By Kayode Tokede
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 (NSE).
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.