SINGAPORE – Catalist-listed fintech group Ayondo was served on Thursday (April 18) with a statutory demand from its former executive director and chief executive officer, Robert Lempka, for payment of $165,800 in relation to his resignation.
The statutory demand alleged that Ayondo had refused and/or failed to respond to a letter of demand dated April 9, 2019 about the same outstanding sum that was due to Mr Lempka. The letter was appended to the statutory demand.
But Ayondo said that it had not received the letter prior to the statutory demand, and was not aware of it. Its board of directors is seeking professional advice on the matter, it said in an announcement on Friday night.
Mr Lempka resigned in January, after the departure of chief financial offer Richard Fulton in July 2018. Group chief marketing officer Sarah Brylewski also resigned last month.
Separately, Ayondo will have more time to release its yearly and quarterly results and to hold its annual general meeting (AGM). The Singapore Exchange Securities Trading (SGX-ST) has approved its applications for two-month extension of time, it said in an announcement on Thursday morning.
The company is to release by May 1 its unaudited financial statements for fiscal 2018 ended Dec 31, and hold the AGM by June 30. The annual report is to be despatched at least two weeks before the AGM.
The company added that it intends to hold the AGM by June 29.
The unaudited financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 will need to be released by July 15.
SGX-ST’s extensions of time are subject to Ayondo submitting a written confirmation that it is not aware of any information that will have a material bearing on investors’ decisions.
The group sought more time to release its results because it had to expend additional resources and personnel from its financial team to assist with queries about a subsidiary’s compliance with UK regulatory requirements.
Ayondo had earlier proposed to dispose of the subsidiary – 99.91 per cent-owned Ayondo Markets Limited – but on Tuesday the Singapore Exchange’s regulation unit ordered the company to put that plan on hold.
The group’s auditors, Ernst & Young LLP, have also said they needed more time to complete necessary procedures for preparing the FY18 results, because of the complexity and accounting considerations under the audit review.