Slater & Gordon requests share suspension

Beleaguered Australian law firm voluntarily halts trading of its shares while it finalises first-half results

Slater & Gordon, the troubled personal injury and employment claims law firm, has asked for its shares to be suspended, citing material issues in its first-half results.

The Australian company said some items in its results had not been finalised, including testing and assessment of the goodwill values for impairment of its UK business, which it bought from Quindell last year. In August the Serious Fraud Office announced it was investigating Quindell over its business and accounting practices.

Slater & Gordon also faces an inquiry by Australian regulators over its accounting practices. In November it lost half its stock market value in a single session after news that the UK government planned to limit the number of personal injury claims. The proposals were announced unexpectedly by George Osborne, the chancellor, in last year’s autumn statement.

Shares in the group, which traded around AUS$8 a share a year ago on the Australian Securities Exchange, were suspended at AUS$0.83.

Slater & Gordon said it thought it was appropriate to enter into voluntary suspension so that it could better manage its disclosure obligations and to avoid trades in its shares happening on a basis that was not reasonably informed. It expects trading in its shares to recommence by Monday.

Contributor

David Hellier

The GuardianTramp

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