The listing woes of Awethu Breweries and SA French continued into 2011, with the JSE announcing yesterday that the memberships of both companies on the stock exchange could be suspended for not submitting annual reports in time.
Telephones at Awethu and SA French went unanswered yesterday. Both businesses were given qualified audits during the course of last year.
It is the third warning in a year over late information for SA French, a Johannesburg-based tower crane distributor, which submitted financial results for the year to June 2009 only at the end of February last year.
Following another warning over late provisional results in October, SA French posted a set of results for the year to June 2010 in which it reported a loss of R4.9 million and auditors Logista-Johannesburg warned that the company’s ability to continue as a going concern was in doubt.
The auditors also identified “certain unlawful acts of omissions” by SA French management that constituted a reportable irregularity to the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors.
The JSE drew attention to the qualified audit a few days later, following which SA French issued a cautionary announcement advising shareholders that the company was involved in unspecified talks. Yesterday’s warning from the JSE concerns the failure to submit an annual report.
The JSE had also earlier drawn attention to a qualified audit given to Awethu Breweries in results for the year to June 2010 in which the brewer, which no longer brews traditional beer, reported a loss of R3.1m.
It was also noted that the Vanderbijlpark-based company’s liabilities exceeded its assets by more than R5m.
Revenue slumped to R3.1m from R17.7m, which was blamed on “extremely tough” trading conditions due to “down time in the mill”, but directors were optimistic that the year ahead would show improved sustainable operating with better margins.
However, the commentary noted that this “general forecast has not been reviewed nor audited by the company’s auditors”.
SA French fell 1c to close at 5c on the JSE yesterday, while Awethu gained 1c to 6c. - Business Report