Earlier today, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (NSE: GUARANTY) informed the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the investing community of the scheduled commencement of the closed period for trading in the Bank’s shares on July 3, 2020 in respect to the Audited Financial Statements for the half-year ended June 30, 2020.
The notification is in pursuant to the post-listing requirements of the Nigerian Stock Exchange quoted companies.
The Board meeting of the bank to consider the Audited Financial Statements for the half year ended June 30, 2020 has been scheduled for July 22, 2020.
Owing to the restriction of activities imposed by the authorities in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance via electronic channels would be an option for the board members attending the scheduled meeting.
The close period (or closed period) is the time between the completion of a listed company’s financial results and the announcing of these results to the public. The close period is typically regarded as the one-month period preceding the release of a company’s quarterly results, and the two-month period before the release of its annual results.
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The close period is intended to prevent trading in a company’s shares by its insiders ahead of the public dissemination of its financial results. This is because the insiders may be privy to information that is not yet in the public domain, and may be tempted to “jump the gun” with regard to their company shareholdings.
Within the closed period, all those who are considered as “insiders” of the bank in accordance with the provisions of the Rules and Regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), are under restriction not to trade or deal in the shares of the bank.
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The half-year financial report of GUARANTY is widely recognized to be a pointer to the performance of bank’s listed on the stock exchange. This year’s half-year is particularly important because it will be the result that will show the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nigerian banks.
In the first quarter of the year ended 31st March, 2020, GUARANTY had reported a profit of N50.066 billion, an increase of 1.52% from the N49.302 billion reported for the same period in 2019.
Analysts at Investogist has a BUY rating on the stock, at the time of this report, it was trading at N20.80, up N0.10 from its closing price at the last trading session on Thursday.
Written by;
Nnamdi M.
