Trading in the shares of Trustco, the embattled Namibian investment company, has been suspended on the JSE after the latest twist in its legal battle with the local bourse.
This comes after judge Sulet Potterill dismissed Trustco’s review application with costs on Monday.
“In light of the above, the JSE has suspended trading in the shares of Trustco with immediate effect,” the exchange said in a statement.
This is the latest episode in the legal spat between the company, valued at R663m, and the JSE, which began in November 2020 when the JSE first suspended Trustco for not complying with its listing requirements and International Financial Reporting Standards in its 2019 annual and 2020 interim results. But Trustco disagreed.
Trustco refused to restate its results as it would have affected profit, instead lodging an urgent application to try to stop the JSE from suspending it, a move which it believed was “unjustified”.
Trustco founder Quinton van Rooyen told Financial Mail in September: “If the JSE can just tell an auditor, ‘listen, you must change your opinion, or you should have looked at a transaction in a specific way’, then I don’t want to be a JSE-listed company, quite frankly.”
The company first approached the financial services tribunal, which forms part of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). However, it dismissed its application in November 2021 before the JSE again announced in February 2022 it was to suspend the company. At Trustco’s request, the JSE agreed to postpone the suspension.
In February 2022, Trustco reapplied to the tribunal followed by an urgent application to the high court for an interdict days later, asking for the JSE’s decision to be postponed until a ruling is made. The tribunal dismissed Trustco’s second application in July.
In August, judge Nicoline Janse van Nieuwenhuizen ruled Trustco may not be suspended until its latest review application at the financial services tribunal, which forms part of the FSCA, has been heard.
Janse van Nieuwenhuizen said at the time that Trustco presented enough prima facie evidence about the composition of the panel of the tribunal, saying it did not meet the requirements of the Financial Sector Regulator Act. The panel comprised a retired judge, a senior counsel and an attorney.
In a statement late on Monday, Trustco said it would proceed to restate its financials, subject to its right to appeal against the decision to suspend trading in its shares on the JSE.
Meanwhile, Trustco is fighting a battle on another front after it went to court in September to stave off attempts by the central Bank of Namibia (BoN) to set aside directives issued against Trustco Bank, Trustco’s loss-making banking subsidiary. The directives include immediately ceasing deposit taking and discontinuing the extension of credit.
The BoN has suggested Trustco Bank is insolvent, and that it is seeking to liquidate the entity. With Marc Hasenfuss
Update: November 7 2022
This article has been updated with new information.
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