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Thursday, March 26, 2020 /05:08
PM / By Saheed Kiaribe / Header Image Credit: Financial Technology Africa
It
is no longer news that the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has
brought about changes in the way we live and work including the holding of
statutory meetings by companies.
Nations
and health experts have been encouraging social distancing in an effort to curb
the spread of the virus which has continued to affect economic lives globally.
From Asia to Europe and now Africa, it has been similar experience and some
have had to call for a lock down to curtail the spread.
Centre
for Disease Control (CDCs), both at national and African Union levels, have
issued guidelines for social distancing. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in a
circular to the market dated March 19, 2020
advised all listed companies that plan to hold their Annual General Meetings
(AGM) to put in place adequate precautionary measures to ensure the safety of all
stakeholders at the meetings.
While
a few quoted companies listed on NSE have notified the market about the
postponement of their AGMS due to the outbreak of COVID-19, GUARANTY, however has decided to go ahead with its AGM but with a modification
which is to hold the AGM with attendance by proxy. Prominent among the firms
that have postponed their AGMs are, UBA, TRANSCORP, TRANSCOHOT and NOTORE among others. See table below
|
COVID-19: Companies That Have Postponed
AGMs |
|||
|
SN |
Companies |
Old AGM Date |
New AGM Date |
|
1 |
31-Mar-20 |
23-Jun-20 |
|
|
2 |
26-Mar-20 |
Until Further Notice |
|
|
3 |
24-Mar-20 |
To Be Announced In Due Course |
|
|
4 |
23-Mar-20 |
Until Further Notice |
|
|
5 |
25-Mar-20 |
Until Further Notice |
|
|
6 |
27-Mar-20 |
To Be Announced In Due Course |
|
|
7 |
24-Mar-20 |
Until Further Notice |
|
|
8 |
26-Mar-20 |
Until Further Notice |
|
|
Source:
NSE, Proshare Research |
|||
The
decision by GUARANTY to hold its AGM on March 30, 2020 despite the directives by Lagos State
Government to ban public gatherings of not more than twenty-five (25) people
was premised on the fact that the bank has secured an approval from the
Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to hold its AGM with attendance by proxy.
This
implies that shareholders would be able to vote for or against each of the
items on the ordinary and special businesses to be discussed at the AGM and the
proxy form sent back to the registrars to act upon accordingly.
However,
the idea of restricting the numbers of people that would be allowed into the
venue of the AGM to the number the Lagos State Government permits for
social/public gatherings as at the date of the meeting will have to be
clarified further by the bank in conjunction with its registrars.
In
an effort get clarity on the criteria that the bank will use in selecting the
twenty-five (25) people that will be allowed to the venue of the AGM, emails
were sent out last night to both GUARANTY and Datamax Registrars. Both firms are yet to respond to the emails as
at the time of filing this report.
Screenshots of e-mails sent to GTBank and Datamax Registrars
As
a follow up, a call was put through to Datamax Registrars this morning to
clarify this, the response from the contact at Datamax Registrars reflected
that they are not cleared yet on the criteria to be used in determining the 25
persons that will gain entrance to the venue of the AGM. Similar call was put
through to GUARANTY with no response received.
Will
this be the new approach to holding AGMs amidst the COVID-19 health challenge
or will there be lessons to pick up from the bank's approach? Only time
will tell.
For comments, clarification and
feedback, send an email to research@proshareng.com
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