SOME awful events are bound to happen regardless of how hard people try to prevent it from happening. Happen they will but have faith that after the dark clouds have passed, blue skies will show up.
Such account perhaps befits Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd after its world was turned upside down following the damning flagging of certain accounting matters pertaining to its FY2020 statutory audit by its former external auditors KPMG PLT.
With 72% or RM4.3 bil of its market capitalisation already been wiped out to-date, re-building confidence of investors ‘from scratch’ is not an easy task. Paying lip service alone will not do the job as investors only want to see physical action, so to speak.
Having appointed two new independent non-executive directors (INEDs) yesterday (July 7) – just days after cementing its hiring of Ernst & Young Consulting Sdn Bhd (EY) as special independent reviewer – the next big challenge for the global integrated oil & gas (O&G) outfit is to finalise the appointment of a new external auditor by end of this month.
In the meantime, Serba Dinamik has assured its investors and stakeholders that yesterday’s (July 7) roping in of two new INEDs is a precursor “for more changes that are already in the pipeline”.
“The board is in the midst of spearheading the strengthening of internal controls and risk management as businesses within the Serba Dinamik group is getting bigger,” chairman Datuk Mohamed Ilyas Pakeer Mohamed told FocusM.
“This could potentially lead to an overhauling of the entre management to bring about efficiency that is crucial to reduce operational cost, thus enhance savings and the company’s bottom line.”
To re-cap, Serba Dinamik appointed two INEDs yesterday (July 7) in Datuk Seri Mohamed Farid Abu Hassan, 62, and Siti Zaleha Sulaiman, 57.
Mohamed Farid last served as a Special Branch director with the rank of Commissioner of Police prior to his retirement in June this year while Siti Zaleha was former Bursa Malaysia’s head of corporate risk management (February 2013-April 2016) as well as INED with AIMFLEX Bhd (October 2020-present).
In congratulating and welcoming both INEDs on board, Mohamed Ilyas said their appointment is very critical to Serba Dinamik in order to restore the confidence of not only the shareholders but also external stakeholders in the likes of market regulators (ie the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia).
“Both INEDs will also function as part of the audit committee and also oversee governance and risk matters within Serba Dinamik,” he pointed out.
On a separate note, Mohamed Ilyas also revealed that EY has commenced its work yesterday (July 7) to assess the validity and veracity of the matters highlighted by the former external auditors KPMG.
At the close of today’s trading, Serba Dinamik shed 4 sen or 8.33% to 44 sen with 370.02 million shares transacted (the day’s most actively traded stock) amid a bearish stock market sentiment clouded by political uncertainties and unabating COVID-19 infection rate. – July 8, 2021
