Nigerian bourse ended the mid-week trading session on a bearish note. The All Share Index plunged by 0.44% to close at 39,697.62 index points as against the -0.59% drop observed on Tuesday its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands at -1.86%.

Investors’ losses on Wednesday stood at N91.86 billion. The Nigerian Stock Exchange market capitalization stood at N20.7 billion

The market turnover closed positive as volume moved up by +9.78% as against the -59.08% downtick recorded in the previous session. ZENITHBANK, GUARANTY, and UCAP were the most active to boost market turnover.

The market breadth closed negative as SEPLAT led 16 Gainers as against 29 Losers topped by JAPAULOIL at the end of today’s session – an unimproved performance when compared with the previous outlook.

Top gainers

1. SEPLAT up 10.00% to close at N583
2. AIICO up 5.22% to close at N1.21
3. CORNERST up 5.17% to close at N0.61
4. UAC-PROP up 5.00% to close at N0.84
5. CUTIX up 4.21% to close at N2.23

Top losers

1. JAPAULGOLD down 10.00% to close at N0.54
2. NEM down 9.91% to close at N1.91
3. CHAMPION down 9.76% to close at N1.85
4. NPFMCRFBK down 9.47% to close at N1.72
5. LINKASSURE down 8.93% to close at N0.51

Outlook

Nigerian stocks ended the mid-week trading session of the week on a negative note amid soaring oil prices prevailing at the U.S trading session.

• Downtrend was driven by price depreciation medium and small capitalized stocks amongst which are; NEM, JAPAUL GOLD, CHAMPION.
• Nairametrics expects intending buyers to seek the advice of certified stockbrokers.

The Management of Royal Exchange Plc has notified stakeholders of its inability to meet up with the time frame earmarked for the submission of its Audited Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, as well as the Unaudited Financial Statements for the period ending March 31, 2021.

This is according to a disclosure dated 3rd of March 2021, signed by the company’s secretary, Sheila Ezeuko, and sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Royal Exchange explained that the reason for the delay was due to the inability of its subsidiaries to collate their financial results on time. It went further to state that some of the subsidiaries are yet to submit their individual accounts to various primary regulators for approval. This has resulted in a delay in the audit process for the group, which is still ongoing.

Buttressing this, a part of the press release reads: ‘’As a holding company with five (5) different subsidiaries, the audit exercise for the group is yet to be concluded, as our subsidiaries are yet to submit their accounts to their various primary regulators for approval.

‘’Once, all the subsidiaries have obtained approval for their respective Financial Statements, consolidation of the Group’s accounts for the year ended December 31, 2020 will be concluded and approved by the Board of Directors for submission to the NSE.’’

In addition, the firm expressed optimism that, Audited Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 will be submitted on or before June 29, 2021, while the Unaudited Financial Statements will be submitted on or before July 29, 2021.

It is pertinent to note that, this is not the first time the firm would be delaying the submission of its financial statements to the NSE. Nevertheless, according to the NSE Listing Rules, companies are expected to submit their financial year-end results latest by 90 days after the end of each year. Failure to comply with this directive attracts a daily fine of N100,000 for the first 90 days of non-compliance, another N200,000 per day for the next 90 days and a fine of N400,000 per day thereafter until the date of submission.

What you should know

• Royal Exchange had in 2020 delayed the submission of 2019 Audited Financial Statements to NSE.
• The Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2020 extended the time frame for the submission of the financial year-end result of 2019 by 60 days, due to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic. Therefore, it is not yet clear if the regulator will extend such measures this year.