KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 18): Hong Leong Capital Bhd’s appeal against the suspension of its stock for not meeting the public spread requirement of 25% has been rejected by Bursa Malaysia's Appeals Committee.

As at Dec 31, 2014, the company's public spread was 18.67%.

In a filing this evening, HL Cap (fundamental: 2.7; valuation: 0) said the trading in its securities would be suspended with effect from March 26, 2015.

"After due deliberation and having considered all the facts and circumstances of the matter including HL Cap's written representations, the Appeals Committee has decided to dismiss the appeal of HL Cap and uphold the decision of the Listing Committee that a suspension be imposed on the trading of HL Cap’s shares for the breach of paragraph 8.02(1) of the Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad Main Market Listing Requirements," it said in the filing.

To recap, on Feb 12, Bursa said the company's shares would be suspended from March 3 onwards, unless it submitted an appeal on or before Feb 23, 2015.

Subsequently on Feb 23, the company had written to Bursa Securities to appeal against its decision, which deferred the March 3 suspension.

HL Cap shares closed 10 sen lower at RM10.80 today, with a market capitalisation of RM2.7 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)