Many firms are now jittery, following their inability to meet up with the stipulated deadline given by the Nigerian Stock Exchange, to submit their financial statements, The Point’s investigations have revealed.
The NSE has mandated all quoted companies to submit their full year (2018) and first quarter (2019) financial statements to the regulatory authorities and the investing public at the end of this month.
It warned that any company that failed to meet the deadline would be liable to both monetary sanction and NSE’s “naming and shaming” tagging of non-compliantcompanies. Besides, compliance with the deadline is generally regarded as a measure of good corporate governance.
However, less than 20 quoted companies have so far submitted their annual reports, representing about eight per cent of the companies that are required to submit their financials under the Gregorian calendar year.
The early filers included Zenith Bank, Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Cement and Africa Prudential Registrars.
Notably, the banks are expected to start churning out their financial performance for the first quarter of 2019, but more lenders are giving their esteemed shareholders nothing to cheer about, because their profit warnings are full of gloomy pictures, due to loan write-offs from the oil and gas sector, and political uncertainties.
The NSE’s post-listing rules require quoted companies to submit their earnings reports, not later than three months after the expiration of the business year.
The regulatory filing calendar indicates that the deadline for submission of annual report for companies with Gregorian calendar business year is March 31.
The Stock Exchange also explained that most quoted companies, including banks, major manufacturers, oil and gas companies, breweries and cement companies, use the 12-month Gregorian calendar year as their business year, which terminates on December 31.
“Overall, despite the headwinds and the fact that 2018 presents a tough operating environment for the industry, we remain optimistic on the fundamentals underpinning our long-term retail-led business strategy,” some of the bank executives told our correspondent.
Some bankers who spoke with The Point said the slowdown in the third quarter continued in the fourth quarter and largely emanated from wholesale banking activities, although retail banking showed greater resilience and earning momentum.
Already, a total of 15 publicly quoted firms have recommended N78.56 dividends to shareholders, with some already paid in the 2019 financial
year.
This was in a bid to reward loyal shareholders and plan ahead for the this fiscal year. However, some companies listed on the NSE have declared their dividends, while some have yet to decide on the way forward, investigations reealed.
According to data obtained from the NSE, Dividend Yields on the Exchange have improved significantly, as stock prices suffered decline in all but the first month of 2018, due to many factors, which ranged from the continuing rate hike in developed markets, oscillating oil price, mixed macro-economic indices, capital outflow, to uncertainties arising from the last general
elections.
