TWO former senior employees of UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) were charged on Wednesday for allegedly lying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in relation to reports on a then Catalist aspirant. Lan Kang Ming, 38, and Wee Toon Lee, 34, each face three charges of providing MAS with false information in October 2018 in relation to due diligence reports on an unidentified company applying to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. MAS said in a media statement on Wednesday that it was performing an onsite inspection of UOBKH between June and August 2018, to assess the latter's controls, policies and procedures in relation to its role as an issue manager for Initial Public Offering (IPOs). During the examination, Lan and Wee were said to have provided different versions of a due diligence report relating to background checks on a company applying to be listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. UOBKH had acted as the issue manager
Comments
Anita Gabriel
13 November 2014
The market was once again reminded of the shattered financials of the firms embroiled in last October’s penny stock crash with LionGold releasing its much-delayed first quarter results with an injurious outing, just one day after its counterpart Blumont reported dismal quarterly digits.
The beleaguered gold miner swung into big losses of S$20.3 million for the first quarter ended June 2014 from a S$3.8 million profit a year ago.
LionGold attributed the bleeding to weak gold prices and high production cost. Also, quite possibly for the first time, the firm indicated that if these vagaries persisted, it may switch out of gold or the mineral business altogether.
“Should gold prices and operating costs reach a level where gold mining becomes unprofitable, management may decide to diversify into other minerals or businesses,” said the firm in an announcement.
It was not too long ago - although it may appear as a distant past given the beating that the firm has suffered since the stock crash episode late last year - when LionGold embarked on its fresh strategy to reshape itself into a gold miner in early 2012 and was cheered on by investors and punters as the firm gobbled up assets in Bolivia, Australia and Ghana.
Its rosy business story has since soured with its share price at 2.5 Singapore cents, its close on Wednesday, having stumbled from a high of S$1.725 when it boasted of a market capitalisation of over S$1 billion, despite not having turned in a profit.
Only two weeks ago, LionGold filed its delayed annual report for the financial year ended March 2014.The goldminer posted much bigger losses of S$174.39 million for the full year from S$8.2 million a year ago but failed to secure a clean bill of health from its independent auditors.
The firm’s woes do not seem to be fading away. In a statement on Wednesday, LionGold admitted that its depressed share price continues to hamper its fund raising abilities - a major dampener for the firm in a capital-intensive business that requires funds to ramp up production in its mines.
Revenue for the first quarter fell 6.4 per cent to S$32.5 million from S$34.8 million, largely owing to its non-core office equipment manufacturing operations in China which saw revenue fall by S$2.6 million.
While LionGold’s wholly-owned Castlemaine Goldfields’ revenue rose by S$300,000 as more gold was sold, higher production cost led had hit the bottom line.
It turned in a loss per share of 1.96 Singapore cents after earning 0.41 Singapore cent a year ago.
On Tuesday, its battered peer Blumont warned that it was likely to suffer losses for the full year ending December 2014 after reporting a net loss of S$13.48 million compared to a net profit of S$33.73 million a year ago while revenue fell 38 per cent to S$779,000. It attributed a the losses to the fall in value of its equity investments in companies listed on the Singapore Exchange and Bursa Malaysia.
Blumont’s shares skid 8 per cent to 2.2 cents on Wednesday.
But while Blumont had not mentioned the ongoing investigation by Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department for possible breaches of securites laws in the trading of its shares, including those of LionGold and Asiasons Capital, LionGold did.
Even so, LionGold’s remarks were merely an echo of past statements on the probe - that the CAD has not given any further details on the investigations and that the probe may have an impact on the ongoing fundraising initiatives.