KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 9): Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd (SCIB) appeared to have missed its deadline to submit its annual report for the financial year ended June 30, 2021 (FY21) on Monday (Nov 8).
As at midnight, a check on Bursa Malaysia website showed that the precast concrete product maker, another company controlled by businessman Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah, had not issued its annual report yet.
Failing to do so, the company is at risk of being suspended from trading starting from Tuesday (Nov 9).
It is not known whether the suspension of trading for SCIB’s securities will take effect on Tuesday (Nov 9) as previously stated in Bursa's directive to the Sarawak-based company. As at press time, the stock exchange had not issued any statement in relation to the trading suspension.
Should that happen, SCIB will be the second company under Mohd Abdul Karim's belt that has been suspended from trading by the stock exchange due to non-compliance.
The other company that has been suspended from trading is Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd. The sister company has been suspended since Oct 22 after the latter failed to comply with the stock exchange's directive to reveal the factual findings update of its ongoing special independent review of the discrepancies in its financial accounts for the 12-month period ended Dec 31, 2020.
The latest twist to Serba Dinamik's audit disputes is that the company is taking legal action against the stock exchange, accusing Bursa Malaysia of acting "in excess of its power", besides suing its former auditor KPMG.
Back on SCIB, Mohd Abdul Karim trimmed his stake in the building material maker last month. He sold a total of 27.54 million shares for about RM4.59 million at 15.5 sen apiece on Oct 28 and at 18 sen per share on Oct 29, according to bourse filings.
Mohd Abdul Karim currently holds a 23.996% stake in SCIB and a 21.23% stake in Serba Dinamik. He is also the biggest shareholder of KPower Bhd with an equity stake of 20.86%.
SCIB was given an ultimatum to submit its FY21 annual report by Nov 8 by Bursa on Oct 31 after its application for an extension of time to submit its annual report was rejected by the regulator on Oct 25.
SCIB explained that it had a change in external auditor after KPMG resigned on July 26 following its sister company Serba Dinamik's legal suit against KPMG over audit issues. The company said that the impact of movement restrictions in Malaysia and overseas due to Covid-19 had also hampered its efforts to finalise and issue the annual report.
Interestingly, SCIB was the 14th most traded stock with a trading volume of 34.67 million shares. Its share price went up two sen to close at 20.5 sen on Monday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM119.3 million, despite the suspension risk.