Accord Announces Delay in Filing of First Quarter 2020 Financial Statements and MD&A and Release of Financial Results
Accord Financial Corp. (TSX – ACD) (the “Company”) today announced that the Company will delay the filing of its interim financial statements and related management discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2020 (collectively, the “Q1 Filings”). Originally due by May 15, 2020, the Company will rely on the blanket relief provided by the Canadian Securities Administrators (the "CSA"), which provides for up to a 45-day extension for periodic filings normally required to be made by reporting issuers on or before June 1, 2020, and advises that it will now release its first quarter 2020 financial results and make the Q1 filings no later than May 29, 2020.
In connection with utilizing the blanket relief provided by the CSA, the Company confirms that during the extension period until it has filed the required Q1 Filings, its management and other insiders are subject to an insider trading black-out policy that reflects the principles in Section 9 of National Policy 11-207 – Failure-to-File Cease Trade Orders and Revocations in Multiple Jurisdictions
Except as set out below, there have been no material business developments since the date of the Company’s financial statements for the three months and year ended December 31, 2019, which were filed on March 30, 2020.
Since early March 2020 the economies of the United States and Canada have undergone significant deterioration due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a negative impact on many industry sectors. Given the Company’s broad sector diversification within its loan and credit guarantee portfolios (“Portfolios”), certain borrowing clients and credit exposures have, or may, come under pressure. While the length and magnitude of the economic disruption is unknown, the Company has delayed reporting its first quarter financial results in order to devote additional time and attention to evaluating the current and potential credit risk inherent in its Portfolios in accordance with the expected credit loss criteria of IFRS 9. In addition, as announced on April 23, 2020, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a reduction in its quarterly dividend from nine cents ($0.09) per common share to five cents ($0.05) per common share. The Company chose to decrease its quarterly dividend for two reasons: first, to retain more capital in the business, maintaining balance sheet strength through this challenging period, and second, to make sure it can capitalize on the growth opportunities it is beginning to see.