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Kingdom want to re-list, seek shareholder approval

by Business Reporter
15 Jun 2011 at 09:22hrs | Views
KINGDOM Financial Holdings Limited shareholders meet next month for a crucial Extraordinary General Meeting to approve the relisting of its shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

If the company owners vote in favour of relisting, the diversified financial will bounce back on the bourse in the third quarter of the year after a two-year absence.

The EGM is scheduled for July 4.

Kingdom founder Mr Nigel Chanakira confirmed they would be seeking shareholder approval to relist the shares.

The relisting follows the conclusion of the demerger process from Meikles Limited, as all outstanding conditions have been met.

The demerger was approved in October 2010.

Kingdom unbundled from the shaky merger with the then Meikles Africa Limited, Tanganda Tea Company and Cotton Printers, now under liquidation.

The company's board recognises the significance of listing the shares with work on the relisting understood to be at advanced stages.

Directors are also expected to recommend a recapitalisation plan for approval by shareholders.

Kingdom had earlier indicated the group's capitalisation efforts were underway to ensure the injection of new capital by shareholders before the last quarter of 2011.

The group is buoyed by its solid performance for the 12 months ended December 31, 2010 during which it reported a pre-tax profit of US$7,1 million compared with a loss of US$1,9 million in 2009.

Kingdom reported a positive net interest margin of 53 percent compared with 88 percent reported during the previous period.

Despite the sector-wide liquidity crisis that rattled financial institutions during that period, economic stability since 2009, when Government liberalised the economy, had seen Kingdom returning to profit.

Kingdom's relisting comes at a time when AIM-listed LonZim Plc is still pushing ahead with its planned secondary listing on the ZSE.

LonZim first mooted a secondary listing on the ZSE in August 2009 after executives survived a shareholder revolt by a key shareholder who had called for a wholesale disposal of its Zimbabwean assets.

Canadian resources firm Whetstone Minerals is also planning to list on the ZSE, probably before the end of the year.

A number of foreign companies operating in Zimbabwe, especially in the mining sector, are also planning to list in abid to meet the Government's indigenisation and empowerment laws.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti last year also indicated that a number of State enterprises would be commercialised through an Initial Public Offer on the stock exchange.

Source - Kingdom