On February 11, Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) announced that it was filed for investigation by the CSRC on suspicion of illegal information disclosure.
Insiders disclosed that from the current situation, “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 “deterioration” of the company after listing should be the direct reason for being filed for investigation.
after listing, the entrusted R & D object and the nature of advance payment have changed significantly
The reporter of the economic information daily consulted the public information of the company in the early stage and three regulatory inquiries of the exchange. A prominent change after the listing of Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) is the substantial increase of prepaid technology development fee and prepaid equipment payment. 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.
In response to the inquiry of Shanghai Stock Exchange, the company disclosed that in 2020, the prepaid technology development involved 9 suppliers, all of which were the first cooperation. The company paid the purchase money 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.
Some insiders pointed out that the regulation is concerned about 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 an associated relationship between suppliers, which is an obvious doubt.
after listing, the business model changes again and again
At the same time, the early supervision letter of Shanghai Stock Exchange also directly pointed to the doubts that the company’s business model has changed greatly after listing.
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.
The comparison shows that the customers of Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) before listing are mainly third-party integrators and data center operators. After listing in February 2020, the company changes to establish a joint-stock or holding project company, and then carry out specific business through the project company or its related parties. At the same time, the 2020 annual report shows that with the change of business model, the company’s main customers have also adjusted accordingly. The reporter of economic reference daily 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 customers in 2020, 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 capacity 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.
regulators continue to make efforts
From the current situation, the prepayment amount of the company 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 situation of “early management and small management” of supervision has become obvious.
The reporter of economic information daily found that since the release of the 2020 annual report, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has made three regulatory inquiries on Amethystum Storage Technology Co.Ltd(688086) , involving a total of 38 questions. 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 pointed out the deficiencies of the company in supplier management, project management and control, financial fund payment, customer credit management and other aspects in the continuous supervision tracking report in 2020, 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 days on May 11, and hit a new low of 19.52 yuan on that day. So far, the share price is still weak. The recent closing price is 19.30 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. Referring to wind, the reporter of economic information daily 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.
