As part of its strategy to reposition the equities market in the face of crisis of confidence in the purchase of shares, the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, said the review of its listing rules was primarily aimed at bringing the market at par with international best practices. Besides, the NSE is barring companies with loss in the last three years of their operations from seeking listing, stating that companies seeking listing in alternative one of the Mainboard should present a cumulative consolidated pre-tax profit of at least N300 million for the last three years, with a pre-tax profit of at least N100 million in two of those years, while those seeking listing based on its secondalternative are expected to present a cumulative consoli-dated pre-tax of at least N600 million within one or two years.The companies are also expected to present their three year financial statements, prepared in the International Financial Reporting Standards, with the last audited accounts of not more than nine months and a shareholders' fund of at least N3 billion.Addressing the market community at a briefing in Lagos, Head, Listing, Sales and Retention, Mrs Taba Peterside, said the review, which came into effect April 1, 2012, is part of its transformation agenda and was conducted after under-taking wide-reaching consultations with key stakeholders on the issue.She said the revised listing rules were benchmarked against key international standards, especially from stock exchanges around the world.For example, she said 'in other stock exchanges across the world, the operating track record rule stipulates that a company must have been in operation for at least three years. In Nigerian capital market, it was formerly five years, hence we decided to review it downwards to reflect international best practices.'She expressed optimism that about 20 companies would list on the NSE in the current year, taking advantage of the revised listing rules.Peterside further stated that the NSE was getting increased inter-est from a number of oil and gas companies seeking to list in the secondary segment of the capital market.She, however, said the oil and gas companies were expected to show their reserves in commercial quantity for them to qualify to benefit from the new listing rules.According to her, some oil and gas companies will enjoy exemption from the three year track record requirement, noting however, that the com-pany is required to produce a Competent Persons Report, CPR, describing nature and extent of the company's rights of exploration, geographical charac-teristics of reserves, estimates of volume, expected extraction volume together with assumptions on forecast revenues and operating costs.Further in the new rule, Peterside said companies seeking to list are expected to meet the requirements for public float, which stipulates that the public shall hold a minimum of 20 per cent of each class of equity securities of the company.
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