The recent results announcement on Bursa has seen at least 2 companies amended their financial reports with "major" changes to the financial numbers. In the past, it was usually minor amendment on financial numbers or non key financial data, but this round, major change in profit figures and EPS for the quarter. Obviously, one of them has resulted in the share price dropped drastically in the morning and staged a strong rebound in the afternoon after the amendment.
I knew there are companies which practice proof reading as well as checking by different personnel other than the person who prepared the financial reports, they take this very seriously as it gives confidence to the investing community on the accuracy and reliability of the information provided.
Few years back, there was one PLC announced the results with a proposed dividend which surprised the market(more than 10% yield) and its share price went up sharply before it got suspended one hour later. Yes, it was an error, announced as 15 sen instead of 1.5 sen dividend. Fair enough, it was reprimanded by Bursa but what happened to the investors who bought the shares at the opening of market before suspension? Did they get compensated??
Most PLCs on Bursa Malaysia used a standard template as per Bursa's requirement and the wordings used are standardised too (could be some cut and paste jobs)! I believe most readers will check the section B1 - Review of Performance, B 2 -Comparison of results between current & preceding quarter & B 3 - Prospects. I find that many companies do not provide reasons for variances ( eg Revenue was lower this quarter due to lower sales or profit before tax was lower due to higher cost of raw materials, while this is not wrong but it did not provide useful info to the readers as to why??)
Annual Reports is one of the most important source of documents to investors who do not get involved in the day to day operation and affairs of the PLCs, hence, the reliance on the yearly reporting from PLCs to get some insight is critical (of course, going to AGM for more details would be the best choice). Many PLCs did not pay much attention to write up the operation and business review.
Worst, some do not even bother to have a proper write up for Chairman Statement in Annual Reports, especially the review of business and future outlook. No guidance is provided as to what the coming financial year look like or what is its challenges, plan, etc.
I have been reading some foreign PLC's announcement lately, most of them provide very good operational review, current challenges and strategies and action plan, I noted some even provide very detailed breakdown on its Capex on what % are for sustaining, improving or growing business purposes.
Another area where smaller PLCs is lacking would be the company website. That is the primary source of information on the company's offering and development. What would be your first impression if you see the latest update was 3 years ago??
No doubt the financial reporting by PLCs has improved over the years (mostly by conglomerate and bigger PLCs), I believe there are still a lot need to be done especially for the small and mid cap companies (some don't even have proper content on their websites).
Can PLCs please take financial reporting and investors relation more seriously??
