Suspension of PN17 classification a double-edged sword

Fortress Capital Asset Management chief executive officer Thomas Yong said the suspension of market measures, by definition, should be rare and infrequent as policy certainty is necessary for market participants to operate within known parameters.

PETALING JAYA: While the extension of time for Practice Note 17 (PN17) companies to submit their regularisation plans provides more breathing space amid the current pandemic, industry observers believe this relief measure can be a double-edged sword.

Fortress Capital Asset Management chief executive officer Thomas Yong said the suspension of market measures, by definition, should be rare and infrequent as policy certainty is necessary for market participants to operate within known parameters.

“Outlook uncertainty alone is normal and typically insufficient as a basis for suspension. Similarly, when the movement control order was first abruptly introduced, a relief from PN17 classification was made to allow listed companies time to restructure financially.

“We must bear in mind that the PN17 classification was introduced to allow investors to easily be made aware of companies that are already in financial distress, ” he told StarBiz.

Yong said an over extension of this relief could potentially have detrimental effects on less savvy investors that may inadvertently invest into a finally distressed company unknowingly because of the lack of PN17 classification.

An analyst said the added time would provide a financially-distressed company more time to turn around its fortunes or “find a white knight” that could help do it for them.

“Sometimes, a little added time might be all that is needed to turn the company around and make it great again. Being classified as PN17, it’s tough as it is to submit a regularisation plan.

“Now, with the pandemic, these are unprecedented times. With so much economic uncertainty and businesses being constantly disrupted, things will be even tougher. Therefore, we feel that the time extension is justified, given the challenging environment currently.”

Another analyst, while he understood the need to provide more time for financially-distressed companies to submit a regularisation plan, however said the situation should be decided on a case-to-case basis.

“Sometimes, a company is worth investing in and sometimes, it’s not. There are many investors that put their hard-earned money into stocks without doing proper research, without determining if that company has strong fundamentals.”

He pointed out that many investors unfortunately go into the stock market with the intention of making money fast by relying on market rumours and end up investing in companies with poor fundamentals.

“When these companies go into PN17, many of the investors will not want to admit that they made an investment mistake and will hold on to the stock, hoping that things will ultimately pick up or some white knight will come in to save the day. “Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case and instead of cutting their losses right away, they hold on and end up losing more money in the long run.”

A PN17 company is a listed company that does not have a core business or has failed to meet the minimum capital or equity and companies’ shareholders’ funds.

As such, these companies are required to submit a regularisation plan within a stipulated time frame or face the possibility of being delisted.

Following the onset of the pandemic early last year, the Securities Commission announced in April that Bursa Malaysia will temporarily suspend PN17 classification on companies whose financial positions had slipped into that status.

The period for this relaxation was extended until June 30,2021. In August last year, Bursa Malaysia said it would consider granting a further extension of time for companies that had triggered the criteria of PN17 from Jan 2,2019 to Dec 31,2020, to enable them to submit their regularisation plans to the SC or the exchange after the 24-month grace period.

This, however, would only be done on a case-by-case basis and based on the requirements made by the companies to Bursa Malaysia.

Bursa Malaysia said it is cognisant that the Covid-19 pandemic would have a material impact on the efforts and ability of PN17 companies to regularise their financial condition.According to Bursa Malaysia, there are currently 22 listed PN17 companies currently that need to regularise their financial positions.