Trading in over 30 Hong Kong-listed firms halted on results delay

Fantasia Holdings

01/04/2022 05:28

By Donny Kwok and Alun John
    HONG KONG, April 1 (Reuters) - The Hong Kong stock exchange
suspended from trade on Friday the shares of Chinese developers
such as Sunac China  1918.HK , Shimao Group  0813.HK  and Kaisa
Group  1638.HK , and about 30 other firms for a delay in
declaring annual results.
    Hong Kong-listed firms usually have three months after the
end of the financial year to publish results, though regulators 
in 2020 allowed trade to continue if companies whose audits were
affected by pandemic curbs issued preliminary results without
agreement with auditors, or published management accounts.
    "The exchange is committed to maintaining a fair, orderly
and continuous market," the exchange operator, Hong Kong
Exchanges and Clearing  0338.HK  (HKEx), said in a statement.
    It would monitor developments to ensure suspensions were as
short as reasonably possible, it added.
    Of the 32 firms suspended for missing the March 31 deadline,
14 had audits affected by pandemic curbs, the exchange said.
That compared with 57 suspended in the corresponding period last
year, when two were related to COVID-19. 
    Late on Thursday, Shimao Group said its shares would be
suspended from Friday as it was unable to publish unaudited 2021
results in time, because of the outbreak.
    The pandemic had led to the lockdown of an office building
at the firm's Shanghai headquarters and quarantine of some
staff, with the date for curbs to be lifted still uncertain,
Shimao added. 
    On Monday, Sunac China had said trading in its shares would
be halted for missing the HKEX deadline.
    On Tuesday, China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd
 0708.HK , a unit of embattled developer China Evergrande Group
 3333.HK , flagged a suspension for the same reason.
    The firm would work with its auditor to publish results in
about three months and seek to resume trading as soon as
possible, it added. 
    Other companies facing trading suspensions over the delay
included Aoyuan Healthy Life Group  3662.HK , Fantasia Holdings
 1777.HK  and Kaisa Group  1638.HK .
    In Shanghai, more Chinese companies are halting domestic
listing plans, as the coronvirus outbreak hampers due diligence
and information-gathering.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VX045

 (Reporting by Donny Kwok and Alun John; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
 ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com; +852 3952 5874;))