Bursa Securities raps Faber for breaching listing rules

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has publicly reprimanded FABER GROUP BHD [] over the delay in announcing that Abu Dhabi’s municipal had not renewed its subsidiary’s contracts in January this year.

The regulator said Faber had only announced on Jan 12 that the emirate’s Department of Municipal Affairs, Western Region Municipality had not renewed Faber Ltd Liability Co’s contracts, two days after it was informed of the decision.

“There was material price and volume movement of the company’s securities upon announcement of the non-renewal,” it said.

Bursa Securities said the contracts contributed about 14% and 23% of Faber’s revenue and about 29% and 37% of Faber’s profit after tax and minority interest for the financial years ended 2009 and 2010, respectively.

“It is unacceptable for Faber to temporarily refrain from publicly disclosing the non-renewal of contracts on the premise that the company was taking immediate steps to ascertain the reasons for the non-renewal and to further negotiate with Western Region Municipality,” it said.

The regulator said while it had not found any of the directors to have caused or permitted the breach, however, it was the directors’ responsibility to maintain appropriate standards of responsibility and accountability