SC: Listing delayed to let Focus Point clear air

Delaying the listing of Focus Point Holdings Bhd is to clear uncertainties, says the Securities Commission (SC), but it is mum on whether it is satisfied with the company's explanation.

The country's largest professional eye-care chain postponed its listing at the last minute on Tuesday following an anonymous complaint. It has refuted all of the allegations in the complaint.

Neither Bursa Malaysia nor the SC would comment on the new listing date for Focus Point or whether any action is being taken to address the complaint.

An SC spokesperson said the company's listing was delayed to allow the company to address the complaint and inform the market about its impact, if any.

"The complaint creates uncertainties in the market for Focus Point's shares and until the company is given an opportunity to address the matters raised in the complaint, it would not be beneficial for both the company and investors for the trading of the company's shares to commence.

"As the complaint relates to matters which existed when the company's prospectus was issued, it may affect an investor's decision to invest and the price he is willing to invest at," the SC said in a statement to Business Times yesterday.

A Bursa Malaysia spokesperson said the listing procedures would resume and the listing date would be confirmed after the company received the green light from the authorities.

Focus Point group president and chief executive officer Datuk Liaw Choon Liang was unavailable for comment.

The anonymous complaint cited three allegations.

These include the company not having enough qualified optometrists or opticians, contact lenses being prescribed by unqualified personnel and the company having only 27 equipment known as K-metres against its total outlet number of 144.

Focus Point was due to raise RM16.1 million from its initial public offering, of which RM7.74 million would be used to fund its local expansion plans to increase the number of stores to 200 by end-2011 from 144 now.

Its shares were planned to be listed on Bursa Malaysia's ACE Market on Tuesday, but the company deferred the listing just an hour before the opening bell.


By Lynn Omar