KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 7): The Royal Malaysian Customs of Kuala Lumpur has billed Guinness Anchor Bhd (GAB) excise duties and sales tax worth RM56.3 million in total.

However, the brewery maintains its stance that retrospective claims are “unjustifiable”.

In an announcement with Bursa Malaysia today, GAB said it had received a bills of demand dated Aug 28, from Customs, demanding payment for additional excise duties and sales tax.

The payments claimed by Customs are RM34.17 million in excise duties from Aug 28, 2012 to Oct 31, 2013; and sales tax amounting to RM22.16 million from July 1, 2012 to Oct 31, 2013.

GAB said the retrospective claims, which it deemed “unjustifiable”, came about as the Customs department had imposed a new method of valuation for excise duty, which came into effect on Nov 1, 2013.

However, the company said it has paid all excise duties and sales tax for the period, based on valuations previously assessed and approved by the Customs department.

“The company maintains its previous position that the valuation method implemented on Nov 1, 2013 is not in line with internationally applied rules of valuation,” the filing read.

“The company strongly believes that a retrospective application is unjustifiable.

“The company does not admit liability on the bills of demand made by Customs and will take appropriate measures to address this matter,” it added.

GAB (fundamental: 2.3; valuation: 1.7)'s shares closed unchanged at RM13.30 today, for a market capitalisation of RM4.024 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.)