Del Monte Pacific restates US$443 million loans to non-current status; requests PSE trading suspension to be lifted
The company is suspended from trading in the Philippines over late filing of annual report
[SINGAPORE] Del Monte Pacific (DMP) will not have to repay loans of nearly US$443 million in the current fiscal year after reclassifying them as non-current liabilities.
On Thursday (Sep 18), DMP said that it secured a waiver from a few banks on the breach of a debt-equity ratio (DER) covenant.
The Aug 8 waiver states that these banks will not conduct a DER testing for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years, with the next test set to take place in September 2026.
As a result, almost US$443 million of non-current loans that were reclassified as current loans have been reverted to a non-current loan classification.
They were earlier stated as current liabilities as the covenant waivers were obtained from the banks only after the fiscal year ended on Apr 30.
The company, which is listed on Singapore Exchange and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), previously requested an extension to its annual report submission deadline from both bourses.
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It did not meet PSE’s extended deadline “due to the same reasons disclosed by the company (when) requesting the extension”, it said on Wednesday, and trading of its shares on in the Philippines was suspended.
Independent auditor EY said that the extension was needed due to an inability to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding DMP’s US subsidiary, Del Monte Foods (DMF), which is undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
Furthermore, on Thursday, it said that the audit disclaimer in its audited financials from EY would normally constitute an automatic ground for suspension from trading on the PSE, but the company is now appealing for the suspension to be lifted.
In the disclaimer, EY pointed out that DMP had assessed the carrying value of the DMF-related assets held for disposal and recognised impairment losses of US$703 million in 2025.
However, the auditor could not obtain sufficient audit evidence to accurately assess the carrying values of such assets and associated liabilities, the appropriateness of the cited impairment losses and the carrying value of DMP’s investments in its subsidiaries.
DMP in July announced that it would deconsolidate DMF from its accounts as it had lost control of the US unit.
Thus, DMP on Thursday afternoon filed a waiver request with the PSE to lift its trading halt, pointing out that the audit disclaimer pertains only to discontinued operations at its US unit for the financial year ending Apr 30, 2025.
It added that the consolidated financial statements of the continuing operations are unaffected and that it had already fully impaired its investment and other assets in and relating to DMF.
It also noted that the SGX, where it is primarily listed, did not have a similar automatic delisting policy like the PSE.
The audited figures for DMP’s operating and net profit were also 39 and 350 per cent higher than the respective unaudited figures. The audited numbers were at US$147 million and US$48.9 million, respectively. The numbers excluded the company’s US operations.
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