The clothing provider Esprit Holdings Ltd. does not come to rest. On Tuesday, the battered company announced that trading with its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had to be stopped until further notice.
The step was essential due to the applicable stock market regulations. These stipulate that a company listed must publish its tested annual results at the latest three months after the end of the financial year. Esprit had not succeeded in submitting the certified figure for the financial year 2024, which ended on December 31, until March 31 and therefore had to hire the stock trading for the time being on the following day. This we only resumed when the tested results are available.
Esprit changed book inspectors in March
The group justified the delay with the change of book tester that was only made in early March. At the time, Esprit ended the collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and commissioned Crowe (HK) CPA Limited to check the annual results. The new auditor now needs time to analyze the numbers, obtain additional information and to complete his report, the clothing dealer admitted.
Esprit is currently assuming that the tested numbers will be available by the end of the month. Already in February, citing preliminary results, the company had declared that in 2024 it probably had to accept a net loss of around $ 1.17 billion in 2024. Over the past year, numerous local subsidiaries in Europe and North America had to register bankruptcy. The last shops of the brand in Germany were closed at the end of January.