TPG gets 'please explain' from ASX over share price slump

Stuart Corner
Monday, 16 August 2010 13:52

IT Industry - Listed Tech

TPG has received a 'please explain' from the ASX after a slump its share price on Friday 13 August, accompanied by a spike in the volume of shares traded.

Late that day TPG issued a statement to the ASX seeking to reassure investors that it was tracking according to plan. It said: "TPG notes the market's recent view of telecommunications industry participants, particularly following the release yesterday of Telstra's FY10 results.

"TPG would like to provide re-assurance to its investors that the company has continued to experience excellent broadband subscriber growth in recent month, that it is tracking well to guidance and it looks forward to the release in late September of the FY10 financial results for the year ended 31 July."

The query from the ASX noted that TPG shares had fallen "from a close of $1.59 on Thursday 12 August to a low of $1.38 at the time of writin [on Friday 13]" and noting " an increase in the volume of trading in the securities over this period." TPG shares opened at $1.49 on Monday 16 August.

Over five million of the company's shares changed hands on 13 August, a volume not seen since September last year, apart from a spike at around the time of the Pipe acquisition in March.

TPG said it could see no reason for the trading pattern and that ,excluding the impact of the Pipe Networks acquisition, for the financial year ended 31 July 2010, it did not expect that its results would vary by more than 15 percent from the guidance of $152m-$158m provided on 23 March 2010.