Mainboard-listed Yamada Green Resources called for an immediate mandatory trading suspension in a pre-market filing at around 7.30am yesterday.
This came on the heels of an announcement late on Tuesday night where it said it would be asking for its trading halt to be converted into a voluntary suspension of trading the next day.
Yamada, which is a major supplier of shiitake mushrooms with cultivation bases in China's Fujian province, had also said it was applying for more time to announce its full-year financial results and hold its annual general meeting.
It said the further extension was needed in view of the fire incident that it had disclosed on Monday night. The fire had resulted in certain finance documents and IT/computer hardware being affected or destroyed.
Already on Aug 25, Yamada had said it was applying for more time to file its results and hold its AGM as it had experienced high staff turnover in the finance team and because its external auditors needed more time to complete its procedures.
With the added problem of the fire, Yamada said on Tuesday that more time was also needed for the company's external auditors, BDO, to perform additional audit work in relation to certain inconsistencies in the group's financial records and other audit queries relating to the group's financial statements for financial year 2017.
The additional audit work would be carried out in two phases. The first phase is expected to commence in the next one to two weeks. These relate to financial records not affected by the incident.
The second phase will take place only after the documents are reconstructed.
Yamada said it expects that reproducing and reconstructing the records will take between four and five months.
Yamada said the audit committee has also initiated an inquiry into the extent to which finance documents and IT/computer hardware of the group are affected by the fire incident.
It has also proposed to the board that, as an interim measure, oversight procedures be implemented in relation to cash balances in the bank accounts of the group, and this has been accepted by the board.
Shook Lin & Bok has been appointed as the company's legal advisers. It will advise the board and the audit committee of the immediate measures and the actions to be taken in relation to the fire incident and the additional audit work, as well as any other matter entrusted upon it by the board and/or the audit committee that may arise.
On Aug 11, the company flagged a loss for the fourth quarter and full year. Its shares have been on a trading halt since Aug 31 and last traded at 33 Singapore cents on Aug 30.
Ann Williams
