Availability of Annual Financial Statements
Letshego Holdings Limited
Incorporated in the Republic of Botswana
Registration number 98/442
(JSE Code: “BILETS”)
(“Letshego Holdings” or “the Company” or “the issuer”)
This announcement is being released on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange for
information purposes only in respect of Letshego Holdings Limited’s Note
Programme.
LETSHEGO HOLDINGS LIMITED FULL YEAR 2017 FINANCIAL RESULTS
The Board of Directors of Letshego Holdings Limited (“the issuer”) is pleased to
present the audited Annual Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December
2017 which has now been made available on its website at the following address:
https://www.letshego.com/lhl-afs-fy-2017-final#overlay-context
https://www.letshego.com/lhl-cfs-fy-2017-final
Audit opinion
The auditors have issued an un-modified audit opinion in respect of the Annual
financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017.
Prior year adjustment
Letshego Holdings Limited ("LHL") pays withholding taxes ("WHT") in various tax
jurisdictions from where it earns interest, management fees and other income. The
Botswana Income Tax Act (the “Act”) allows LHL to claim these WHT as credits
against income tax payable in Botswana arising from such foreign income, subject
to restrictions.
LHL has claimed these WHT as credits in its income tax returns in Botswana for
each of the years up to financial year ended 31 December 2016. The Botswana
Unified Revenue Services (“BURS”), accepted these income tax returns, and paid
refunds to LHL in respect of such credits for the financial years 2014, 2015 and
2016.
These credits were claimed based on our understanding of how such WHT would be
treated as tax credits for an International Financial Services Centre (“IFSC”)
Company, which LHL is and has been since 2007. This understanding was based on
our past discussions with Botswana Investment and Trade Centre and BURS. Our tax
returns to BURS included full disclosure of the nature of the WHT claims and LHL
received refunds, without modification, from BURS in respect of such credits.
During the course of the finalisation of the 31 December 2017 external audit, our
external auditors queried if our tax returns and WHT claims to BURS for the 2014
to 2016 financial years may be inconsistent with the Act. We immediately
1
obtained an independent tax opinion on this matter. This independent tax opinion
indicated that the tax treatment may be inconsistent with the Act. The Board
therefore decided to, for the purposes of finalising the financial statements for
the year ended 31 December 2017, adopt the most conservative accounting treatment
in relation to the WHT claims. This in turn required the accounting treatment of
the WHT claims to be disclosed in terms of IAS 8 Accounting policies, change in
accounting estimates and errors (“IAS 8”), and adjusted our financial statements
with retrospective effect.
The related disclosures are included in note 3 to the financial statements.
Subsequent to the publication of the 2017 Consolidated condensed financial
results the Board has obtained a legal opinion on this matter and will engage
with BURS with a view to resolving this matter. Shareholders will be provided an
update as and when more details are available.
1 June 2017
Debt sponsor in South Africa
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, acting through its Corporate and
Investment Banking division
Sponsoring broker in Botswana
African Alliance Securities
2
Date: 01/06/2018 09:53:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.