IN all probability, this is a genuine case of giving credit when credit is due.
The Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG) has commended Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd’s non-independent non-executive director Datuk Abdul Kadier Sahib following the withdrawal of his notice to convene an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to oust KPMG PLT as the company’s external auditors.
“The hard work now starts,” the share activism group’s CEO Devanesan Evanson told FocusM.
“The board – through its audit committee – must now resolve the issues which the auditors have raised to ensure that the audited financial statements can be issued in a timely manner.” On Saturday (May 29), MSWG’s had urged all minority shareholders to vote against the resolution to remove the auditor.
As part of good governance, MSWG opined that KPMG should be allowed to complete their work and report to Serba Dinamik’s shareholders at the company’s forthcoming annual grand meeting (AGM).
Yesterday (June 2), Abdul Kadier who also mooted the idea to convene an EGM to replace KPMG with BDO PLT vis-à-vis a Bursa Malaysia filing dated May 28, retracted his notice to convene an EGM.
The Serba Dinamik board has accordingly acceded to this request and as such, there will be no EGM to propose the removal of auditors
Yesterday, FocusM argued that – while Kadier’s action can be perceived as Serba Dinamik reeling under the pressure of institutional investors – this is thus far the best win-win solution “to douse the inferno” which had bled both the company’s market capitalisation and not forgetting the pockets of many retail investors who had bought into the company at its 52-week high of RM2.09 or even four-week high of RM1.65.
While the company’s biggest institutional investor, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) which holds a 10.16% stake has yet to file its latest transaction report, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) announced yesterday (June 2) that it had ceased to be Serba Dinamik’s substantial shareholder after having disposed 26.03 million shares or 0.7% which brought down its shareholding to 4.53%.
Prior to having offloaded another 152,200 shares on Monday (May 31), KWAP held a 5.23% stake in Serba Dinamik.
In the meantime, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) – another institutional investor in Serba Dinamik – and the EPF told Reuters they were engaging with the company. They are the company’s fifth and third biggest shareholders respectively based on Refinitiv data.
“PNB has informed the Serba Dinamik board of directors of the firm’s deep concern about recent developments,” PNB which is Malaysia’s largest fund manager said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.
PNB also said there was no merit in removing the appointed auditor before the annual audit is finished, and said it reserved its right to vote against any resolution to replace the current auditor.
In expressing concern with the current issues surrounding Serba Dinamik, EPF has assured its members that the retirement fund’s priority is to safeguard their interest by ensuring that investee companies adhere to the highest level of transparency and corporate governance.
At 9.16am, Serba Dinamik was up 3 sen or 3.64% at 85.5 sen with 116.34 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM3.19 bil. – June 3, 2021
