Teliti plunges on profit warning

Teliti International's share price plunged on Tuesday after the Malaysian information technology services provider issued a profit warning and another delay in the opening of its data centre.

The opening date of the data centre, being built on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, had already been pushed back by three months to July, and now, because of delayed payments by the company's debt provider to its contractors, the centre is not expected to be operational until the first quarter of 2013, even though the building itself is set to be completed in July.

As a result, Teliti expects profit before tax for the current financial year will be less than half what the market had been expecting. Though it is small consolation, the group will have reduced interest charges resulting from the delay in drawing down on the company's banking facility.

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The company said it has currently drawn down RM75.5m of the RM111m debt and is in discussions regarding the release of the remaining funds, which are required to bring the data centre into operation. The board is "confident that the matter will be resolved in the near future".

In a statement the firm was keen to emphasise the positives: "Marketing of the Datacentre has continued in Malaysia and through Teliti Datacentres' regional marketing office in Singapore (covering Singapore and Hong Kong), and interest in the facility remains strong.

"As of 15th June 2012, Teliti was in advanced discussions to sign rental agreements for approximately 20,000 sq ft, or c.44% of the initial 45,000 sq ft of net lettable area. In addition, the company is continuing to progress discussions with its partners for the provision of cloud computing services and expects this offering to be ready for when the Datacentre is opened."

The share price fell 12.50p to 42p by 12:39.

NR