Marlene Street Forrest – General Manager of the JSE
In the original release of September 21, the company said the “Board of Directors decided at a meeting held on September 21, 2016, that each ordinary share of the Company be subdivided into five shares, resulting in the issued and fully paid capital of the Company increasing from 140,250,000 ordinary shares to 701,250,000 units of no par value, with the record date of October 5.”
In an article reporting on the decision to split the stock IC Insider, stated that the directors had no power to effect a stock split or increase the issued number of shares, as only the shareholders of the company has the power to do so, at a general meeting.
Late on Thursday, the JSE has issued a new statement and now advises “that an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Company will be convened at a date to be decided and communicated following the Board of Directors’ decision at a meeting held on September 21, 2016 that each ordinary share of the company be subdivided into five shares. This advisory supersedes the announcement on September 21, 2016, in which the date 2016 was stated as the effective date for the stock split.”
The JSE regulates the companies listed on the stock exchange and broker members, for them to have made such a huge error, raises some major questions about their ability to regulate the market with the present cadre of regulators. Was the other regulator, the Financial Services Commission aware of the miststep.
