The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given all public companies in Nigeria up to June 2014 to register with the Commission.
“This is to draw the attention of all public companies in Nigeria to the provisions of Section 54 (1) of the Investments and Securities Act No. 27, 2007 and Rule 279 (1) (a) of the SEC Rules and Regulations, to the effect that all securities of public companies shall be registered with the Commission,” the apex regulator of the capital market stated.
According to SEC, all public companies in Nigeria are expected to register their securities with the Commission upon incorporation or conversion from a private company, noting that it has however observed that some public companies in Nigeria are yet to comply with the above stated provisions.
SEC in a circular it released Tuesday said at the expiration of this date (June 30, 2014), all public companies whose securities are not registered with the Commission will be sanctioned appropriately.
“All existing public companies with securities not registered with the Commission are strongly advised to comply with the provisions of the law by registering their securities with the Commission before June 30, 2014,” SEC said in the circular.
…why commission sealed-off 32 offices of New Nation
In an unprecedented clampdown, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Tuesday commenced a shut-down of the premises of a wonder bank, New Nation across 32 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Eric Elujekor, acting director, enforcement, SEC, said the organisation was an illegal fund manager that was not registered with the SEC but existed with the sole aim of deceiving the public, disclosing that the SEC had previously sealed off some offices of the company in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Sokoto in the past.
According to Elujekor, “it is a company that has so many offices. When we got knowledge of what they say they want to do, we invited the person in charge to tell us what he was doing. He came here and told us that he had 21 pillars and that was the term he used. And those pillars represent a project that they intend to do and all these pillars are under a conglomerate they called New Nation.
“What he said is that at the end of the day, when they are able to get people to participate in these pillars, Nigeria will be a New Nation. All the pillars are operating under different names like Women In Oil, which is a limited liability company on its own, another is called Global Defender, which is a limited liability company. They also have Grey and Strong, which is also a limited liability company.”
John Holt records N321million loss before tax in Q2
The group statement of comprehensive income for quarter-two (October 2012 to March 2013) released by John Holt plc shows the company recorded loss before taxation of N321million from a loss of N699million in the corresponding quarter of 2012. This shows a decline in loss by 54.1 percent.
The result at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) shows that John Holt group’s loss after taxation stood at N351million from N729million, a decline in loss by 51.9 percent.
John Holt plc recorded 13 percent growth in gross profit to N375million from N332million in the corresponding quarter of 2012.
The company’s revenue rose by 7.2 percent to N1.457billion from N1.359billion in 2012. The company’s loss per share dropped to 90.20kobo from a high of 187.33kobo, indicating a decline of 51.85percent.
Vitafoam reports profit decline
In the financial year ended September 30, 2013 Vitafoam Nigeria Plc recorded a decline in profit to N410.313million from N501.594million in 2012.
The result submitted at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) shows that Vitafoam Nigeria Plc profit before income tax declined to N629.785million from N812.729million in 2012.
The group’s revenue rose to N16.338billion in 2013 from N14.479billion in 2012. Its earnings per share (basic) dropped to N0.50kobo from N0.61kobo in 2012.
Standard Alliance returns to profit
The financial statements of Standard Alliance Insurance plc for the nine-month period ended September 2013 shows that its profit before taxation (PBT) rose to N934.883million from a loss of N1.886billion. The Company’s profit after taxation stood at N635.720million from a loss level of N2.024billion as at December 31, 2012.
The result at the Nigerian Stock Exchange shows that the company’s gross premium dropped to N3.563billion from a high of N5.496billion in the comparable period of 2012.
The value of commission earned declined to N20.961million from N90.968million. Underwriting profit also declined to N1.774billion from N2.560billion in 2012.
By: Iheanyi Nwachukwu
