Kathmandu, September 16

The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has suspended the trading of Unilever Nepal from today as the company delayed in informing the country’s sole trading bourse of its decision to distribute cash dividend to its shareholders.

The board of director’s meeting of Unilever Nepal had decided to distribute cash dividend to the company’s shareholders on

August 28, however the company notified Nepse regarding the decision only on September 13.

According to Chandra Singh Saud, CEO of Nepse, such decisions that influence the market should be submitted promptly to Nepse. Nepse had sought clarification from the company, however the clarification received from the company was not satisfactory, he added. “The company has claimed that it was not intentional and just a ‘human error’.”

“The response from Unilever is not satisfactory and we will suspend its trading until they submit a genuine reason for the lapse and accept their mistake,” said Saud. Nepse can penalise the company on grounds that the delay was intentional to influence the market.

Unilever Nepal’s stocks are considered blue chip stocks in the secondary market and are traded at the highest value among listed companies. In between August 28 and September 13, the value of trade of stocks of Unilever Nepal stood at Rs 6.7 million, as per Nepse.