Caverton Offshore has postponed the release of its audited financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2019.
All the companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) are expected to publish their financial results this month, according to the listing rules, but Nairametrics can confirm that such won’t happen in the case of Caverton.
The company, in a statement seen by Nairametrics, said it was being delayed by its foreign subsidiaries that were yet to submit their financial reports.
Audited Financial Statement for the Year Ended December 31, 2019, is expected to be released 90 days after the end of the year, which is March ending. Quarterly results are also expected to be submitted at most 60 days after the end of each quarter.
While explaining the situation that prevented the company from complying with the NSE listing rules, Caverton in the statement stated, “This delay had been unanticipated as the Company had expected to finalise the audit and publish its 2019 audited statements on or before March 30, 2020.
“The reason for the anticipated delay in filling the 2019 audited financial statements is to enable the External Auditors to finalise the audit of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries which require enhanced disclosure of information and consolidation into the 2019 audited financial statements.”
So Caverton requested for more time, stating that it would release the financial statement next month.
“COSG sincerely apologies for any inconvenience this delay might cause and is optimistic that the 2019 audited financial statements will be submitted to The Exchange on or before 30th April 2020.”
Not the first company to delay: Apart from Caverton, Royal Exchange had also stated that it would neither release its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019, nor its unaudited financial statements for the period ending March 31, 2020.
Nairametrics had reported that Royal Exchange also blamed the delay for filing its financial statements on its subsidiaries, stating that it would need three months to release the financial reports.
Punishment for late submission: Failure to submit at stipulated period will attract monetary sanctions imposed by the NSE. Under the listing rules, a late submission attracts a fine of N100,000 daily for the first 90 calendar days of non-compliance, another N200,000 per day for the next 90 calendar days and a fine of N400,000 per day thereafter until the date of submission.
With these, late submission under the first instance of 90 days could attract N9 million, the additional 90 days will attract N18 million while such delay beyond the first 180 days to the next 180 days could attract as much as N72 million, bringing fines payable by a defaulting company within a year to N99 million.
