SINGAPORE (Oct 14): Catalist-listed e-commerce retailer Y Ventures has been issued with a query from Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo), after its share price plunged as much as 19.6% on Monday.
This marks Y Ventures’ second query from the exchange over the span of four months.
The market regulator at 4.59pm on Monday asked the group to declare if it was aware of any information not previously announced that might explain the “unusual price movements” in the shares.
“Such information may include events that are potentially material and price-sensitive, such as discussions and negotiations that may lead to joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions or purchase or sale of a significant asset,” says SGX RegCo.
The regulator asked Y Ventures if it was aware of any other possible explanations for the trading, which might include the public circulation of information by rumours and reports.
SGXRegCo also asked Y Ventures to confirm its compliance with the listing rules.
Y Ventures has hit the news several times since its listing on the SGX Catalist board in 2017.
In January last year, DBS Group Research had suspended coverage on Y Ventures Group after the group reported it had made certain inadvertent administrative errors in the 1H18 results that was published in August.
The administrative lapses were mainly related to overstatement of “Inventories”, “Property, plant and equipment” and “Revenue” and understatement of “Trade and other receivables”, “Cost of sales” and Administrative expenses” as at end June.
See: DBS suspends coverage of Y Ventures after restatement of 1H18 results on admin errors; Group now expects FY18 loss
There were more updates on the group this year, as chief financial officer Joshua Huang Thien En resigned. However according to a bourse filing on July 10, the resignation was not related to the company's financial reporting or the ongoing independent review.
On Oct 3, the group had appointed Evolve Capital Asia as a financial advisor to conduct a strategic review of the company, including its current investments, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures.
See: Y Ventures appoints financial advisor to conduct strategic review
Y Ventures had also recently entered into subscription agreements with nine investors for the allotment and issue of 24.7 million new shares at 8.12 cents each. The group sought to raise some $2 million from this.
Notably, the placement price represented a discount of 9.98% to the volume weighted average price of 9.02 cents for trades done on the shares of the company on Sept 17 – the full market day immediately preceding the date of signing of the subscription agreements.
See: Y Ventures to raise $2 mil from proposed placement; 24.7 mil new shares to be issued at 8.12 cents each
Shares in Y Ventures closed 2.6 cents lower, or down some 18.8%, at 11.2 cents on Monday. The counter has fallen almost 63% from its 52-week peak of 30.0 cents in October 2018.
