Noble chairman seeks 'confidence and patience' from shareholders

LATEST: S&P cuts Noble Group rating outlook to negative from stable

NOBLE Group chairman Richard Elman on Thursday afternoon asked shareholders and colleagues for "a little confidence and patience" as the commodity company seeks to recover share value.

In a letter sent to the press and published on the company's website, but not announced through the Singapore Exchange, Mr Elman decried what he said was "a lot of rumours, gossip, inaccurate statements and commentary from people who have nothing to do with Noble and probably do not even know what we do".

He said that the company, which has been defending itself against questions about its accounting practices since February, was making progress with efforts to protect shareholders' and employees' interests.

"We will right the damage and will use all our best efforts to recover the share value," Mr Elman wrote.

Noble was the most actively traded stock on the Singapore stock market on Thursday, with 129 million shares traded as at 3.34pm. The share price slipped in the late morning to hit an intra-day low of 63 Singapore cents at 12.10pm, but jumped up at about 2pm and quickly hit a day-high of 71 Singapore cents as at 2.10pm.

Broking house OCBC had earlier in the day cut its target price on Noble to 61 Singapore cents from S$1.05, citing ongoing uncertainty about the company's accounting practices and a weaker outlook for commodities. OCBC maintained its "hold" rating on the stock.