Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Exchange probes Oando after record loss


The Nigerian Stock Exchange has invited Oando Plc’s audit committee and its external auditors as part of the review of the delayed filing of the audited financial statements of the firm for the year ended December 31, 2014 as well as its results for the first and second quarters of 2015.


In a notice on the “review of the situation of Oando Plc,” the NSE said the company had been sanctioned for violations of its post-listing obligations in accordance with applicable rules of the Exchange.

“Should the Exchange’s continuing review reveal that Oando committed other infractions, the Exchange will mete out appropriate sanctions pursuant to its rules,” it said, adding that it had reported the situation to the Securities and Exchange Commission and would involve other stakeholders as appropriate.

The review comes at a tough time for Oando, which recently reported a record N184bn loss after tax for the 2014 financial year, triggering a massive fall in its share price. As of Friday, five trading days after the release of the results, the company’s share price had declined by 39.65 per cent, with its market capitalisation falling by N47.536bn to N72.328bn from N119.864bn.

The oil and gas firm had filed its audited results for 2014 as well as its results for the first and second quarters of 2015 until October 23, long after the regulatory due date. It also reported significant losses in the first three quarters of this year.

The Exchange, which said it was greatly concerned about the delayed filings and the significant losses reported by the company, explained that “Oando’s filing of its audited financial statements followed several engagements with the Exchange, both before and after the due dates for these filings.”

As part of the engagements, Oando’s top management, based on the directive of the Exchange, met with the dealing clerks on the trading floor of the Exchange on October 23, 2015 and held a ‘facts behind the figures’ session on October 26, where it explained the reasons for the losses.
The oil and gas company attributed the 2014 loss to upstream impairments (N36.4bn), writedowns (N130.2bn); and currency devaluation (N7.3bn).

No comments: