JSE suspends two more stocks
Published:Wednesday | July 3, 2024 | 12:07 AM
The Jamaica Stock Exchange, JSE, suspended two more stocks on Tuesday over the late filing of the December 2023 year-end audited accounts.
The suspended stocks are tech distributor and Xerox agent Productive Business Solutions Limited, PBS, and general insurance provider IronRock Insurance Company Limited.
PBS trades on the main market, while IronRock is listed on the junior market.
The suspensions will remain in effect pending the submission of the audited financial statements by these companies. IronRock, additionally, will have to file its quarterly unaudited financials for its first quarter ending March.
The exchange allows companies 120 days in total to file audited financials. That equates to 90 days to file audited financials before they are considered overdue. Thereafter, companies have 90 days to file or face suspension. The JSE said that when the suspension came into effect the companies were three days over the total timeline.
According to the JSE Rules Book, rule 408: “Companies with audited annual financial statements which are 90 days overdue, shall have trading in their shares suspended until the reports are submitted to the exchange.”
In June, the JSE suspended trading in the shares of edtech company EduFocal Limited on the junior market and Equityline Mortgage Investments Corporation, a Canadian company, which floated preference shares in Jamaica five years ago. Both entities were suspended on June 4 for failing to file audited financial reports for the December year end, but had their suspensions lifted on June 21 after their reports were produced.
A separate company, iCreate Limited, was suspended in January for violating rule 505, which requires junior market companies to appoint a mentor from the wider business community.
iCreate resumed trading just before the six-month mark, thereby avoiding delisting as outlined in Rule 411, note D: “Any company with shares which have been suspended from trading on the exchange for more than 180 days, shall be automatically delisted.”
In late June, the JSE warned listed companies that tardy filings of audited reports would result in suspensions.