TheCable

First Bank Nigeria Holdings, Union Bank and Diamond Bank are part of the 10 companies that could not meet the March 31 deadline given by the Nigerian Stock Exchange for filing audited financial reports.

In statements posted on the exchange’s website, the companies notified the public of the delay and made the reasons known.

The affected companies are First Bank, Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, International Breweries, Linkage Assurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, Guinea Insurance, Lafarge Africa Plc, Mutual Benefits and Union Bank.

“The reason for the delay is purely due to the peculiarity of FBNH’s group structure. FBNH has subsidiary companies operating in the banking and insurance sectors as well as the capital market, all with a common financial year end of December 31 alongside the holding company,” Seye Kosoko, First Bank’s company secretary, said.

“Each of these subsidiaries needs to audit its financial statements and obtain the approval of its respective regulator prior to submission to FBNH for consolidation. Thereafter, FBNH is also required to obtain the approval of its primary regulator before submission and filing with the exchange.”

Fidelity Bank said the late filing was due to delay in concluding audit of the report.

Linkage Assurance Plc said it could not secure the approval of National Insurance Commission, its primary regulator, before the filing deadline.

International Breweries, which filed its audited financial statements for 2017 on April 4, said the delay was due to consolidation of the accounts of newly merged entities with that of the company.

The company merged with Pabod Breweries and Intafact Beverages on November 13, 2017.