By June, the struggling toy and confectionery wholesaler Funtastic (FUN) will be delisted and no longer an ASX company.
The news saw the shares lose more than 46% to end at 0.08 of a cent, as turnover surged to more than 10.5 million shares. The company was worth less than $6 million at the close yesterday.
That means among the losers are Gerry Harvey and Lachlan Murdoch, which were listed in the 2016 annual report as top 20 shareholders. It is not known if they still have their shares.
Funtastic, which distributes Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears and Star Wars branded toys and merchandise, has seen its share price fall markedly since a profit warning in 2007.
Its shares were trading around $1.57 in December 2006 (and a high of $$2.13 in 2003) but had fallen to 16.6 cents by December 2008 as it like so many stocks were crunched by the GFC.
Funtastic shares didn’t recover in the wake of the market rebound from the GFC.
Funtastic said that, consistently over the past six months, less than two per cent of its shares have traded in any one month.
"This low liquidity has created significant share price volatility," Funtastic said in a statement. "The costs of the company remaining listed outweigh any benefits."
Funtastic – which lost $23.85 million in 2015-16 – said it expects its ability to raise capital, to grow the business and restructure debt will improve after it is removed from the ASX.
The 2016 result was an improvement on the $56.48 million loss in 2014-15.
The company has previously blamed its profit downgrades on major retailers importing more products directly from China, retailers’ focus on reducing stock, and a downturn in consumer spending.
If Funtastic gains shareholder approval to delist – at an extraordinary general meeting on May 4 – it expects to be removed in early June.
