Three Carson firms in talks with SEC on fate of being listed
Carson Cumberbatch PLC firms - Indo- Malay PLC, Good Hope PLC and Selinsing PLC - are gearing to delist from the Colombo Stock Exchange owing to minimum public holding issues, company sources say.
As per Rule 7.13.1 (a) of the Listing Rules of the Colombo Stock Exchange, a Listed Entity on the Main Board having a public holding below the specified requirement in terms of the said rules, has to ensure that the public holding of such entity is maintained at a defined public holding percentage of shares in the hands of a minimum number of 500 public shareholders. These three Carson firms don't at present satisfy the requirement relating to minimum public holding.
They had made a voluntary offer to all shareholders in 2011 in a bid to acquire the entire minority shareholding as a step towards the consolidation of the oil palm plantation business segment of Carson’s group. The offer documents also mentioned that upon completion of the voluntary offer, the rationale for remaining listed will be evaluated. Since the voluntary offer did not result in the acquisition of the entire minority shareholding, the companies continued to remain listed. "Taking into consideration that a voluntary offer had been made and also considering that there is no requirement for additional capital infusion to the companies and resultantly, there being no plans for issuing of new shares nor a dilution by the majority shareholder, and as previously communicated to shareholders through market disclosures and annual reports, the companies would not be in compliance with the said requirements and we would report on the proposed course of action in consultation with the regulator ( the Secrities and Exchange Commission),” Chairman Hari Selvanathan has said in the recent annual reports of all three firms.
All three companies sold their Malaysian plantation assets and also distributed the set sale proceeds in the form of a share repurchase and a dividend to the shareholders during the previous financial year with due approvals, he has said.
He has said that Indonesian plantations are currently recovering from the impact of low cropping arising from consecutive years of drought weather conditions.
The operations of all three firms now consist of the equity investment made in Indonesia ( PT Agro Indomas) through Shalimar Developments Sdn. Bhd. ( SDSB) and the shares held in Shalimar ( Malay) PLC ( SMPLC). The Indonesian Investment, PT Agro Indomas is managed through the group's fully owned management ar m in Indonesia. PT Agro Indomas consists of 26,981 hectares of plantation with processing facilities of 225 MT/ hr within the plantations.
Indo Malay PLC recorded a net loss after tax of Rs. 0.42 million for the year as compared to the profit of Rs. 1,932.10 million recorded in the previous financial year, which included the profits of Rs. 1,856.32 million from Malaysian plantation operations and the sale of Malaysian plantation assets.
Good Hope recorded a loss after tax of Rs. 4.71 million from operations during the year under review compared to a profit of Rs. 4,128.78 million recorded in the previous financial year. The previous financial year's results included the profits from the plantation operations and the sale of plantation assets.
Selinsing PLC recorded a profit after tax of Rs. 6.93 million from operations during the year under review compared to the profit of Rs. 323.49 million recorded in the previous financial year. Here too, the previous financial year's results included the profits from the plantation assets. Accordingly, no dividend has been proposed for the year under review.