AST made to restate figures

By Iain Scott, ITWeb group consulting editor

Johannesburg, 06 Jul 2005

AST (now GijimaAst) has been made to restate its results for the six months to December.

The JSE, after consulting the GAAP (generally accepted accounting practice) Monitoring Panel (GMP), told the group to republish the results to classify the R116.75 million to underwrite a rights offer as debt and not equity.

"The revision relates to a balance sheet classification only and has no impact on the company`s profitability, cash flows or operations," the group says.

The only changes are to the balance sheet, where capital and reserves are now recorded as a negative R64.03 million, whereas the previously stated figure was a positive R52.72 million. The R116.75 million has been classified under "loans to be converted to equity in terms of underwriting".

The balance sheet also now records a negative net asset value of 32.21c a share, as opposed to the positive 26.52c a share stated previously.

"The company and its advisors respectfully disagree with the JSE and the GMP in this matter but accept and respect their ruling," the group says.

AST`s rights offer was concluded in May, replacing the debt with equity, and the group merged with Gijima`s IT businesses, leading to a renaming of the group to GijimaAst in April.