Kuwait's stock market regulator is to de-list nine companies from the country's exchange, putting an end to a period of uncertainty for shareholders of companies which have been frozen in trading for as much as three years.
The companies include Investment Dar, Al Safat Global Holding and Al Abraj Holding, the Kuwait Stock Exchange Board of Commissioners said in a statement on its website.
Villa Moda Lifestyle, the luxury department store, was also de-listed. The company is 60.3 per cent owned by DIFC Investments, the investment arm of Dubai's financial free zone which is racing to meet a $1.25 billion (Dh4.59bn) repayment deadline later this year.
The other de-listed companies were Al Abraj Holding, lnternational Investment Group, Gulfinvest International and International Leasing and Investment.
Kuwait National Airways, the holding company for the now-defunct Wataniya Airlines, was also de-listed, having been suspended from trading in 2011.
The regulator did not give a reason for the de-listings in its statement, but many of the companies were previously suspended from trading in 2009, with their shares frozen for failing to report earnings or for levels of accumulated losses exceeding 75 per cent of total capital.
The board also set a deadline of March 31 for nine other companies to adjust their financial positions.
Global Investment House, the Kuwaiti investment bank which has been suspended from trading since November, did not appear among the list of de-listed companies.
Elsewhere in the country, the Central Bank of Kuwait said it had urged Sheikh Salem Adbulaziz Al-Sabah to return to his position as governor after his resignation on Monday.
Sheikh Salem resigned from the post after 25 years at the helm of the regulator, decrying "unprecedented" increases in public spending as the Gulf state ups its infrastructure spending.
The Central Bank's board of directors "stresses its respect for Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah's decision and recognises his evaluation of his statements, regarding the economic challenges and repercussions on the role of the CBK," the bank said in a statement carried by Kuwait's KUNA News Agency.
"At the same time, we hope he revises his decision to resign, in order for him to continue his distinguished role in administering the nation's monetary policies," the statement added.
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