Financial Services Correspondent
HAVING endured a turbulent two years, financial and property specialist Quyn Holdings plans to delist from the JSE Securities Exchange SA before the end of the year.
For Quyn, the delisting would be a welcome reprieve from the spotlight that has focused attention on internal squabbles arising from the company's cash-draining property arm, Colliers.
Its status as a micro-cap stock was emphasised yesterday as its share price vaulted 150% from 4c to 10c on the strength of the delisting announcement and results.
This was despite the fact that only one trade worth R200 was recorded. CEO Ricky Fertig said Quyn was getting no benefit from its stock exchange listing, yet it was having to pay to maintain its JSE status.
"For the size of company we are, I can't think of any benefit of being listed. Being delisted would mean we don't have to focus on public opinion and time-consuming reviews from the JSE," he said.
Quyn said that it had failed to meet the JSE's listings requirements to retain its mainboard listing. "It will be a number of years before an earnings level, which warranted the resumption of divided payments, would be achieved," said Fertig.
The company intends to issue details to its 600 smaller shareholders within a month.
In 2001, Quyn became embroiled in a board spat with the founders of Colliers, the property services company it bought from Johnnic in 1998.
The Colliers founders, Pat Flanagan and Peter Gerrard, quit Quyn but the debt that had been racked up by Colliers threatened to bring the group to the brink of financial failure.
Auditors KPMG qualified their audit opinion for the 2001 annual results, saying for Quyn to continue as a going concern, it had to source new funding.
Ironically, in Quyn's last set of financial results as a listed company , Colliers was the bestperforming division.
For the 17 months to endFebruary, Quyn reported headline earnings of 1,4c a share and an overall profit of R2,3m. This is a sharp turnaround from the R19m loss in the previous financial year. Colliers contributed R6,3m in profit to Quyn's bottom line. But this was eaten away by poor performances in its outsourcing business and Mozambican losses.
The Bottom Line: Page 14
Jun 18 2003 07:20:56:000AM Rob Rose Business Day 1st Edition
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18 June 2003
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