ST Huatie (000976), which was preliminarily identified by the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau as having carried out false ** and inflated income, will face penalties from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. At the same time, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange also requires listed companies to urge the controlling shareholders to return the funds occupied as soon as possible and verify whether the content of the performance forecast is accurate.
On February 19, the first trading day of the new year, ST Huatie received a letter of concern from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange pointed out that it is concerned that the company has a large amount of capital occupied by the controlling shareholder for a long time and has not been returned, a large loss in the 2023 annual performance forecast, and received the "Advance Notice of Administrative Punishment and Market Prohibition" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") issued by the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau.
The Notice is based on the results of the investigation initiated by the CSRC in July 2023. The notice pointed out that there were false records or major omissions in ST Huatie's regular reports for four consecutive years, and the company had carried out false **, inflated revenue and profits, etc. Among them, in 2020 and 2021, ST Huatie has carried out false **. In the past two years, ST Huatie has inflated its revenue and profits by carrying out false **, and inflated its operating income by 1700 million yuan, 1200 million yuan, inflated total profits of 19.11 million yuan and 19.51 million yuan.
Accordingly, the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau intends to impose a total fine of 26.3 million yuan on a total of 14 people, including Gao Xuanruiguo, Zhang Xuan, Wang Chengwei, Yang Yonglin, and the then directors and supervisors of ST Huatie, as well as the main body of the listed company, and give warnings respectively; In addition, the actual controller Xuan Ruiguo was banned from entering the market for life. Compared with the legal provisions, the penalty amount proposed by the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau is close to the top level.
In response to this matter, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange stated in the letter of concern that it will initiate disciplinary procedures against the company and relevant responsible persons in accordance with the relevant provisions of the ** Listing Rules according to the results of the administrative punishment of the CSRC.
In addition, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has put forward two requirements for the large amount of capital occupation by the controlling shareholders and other related parties of ST Huatie:
First, the company is requested to urge the controlling shareholders and related parties to be honest and trustworthy, return the funds occupied as soon as possible in a legal and compliant manner, and safeguard the common interests of the listed company and small and medium-sized shareholders;
Second, the impact of the controlling shareholder's capital occupation on the company has not yet been included in the performance forecast disclosed by ST Huatie. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange requires the company to do a good job in various impairment preparation tests and provisions, verify whether the content of the performance forecast is accurate, and do a good job in the preparation, review and disclosure of the annual report in accordance with relevant regulations, so as to ensure that the information disclosure is true, accurate and complete.
As early as the beginning of 2023, when ST Huatie was put on other risk warnings, there were non-operating funds occupied by the company's controlling shareholders, and as of the end of January 2024, the balance that had not been returned was still as high as 12900 million yuan. Moreover, ST Huatie made it clear that it will take time for the controlling shareholder to dispose of assets and raise funds, and there is still uncertainty about the complete return of the funds occupied by the listed company.
According to the "2023 Annual Performance Forecast" disclosed by ST Huatie, the company expects a loss of 5$2.7 billion to $62.7 billion yuan. This performance forecast does not include the impact of the controlling shareholder's capital occupation, and adds interest income of 53 million yuan due to capital occupation. ST Huatie explained at that time that the company needed to comprehensively judge the impairment risk based on the repayment ability and repayment arrangement of the actual controller, and as of the disclosure date of the announcement, it was not possible to judge the asset impairment risk arising from the matter.
At present, due to the release of the "Notice", a lawyer has launched a lawsuit solicitation from investors who have purchased Huatie shares, and intends to start a claim lawsuit. Song Yixin, a lawyer at Shanghai Hanlian Law Firm, believes that the claim conditions in the Huatie case are that the injured investors who sell or continue to hold the shares between April 25, 2018 and April 28, 2023, and sell or continue to hold them on or after April 29, 2023, can register their claims.
It is worth noting that ST Huatie*** has continued to rise in the past two trading days, and as of press time, the stock price has returned to more than 1 yuan to 102 yuan shares, after the company's ** price has fallen below 1 yuan for 6 consecutive trading days, facing the risk of delisting at face value.