Cattles suspend shares as annual report in limbo
Troubled sub-prime lender forced to suspend its shares from the stock exchange after conceding its annual report will not be ready on time
Cattles the embattled sub-prime lender has asked for it shares to be
suspended after admitting its annual report would not be ready on time.
The company has been in
embroiled
in an accounting scandal which has seen group FD James Corr and divisional
FD Peter Miller suspended while internal auditor Deloitte conducted a probe.
Cattles is still in last-ditch talks with its lenders to secure refinancing,
which has held up external auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers’ efforts to complete
its audit, leading to the suspension of its shares.
Cattles said: ‘The company has today requested an immediate suspension of
trading in its securities pending publication of its audited report and accounts
for the year ended 31 December 2008.’
The company said the report would not be published before the statutory
deadline of 30 April this year, as talks with its lenders drag on.
Cattles added: ‘Those discussions are continuing. The company is making every
effort to conclude a satisfactory agreement with all the parties involved to
secure the refinancing it requires as soon as possible.
‘However, these are complex negotiations which are likely to continue for
some time and the company’s external auditors are not expected to be able to
complete their audit of the 2008 financial statements until those negotiations
have been concluded.’