Jite Okoloko’s Notore Chemical in the eye of the storm

Jite Okoloko, the group CEO/Managing Director of Notore Chemical Industries, a fertiliser and agro-allied company in Nigeria, is battling to save his company from the wrath of investors. His company is one of the 12 companies sanctioned by the Nigerian Exchange Limited, for failing to file their financial statements after the regulatory due date.

According to the Exchange’s X-compliance report, Notore and other companies were sanctioned during the current financial year 2022 for failing to meet the regulatory requirements covering third quarter (Q3) of 2021, full year (FY) of 2021 and Q1 2022.

The X-Compliance Report is a transparency initiative of NGX Regulation Limited (NGX RegCo), which is designed to maintain market integrity and protect investors by providing compliance-related information on all listed companies. By its listing regulation, companies listed on the NGX are expected to file yearly and quarterly financial reports, 30 days after the end of each quarter. Usually, companies that fall short of this rule are tagged MRF (Missed Regulatory Filing) and the omission often attracts financial sanction.  The sanction comes amid questions and panic by Notore’s investors on its ability to continue as a going concern.

A close look at the books of Notore Chemical Industries in the last few years allegedly indicate that the company is indeed troubled and distressed following the abysmal performance the company recorded in year 2021 as it posted N3.27 billion post-tax loss during the period. The agro-allied company also posted N2.88 billion loss in September 2020. The challenge continued in 2021 and persisted up until the first six months of 2022 as the company’s current liabilities still dwarfed its current assets. But despite making an attempt to find its feet with an astronomical leap in revenue, analysts are allegedly still worried if the company could sustain the trend by the end of the financial year.