016 and 2017 respectively for failure to submit accounts within scheduled periods.
Daily Trust reports that there are 15 companies currently under suspension for failure to meet scheduled submission of financial statements.Forty-one monetary fines have so far been placed on companies in 2018, and more than 38 monetary fines slammed on companies in 2017.