GCL auditor raises issue with accounts

Trading in the stock of Hong Kong-listed Chinese polysilicon manufacturer GCL-Poly did not resume, as planned, this morning, with the board announcing auditor Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu had flagged a problem with the 2020 annual figures, which were supposed to be published last month.

In a statement dated yesterday but published on the Hong Kong exchange this morning, GCL said: “The audit committee of the board … received a letter from the auditors of the company … Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, dated [Friday] 9 April 2021, in which the auditors set out [an] issue encountered during the audit process and request[ed] the involvement of the audit committee in resolving the issue. The audit committee is working together with the auditors and the management of the company to resolve such issue in order to finalize the 2020 annual results.”

Trading in the shares has been suspended since GCL missed the March 31 deadline to publish its 2020 accounts.

With the overdue figures due to be published by yesterday, the latest GCL update gave no estimate as to when the accounts would be made public, or trading in the stock resume.

The company added: “After due and careful consideration, the board is still of the view that it would not be appropriate to publish the unaudited management accounts of the group for the 2020 annual results at this stage, due to the uncertainty [arising] from the outstanding issue, and the unaudited management accounts may not accurately reflect the financial performance and position of the group and may be misleading or create confusion.”