This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 2, 2025 - June 8, 2025

There is this school of thought that any company that has been struggling financially and is not able to reward its shareholders, is not fit to remain listed on Bursa Malaysia. Getting rid of these bad apples would help clean up the stock exchange, improving the quality of public-listed companies.

Unfortunately, minority shareholders usually get the short end of the stick in such cases compared with the controlling shareholders, who usually have representatives on the board and in the senior management teams.

Last week, Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd (KL:BARAKAH), which had been off investors’ radar for a long time, drew attention when its board of directors decided not to appeal against Bursa’s order to delist it. The stock was suspended from trading last Friday, and will be removed from the stock exchange on June 4.

Barakah might not have much to shout about when it comes to its earnings, but its cash pile is large enough to pay off its debts.

The oil and gas supportive service provider’s cash coffers increased to RM88.06 million as at end-March from RM54.5 million as at end-June 2024, after the receipt of an adjudication sum of RM78.8 million in the fourth quarter of last year.

Last November, Barakah withdrew its third regulation plan that it had submitted to Bursa, noting that it needed to reformulate its restructuring exercise after receiving the adjudication sum and updates on tendering contracts.

It also told the investing public that it had applied for an extension of time to submit a new plan. Initially, the announcement raised a glimmer of hope that the company would be able to clean up its books and stand a chance to at least attract a white knight to take over its listing status on the Main Market of Bursa.

Seven months later, the board, however, said “it had exhausted all available avenues” to regularise the company when Bursa rejected its application for an extension of time to submit a regularisation plan.

It is rather hard to fathom the reason for the drastic change in the board’s stance on regularising Barakah, considering that it is in a net cash position. Shouldn’t minority shareholders, who will soon hold shares in non-listed firms, receive an explanation from its independent directors, at the very least?

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