JSE suspends Tongaat Hulett for second time in three years

Debt-laden sugar and property group Tongaat Hulett, which owns Hippo Valley Estates and Triangle Limited in Zimbabwe, has had its shares suspended from trading on the JSE for the second time in three years.

The embattled KZN-based company confirmed the temporary suspension in a Sens on Monday, saying the “decision to suspend the listing of the company’s securities (is)with effect from July 20, 2022”.

This comes after the group issued a cautionary on Sens on Friday announcing that it had
requested the JSE to temporarily suspend its shares due to a delay in publishing its latest
financial results.

However, the latest suspension was undertaken by the JSE due to a regulatory breach by
the group.

Tongaat Hulett’s shares were last suspended from trading on the JSE back in 2019, (on the
group’s request) following revelations of an accounting scandal implicating former
executives, which saw the group having to delay publication of its financials and later
restating its financial position.

It recommenced trade on the JSE on February 3, 2020, after publishing its restated results
for prior years.

“The JSE indicated that the suspension will however, not be a result of the company’s
request for a voluntary temporary suspension, as announced on Sens on July 15, 2022,” the
group noted in its latest suspension announcement.

“The JSE’s decision was rather based on the company’s failure to comply with sections
3,16 and 3,17 of the JSE Listings Requirements in respect of the timeous publication and
dissemination of its provisional results,” Tongaat Hulett said.
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It added that the JSE’s decision was also due to “the fact that the company has confirmed
that it is unable to comply with section 3,19 and 3,23 of the requirements in that it will not
publish its integrated annual report on the due date, being 30 July 2022”.

Restructuring plan
Tongaat Hulett stressed that it “continues to make every effort to finalise its restructuring
plan” as soon as possible, on which “the publication of the provisional results and
integrated annual report depend”.

“The company contemplates applying to the JSE for the temporary suspension to be lifted
as soon as is responsibly possible after the release of the annual financial statements for
the financial year ended March 31, 2022,” it said.

“Tongaat Hulett’s business operations will continue in the normal course notwithstanding
the suspension of the listing of the company’s shares,” it added. — Moneyweb./The Herald