3rd Oct 2014 11:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - Tricor PLC Friday said it is continuing to progress completion of its audited report and accounts for its last financial year, and expects the accounts to be completed next week.
"Following that, Tricor shall apply for the suspension of trading in its ordinary shares on AIM to be lifted," the company said in a statement.
According to Tricor, the Singapore auditors of its investee companies - TEPL Ltd, Tricor Minerals Pte Ltd, and Tricor Resources Trading Pte Ltd - have completed and signed their respective audited accounts reports and are now subject to review by Tricor's auditors.
The news comes after Tricor earlier this week said its shares had been temporarily suspended from trading on AIM because it would be unable to publish its accounts on time.
In a trading update, Tricor said operations at start-up Tricor Environmental Pte Ltd (TEPL) will re-commence at the end of the monsoon season, which is expected by the end of October. Monsoon season started in June.
The start-up business last year incurred heavy expenses in building building a jetty, roads and other infrastructure, so that it could begin to generate revenue. Its resources were further stretched by the acquisition of its Bangan site and its development.
Slow sand sales in March 2013 picked up in April and May of that year, but became "negligible" during monsoon season. When operations recommenced in November 2013, revenue operating activities could only start from December because of the time and effort required to repair the jetty and the site. TEPL has sold 2,373,978 metric tons of sand since December 2013, Tricor said.
"Given that most of the cost of the infrastructure has now been incurred, the management of TEPL aims to reduce as much cost as it can whilst trying to generate increased revenue in the future," Tricor said.
Meanwhile, Tricor Resources Trading Pte Ltd, which was set up to be a resources trading company, is expected to begin business once Tricor Minerals Pte (TM) Ltd starts to produce iron sand.
"TM had difficulty building an iron sand plant which is suitable for its site conditions. The initial tests at the completed plant showed that the plant could only produce negligible amounts of iron sand and certainly far below TM's expectations," Tricor said.
"The management reports that it is still trying to implement proposed changes to the design of the plant. At this time, TM do not know when they can successfully complete an iron sand production plant," Tricor added.
Tricor said that the management of TEPL is helping the management of TM to apply for the necessary permits to operate the plant once a plant capable of producing iron sand is completed.
Tricor said it is looking at and evaluating other investments which may fall within its investing policy. However, it said that any investment is subject to the availability of investment capital whilst maintaining sufficient working capital.
"The company has limited cash resources at the present time and will continue to do so until such time that TEPL is able to recommence revenue generating operations at the end of monsoon season and returns are forthcoming to Tricor," the company said.
"As such returns are not expected for over two months, the board of Tricor has been controlling costs and has been in advanced discussions with potential investors to raise funds for the company and ensure further working capital is available as soon as possible. In addition, the directors of the company are exploring restructuring TEPL's business with its partners to improve cashflow for Tricor," the company added.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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