PSE suspends Unioil, Philab trading

PSE trading floor in BGC

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) suspended on Friday (May 18) trading on shares of two companies – holding firm Unioil Resources & Holdings Co. Inc. and biotech company Philab Holdings Corp. – both for failing to comply with the reportorial requirements.

In a circular issued on Friday, the PSE cited Section 17.8 on Sanctions for Non-Compliance with Certain Structured Reportorial Requirements of the Disclosure Rules, which stated that “failure by the issuer to comply with the requirements of the exchange will result in the automatic suspension of the trading of the issuer’s shares for a maximum period of three months.”

In separate circulars, the PSE called out both Unioil and Philab’s failure to submit any compliant annual report for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Unioil, which has 40.65-percent public ownership and is listed under the ticker UNI, is currently valued by the stock market at P391 million. This company, which used to be in oil exploration and mineral development, listed on the stock exchange in 1987.

Philab, which is listed under the ticker DNA, is valued by the market at around P5.9 billion. It has a public float of 15.11 percent. The company entered the market through the backdoor-listing mode in 2016 using Alterra Capital Partners Inc. (ALT) as its vehicle.