For a delay in declaring annual results, the Hong Kong stock exchange halted shares of Chinese developers Sunac China (1918. HK), Shimao Group (0813. HK), and Kaisa Group (1638. HK), as well as roughly 30 other companies, from trading on Friday.
Hong Kong-listed companies usually have three months to publish results after the end of the financial year, but regulators in 2020 allowed trade to continue if companies whose audits were hampered by pandemic restrictions issued preliminary results without consulting auditors or published management accounts.
The exchange operator, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx), stated in a statement that “the exchange is dedicated to ensuring a fair, orderly, and continuous market.”
It said that it would keep an eye on events to ensure that suspensions were as brief as feasible.
The audits of 14 of the 32 firms penalized for missing the March 31 deadline were hampered by pandemic restrictions, according to the exchange. This compares to 57 suspensions in the same period last year, two of which were linked to COVID-19.
Shimao Group announced late Thursday that its shares would be suspended effective Friday due to its inability to publish unaudited 2021 results on time due to the outbreak.
The epidemic forced the company’s Shanghai headquarters to lock down an office building and quarantine certain employees, with the timetable for the restrictions to be lifted still unknown, Shimao noted.
Sunac China announced on Monday that trading in its shares would be halted due to a missed HKEX deadline.
China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd (0708. HK), a subsidiary of China Evergrande Group (3333. HK), announced a suspension for the same reason on Tuesday.
It stated that the company will work with its auditor to publish results in three months and would try to restart trading as soon as feasible.
Aoyuan Healthy Life Group (3662. HK), Fantasia Holdings (1777. HK), and Kaisa Group were among the companies whose trading was halted due to the delay (1638. HK).