SINGAPORE (Apr 29): SGX RegCo, citing findings from a review by Nexia TS Public Accounting Corporation on No Signboard Holdings, will be pondering “very carefully” if the company had breached listing rules.
No Signboard’s accounts over nine-month period, Dec 31 2017, March 31 2018, and June 30 2018, were not prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards, said Nexia in its independent review that was released on April 29.
As a result, the reported statements were not comparable with earlier periods, and there were instances of double-counting, among others.
The company went IPO on Nov 2017.
“The listing rules require presentation of financial information with sufficient comparability across periods to enable investors to make an informed decision on the company’s financial performance,” said SGX RegCo in a statement on April 29.
The appointment of Nexia TS Public Accounting Corporation, in consultation with SGX RegCo and the company’s sponsor RHT Capital, was announced on July 2 2019.
Under an expanded and sharper regulatory framework introduced recently by the exchange, Nexia was to present its reviews directly to SGX RegCo instead of to No Signboard’s audit committee.
No Signboard, which runs a chain of restaurants under several different brands, has suffered a spate of resignation among its management ranks in 2019.
Arthur Quek, executive vice president, left on Jan 13; Samuel Chen Shangming, sales director of its beer business, left on April 5; Ron Cheng, vice president of restaurant operations, quit on June 21, and on Sept 30, CFO Voon Sze Yin left.
In an earlier episode, the company announced on April 29 2019 the Commercial Affairs Department has launched probes on itself.
“The investigations appear to be in relation to matters concerning the abortive share buyback on 31 January 2019, details of which have been previously announced on 3 February 2019 and 8 February 2019,” the company said.
On April 30, executive chairman Lim Yong Sim (picture) was arrested and on bail on “reasonable” suspicions that he has breached the Securities and Futures Act, but he wasn’t charged. No further updates on the probes have been provided since then.
On Feb 6, No Signboard was slapped by one of SGX RegCo’s favourite policing tool: a Notice of Compliance, where it was required to continue with quarterly reporting until further notice, even as most companies here can transit into a half-yearly reporting requirement.
Less than a fortnight later, on Feb 14, the company reported revenue of $5,994,168 for 1QFY2020 ended Dec 31 2019, up 6.9% y-o-y. However, losses widened from $573,643 to $1.2 million in the same period.
On April 20, No Signboard shares closed at 2.4 cents, down by half, year to date. No trades were made since then. The company went IPO back in Nov 2017 at 28 cents.
