JSE to remove Nutritional Holdings as listed firm

The JSE will remove penny stock Nutritional Holdings as a listed company later this month for failing to meet listing requirements as the company fights against liquidation.

“The JSE provided the issuer with opportunity to make written representations as to why the removal of the issuer should not be effected,” the JSE said in a statement on Tuesday.

“After careful consideration of the representations by the issuer, the JSE informed the issuer that it has decided to remove the issuer’s listing,” the statement said.

Nutritional’s appeal against the JSE decision was dismissed, paving the way for the removal of its listing on December 19. The last date of trade will be December 12.

The company, which raised eyebrows when it launched the first cannabis cryptocurrency before the JSE intervened, was first suspended from trading in May 2021.

Nutritional said in October that the matter of its liquidation will be heard in the high court on January 20 next year as its directors try to have the decision overturned.

Even if it wins its bid against permanent liquidation, it is unlikely to survive without the means to generate revenue. Its dry-foods business, which sells milk powder and porridge to prisons and school hostels, was unprofitable.

It was to be sold to a former member of the board, but the sale was called off and some production capacity was decommissioned.

Its cannabis business, Ukukusela, intended to provide supplements to German and Japanese firms, is not operating and is awaiting licences from the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority.