Funds angry over Powerscreen

Fund managers are shocked and angry at the failure of Belfast-based engineering firm Powerscreen to disclose full details of its financial and trading position as it reveals expected losses of £65 million for the year to end March. As the Powerscreen board met with auditors KPMG yesterday, the Irish Association of Investment Managers called on the group to publish its auditors' report as a matter of urgency. "We want the group to publish the report sooner rather than later. We have been waiting for a considerable time for it," IAIM director general Ms Ann Fitzgerald said.

"Equity shareholders are the guys who have taken a bath on these shares. We are taking the risks here and we are not being given all the information. The credibility of the group is completely gone," one angry fund manager said.

Powerscreen shares continued to fall yesterday. The shares closed down 13p at 97 1/2p sterling after the 23p fall on Wednesday following the announcement of much worse than expected losses.

Scottish Provident fund manager Mr John Lawrie, who bought into Powerscreen for the first time in the December placing through which the group raised £18 million, feels very aggrieved. "We would hope to pursue the issue in concert with others when the report is finally published. We feel we would have a strong case. The shares were issued by the company when it knew or should have known about the trading position. What we want to know now is whether the entire can of worms is open."

Mr Lawrie questioned how much worse the situation would be for Powerscreen if there were claims against the group because of the December share issue. He added that the group did not appear to be handling the situation well, but allowed that it was in a difficult position.

Another fund manager described the outlook for the company as "dire". Mr Phramit Ghose from Friends Provident said he was not in a position to assess fully Powerscreen's situation until he saw audited results including a balance sheet. "We cannot assess the real quality of the assets because we do not know enough to do that. I am very unhappy with what we are being told and how we are being told." Another angry fund manager said he was considering complaining to Powerscreen's stockbrokers, Goodbody and Merrill Lynch, because no firm information had come yet from the group about its balance sheet. With the advantage of hindsight, he said there were danger signals in the interim figures for the six months to end September. "More careful analysis of these results would have shown that Matbro's biggest client ordered only 50 machines in the period compared with 150 for the previous period and there was a complete turnaround in the sales mix between the UK and Europe. These are unusual changes which should have set alarm bells ringing, or at the very least raised some questions. "We, as fund managers, and analysts are somewhat to blame. It is clear now that the underlying business was not as robust as it seemed and the market gave it far too high a rating," he commented.