The Board of Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad (‘Utusan’ or ‘the Company’) wishes to announce that Utusan is unable to submit its Regularisation Plan as prescribed under Paragraph 8.04(3) and Paragraph 5.1 under Practice Notes 17 (‘PN17’) within twelve (12) months from the date of its admission as PN17 issuers.  

After taking into consideration of the losses incurred in the first two quarters of 2019 and cash flow constraints, the Board is of the view that the Group will not be able to meet Bursa’s requirements to uplift the PN17 status. The Group is also not be able to find any potential investor to participate in order to revive the Group, mainly due to its huge liabilities.

The above is without prejudice to Bursa Securities’ rights to proceed to suspend the trading of the listed securities of Utusan and to de-list the Company in the event:

(i) The Company fails to submit a regularisation plan to the authorities on or before 19 August 2019;

(ii) The Company fails to obtain the approval from any of the regulatory authorities necessary for implementation of its regularisation plan; and

(iii) The Company fails to implement its regularisation plan within the time frame or extended time frame stipulated by any of the regulatory authorities.

Upon occurrence of any events set out in (i) to (iii) above, the Company is aware that Bursa Securities shall take any relevant action including to suspend the trading of the listed securities of Utusan on the 6th market day after the date of notification of suspension by Bursa Securities and de-list the Company, subject to the Company’s right to appeal against the delisting.

This announcement is dated 19 August 2019.