E&O aborts UK unit’s planned London Stock Exchange listing

KUALA LUMPUR (April 21): Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) has cancelled the proposed admission of the securities of its indirect wholly-owned Eastern & Oriental Property (UK) Ltd (E&O UK) to trade on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), citing unstable global market conditions and exchange rate volatility as the reasons.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, E&O said the termination of the proposed admission of E&O UK into the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on the LSE is not expected to have an impact on the consolidated earnings per share and net assets per share of the group for the financial year ended March 31, 2016.

“Save for approximately £1.35 million (RM8.31 million based on the average exchange rate of £1:RM6.15 between April 2015 and March 2016) costs in relation to the proposed admission, which will be expensed off to the consolidated statements of the comprehensive income for the financial year ended March 31, 2016,” it said.

Recall that on May 25 last year, E&O proposed to admit the entire issued ordinary shares and warrants of E&O UK, a project management company, to trade on the AIM of the London bourse.

The proposed admission would have involved a proposed initial public offering.

It had said then that the exercise would provide a platform for E&O’s existing assets and business in the UK to obtain a listing status in a country where the group has its business.

E&O rose two sen or 1.28% to close at RM1.58 yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM1.97 billion.

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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 21, 2016. Subscribe to The Edge Financial Daily here.