Pyne Gould delays annual report for another three weeks

Tuesday 3rd November 2015

Pyne Gould Corp, whose chairman Bryan Mogridge unexpectedly resigned last week, doesn't expect to file its annual report for another three weeks, having already missed the stock exchange's deadline for releasing the accounts.

The NZX listed, Guernsey based company previously said it expected to file its report by the end of October, but has pushed out that timeline, saying it's "working through certain technical accounting matters with its auditors and expects to file by the third week in November."

Pyne Gould first signalled the 2015 accounts would be late in September, blaming a slow handover of information from its previous auditor PwC to Grant Thornton. It ultimately missed the NZX's deadline to file the accounts, resulting in the suspension of trading in its shares, the second year in a row it's been censured for a late annual report.

The company was fined and censured by the NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal over the delayed 2014 annual report, which had been tagged by auditor PwC because of the firm's inability to obtain sufficient information about Pyne Gould's investment in Torchlight Group and Torchlight Fund.

Pyne Gould's audit fees shot up to $472,000 in 2014 from $396,000 a year earlier, and $367,000 in 2012, the year KPMG quit as auditor over "unresolved differences as to whether certain transactions should be disclosed as related party transactions, and concerns over the adequacy of governance and management of financial reporting."

Last week, Mogridge unexpectedly resigned from Pyne Gould's board for "personal reasons", leaving the firm with just one independent director, and putting it in breach of NZX listing rules unless it's granted a waiver by the stock market operator.

Pyne Gould's late annual reports and public censures for governance and other listing rules failures prompted the New Zealand Shareholders' Association to say NZX should consider delisting the firm to protect the integrity of the market, calling the situation "farcical when a company that continually fails to meet its obligations is allowed to remain listed."

NZX rejected the suggestion it should proactively delist the company, saying it didn't consider the current circumstances justified such a move.

Pyne Gould shares last traded at 24.5 cents, and have slumped 42 percent this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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