business

Time to lift trading suspension?

KUALA LUMPUR: Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd could be in a better position if the suspension of its securities trading on Bursa Malaysia is lifted, according to Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG).

MSWG chief executive officer Devanesan Evanson said Serba Dinamik had been suspended for more than two months and thus far, there had not been much information on the lifting available.

"The lifting of the suspension will enable price discovery to take place, while enabling the minority shareholders to make informed investment decisions," he told the New Straits Times recently.

Devanesan added that the lifting could allow the timely resolution of Serba Dinamik's court cases.

The integrated oil and gas services provider  has been under regulatory and public scrutiny amid several issues raised by its then external auditor KPMG involving its accounts for the 12-month period ended Dec 31, 2020.

Serba Dinamik was last trade at 35 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.31 billion.

Bursa had directed it to disclose findings of the special independent review on the accounts which Serba Dinamik declined to do, contending that Ernst & Young Consulting Sdn Bhd was still performing the review. 

Last Wednesday, the Securities Commission (SC) charged Serba Dinamik chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah at the Sessions Court here for allegedly furnishing a false financial statement to Bursa.

The SC also charged Serba Dinamik, along with its executive director Datuk Syed Nazim Syed Faisal, group chief financial officer Azhan Azmi and vice-president of accounts and finance Muhammad Hafiz Othman over the alleged false statement contained in its financial report for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2020.

The alleged false statement was in relation to a revenue of RM6.014 billion in the quarterly report.

They all claimed trial to the charge.

Public Investment Bank Bhd (PublicInvest) recently ceased its coverage on Serba Dinamik due to the prolong suspension of the company's trading since Oct 22.

PublicInvest said it was unable to appropriately assess Serba Dinamik's prospects in the near to medium term, given the heightened uncertainties resulted from accounting-related queries, legal challenges with auditors (both KPMG and EY) and the regulator.

"With earnings visibility likely to be limited and given the need to re-deploy our resources internally, we are ceasing coverage on Serba Dinamik. Our last call is 'Neutral' with a target price of 31 sen based on a 0.3 time multiple to its FY21 book value of RM1.05," it noted.

Meanwhile, Serba Dinamik said on Thursday that it was misquoted by Free Malaysia Today (FMT), which quoted chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah, about working with Petroliam Nasional Bhd to jointly attract investors for any projects at the Expo 2020 Dubai.

The company said during the press statement by its lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah, it was mentioned that Abdul Karim would represent Serba Dinamik during the Dubai Expo 2020's Malaysia Day scheduled on January 8, 2022.

"Serba Dinamik would like to further correct the statement made by FMT that Serba Dinamik is the premier sponsor for Malaysia Day in the Dubai Expo 2021. It was never mentioned by Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah that Serba Dinamik is collaborating with Petronas for the expo.

"What was said is that Serba Dinamik is a sponsor to the event just like Petronas as means to emphasise the importance of the event to the honourable Sessions Court."

Earlier on Wednesday, Petronas refuted any form of collaboration with Serba Dinamik to jointly attract investors for any projects at the expo.

"Petronas denies any form of collaboration with Serba Dinamik to jointly attract investors for any projects at the Expo 2020 Dubai, as implied in the statement, neither is there any other collaboration to jointly attract investors using other platforms," Petronas said.

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