Tongaat Hulett’s key forensic findings out next week
Moneyweb
Embattled sugar and property heavyweight Tongaat Hulett will release the “key findings” related to PwC’s forensic investigation into the group’s financials next Friday.
The group is also expected to finally release its restated results for its 2018 financial year and 2019 results in the second week of December.
Tongaat Hulett confirmed this in a statement on the JSE late on Monday, which also included a progress update on its debt negotiations with lenders.
“The company anticipates releasing information on PwC’s key findings on the company’s website on Friday, November 29, 2019. Shareholders are reminded that PwC’s forensic report is confidential and subject to legal privilege, and accordingly the report will not be published,” it said.
“The restated audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2018 and the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2019 will be released in the week commencing December 9, 2019.”
The latest statement follows its announcement on October 7 that the PwC forensic investigation had been completed, however the full report would not be released due to “legal privilege”.
Tongaat Hulett got its legal advisors Bowmans Gilfillan Inc to appoint PwC to undertake the forensic investigation.
PwC’s initial investigation had found accounting irregularities at Tongaat Hulett, which led to the company in May noting that it would need to restate its 2018 financial results. It later announced that it anticipates reporting a reduction in its equity by between R3.5 billion to
R4.5 billion.
When the group decided to suspend trading on the JSE on June 10, its share price closed at of R13.21 having lost 75% of its value for the year.
Chris Logan of Opportune Investments, a former minority shareholder in the group and well-known shareholder activist, says he is not surprised that Tongaat Hulett is not releasing the forensic report.
However, he notes that the company seems to “be on the right track” having progressed in terms of debt negotiations with its lenders and its turnaround strategy.