Group Five downplays JSE warning
Group Five faces suspension for the late submission of results‚ explaining this involved debt instruments listed by a subsidiary and not the holding company’s shares.
Group Five has played down a JSE warning on Monday stating it faced suspension for the late submission of results‚ explaining this involved debt instruments listed by a subsidiary and not the holding company’s shares.
“It seems to be an administration issue that will be resolved in the next few days ‚” a spokesperson for the construction and engineering group said on Monday.
The company said it always published its annual report on the day it released its results and that this practice was “well ahead of most companies”.
The JSE said on Monday that Group Five Construction — a subsidiary of listed Group Five — had a debt instrument listed on the JSE. It said should the exchange not receive the subsidiary’s results by the end of this month‚ it would have no option but to suspend trading of its debt instruments.
“This announcement is issued to warn holders of debt securities that the issuer has failed to submit its annual report timeously and that the listing of the issuer’s securities is under threat of suspension and possible termination‚” the JSE said.
JSE director of marketing and corporate affairs Zeona Jacobs said on Monday that Group Five Construction had “an obligation” to issue a stock exchange announcement within six months of its financial year-end‚ informing the market that its annual results would be published on its website.
“The results also have to be submitted to the JSE’s issuer-regulation division‚” she said.
Ms Jacobs said that on December 1 last year‚ five months after Group Five Construction’s year-end‚ the JSE had sent a reminder to the company that its results were due.
“To date no (stock exchange) announcement was issued to the market on when its results will be published on its website — nor were the results received by the JSE‚” she said.
In an update in mid-December‚ Group Five said weak trading conditions in the engineering and construction cluster in the interim reporting period ended-December 31 had been offset by a stronger than forecast performance in the investment and concessions cluster.