Shumba resumes trading

Listed energy junior, Shumba Energy, this week resumed trading on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) after a near two-and-a-half month suspension from trade due to the failure to publish its audited financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2021. In a notice this week, the exchange said Shumba had been removed from the Default Board where companies that violate the listing rules are sanctioned. Companies placed on the Default Board are fined P500 per day up to a maximum of P150,000 after which they face sanctions such as suspension or delisting. The energy group’s results show a pretax loss of $1.2 million for the year to June 30, 2021, compared to a profit of $2.7 million for the previous corresponding period. While revenues for the year under review were marginally higher, Shumba’s numbers last year were helped by a once-off gain of about $5 million due to changes in the shareholding held by the energy group in Kibo Energy Botswana. Shumba holds billions of tonnes of coal resources in Botswana and is also advancing a 100MW solar power plant near Francistown.