Twenty four companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have been placed under full suspension by the Exchange for failing to submit their financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2010, according to a statement from NSE on Tuesday.
“By placing them on full suspension, there will be no transactions in the shares of the companies until the suspension is lifted. The suspension takes effect from Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011,” the statement said.
Non-submission of accounts when due is a violation of the Post-Listing Rules of the exchange which state that, “Audited Annual Accounts of Companies ought to be submitted within three months of year end.”
While describing the decision to suspend the companies as painful, the Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange, Oscar Onyema, said it would ensure that it enforced its rules.
The statement said out of the 48 companies placed on technical suspension on 1 July, 2011, 24 of them had submitted their account statements and the technical suspension was subsequently lifted.
”This brought the compliance rate to 89% of listed companies. However, full suspension was placed on the remaining 24 companies because they failed to meet the additional one-month (grace period) given to them.”
Similarly, 9 companies cutting across six sectors of the exchange have been placed on technical suspension for failing to submit their audited accounts for the year ended 31March 2011.
When a company is placed on technical suspension, there will be transactions in its shares, but no price movement will be allowed. The exchange retains the right to take additional action, if these firms do not comply within one month
