By Patrick Avenell
SYDNEY: Clive Peeters’ trading highs of last week have been all but totally erased as the listed retail group shed 33 per cent of its value over the last three days.
Although in the doldrums for most of 2008, at once stage crashing to a low of 6 cents in early December, Clive Peeters has experienced a comeback on the Australian Securities Exchange, with steady improvement leading up to a close of 24 cents last Thursday.
Such was the improvement in Clive Peeters’ trading, the ASX launched a price inquiry, quizzing Clive Peeters’ management on whether there was any reason for such an improvement. The company’s financial controller, Steve Rowarth, responded “no” at the time. Since then, the improvements that prompted the questioning have been wiped out unceremoniously.
On Friday 8 May, Clive Peeters dropped 12.5 per cent. Then on Monday, another 14.3 was lost. Yesterday was slightly better, with only an 8.33 per cent drop. Shortly after 3pm today, shares in Clive Peeters had been hit again, down to a live price of 16 cents. This means that since closing last Thursday, 8 cents has been wiped off the price – that equates to 33 per cent in just over 3 days of trading.
At the same time that Clive Peeters was experiencing this, erroneous reports were published linking JB Hi-Fi to a planned purchase of the retail group. The CEO of JB Hi-Fi, Richard Uechtritz went on record last Monday rubbishing these claims.
UPDATE: Shares in Clive Peeters closed this afternoon at 15.5 cents. Since close of trading last Thursday, Clive Peeters’ value has dropped 35.4 per cent.
Current.com.au contacted Clive Peeters head office for comment.