NGX suspension: Agip deal delayed release of financial statements, says Oando

Oando Plc says the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) deal delayed the release of its 2023 audited financial statements (AFS).

On August 22, the company announced the successful completion of its acquisition of a 100 percent ownership interest in NAOC from Eni, an Italian oil major.

The transaction, valued at $783 million, includes both asset consideration and reimbursement.

Two months later, the NGX Regulation Limited (NGX RegCo), the regulatory arm of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), suspended trading in the shares of Oando over its failure to submit its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023, before deadline,

According to a statement on Friday, Oando said the audit committee and the company’s board convened as scheduled to review and approve the audited financial statements, provisionally endorsing the presented financials pending the auditors’ opinion.

The company, however, said the auditors required more time to complete their audit opinion, which now involves assessing the impact of the recent acquisition.

“Oando PLC (“Oando” or the “Company”), Nigeria’s leading indigenous energy group listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), hereby refers the public and our shareholders to our prior publication of October 2, 2024, wherein we informed of a delay in the completion and publication of our 2023 Audited Financial Statements (AFS) due to the materiality of our recently completed acquisition, and communicated that we would be publishing said financials by October 23, 2024,” the statement reads.

“We hereby regret to notify the public of a seven-day delay.

“We wish to further provide an update that the Audit Committee and Company’s Board had convened as scheduled to review and approve the 2023 AFS and had provisionally approved the financials presented subject to the issuance of the auditors’ opinion.

“However, the Auditors requested additional time to finalise their Audit Opinion, which now includes evaluating the impact of the acquisition.

“Once the Audit Opinion is issued and the financial statements are approved by the Audit Committee and the Board on October 30, 2024, the Auditors will submit the financials to the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) for approval, after which they can be published on the NGX and JSE Limited.”

’FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED ON NOVEMBER 1’

The company said it will publish the 2023 AFS on or before November 1, in line with the FRCN’s approval timeline.

Oando apologised for the inconvenience caused by the delays and thanked its stakeholders for their patience during this period.

“Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience these delays may have caused and greatly appreciate the patience of our stakeholders during this time.

On March 28, Oando said trading on its shares had been suspended by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) due to its inability to meet the extended deadline to publish its 2022 audited year-end results.