KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 4): Shares of Bumi Armada Bhd fell another three sen or 15.4% to 16.5 sen by the end of today’s morning trading session, as investors grew wary of the cash-strapped company’s prospects.

At 12.30pm, the counter saw a total of 210.72 million shares done, making it the most active stock on Bursa Malaysia so far today, excluding preference shares.

To recap, Bumi Armada was slapped with an unusual market activity (UMA) query from Bursa Malaysia on Friday (Nov 30), after its share price halved to a historical low of 16 sen last week.

In response to the query, the company revealed yesterday it is not aware of any cause of the share price slump. In addition, Bumi Armada said it is facing tight cash flow problem and that "limits the company's efforts to pursue new work".

Its chief executive officer Leon Andre Harland, who took over the helm in May 2016, had issued an internal memo last week informing his staff that despite the group’s concerted efforts to fundamentally improve its financial situation, it has not made substantial progress with its lenders or financial parties.

Bumi Armada missed its proposed October deadline to restructure some US$500 million (RM2.09 billion) worth of unsecured short-term loans. 

An analyst cautioned that the company “is in a debt crisis” and “could be on the verge of bankruptcy, if they are not able to negotiate a deal with lenders”.