Hotel Group Meikles Africa unsuspended from Zim Stock Exchange

Zimbabwe UPDATE

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s stock exchange said it has lifted the suspension on shares of hotel group Meikles Africa it imposed last week to allow an investigation on whether the company overstated a debt owed to it by the central bank.

“Yes, the temporary suspension on Meikles shares has been lifted with immediate effect,” Alban Chirume told Reuters on Monday, without giving details.

READ THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE ON MEIKLES’ SUSPENSION FROM THE ZIM STOCK EXCHANGE BELOW

(Reuters) – Hotel group Meikles Africa has put on hold new investments and a possible listing of a subsidiary after the suspension of its shares from trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, its executive chairman said.

The stock exchange suspended Meikles, which owns two premier hotels in the capital Harare and the resort town of Victoria Falls, last week to allow for an investigation on whether it overstated a debt owed by the central bank.

Executive Chairman John Moxon said in a statement on the company’s website on 22 February that the exchange had not given Meikles an opportunity to defend itself.

Moxon also said the suspension was against the bourse’s listing rules and had put uncertainty into expansion plans by the company, which also runs the biggest supermarket chain by branches, TM Supermarkets.

South Africa’s Pick n Pay Stores Ltd has a 49 percent stake in the supermarket chain.

“The strategy… which was aimed at further expansion in the subsidiaries, the introduction of more investor capital and possibly to even list one subsidiary on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange are on hold for the time being due to present uncertainty,” Moxon said.

Moxon did not give details, but Meikles has started wholesale chain stores and was planning to expand its Pick n Pay stores and increase their number from four.

“Meikles will be addressing the implications of the suspension, the manner in which it has been implemented and whether there is any purpose to a listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange,” he said.

The exchange said Meikles reported in its 2014 full year results that it was owed $90.8 million by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, compared with $40.51 million owed by the bank in 2013, without giving an explanation for the sharp increase.

Moxon said the figures were correct and had been a product of painstaking negotiations with the central bank, which he labelled a “delinquent debtor”.

Central bank Governor John Mangudya told Reuters on Monday he had no comment on the matter.

Visited 20 times, 1 visit(s) today