Sino Grandness gets further 2-week extension to hold AGM, release Q1 results

MAINBOARD-LISTED Sino Grandness Food Industry, which is on the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) watch list, has fixed its annual general meeting (AGM) for fiscal 2018 on Aug 8, and will also release its first-quarter financial results by Aug 29.

This is after SGX gave another extension of time to the canned fruits and vegetables producer to hold the AGM and announce its Q1 results, Sino Grandness said in a filing on Thursday night.

The company has not confirmed a date for the release of the results for Q1 ended March 31. The notice of AGM and annual report have been despatched to shareholders on July 24.

Sino Grandness also applied for a one-month extension to release its Q2 results to Sept 14 from Aug 14, but it did not provide an update on the outcome of this application in the Thursday filing.

Sino Grandness had requested the further extensions on July 16 because of a delay in finalising the financial statements and annual report for FY2018. The delay was because outstanding audit confirmation replies and follow-up matters were only completed on July 13, and external auditors needed time to assess the impact on the audited financial statements for FY2018.

The company had also just finalised the financial statements and annual report, and is in the process of arranging for typesetting and printing, so it would not be able to observe the 14 days' notice to its shareholders.

On Thursday, Sino Grandness confirmed that it is not aware of any information, which it has yet to announce, that will have a material bearing on investors' decision.

The latest two-week extensions - to hold the AGM by Aug 14 from July 31, and to release the Q1 results by Aug 29 from Aug 15 - come after SGX had already granted it extensions in March and April.

SGX gave the company a two-month extension in April to hold the AGM by July 31 and a one-month extension to release the Q1 results by Aug 15, when the group was still addressing its default on the loan from engineering firm Soleado Holdings. Sino Grandness was served a letter of demand by Soleado Holdings in January over a sum of about US$22 million.

In its reasons for seeking the extension, Sino Grandness had also cited high staff turnover and reduced staff strength in the finance team in FY2018, with staff movement affecting the accuracy of the financial information and delaying the release of the results.

As its market capitalisation was lower than its net assets, its external auditors had also requested formal valuations to be done on the assets of the group's four principal subsidiaries. Sino Grandness said in April that more time was needed to obtain outstanding audit confirmation replies and to follow up on pending matters such as site visits.

Earlier in March, the company already pushed back the deadline for the AGM from April 30 to May 31, and the deadline for its Q1 results from May 14 to June 14.

Shares of Sino Grandness closed at 4.8 Singapore cents on Thursday, down 0.1 cent.