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AS part of its re-engineering drive to reposition the company back to profitability, the management of Prestige Assurance Plc has notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), of its plans to reduce the company’s share capital.
Prestige explained that the essence of the capital reconstruction is to enable the Company wipe out its accumulated retained losses of N776, 511,000.
The company stated further that, the reconstruction will reposition the Company on a trajectory for subsequent accumulated retained profit, create more value to its shareholders, allow the Company to declare dividend and improve its perception in the market thereby making it more competitive
According to a statement posted on the NSE website and signed by Godstime Iwenekhai, Acting Head, Listings Regulation Department, The share capital so reduced will be applied in writing off the capital of the Company which is lost or unrepresented by available assets.
Specifically, the NSE statement reads that, “Prestige Assurance has made an application to The Nigerian Stock Exchange for a “No Objection” to its proposal to reduce the Company’s share capital from N2, 685,216,000 being 5,370,432,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to N1, 908,705,000 being 3,817,410,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each in the issued and fully paid up ordinary shares of the Company.
It will be recalled that the board of directors of Prestige Assurance had on Friday August 18, 2017 at its 47th, Annual General Meeting (AGM) received shareholders’ approval to reduce the issued share capital of the company from N2, 685,216,000 to N1, 908,705,000 by cancelling and extinguishing 1,553,022,000 of the issued ordinary share of 50 kobo each.
Commenting on the share capital reduction, chairman of the company Hassan Usman explained to shareholders that it will enable the company wipe out its accumulated retained losses, reposition the company on a trajectory for subsequent accumulated retained profit, create more value to its shareholders, allow the company declare dividend and improve its perception in the market thereby making it more competitive.
Other details of the share reduction according to the document that was packaged by Planet Capital the financial adviser to Prestige Assurance Plc, shows that the share capital reconstruction entails each shareholder to surrender about eleven shares for every thirty eight held.
While the corresponding reduction in the share capital will be matched by the issuance of bonus shares from the share premium account structured for this purpose where the value of the cancelled shares will be restored, thus ensuring that there’s no loss whatsoever to shareholders.
