Lafarge granted nod to delay financials
LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) has granted Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe the nod to delay the publication of financial results after the manufacturer said it could not meet the March 31 deadline due to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
In terms of section 39 (1) of the Securities and Exchange (Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Listing Requirements), Rules 2019, listed companies are compelled to publish their audited half year and full year financial statements by March 31 each year.
The companies are also required not to spend more than three months after the end of every issuer’s financial year end without publishing financials on their websites and on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Data Portal.
However, Lafarge, which is required to publish its 2020 final audited financial results for the year ended December 2020 on or before March 31 2020 got approval from ZSE to delay the release of financial results.
“…the company will be unable to publish the final audited results by March 31 2021 following the Covid-19 induced national lockdown from January 3 2021 to March 1 2021 and this negatively affected the smooth flow of information due to connectivity challenges as well as access to physical files between the company and auditors,” the cement manufacturer said in a notice to shareholders.
“Also due to complex reporting issues in the current environment that is required to be compiled with the company sought and obtained approval of the ZSE to defer the publications of the 2020 final audited results.”
Lafarge said it would publish the audited final results for the year ended December 31 2021 on or before April 30 2021.
Last week, ZB Financial Holdings indicated that the group will not be able to beat the March 31 deadline.
Though some companies have not yet applied for an extension, more applications are expected this coming week.
ZB chief executive Ron Mutandagayi last week said the financial services group was likely going to delay publishing its results as auditors were home during the lockdown period and very little progress has been made.
