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The stock exchange regulator has imposed a trading halt on mining start-up Taiko Critical Minerals after it released a “financial model” on the possible returns from its West Coast project on Wednesday morning. NZ RegCo said the halt would be in place until the market opens on Friday or a further announcement from Taiko about the financial model. Taiko listed its shares on the NZX on March 5 at a “reference price” of 11c for a market capitalisation of $45 million. The company is pre-revenue and provided no prospective financial statements for the listing. The shares last traded at 21.5c. Its “financial model” announcement included projections of life-of-mine revenue and internal rate of return for the industrial minerals scheme near Barrytown. The statement described it as “a financially robust project”, with the details to be confirmed by a definitive feasibility study later this year.
Bremworth will have to wait a little longer to find out if it can sell its business to the owners of Godfrey Hirst. The NZX-listed carpet market told the market this morning that the Commerce Commission had extended the deadline for its decision to April 2 from March 13. Bremworth said an extension was not unusual and reflected the regulator’s need to give careful consideration to all relevant evidence. The competition watchdog is weighing whether the sale of Bremworth to New York-listed Mohawk Industries would substantially lessen competition in the New Zealand flooring market. It gave the proposal an initial thumbs down in its preliminary decision in December. Bremworth announced in October plans to sell its business to Mohawk in a deal that was expected to return between $74.1m and $81.1m to shareholders. However, this has been revised down recently amid weaker-than-expected trading, which has affected the capital return shareholders would receive as part of the sale.