SEC suspends trading in Touchwood shares over non submission of interim accounts

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has suspended the trading in shares of Touchwood Investments Plc (TWOD) with immediate effect until the Company releases pending interim financial statements to the market.
TWOD’s release of interim results for quarter ended 30 September 2013 and 31 December 2013 are pending.
Failure on timely release of results usually leads to the transfer of the particular company to the Default Board. However the Commissioners of the SEC at their meeting yesterday took the tougher decision of suspension in view of the prevailing business affairs of TWOD.
The SEC Commissioners discussed TWOD’s status and “decided that it is prudent to suspend trading until the company releases interim financial statements to the market.”
The SEC directed the Colombo Stock Exchange to take cognizance of Rule 9.3 (b) (i) of the Listing Rules and suspend trading.
This is the second time the SEC suspended the trading in shares of TWOD. Previously in September last year, TWOD was suspended for six days pending completion of preliminary investigations by the SEC after the share price fell to an all time low of 90 cents. SEC move was in view of protecting investor interest since public own over 90% of TWOD.
The probe by the SEC which later expanded to a fully fledged one was independent of a winding up application filed by a creditor of TWOD in Commercial High Court.
The Daily FT this week exclusively reported stern action by the SEC including issuance of Notice of Action to 20 TWOD Directors (past and present) for alleged malpractices as well as bringing in the CID to deal with criminal matters following the completion of thorough investigations.