Penny stock Nutritional Holdings, which faced being kicked off the JSE for not having an adviser, has managed to find a temporary sponsor to help it comply with listing rules.
The loss-making group that once sold maize-based porridge to school hostels and prisons has breached multiple listing requirements and has delayed releasing its financial results. It is suspended from trade, which means shareholders cannot buy or sell their shares, which were last valued at 25c.
The JSE said in February it was considering terminating its listing if it did not find a legally required sponsor, a firm that helps companies comply with the financial requirements of being listed.
While companies usually work with one advisory firm for many years, Nutritional Holdings had three different sponsors in 2021, with the third quitting in December.
The CFO, previous CEO and non-executive directors also resigned in 2021, leaving the firm with a non-functioning board.
The firm said on Thursday it had managed to convince previous sponsors AcaciaCap to come on board on a short-term basis and “subject to certain conditions being achieved”.
“AcaciaCap will be assisting the company with its ongoing regularisation and compliance with the JSE listings requirements,” it said.
Light Consulting was reappointed as a company secretary temporarily to assist it with abiding by Companies Act requirements.
This appointment is also subject to certain conditions being met by Nutritional.
It is not yet clear if Nutritional has a business model. It no longer sells maize-based food. There is no evidence yet that its plans to sell a cannabis supplement to unnamed German and Japanese buyers in deals worth R1.7bn have materialised.
On Tuesday, in a convoluted announcement, Nutritional updated the market on numerous changes to its share register, which it had failed to do since 2019 each time large numbers of shares had been bought or sold.
When the company missed deadlines to update the market last year on its financial results, and director and sponsor resignations, investors became worried the company, which could not be reached, had collapsed.
The company, when suspended, had a market cap of R167m, while its CEO, Nikhyle Dasarath, raised an undisclosed amount for the company by selling a cryptocurrency called CannaCrypt, but it is not clear what happened to the proceeds of that deal.
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