Sino Techfibre

[Musicwhiz]

The Company has just issued a Trading Halt this evening. More fund-raising?

(Not vested)

[Poowawa]

Possibility of audit issues too...

[Nick]

Possibility of audit issues too...

Audit Issues:

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...20010408A/$file/Sino_Techfibre_Ltd_Audit_Issues.pdf?openelement

[nutty]

Sales manager run road. Wonder how much is involved.

[Jon-san]

Another one bites the dust.... I hope the rest of the song doesn't play out...

[iisterry]

A notable observation is that the trading volume did not spike suddenly prior to the trading halt.

[freedom]

BBs of this counter have no connection to auditor or some BBs have been secretely warned by SGX already?

[Musicwhiz]

Gee, fraud? But at least the counter is not suspended?

[Musicwhiz]

Business Times - 15 Apr 2011

Sino Techfibre auditors find discrepancies

By FELDA CHAY

SINO Techfibre Ltd has added itself to a growing list of S-chips facing audit issues.

Yesterday, the chemical fibre company said its auditors, Ernst & Young (E&Y), had discovered certain discrepancies in invoices issued by the firm and its suppliers, and were unable to verify whether the invoices were genuine.

In a statement to the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Sino Techfibre said that E&Y sought an explanation for the discrepancies from its management after uncovering them. But when the management approached its employees to determine the reasons, it was unable to contact one of the sales managers.

'Towards the end of March and early April 2011, visits to the sales manager's home and telephone calls proved unsuccessful' in reaching him, Sino Techfibre said. It has since lodged a police report in China to seek help in finding him.

As E&Y has not obtained 'a satisfactory explanation', it is unable to complete and issue the audit report on Sino Techfibre, the Chinese firm said.

Sino Techfibre's audit committee has since stepped in to help E&Y. It has asked E&Y to conduct a full verification exercise of all the invoices issued and received by the company to identify the extent of the discrepancies. The firm's management will also provide assistance to and cooperate with E&Y.

'The audit committee will oversee the investigations and take further actions where necessary,' said Sino Techfibre in a statement.

It also warned that its fiscal year 2010 results announced in February may be subject to change, pending results of the exercise.

The group said then that it made a net loss of 45.1 million yuan (S$8.7 million), as compared with a loss of 262.5 million yuan a year ago. Revenue for FY2010 was 1.2 billion yuan, 23 per cent higher than a year ago.

Trading of Sino Techfibre's shares were halted yesterday.

It is the fourth S-chip (a China-based firm listed in Singapore) to be hit by an audit scandal this year. In recent years, the S-chip sector has been plagued by issues of weak corporate governance, which has marred investor confidence in these counters.

Late last month, fibre dyeing company China Gaoxian Fibre Fabric Holdings told SGX its auditors 'could not verify nor confirm bank balances in the company's subsidiaries'.

Before that, China Hongxing Sports and Hongwei Technologies were suspended after announcing in rapid succession auditors could not confirm the cash and bank balances in their subsidiaries. E&Y was the auditor for all three firms.

Hongwei Technologies has since appointed a contract chief executive to help iron out its books, while China Hongxing has appointed an independent special auditor to conduct a thorough investigation and produce a report. China Gaoxian's audit committee has instructed E&Y to carry out an expanded scope of its audit.

All three counters have been suspended from trading.

[Musicwhiz]

Sino Techfibre has just requested a suspensionin trading of its shares. This makes it the fourth (4th) S-Chip to be hit by accounting scandals this year so far, and it's only mid-April!