KEY POINTS:
Blue Chip Financial Solutions, the ASX-listed parent of the failed property management group, says it will give investors an update on its future early next week.
In a market announcement last week, chairman Julian Gosse said the company, whose shares have been suspended from trade since February 12, had given itself "an internal deadline" of March 31 to "confirm its new business plan, the introduction of new capital and to reconfirm support of its bankers".
Yesterday, Gosse told the Business Herald it would make an announcement on Monday or Tuesday.
In last week's update, Gosse said BCFS had cancelled its franchise agreement with the stricken New Zealand franchise holder Diem Ltd which, unlike many of its associated companies, is not in liquidation.
"All of its business is gone," Gosse said yesterday. "There's a lot of money that they owe us."
BCFS has also postponed payment of its previously declared interim dividend of 3c a share from April 2 to "a date when the board believes it is financially prudent".
In the update Gosse blamed the 73 per cent fall in Blue Chip Financial Solution's share price between January 14 and when the shares were suspended on "heightened investor nervousness associated with the refinancing problems experienced by several high-profile Australian listed property companies".
Meanwhile, Lombard Group yesterday said it had bought BCFS's remaining 30 per cent stake in Tasman Mortgages, a company that arranged loans for a number of Blue Chip clients in order that they could invest in the local franchise's products.
Lombard now holds 100 per cent of Tasman, having acquired 70 per cent of the company last year.
Lombard chief executive Michael Reeves was not available for comment yesterday evening.
