KUALA LUMPUR, (April 4): Seacera Group Berhad was publicly reprimanded by Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd today for failing to account for adjustments in the group’s quarterly report for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (QR Dec 2016) that was announced on Feb 28, 2017, which contravened the exchange’s Main Market Listing Requirements (LR).

“The adjustments were mainly in respect of the non-allocation of loss of a subsidiary to the non-controlling interest and the company had acknowledged that the adjustments should have been made in the QR Dec 2016,” Bursa Malaysia said.

Bursa Malaysia explained that Seacera had reported an unaudited profit attributable to the owners of the company of RM4.5 million in its QR Dec 2016 compared to an audited profit attributable to owners of the company of RM6.1 million in the audited financial statements for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 announced on April 28, 2017.

The difference of RM1.594 million represented a variance of 35%.

“Paragraph 9.16(1)(a) of the Main LR states that a listed issuer must ensure that each announcement made is factual, clear, unambiguous, accurate, succinct and contains sufficient information to enable investors to make informed investment decisions.

“Bursa Malaysia Securities views the contravention seriously as the timely and accurate submission of financial statements to enable investors to make informed investment decisions is one of the fundamental obligations of companies listed on the Official List of Bursa Malaysia Securities,” it said.

While the exchange did not find any Seacera directors to have caused or permitted the breach, it required the company to review and ensure the adequacy and effectiveness of its financial reporting function.

“The limited review must be performed by the company’s external auditors for four quarterly reports commencing no later from the quarterly report for the financial period ended 30 June 2018,” it said.

The board of directors of Seacera at the material time were Datuk Mansor Masikon, Zulkarnin Ariffin, Norhanum Nordin, Tuan Hj. Halim and AB Halim Ismail

Seacera must also ensure that all its directors and relevant personnel attend a training programme on compliance with the Main Market LR pertaining to financial statements.

Seacera, which makes tiles, closed 2 sen or 3.23% lower at 60 sen yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM225.2 million.