IN a way, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd is not as lucky as its sister company Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd. The civil engineering specialist had its application for extension of time (EOT) application to complete its Annual Report 2021 (AR2020) rejected by Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd.
This means the trading of SCIB shares will be suspended on Nov 9 until further notice unless the company is able to expedite the completion of its AR2021 to meet that deadline.
On Oct 8, SCIB had sought for an EOT up to Dec 31 to complete its audit of the financial statements for the financial period ended June 30, 2021 so that it can be included in the group’s AR2021.
This is given SCIB was affected by the change of external auditor and movement restrictions in Malaysia and overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a contrast of fate so to speak, the market regulator has allowed the postponement of Serba Dinamik’s Annual Report 2020 submission to Nov 30 from Oct 31 despite having suspended the trading of the company’s stock/warrants for failing to provide timely update on the findings of its special independent reviewer.
“Despite the recent adverse news, we are committed to exhaust all efforts to ensure the company adhere to relevant regulations and meet the deadline,” commented SCIB’s group managing director and CEO Rosland Othman in a media statement.
“Nevertheless, we are unable to meet the deadline because it is too tight even with Nexia SSY PLT (new external auditor) is fully committed to finishing the audit.
“We had submitted an appeal to Bursa Securities but have received further queries from Bursa Securities on Oct 26 seeking some clarifications on the appeal. The updated appeal has been submitted to Bursa Securities on the same day.”
To re-cap, the largest maker of precast concrete products in Sarawak has received a notice in writing from KPMG PLT on the latter’s intention to resign on July 23 which is about a month after the latter resigned as the external auditor of Serba Dinamik on June 24.
Prompted by KPMG’s resignation, SCIB has immediately sent a request for proposal (RFP), according to Rosland.
“However, the process of getting the new auditors, Nexia onboard is tedious, and we did our utmost to complete the process in time,” he justified. “We are fully committed to the meet the deadline given with Nexia working tirelessly to complete the audit in accordance to the relevant accounting and auditing standards.”
Despite the setback, Rosland assured investors that SCIB will continue to comply with the regulations set as well as focusing on the best practice for this situation.
“We would like to assure everyone that our business operations will be resumed as usual as we sort out this matter,” he added.
At 9.16am, SCIB’s was down 7.5 sen or 18.52% to 33 sen with 34.96 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM192 mil. – Oct 26, 2021
