Bumi plc asks for share suspension
Tuesday, April 23 2013 - 02:06 AM WIB
LSE-listed mining company Bumi plc has requested for a temporary suspension in the trading of its shares pending the completion of an investigative audit into a number of questionable spending items on the balance sheet of its Indonesia-listed coal mining subsidiary PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk.
The company, which has been dogged by public battle between co-founders Rothschild and Indonesian Bakrie family, said in a statement on Monday that a review of the spending items at Berau Coal has forced the company to delay for a second time the publication of its 2012 financial results.
?It is now clear that Bumi will not be able to publish audited full year results before the end of April 2013, being the latest time permissible under the UK's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. After consultation with the UK Listing Authority, Bumi has requested that trading in its shares be temporarily suspended with effect from 07:30 today until the publication of these results. Bumi expects that this suspension will be lifted on publication of results,? Bumi said in a statement.
The company further explained that the new management team at Berau is overseeing a full audit review and, as previously announced, certain expenditures relating to hauling roads and land compensation payments in 2012 will not be capitalized and will be treated as costs. No significant additional issues have been identified to date.
Berau management is now fully verifying all existing material contracts and has an action plan in place to complete this review allowing publication of audited results. The team is working closely with PwC, its auditors, as well as with Ernst & Young, Bumi said.
"We are taking all necessary steps to create a clean and transparent company with a balance sheet in which investors can have confidence. Verifying the balance sheet is a necessary step to rebuild investor trust and to achieve that a temporary suspension in trading is required. It is critical that Bumi is able to draw a line under any historic issues before we move ahead with our clear strategy for value optimisation focused on Berau," said Bumi CEO Nick von Schirnding.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak