Following its historic listing on the Main Board of the BSE on April 8th, Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL) shareholders (mostly Batswana); will soon have an idea of the company’s financial health.
On the same day that BTCL listed on the main board of Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE), the public company also announced its closed period which refers to a time in which its financial results are prepared and completed leading to their announcement to the public. According to standard corporate practice the closed period prevents insiders such as Board members and staff personnel who may be privy to information that has not yet been made public, to share such information which could potentially affect the performance of the stock. BTCL in that regard declared a closed period between April 8th and June 30th 2016. The company is expected to publish its financial results in about two months for the year ended March 2016.
“During this period members of the Board and Staff of BTCL are expected not to trade in BTCL shares, except as provided under the BTCL Share Dealing Policy as it could be deemed that they may be aware of unpublished price sensitive information. Unpublished price sensitive information is information affecting a company, which if released is likely to materially affect the company’s share price,” cites a statement from BTCL Managing Director, Paul Taylor. Depending on the nature of the financial results, the share price is anticipated to move in accordance with the performance of the company.
In a previous research note by local broking firm, Motswedi Securities, it reported that BTCL was in the past able to increase its revenue from P1 billion in 2011 to P1.47 billion in 2015, while profit after tax rose from P177 million in 2011 to a high of P273.6 million in 2013 before falling to P146.8 million in 2015. Based on a research between 2011 and 2015, the research note demonstrated that the corporation is a profitable entity. BTCL Management, as contained in the prospectus, forecasted a future ongoing profitability. It is only a matter of time before shareholders make a fair judgement against management’s outlook based on the financial results due to be released.