A price on the afterlife

On a day when the long-running saga of Feltex turned towards receivership even the little things didn't seem to go to plan for the debt-laden carpet maker.

At 9.23am the NZX was informed that Colin Nicol, Peter Anderson and Kerryn Downey from corporate advisory firm McGrathNicol and Partners had been appointed receivers and managers of Feltex.

The first order of business - stop share trading. "We have applied for trading in its shares to be suspended," the statement said.

However, trading continued, with the shares eventually closing down 6c at 3c - giving Feltex a market capitalisation of just $4.5 million compared with $254 million when it floated in 2004 at $1.70 a share.

At 11.16am the NZX put out a statement stating no application had been received.

An NZX spokeswoman said the exchange had been in touch with Feltex and the receivers to explain the listing rules used to apply for a trading halt. "We haven't yet received that application for trading halt so Feltex are still trading," she said.

Shareholders Association chairman Bruce Sheppard said he understood why people traded shares in a receivership company because "the company's not dead".

Even as a listed shell with no assets Feltex would still have some value.

"What they're doing is they're putting a price on the afterlife and the good thing about trading the afterlife is you've got total uncertainty - a trader's paradise."