Listed firms to report quarterly

THE Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) says firms listed on the local bourse are now required to report financial results on a quarterly basis after the gazetting of amended Listing Requirements under Statutory Instrument 134 of 2019 last week.
Up to this point, companies had only been required to publish annual results and half-year interim reports in the press or in electronic form, and to distribute these to all shareholders not later than three months after the end of the year or the interim period.
“Within 45 days after the end of the first and third quarter of each financial year, issuers must publish their interim reports on their websites and submit the reports to the ZSE for publication on the ZSE Data Portal,” reads the amended rules.
“This means that the listed company is required to publish financial statements on a quarterly basis, but first and third quarter reports will be published on the ZSE website only,” Tapiwa Bepe, the ZSE’s public relations officer told The Financial Gazette this week.
Commenting on this development, Enock Rukarwa, FBC Securities’ research and investment analyst, said it is a welcome initiative “as it ensures timeous information dissemination about the company”.
“Financial statements provide a snapshot of a corporation’s financial healthy at a particular point in time and if this information can be provided quarterly it ensures effective decision making by external stakeholders,” Rukwara said.

He, however, noted that the requirement would come as an added cost to issuers “through auditors’ fees and the time devoted in the preparation of these financial statements”.
The ZSE says the amendments have been necessitated by significant and numerous changes in the local and foreign capital markets, which had not been accommodated by the current rules.
“In particular, the landscape has changed on the macroeconomic front as well as in terms of technological advancements and updates in legislation over the last 17 years,” Justin Bgoni, the exchange’s chief executive, said in a statement last week.
“The listing requirements, which had not been comprehensively reviewed since 2002, are a product of wide consultations with various stakeholders who include investors, issuers, Government of Zimbabwe, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe, professional advisors and market participants,” Bgoni added.
He said some of the main objectives of the revised listing requirements include enhancing transparency, disclosure and accountability in the governance of listed companies “in order to build up investor confidence in the manner in which our market is regulated and operated”.
“The revised listing requirements also increase the protection of minority investors as well as improving the regulatory environment by making it conducive for dually listed companies to list on the ZSE,” Bgon