PSE suspends trading on Bogo-Medellin for failure to submit reports

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The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) will suspend trading on agro-industrial firm Bogo-Medellin Milling Company Inc. (BMM) starting Feb. 15 for failure to comply with reportorial requirements.

In an advisory, the PSE said BMM had failed to submit its annual report (SEC Form 17-A) for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2021, on or before the extended deadline of Jan. 28, 2022.

Failure to comply with reportorial requirements is ground for automatic suspension pursuant to Article VII, Section 17.8 on Sanctions for Non-Compliance with Certain Structured Reportorial Requirements under the PSE’s Consolidated Listing and Disclosure Rules.

Plea for extension

Back in January, the company had asked for an extension of the filing deadline. It said its external auditors were “still in the process of reviewing the completeness and reasonableness of the relevant disclosure requirements to make sure that the financial statements are in accordance with certain revisions and amendments of the reporting standards.”

BMM, which was incorporated on June 4, 1928, with a mill located in Medellin, Cebu, is engaged in the milling and manufacturing of centrifugal raw sugar with molasses as its by-product. The raw materials are sugar canes from various sugar cane plantations owned by about 438 planters within the district.

Sugar cane plantations

Aside from the mill’s proximity to the sugar cane plantations, BMM put up three transloading stations, situated to serve planters whose plantations are far from the mill. The cane yard at mill site had been expanded in 2010 to accommodate canes delivered to the mill, with the capacity remaining unchanged from 1994 at 3,000 tons of cane per day and three transloading stations.

BMM’s wholly owned subsidiary, BOMEDCO Agricultural Corp.(BAC), was established in 2000 to develop and cultivate private agricultural lands, as well as to harvest, preserve, pack and sell the products of these farm lands. BAC produces sugar cane from its plantation for milling with BMM.

As of Monday’s close, BMM —which has been a public company since 1950—is valued by the stock market at P412.8 million. About 42.7 percent of its shares are held by the public.