Utusan Melayu in PN17 status on loan defaults

PETALING JAYA: Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd has been admitted into the Practice Note 17 (PN 17) category after it defaulted on payments to Maybank Islamic Bhd and Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd.
The newspaper publisher told Bursa Malaysia that it had triggered the prescribed criteria under paragraph 2.1 (f) of PN17 and is required to submit a regularisation plan within 12 months from the announcement date.
In the event the company fails to comply with the obligations to regularise its condition, its listed securities will be suspended from trading on the 6th market day after the date of notification of suspension by Bursa Securities and de-listing procedures will be taken against it.
Recently, Utusan Melayu announced that it had defaulted on another two loan payments totalling RM1.18 million due to financial constraints after a loan default of RM2.96 million to Affin Bank.
It was also planning to undertake a private placement to raise up to RM2.1 million for the repayment of bank borrowings.
Utusan Melayu said it is looking into formulating a regularisation plan to address its PN17 status and will make the necessary announcement on the regularisation plan in due course.
The counter fell half a sen or 2.3% to close at 21 sen today on 5,100 shares traded.