KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 9): Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd (SCIB) said Tuesday that the company’s operations will continue as usual despite a stock trading suspension by Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd from Nov 9.

In a statement, the Sarawak-based civil engineering outfit also said it is targeting to issue its annual report for the financial year ended June 30, 2021 (FY21) by December.

The trading suspension pertains to Bursa Securities rejecting an appeal by SCIB made on Oct 8 for an extension of time until Dec 31 for the company to release its FY21 annual report due on Oct 31, 2021.

According to SCIB, the appeal for the extension of time was made because the company could not finalise the audited financial statements in time for inclusion in the annual report due to a change of external auditor and the movement restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

“We want to reassure all our stakeholders, business partners, vendors and employees that we will continue with daily operations as usual despite the stock trading suspension.

"We are working with our external auditor to expedite the finalisation of the audit of the financial statements and we are targeting the annual report to be issued by December,” said its group managing director and chief executive officer Rosland Othman.

He also said the group’s expansion plans remain intact as it leverages its strengths of being the largest precast concrete and industrialised building system (IBS) manufacturer in East Malaysia to develop opportunities including in Peninsular Malaysia.

“We are also adopting 3D technology for our construction projects as we believe that this will help expedite projects by having shorter construction periods. We believe that a combination of IBS and 3D technology will give us an edge over our competitors as the construction industry becomes more accepting of cutting-edge technology with quality assurance and efficiency,” he added.

SCIB rose two sen to settle at 20.5 sen on Monday.

The company is the second under Datuk Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah's belt that has been suspended from trading by the stock exchange due to non-compliance.

Its sister company Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd had also been suspended from trading since Oct 22 after the group failed to comply with the stock exchange's directive to reveal the factual findings update of its ongoing special independent review of the discrepancies in its financial accounts for the 12-month period ended Dec 31, 2020.

SCIB has Serba Dinamik co-founder Abdul Karim as its common major shareholder. Abdul Karim currently holds a 24% stake in SCIB and a 21.23% stake in Serba Dinamik.

It has been reported that Serba Dinamik is taking legal action against Bursa Malaysia to challenge the stock exchange's directives concerning the requirement to conduct a special independent review and to disclose the findings of the review.

The oil and gas company, which filed a lawsuit against its former auditor KPMG over the audit disputes, announced on Monday that it filed an originating summons against the stock exchange at the Kuala Lumpur High Court last Wednesday (Nov 3).

SCIB has been under pressure since Serba Dinamik was embroiled in an audit issue with its former external auditor KPMG.

The counter has plunged 86.15% from RM1.48 on May 25, when the audit dispute was first revealed.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/business-usual-scib-annual-report-expected-be-ready-december