Pyne Gould blames auditor disagreement for another delay to 2015 annual report

Monday 1st February 2016

Pyne Gould Corp, whose NZX-listed shares have been suspended from trading since October, will take even longer to file its 2015 annual report, blaming a disagreement between auditors for the latest delay.

The Guernsey-based company is preparing accounts after receiving conflicting advice from the Guernsey auditor of its Torchlight Fund LP subsidiary and its own New Zealand-based auditor over the need to align the reporting periods for the two entities, which are different. The Torchlight fund runs on a March year and Pyne Gould on a June year, and the asset manager will fully account for all activity to cover the different periods.

"Given the nature and extent of the required adjustments, regrettably there will be a further delay in issuing PGC's group financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2015," it said in a statement. "The directors of PGC are highly focused on ensuring all necessary adjustments to the financial statements are made within as short a timeframe as possible."

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."

Since the delay, chairman Bryan Mogridge resigned unexpectedly in November citing personal reasons.

Before their suspension, the shares traded at 24.5 cents, valuing Pyne Gould at $50.8 million.

(BusinessDesk)

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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