JSE fines Pepkor for inadequate disclosures made during their listing and financial results in 2017.
On Monday, the JSE announced that it has fined Pepkor Holdings R5 million for breaching the exchange’s listing requirements by failing to disclose information pertaining to its Domestic Medium-Term Note (DMTN) programme and loans to directors and key management personnel in its pre-listing statement and 2017 management results.
Pepkor was listed as Steinhoff Africa Retail (STAR) in September 2017, but changed its name in July 2018 after it was unbundled from Steinhoff International. However, Steinhoff still holds a 71 percent majority stake in Pepkor.
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Its portfolio includes retail brands like Pep, Ackermans, Tekkie Town, Bradlows and HiFi Corporation.
Pepkor have acknowledged their failure to disclose the information and undertaken to address the breaches.
Pepkor CEO Leon Lourens said the board and management are engaging the JSE in an attempt to resolve the matter:
“We acknowledge that inadequate disclosures were made during the process of Pepkor’s listing and the publication of its annual financial statements in 2017. We have engaged in a proactive and transparent manner with the JSE on the matter and welcome the conclusion of the investigation. We have further worked intensively to improve disclosure where necessary and appropriate.”
The JSE said:
“Notwithstanding this fact [Pepkor’s cooperation], the JSE has decided to impose this public censure against the company with a fine in the amount of five million rand ($364,000) of which one million rand is suspended for a period of two years.”
