Utusan Melayu down 19.04% upon PN17 entry

PETALING JAYA: Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd's share price fell 19.04% or as much as 4 sen to 17 sen on early trade after it was admitted into the Practice Note 17 (PN 17) category following default on payments to Maybank Islamic Bhd and Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd.
At 10.29am the stock was trading  at 18 sen with 324,600 shares done.
The newspaper publisher told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that it had triggered the prescribed criteria under paragraph 2.1 (f) of PN17 and is required to submit a regularisation plan within 12 months from the announcement date.
 
In the event the company fails to comply with the obligations to regularise its condition, its listed securities will be suspended from trading on the 6th market day after the date of notification of suspension by Bursa Securities and de-listing procedures will be taken against it.
 
Recently, Utusan Melayu announced that it had defaulted on another two loan payments totalling RM1.18 million due to financial constraints after a loan default of RM2.96 million to Affin Bank.
 
It was also planning to undertake a private placement to raise up to RM2.1 million for the repayment of bank borrowings.
 
Utusan Melayu said it is looking into formulating a regularisation plan to address its PN17 status and will make the necessary announcement on the regularisation plan in due course.