Derrimon targets release of overdue accounts by month end to lift JSE suspension
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Derrimon Trading Company Ltd expects to release its overdue 2025 audited financial statements by June 30, the food distributor said, after problems with its accounting platform delayed the accounts and triggered the suspension of its shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).
"During the course of its 2025 year-end audit, matters were identified requiring further review and validation prior to the finalisation of the company's audited financial statements," Derrimon stated in a disclosure to the market this week.
Chairman Derrick Cotterell told the Financial Gleaner that the move reflected the company's determination to ensure full and accurate disclosure rather than rush incomplete information to the market. "We prefer … the risk of suspending the shares than to … send out an incomplete report to the stock exchange," Cotterell said.
Derrimon traced the issue to its accounting technology. "Questions arose regarding information generated from the company's Enterprise Resource Planning environment," it said, adding that its auditors had "commissioned its experts to do additional work to assess the nature, extent, and implications of the issues identified".
Cotterell said the matters identified were not straightforward accounting discrepancies but technical questions requiring specialised input, some of which had been referred overseas.
The company said the delay was meant to safeguard the integrity of the figures, insisting the statements should be released "only after the relevant matters have been appropriately reviewed, validated, and assessed”. It said it now anticipated releasing the audited financial statements "by June 30, 2026”.
The company added that the additional time is intended to facilitate “completion of the review process” and ensure that stakeholders receive information that is “complete, reliable, and supported by an appropriate understanding of the underlying issues”.
On Tuesday, the JSE stated that it suspended trading in Derrimon's ordinary shares. "The company's 2025 audited financial statements, due on March 2, 2026, became 92 days overdue on June 2," the exchange stated in a market notice. It said it acted "in keeping with the Junior Market Rule(s)" on audited annual financial statements, halting trading "pending the submission" of the accounts.
Derrimon shares climbed roughly 12 per cent during the first quarter to close at $1.82 on March 31 but slid back to $1.44 thereafter, down 9.1 per cent year to date, according to exchange data. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $1.35 to $2.00.
During the March quarter, the 33.6 million Derrimon units traded amounted to less than 1.5 per cent of the 2.28 billion units that changed hands across the combined market during the period, according to JSE data.
Derrimon sought to reassure stakeholders that operations were unaffected, saying it "continues to remain focused on serving its customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders while the review process is completed", and stressing its commitment "to fulfilling its disclosure obligations and to completing the review and financial reporting process in a manner that supports accurate, reliable, and responsible disclosure".
"Our commitment is to provide them with the full picture and true picture of the business," Cotterell added.
Derrimon is also still dealing with unresolved insurance claims tied to its overseas operations. Its New York business, which suffered damage, is operating again, but financial recovery remains outstanding. "Insurance is not settled. We have a couple legal claims up there," Cotterell said.
The company said it expects the independent review and audit processes to take additional time as specialists complete their assessments, and expressed confidence that the work will produce a clearer and more robust set of financial statements.