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Battling Blue suspends trade

Johannesburg - AltX-listed microlender Blue Financial Services [JSE:BFS] asked the JSE on Thursday to suspend trade in its shares.
 
"Shareholders are hereby advised that the board has requested to temporarily halt trading in the securities of the company on the JSE Limited and the Botswana Stock Exchange, until such time that the board has a reasonable degree of certainty as to the company`s results for the year ended 28 February 2010," the company said in an announcement on the Stock Exchange News Service (Sens).
 
The announcement caps off a traumatic two years for the microlender, which was once an investor darling.

Blue issued a trading update in March, saying it expected headline earnings to be at least 20% lower than the results reported in the previous financial year.
 
This came after Blue reported in August 2009 that the total liabilities for its South African subsidiary exceeded assets, indicating it was technically insolvent.

Listed in October 2006, the company saw its share price surge from 130c a share to an all-time high of 700c in August 2008, before sliding to a low of 21c in March this year.
 
Even before Thursday's announcement, trade in Blue had dwindled. In the last 10 days, the highest value of shares traded was reported on Wednesday with R53 000 worth of shares changing hands.
 
In March Blue issued a trading update, saying it expected headline earnings to be at least 20% lower than the results reported in the previous financial year.
 
At the time, group CEO Dave van Niekerk advised shareholders: "The board of directors draws the attention of shareholders to the interim results at 31 August 2009, which reflected a loss for the six-month period of R162.3m. Trading conditions have continued to weaken in the second half  of the year as revenue levels have decreased due to low levels of liquidity available to meet required volumes."
 
The company was also trading under a cautionary since November 2009, which Fin24.com speculated may be an offer from another industry player.
 
One of the criticisms levelled against Blue in its heyday was its complicated operating and reporting structure. The company had operations in 14 different African countries and had battled to manage its accounting systems to accommodate for such rapid growth.
 
 - Fin24.com


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