Regional retailer Choppies has said it not able to determine the exact dates over which it will be able to avail its outstanding financial statements after it had breached listing requirements at both the BSE and JSE.

The BSE earlier issued a warning to Choppies advising that the company should release its financials fail of which a suspension will be effected to which the later did not act accordingly.

In a circular this Thursday the BSE said it has suspended trading in Choppies securities after it failed to publish its audited financial statement for the year ended June 30, 2018 timeously.

The Company’s primary listing is on the Botswana Stock Exchange and its secondary listing is on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Choppies operates in eight African countries including Zimbabwe and its shares were also suspended recently on the JSE.

“The trading of Choppies securities will remain suspended until the Company complies with BSE Listing Requirements or until further notice.

“Consequently, Choppies’ trading on the BSEL shall be annotated with “S”, to indicate that the Company’s securities has been suspended from trading at the BSEL. This notice is made in compliance of with Section 3.21(a) of the BSEL Listing Requirements,” said the bourse.

In a separate statement on Thursday, Choppies said it was still not able to determine when it would be in position to issue financial statements for the year ended June.

In 1986, Choppies commenced its operations with a single store at Lobaste. It added another one more store in 1992 and another one in 1999.

In the following years the company started its aggressive expansion and in 2014 Choppies became the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) listed entity.

The company operates shops in Zimbabwe amid control tussles. Former Zimbabwe Vice President Mphoko is a shareholder of the Zimbabwe unit where it runs 32 outlets.

Equity Axis News