NIC, Uganda Clays push publication of sudits to June 2020

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | National Insurance Corporation and roofing tiles maker Uganda Clays Limited will not publish their audited financial results for 2019 until June 2020, the companies have said.

In separate statements issued on Tuesday, both companies which are listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) said they were unable to complete the audits due to coronavirus lockdown that has affected most businesses.

Martin Kasekende, the board chairman of Uganda Clays said: “the completion of the 2019 audit exercise was also affected and the company will not be able to publish the audited statements by April 30, 2020.”

Elias Edu, the company secretary for NIC, said: “the completion of the 2019 audit exercise was also affected and the company will not be able to publish the audited financial statements by 30th April 2020.”

Both companies said the “audited financial statements are expected to be published in June 2020.”

All listed companies must publish their results four months after the end of the financial year – this means by end of April of every year. It should also be 21 days before the annual general meeting of the companies.

The companies can be punished for flouting these rules. It is not clear whether Uganda Clays and National Insurance Corporation have been granted special attention.

Uganda Clays has been embroiled in leadership squabbles. In March, the company announced it was firing top management of the company without divulging details on the genesis of the decision. The Managing Director George Inholo, Head of Procurement Nelson Kizza and head of human resources Peter Kiwanuka, were let go at once.

Uganda Clays announced a Shs 722m loss for the half of the year.

Some listed companies have already published their results, including Stanbic bank, British American Tobacco Uganda, and Bank of Baroda.

Last month, Paul Bwiso, the USE chief executive said all AGMs planned for May 2020 had been suspended after restrictions on huge gatherings to stem the spread of COVID-19.

This means the meetings can only happen after lockdown restrictions have been lifted.

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URN