Randgold and Exploration, which has been suspended from the Johannesburg Securities Exchange pending the publication of its audited results, has now been thrown off the Nasdaq stock exchange.
”The company received notice from Nasdaq that its securities would be delisted on September 21, 2005, because it had not yet filed its form 20-F, completion of which was dependent on the audited year end accounts,” a statement from Randgold said.
Randgold said that the publication of its audited results, originally targeted for September 30, 2005, would be further delayed. The delay is due to the resignation of auditors Charles Orbach and their replacement by KPMG.
”KPMG is to take over the audit for the financial year ended December 31, 2004, subject to completing certain client acceptance procedures,” Randgold said in a statement.
Newly appointed chief executive officer Peter Gray said he regretted the delay but it was imperative to publish precise and accurate numbers.
It was anticipated that the preliminary year-end results released previously would reflect material differences compared to the audited statements. The preliminary results had also been withdrawn and should not be relied upon by investors, the company said.
”Closer inspection of the preliminary results suggests that the accounting treatments deserve further attention,” Randgold said.
The audited financial statements of Randgold subsidiary, Kabusha, revealed that a significant portion of its listed investments were disposed of during the year ended 31 December 2004.
This differed substantially from the preliminary statements used as input on the Randgold accounts.
”In addition, the payment by JCI Ltd [the mining finance resource company] of approximately R70-million owed by Kabusha to Benoryn for Aflease shares was not reflected in preliminary Kabusha results,” the company said.
”Other changes related to the fair value adjustments on listed investments and a more conservative approach expected to be adopted on the Angolan assets, resulting in the impairment of these assets.”
The total impact on, and the period of time to complete the groups audited financial statements cannot be known until the audit is completed by the auditors.
Brett Kebble stepped down as the chief executive of JCI, Western Areas Limited and Randgold at the end of August. His father Roger Kebble also resigned as non-executive chairman of Randgold.
Gray said after replacing Kebble, his priority was to get JCI and Randgold’s accounts in order to facilitate the lifting of their suspensions from the JSE and to fulfil Randgold’s obligations to the Nasdaq. – Sapa