NZX watchdog probes Blackwell disclosures

NZX Regulation said it was continuing to investigate disclosure obligations of Blackwell Global Holdings over the past month, including details around its June 25 annual result. Photo / File

NZX Regulation continues to investigate disclosure obligations of Blackwell Global Holdings (BGI) over the past month, including the information released in the company's results announcement on June 25.

BGI, a financial services company, was placed in a trading halt just after 4pm on Thursday after the company admitted it misquoted its net tangible assets per share to be $0.15, later amending the amount of $0.0015.

The error meant that Blackwell told shareholders it owned about $75.3 million in assets, compared to the roughly $750,000 assets it actually had.

At the time of the June 25 announcement, BGI traded at 1.7c, but had since risen to 9.1c - a 12-month gain of 2126.4 per cent, which increased the company's market cap from $2m to $45.7m.

The gain came despite the company reporting a net loss of $693,000 after tax, and revenue of just $436,000.

Multiple directors and senior management had sold shares during the latest rally, and one director sold 5,861,000 shares - more than 1 per cent of the microcap company, broking house Jarden noted.

Some market commentators suggested that the stock has been driven purely by casual investors enticed by its gains, given its consistent appearance on the NZX top gainers' board and commentary on the Sharesies share trading chat forum.

After coming out of a trading halt, the stock last traded at 4c, down 5.1c or 56 per cent from Thursday's close.

The NZX sent two inquiries to BGI - one on June 22 and the other on Wednesday this week - about the big moves in its share price.

BGI chairman Sean Joyce, in both instances, said the company's directors were not aware of any material information that should be released to the markets.