Irongate shares tumble on Unlisted amid National Property rumblings

Thursday 13th May 2010

Shares in Irongate Property Limited almost halved in value in a late trade yesterday on the Unlisted platform as the property investor, managed by a St Laurence group company, heard shareholder grumblings from sister company National Property Trust.

The stock price sank from 8.5 cents to 4.4 cents, a 4.1 cent fall to its lowest in at least 12 months.

David Cushing, a director of H&G Limited, pushed for the termination of National Property’s management contract with St Laurence and is looking to rally fellow shareholders to join it in its mission.

St Laurence went into receivership this month after the firm’s managing director Kevin Podmore went against the wishes of the trustee.

Podmore tried to convince investors to swap their debt for equity in a new holding company for the group’s assets, which included management contracts with Irongate and National Property.

Following the receivership, Irongate general manager Chris Minty released a statement to the NZX, which lists three of the firm’s bonds, saying its services would not be affected by the wind down.

Irongate changed its name from St Laurence Property & Finance to distance itself from St Laurence, which owns about a third of the company.

It has seen its stock fall from 16 cents in the past 12 months. Its market capitalisation is now $6.58 million.

The property investor made a net loss of $28.2 million in the six months ended Sept. 30 as it continued to write down the value of its development and joint venture portfolio.

Minty did not immediately return BusinessWire’s calls.

View Unlisted data here>>

Businesswire.co.nz

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