“ More than half of the newly listedcompanies on Bursa Malaysia last year failed to achieve the financial results they had forecasted in their listing prospectus, the Securities Commission said. 

Some noteworthy facts:

• 79 companies are listed in 2005;
• Of the 57 companies listed in 2005 that have published audited accounts so far, 32 performed below their forecast results;
  · Out of the 57 companies, 21 companies came from the Mesdaq counters;
  · The details of the 32 companies underperforming:
  · 21 companies recorded negative deviation of more than 20% below the forecast earnings;
  ·   3 companies with 10-20 percent negative deviation and
  ·   8 companies have less than 10% below their forecast.
• Last year, SC prosecuted 14 persons, launched one civil action and issued 15 warning letters and public reprimands and 16 private reprimands.
• SC has widened the scope of enforcement actions last year, which include a dedicated criminal court for capital market offences and senior SC enforcement officers gazetted as deputy public prosecutors (DPPs).
• This is in addition to having a high level committee on corporate governance and post-approval surveillance action teams.
   

Well, ‘Caveat Emptor”  when dabbling with the new share application of public listed companies.