PSE suspends trading on 4 listed firms

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has suspended trading on four listed companies, three of which were for violation of reportorial obligations while one was suspended for failure to maintain the minimum public float requirement.

In various memoranda, the PSE announced the suspension of LMG Chemicals, Chemical Industries of the Philippines (CIP) and Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp. (CPM) starting Tuesday (May 17) all for failing to submit their respective annual reports for the fiscal period ending December 2015.

The fourth firm, SPC Power Corp. (SPC), was suspended from the trading floor also starting Tuesday for failing to meet the minimum public ownership requirement of 10 percent for continuous listing on the bourse.

SPC’s public ownership level was at 9.74 percent as of April 2016. The company told the exchange this was due to “acquisitions of some shares from the public sector by certain individuals, especially officers and directors.”

“We intend to correct this deficiency and go back to within 10 percent public ownership level within a month’s time,” SPC said.

SPC, formerly Salcon Power Corp., had a market capitalization of P6 billion at the time of suspension. It was incorporated in 1994 by a consortium that entered into a rehabilitation, operation, maintenance and management agreement with the National Power Corp. for the 203.8 megawatt (MW) Naga power plant complex in Colon, Naga, Cebu.

For LMG, CIP and CPM, the PSE cited section 17.8 on sanctions for non-compliance with certain structured reportorial requirements of the revised disclosure rules. It provided that failure by the issuer to comply with the requirements would result in the automatic suspension of the trading for a maximum period of three months. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla