All companies whose shares are publicly traded, must from January 2025 publish their periodic financial statements (quarterly and full-year) on their websites, or face sanctions

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a circular on Thursday, observed that although public companies file their periodic returns with the commission and relevant securities exchanges, they do not simultaneously publish same on their websites.

This omission, the SEC said, “is a contravention of Rules 39 and 41 of the Commission’s Rules and Regulations.”

According to the commission, “in line with the foregoing, effective from January 2025, any public company that fails to comply with the requirement of the referenced Rules in respect of the filing of its periodic returns with the Commission, relevant securities exchanges and the simultaneous placement of same on the its website would be penalised as appropriate.”

By not publishing financial statements on their websites, the commission said specifically, many public companies fail “to make the financial statements accessible to the investing public on their websites, thereby contravening Rules 39 and 41 of the Commission’s Rules and Regulations.”

According to the circular, the “rationale for the publication of periodic returns on their websites is to provide seamless access by the public to such information, which would serve as a guide to making sound investment decisions.”

The commission also stressed the importance of timely disclosures as a critical aspect of shareholder engagement and investor confidence in the Nigerian equities market and outlined strict enforcement measures for companies that failed to comply with the directive.

It is also important, it continued, “to reiterate in this regard that timely disclosures remain a key component of Shareholders’ engagement.”