The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced on November 6886 that it was suspected of illegal disclosure of information. This is less than two years since the company landed on the science and innovation board.
according to the reporter of Shanghai Securities News, “suspected of illegal information disclosure” probably points to the information disclosure of the company’s 2020 annual report.
This annual report shows that the company has frequently changed its business model after listing, and the entrusted R & D object and the nature of prepayment have also changed significantly. Therefore, it is inferred that the “qualitative change” of the company after listing should be the direct reason for being filed for investigation.
prepayment surged after listing
The reporter noted that before the case was filed for investigation, the company had been subject to regulatory inquiries for three times, from which it was not difficult to find clues.
A prominent change after the listing of Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) is the substantial increase in prepaid technology development fees and prepaid equipment payments.
At the end of 2020, Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) the balance of prepayments reached 136 million yuan, a sharp increase of 2.53 times over the previous year, including 78.23 million yuan of prepaid technology development fee. At the same time, the rationality of the company’s advance equipment payment of 42.07 million yuan is also obviously insufficient.
The company once replied to the inquiry of Shanghai stock exchange that in 2020, the prepaid technology development involved 9 suppliers, all of which were the first cooperation. The company paid the purchase payment in full in the form of bank acceptance bill, and concentrated on terminating the contract and recovering the prepayment in March 2021. This means that Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) paid 100% of the advance payment to a group of suppliers who cooperated newly and finally failed the contract.
For this series of operations that are contrary to common sense, the Shanghai stock exchange requires the company to explain “the reasons for making large advance payments to suppliers without realizing sales revenue”, “the reasons and rationality for suppliers to refund only after deducting discount handling fees, and whether there is a flow of funds to the company’s controlling shareholders, actual controllers or other related parties”.
Under the regulatory inquiry, the company acknowledged in the inquiry reply that there is a certain relationship between the main suppliers of prepayments.
“Usually, the Regulatory Commission will focus on whether there are interest arrangements behind the sharp increase in advance payment. The company’s reply not only shows that the payment process is against common sense, but also there is a related relationship between suppliers, which is an obvious doubt.” Some legal experts said.
after listing, the business model changes again and again
Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) was established in April 2010. It is mainly engaged in the R & D, production and sales of optical storage devices and solutions. Its direct customers include system integrators, data center operators, telecom operators, etc. it is finally applied to the government, enterprises and institutions.
After the listing of the company, the business model has changed greatly, which has become the second major doubt in the regulatory inquiry.
The reporter found that the customers of Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) before listing were mainly third-party integrators and data center operators. After listing in February 2020, the company changed to establish a joint-stock or holding project company, and then carry out specific business through the project company or its related parties. Meanwhile, the 2020 annual report shows that with the change of business model, the company’s main customers have also adjusted accordingly. After consulting the inquiry letter and reply, the reporter found that some shortlisted “joint stock company” customers are not only related to each other, but also have doubts about their business ability.
first, as the company’s 2020 customers, the four joint-stock companies of several lotus Zichen, Amethyst Tianzhong, earth Amethyst and Zhonghong Amethyst all have the same shareholder, Guangzhou DAHAO Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., which holds shares directly or indirectly. Among them, several lotus Zichen and Amethyst Tianzhong are also the top ten debtors of accounts receivable of the company.
Therefore, the Shanghai stock exchange requires the company to disclose in detail the process and rationality of cooperation and negotiation with Guangzhou DAHAO, as well as the business model, financial status, capital source and other details of each participating company.
second, the company also acknowledges that the sales return of the joint-stock company to the company basically comes from the capital increase and borrowing of shareholders. In other words, whether the joint-stock company itself has hematopoietic ability needs to be marked with a big question mark.
The frequent changes of customers will continue in 2021. During the inquiry of the 2021 semi annual report, the company supplemented and disclosed the top five customers in the first half of 2021. The reply showed that the above customers were also the first trading cooperation.
manage early and small to prevent “mild diseases” from becoming “serious diseases”
According to the current situation, Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) the amount of advance payment at the end of 2020 accounts for less than 5% of the total assets of the year, which is expected to have a limited impact on the company. However, for the “mild disease” of violations after listing, the trend of “early management and small management” has become obvious.
The reporter noted that since the release of the 2020 annual report, there have been three regulatory inquiries on Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) before and after the Shanghai Stock Exchange, involving a total of 38 issues. in addition to the two doubtful points of large advance payment and business model change after listing, many details such as accounts receivable, upstream and downstream changes and monetary funds are also within the vision of continuous supervision.
While strengthening the company’s information disclosure, the Shanghai Stock Exchange also requires the recommendation institutions and accountants to verify and express their opinions, send supervision letters to intermediaries and their relevant personnel, and urge them to perform their duties according to law. The supervision of information disclosure on the science and innovation board can be seen in this case.
From the audit opinion issued by the company’s annual audit accountant, in the early stage, Lixin Certified Public Accountants issued a qualified opinion on the 2020 annual report disclosed by the company, which mainly involves the recoverability of prepaid technology development fees, prepaid equipment funds and accounts receivable. The audit institution believes that the company has not provided sufficient materials and information, and it is unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence for the commercial essence of prepayments and the recoverability of accounts receivable. Therefore, it has expressed reservations on the company’s annual report, which has played the role of “gatekeeper” and market-oriented constraint of intermediaries to a certain extent.
The attention to the above doubts is also reflected in the continuous supervision link. In combination with the regulatory inquiry requirements of Shanghai Stock Exchange, the continuous supervision organization also proposed in the continuous supervision tracking report in 2020 that the company has deficiencies in supplier management, project management and control, financial fund payment, customer credit management and so on, and supervised the company to rectify and improve relevant systems and processes. In the semi annual continuous supervision and tracking report of 2021, relevant problems and supervision and rectification are explained again.
With the joint efforts of regulators and intermediaries to “uncover the cover”, the risks of listed companies are gradually released, and the company’s share price is also reflected. On the day of the release of the annual report on April 30, 2021, the company’s share price fell to the limit, and went out of five consecutive overcast on May 11, and hit a new low in the day. So far, the share price is still weak, with the latest closing price of 19.3 yuan, down 77.6% from the highest price after listing.
“Non-standard” and subsequent regulatory inquiries also made the company lose the attention of market institutions. The reporter found that the latest comment on the company’s regular report by securities companies was the semi annual report analysis on August 28, 2020. Since the 2020 annual report was “non-standard”, no securities companies have followed up.
The relevant business person in charge of the Shanghai Stock Exchange said that the listed company Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) on the science and Innovation Board was filed for investigation by the CSRC on suspicion of illegal information disclosure, which the Shanghai Stock Exchange paid close attention to. Since the opening of the scientific innovation board, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has always adhered to the concept of strict supervision according to law, strengthened pre research and pre judgment, managed early and small, and worked hard to prevent the “mild disease” of the scientific innovation board company from becoming a “serious disease” and the repetition of traditional chaos in the scientific innovation board, so as to effectively ensure the smooth operation of the scientific innovation board. Next, the Shanghai Stock Exchange will continue to follow up the progress of the case, effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors and maintain the healthy development order of the capital market.
