By RUKAYAT ADEYEMI

The Nigerian Exchange Regulation Ltd. (NGX RegCo) the regulatory arm of the NGX, on Thursday suspended tradings in the shares of Oando Plc.

This is contained in a notice signed by the Head, Issuer Regulation Department, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, and sent to trading licence holders.

Iwenekhai stated that Oando failed to submit its audited financial statements for the year ended, Dec. 31, 2023.

He cited provisions of Rule 3.1 for filing of accounts and treatment of Default Filling Rules.

The provisions state: ?If an issuer fails to file the relevant accounts by the expiration of the Cure Period, the Exchange will (a) send to the issuer a Second Filing Deficiency Notification within two business days after the end of the Cure Period.

?(b) suspend trading in the issuer?s securities, and (c) notify the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Market within 24 hours of the suspension.?

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that in a corporate notice filed with the NGX earlier, Oando blamed the delay on the acquisition of Nigerian Agip Oil Company, which was completed on Aug. 22.

Also, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange suspended trading in Oando shares in March due to its inability to meet the extended deadline to publish its 2022 audited year-end results.

Oando, listed both on the NGX and JSE, also failed to meet the deadline to publish its interim results for 2023 as at the time of JSE suspension, which was, however, lifted in June.

In its unaudited results for 2023, Oando rebounded from a N78.71 billion loss in 2022, to record N74.7 billion profit in 2023.

The group saw its turnover increased by 71 per cent to N3.4 trillion at the financial year ended, Dec.31, 2023, compared to N1.9 trillion recorded in 2022. (NAN)

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