KUALA LUMPUR (May 2): Ageson Bhd said Virdos Lima Consultancy (M) Sdn Bhd (VL Consultancy) is in the final stage of completing its independent assessment report on the matters raised by its external auditor in its financial statements for the 18-month financial period ended Dec 31, 2022 (FPE2022).
“The company is expecting the report to be finalised by next week,” it said on a bourse filing on Thursday.
The report was initially slated to be finalised by the end of March this year. However, the deadline was extended as VL Consultancy was waiting for key audit evidence from third parties yet to be received.
In October 2023, the Practice Note 17 (PN17) company said its external auditor Messrs Jamal, Amin & Partners had issued a disclaimer of opinion and raised concerns on certain audit issues pertaining to transactions within the company and three other subsidiaries, namely Agesen SMSGMBH Sdn Bhd, Ageson Power Sdn Bhd and Ageson Industrial Sdn Bhd.
According to the filing, the auditor noted that Ageson did not recognise impairments for its investments in its subsidiary, other investments and other receivables, which, if accounted for, could increase accumulated losses by up to RM69.92 million.
It also said it was unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence on revenue amounting to RM412.96 million reported by Ageson SMSGMBH, as well as revenue amounting to RM26.08 million reported by Ageson Power.
It further said it could not obtain sufficient documents for the valuation of assets belonging to Ageson Industrial, which amounted to RM138.47 million.
Subsequently, Ageson appointed VL Consultancy in January this year to conduct an independent assessment related to the audit issues.
At Thursday’s market close, shares of Ageson remained unchanged at 6.5 sen, valuing the group at RM20 million.