Scan Associates holds ‘rudimentary’ AGM

PETALING JAYA: Guidance Note 3 (GN 3) company Scan Associates Bhd, yesterday held a rudimentary AGM limited to only its audited financial statements, as it complied with a court order taken by a substantial shareholder.
According to the court order, Scan Associates has to adjourn its AGM to January 15, 2016 and to elect former director Yeoh Eng Kong on the board.
Yesterday’s AGM was limited to only deliberations and addressing business pertaining to the audited financial statements.
Yeoh served as Scan Associates’ independent non-executive director from July 24, 2012 until August 30, 2013. His resignation was due to other business commitments. He holds a 7.79% equity interest in Scan Associates.
When asked of the ongoing boardroom tussle, executive director Mak Siew Wei said: “The matter is with the court now, we better not comment on anything.”
“It’s an ongoing process. Business has to go on, but most importantly, regardless of which board and direction, the key is the staff’s welfare and well being,” Mak told reporters after the company’s AGM here yesterday.
Mak said Scan Associates has not closed down any of its businesses thus far, but it has been focusing on cost cutting measures.
“We’re working very hard and the management has put in a lot of effort to bring down the cost further. The goal is to break even or make some profit,” he said.
Mak did not elaborate on Scan Associates’ future plans, saying only that the company is working closely with its adviser to come up with a regularisation plan, which is expected to be announced before May next year.
Scan Associates, an ICT security solutions provider that specialises in application systems development, software packages and system integration, has until May 18, 2016 to submit its regularisation plan.
Mak, who owns a 6.19 % stake in Scan Associates, is still optimistic about the company’s turnaround plan despite the boardroom tussle.
“I’m still here. If I’m not optimistic, I won’t be here,” he said.
However, when asked if he intends to increase his shareholding in Scan Associates, he said “it is very subjective, let’s see what happens in the future”.
Last month, Scan Associates filed a statement of claim against co-founder and former CEO Datuk Norbik Bashah Idris and CFO Nurul Huda Zaharol Natrar, for breach of the duties and responsibilities that had led to the loss in the company.
Prior to that Scan Associates’ external auditor Baker Tilly Monteiro Heng said it was not able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence on the group’s and company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
The auditors could not provide a basis for an audit opinion on the financial statements ended June 30, 2015, which saw its current liabilities exceeding current assets by RM7.22 million.
Scan Associates posted a net loss of RM19.12 million for 18 months ending June 30, 2015, mainly due to the difficult business environment, which led to impairments in development expenditure and receivables totaling RM13.8 million.
For the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2015, it swung to the red registering a net loss of RM379,000 against a net profit of RM47,000 in the previous corresponding period.
Scan Associates’ share price dropped 0.5 sen to 4.5 sen yesterday on some 100,000 shares done.