Business

Wednesday August 8, 2012

Patimas shares down over 14% on suspension news

By LEONG HUNG YEE
hungyee@thestar.com.my


PETALING JAYA: Technology company Patimas Computers Bhd's shares plunged yesterday, falling more than 14% to its all-time low of 3 sen after Bursa Malaysia decided to suspend the counter today following its failure to submit its annual audited accounts for the financial year ended March 31.

The counter has been on a downtrend since last week. It took a nose-dive on July 30, falling more than 55% to 4.5 sen. It has fallen 7 sen, or 70% since July 30. It was also the third most active counter with 91.9 million shares traded.

When contacted, Saridah Ismail, who is listed on the company's website as the contact person for investor relations matter, said she was not authorised to speak to the media. Its chairman Abdul Ghaffur could not be reached for comments as he was said to be in a meeting.

A Bursa Malaysia Securities circular yesterday said Patimas failed to submit its annual audited accounts for public release within the stipulated timeframe.

It said under the Listing Requirements, if a listed issuer fails to issue the outstanding financial statements within six months from the expiry of the relevant timeframe, in addition to any enforcement action that Bursa Securities may take, it would face de-listing.

On July 31, the technology company had requested for a suspension of trading.

“The request for suspension of trading is in view of new developments in significant accounting and audit findings highlighted and audit queries raised by the external auditors, Messrs Ernst and Young. The request for suspension is for the company to make a relevant announcement on this matter,” Patimas said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia on July 30.

Subsequently, Patimas told the stock exchange that the delay was due to unresolved significant accounting and audit findings/queries of the company which were recently brought to the attention of the audit committee and the board of directors by the external auditors.

The auditors said they were unable to obtain sufficient competent audit evidence to form an opinion for the purpose of issuance of the report as they were unable to verify the veracity of sale and purchase transactions undertaken by the company with a group of customers/suppliers and satisfy themselves as to the recoverability of the amount owed of about RM21mil by these customers as included in trade receivables.

The board has removed the financial functions and authority of the company's executive directors and appointed PKF Advisory Sdn Bhd to conduct a special audit. It has also authorised the audit committee to oversee the day-to-day affairs of the company.

The board said that at this stage it was unable to ascertain the extent of the financial and operational impact of the significant audit findings with the report to be issued on or before Aug 30 once further information had been obtained on the audit findings.

They expect the special audit to be completed within two months from July 30.

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