BLESSING MADZIWANZIRA/ PHILLIMON MHLANGA
Diversified conglomerate, CFI Holdings, is planning to re-apply to list its shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).
The group’s acting board chairperson, Itai Pasi, said the company was already in discussion with the management of the ZSE to resolve a gridlock which resulted in the company’s shares suspended from trading on the local bourse.
“The company is in discussions with management at the ZSE and is hopeful that issues raised by the ZSE will be resolved to enable the lifting of the suspension placed on the trading of the company’s shares,” Pasi said.
CFI, which operates Farm & City, Glenara Estates and Crest Poultry Group, was again suspended from the ZSE in January 2018 after it failed to comply with free float requirements as per the local bourse’s listing rules, paragraph 4, 25, which stipulates that 30% of each class of equity shares shall be held by the public, unless otherwise agreed with the committee.
ZSE ordered CFI to appoint a substantive board chairman, substantive CEO and chief finance officer and director. It was also ordered to appoint independent non-executive directors who are not associated with any of the companies’ shareholders. The company, however, has not satisfied some of the set conditions put forward by the ZSE.
For example, the group does not have a substantive chairperson and chief executive officer. Pasi is still acting board chairperson while Shingi Chibanguza is still the acting chief executive officer.
This means the group might find it difficult to relist at the local bourse in the absence of reforms demanded by the ZSE. CFI shares were first suspended from the local bourse in 2016 after it failed to comply with regulatory obligations.
CFI failed to publish its audited financial statements for the year to September 30, 2015. It also had traded during a closed period.
The ban was lifted the same year after it complied with the requirement. In its inflation-adjusted financial results for the year to September 30, 2019, revenue for CFI went up 25% to ZWL$347.8m from ZWL$277.9m in the comparative prior year.
Profit before tax for the group stood at ZWL$44.4m during the reviewed period compared to ZWL$18.4m in the same period in 2018. Profit for the year stood at ZWL$31.1 compared to ZWL$14.5m in the previous year, which translates to 114% increase. Total assets for the group increased to ZWL$244.1m from ZWL$149.8m.
