JSE suspends Tongaat Hulett for second time in three years

Debt-laden sugar and property group Tongaat Hulett has had its shares suspended from trading on the JSE for the second time in three years.

The embattled KZN-based company confirmed the temporary suspension in a Sens on Monday, saying the “decision to suspend the listing of the company’s securities [is] with effect from 20 July 2022”.

It comes after the group issued a cautionary on Sens on Friday announcing that it had requested the JSE to temporarily suspend its shares due to a delay in publishing its latest financial results.

However, the latest suspension was undertaken by the JSE due to a regulatory breach by the group.

Tongaat Hulett’s shares were last suspended from trading on the JSE back in 2019, (on the group’s request) following revelations of an accounting scandal implicating former executives, which saw the group having to delay publication of its financials and later restating its financial position.

It recommenced trade on the JSE on 3 February 2020, after publishing its restated results for prior years.

“The JSE indicated that the suspension will however not be a result of the company’s request for a voluntary temporary suspension, as announced on Sens on 15 July 2022,” the group noted in its latest suspension announcement.

“The JSE’s decision was rather based on the company’s failure to comply with sections 3.16 and 3.17 of the JSE Listings Requirements in respect of the timeous publication and dissemination of its provisional results,” Tongaat Hulett said.

It added that the JSE’s decision was also due to “the fact that the company has confirmed that it is unable to comply with section 3.19 and 3.23 of the requirements in that it will not publish its integrated annual report on the due date, being 30 July 2022”.

Restructuring plan

Tongaat Hulett stressed that it “continues to make every effort to finalise its restructuring plan” as soon as possible, on which “the publication of the provisional results and integrated annual report depend”.

“The company contemplates applying to the JSE for the temporary suspension to be lifted as soon as is responsibly possible after the release of the annual financial statements for the financial year ended 31 March 2022,” it said.

“Tongaat Hulett’s business operations will continue in the normal course notwithstanding the suspension of the listing of the company’s shares,” it added.

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This article first appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission. Read the original article here.