Shares in Qualceram suspended

SHARE trading in the Arklow-based bathroom suite manufacturer Qualceram Shires was suspended yesterday ahead of an expected announcement that the company is in need of court protection.

The company made the request for the suspension after announcing that long-running talks with its main landlord WP Carey and bankers, concerning rent payments and the sale of surplus properties, have not been satisfactorily concluded, and that no successful outcome of the talks is likely to be reached.

“The board now believes that it is unlikely that a satisfactory outcome to these discussions will be reached,” Qualceram said in a statement yesterday.

Later in the day, a spokesperson for the group said a further announcement on its situation would likely be made today.

Qualceram’s board has already communicated the pressures which the economic and housing downturns have had on its trading performance over the past year.

Its latest set of full-year results were due at the end of February, but were postponed until the conclusion of the negotiations.

In its most recent market update a fortnight ago and effectively representing its third trading update in four months, the company said it “continues to be adversely affected by the unprecedented slowdown in the property market”.

Its previous trading update, issued in February, said that turnover between November and January was down by 35% on the corresponding period in 2007-08.

In the update previous to that, the company’s board said it was not expecting to see any recovery in the Irish or British housing markets during 2009. It added that the still unreported results for 2008 would likely show a loss for the company.

Qualceram’s share price — which was hovering around the e1 mark this time last year — was suspended at just 10c in Dublin, yesterday.