This was disclosed on Tuesday, in a notice by the NGX Regulation to Trading License Holders and the investing public.
Courteville Business Solutions created AutoReg Motor Vehicle Administration Documentation, a solution that enables the automation of the Vehicle License registration process and renewal system. AutoReg was deployed first in Lagos State in February 2007 and subsequently in other states of the federation.
At its Annual General Meeting in July 2022, the stakeholders of the company resolved that “the Directors of the Company be and are hereby authorised to commence the process of voluntary delisting of the securities of the Company from Nigerian Exchange Limited subject to the applicable rules of NGX and compliance with other statutory requirements.
“That all relevant regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian Exchange Limited, the Federal High Court, and the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission be obtained in respect of 9(a) above, and shareholders, who so elect, should be given an exit opportunity before the security is delisted.”
In Tuesday’s notice, the NGX said that trading in the shares of Courteville Business Solution Plc becomes “Necessary to prevent trading in the shares of the Company in preparation for the delisting of the securities of the Company in line with the approval obtained from Nigerian Exchange Limited.”
Speaking at the AGM, the group’s Managing Director, Adebola Akindele, said that the company considered pulling out from the NGX due to its low market share value.
Akindele said, “We are considering pulling out from the Nigerian stock exchange temporarily. Our shares have not been adequately valuable over the past 10 years. We make huge returns on investment, but the market price of our stocks is less than their value, while other companies that are not doing better like us, the stock is highly priced.
“The shareholders have testified about what we have achieved over the past 14 years. This will allow us to go back and revisit our strategy. Once we are better packaged and with better strategy, we can come out and meet the investment community once again, in a better standing than what we are now.”
Meanwhile, in February, Courteville announced that a majority shareholder, BOWS Nigeria Limited, which holds 67.01 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company, proposed to buy 1,171,939,459 shares of Courteville which is equivalent to 32.99 per cent held by the other shareholders through a Mandatory Takeover Bid to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Mandatory Takeover Bid was registered as SIS/M&A/TBR/CBS/000824 in the Commission’s record.
With SEC’s approval, BOWS Nigeria Limited launched the MTO with the shares priced at 0.48k per ordinary share net of any applicable tax. The tender offer opened on February 22 and closed March 22, 2023.
In its second-quarter results for 2023, Courteville moved from a profit of N100.59m to a loss of N184.76m. It recorded a 24 per cent decline in its revenue from N879m in 2022 to N669m at the end of the same period in 2023.
At the close of trading on Tuesday, Courteville’s shares were priced at N0.6 per unit and the firm has a market capitalisation of N2.13bn.
