Company News

Leclanché announces the deferral of the publication of its 2019 annual report

Fri May 1

YVERDON-LES-BAINS, Switzerland, May 1st, 2020 – Leclanché requested and has been granted an extension by SIX Exchange Regulation AG of the regulatory deadline for the publication of its 2019 annual report, from April 30th, 2020 to June 15th, 2020.

Leclanché encountered several obstacles in the finalization of its 2019 annual report including:

*The late substitution of a planned debt-to-equity conversion in order to remedy an over-indebtedness situation prior to the finalization of the 2019 financial statements with a subordination of the same amount of debt owed to FEFAM[1] as well as negotiations to obtain commitments from potential investors, prevented Leclanché from finalizing the going concern statement of its 2019 annual report and held up several audit tasks.

*The Covid-19 situation significantly slowed down the work at Leclanché relating to the audit, because the employees involved in the preparation of the financial statements had to work from home (which complicated access to certain information) and had additional workload in the Covid-19 Situation, thus preventing the finalization of Company’s key financial figures.

The Company is working hard to close the remaining outstanding items with its auditors and Board of Directors and remains confident that it will be able to publish its 2019 annual report before or on June 15th, 2020.

In its decision of April 29th, 2020, SIX Exchange Regulation AG requested Leclanché to insert the below excerpt in this press release:

“The exemption application of Leclanché SA (Issuer) dated April 24th, 2020 requesting an extension of the deadline to publish its 2019 annual report and to file such report with SIX Exchange Regulation AG until June 15th, 2020 at the latest is granted with the following reservation (lit. a) and under the following conditions (lit. b):

a) SIX Exchange Regulation AG reserves the right to suspend trading of the registered shares of the Issuer in case its 2019 annual report is not published in accordance with the provisions on ad hoc publicity (Art. 53 of the Listing Rules [LR] in connection with the Directive on Ad hoc Publicity [DAH]) and not filed with SIX Exchange Regulation AG until Monday,  June 15th, 2020, 11.59 pm CET, at the latest.

b) Leclanché SA is required to publish a notice in accordance with the provisions on ad hoc publicity (art. 53 LR in connection with the DAH) concerning this decision until Monday, May 4th, 2020, 7.30 am CET, at the latest. The notice must contain:

-the unaltered reproduction of the wording of para. I. of this decision, placed in a prominent position;

-the reasons for the application of the Issuer requesting an extension of the deadline to publish its 2019 annual report and to file such report with SIX Exchange Regulation AG.

c) Leclanché SA is required to publish a notice in accordance with the provisions on ad hoc publicity (art. 53 LR in connection with the DAH) concerning this decision until Monday, May 18th, 2020, 7.30 am CET, at the latest. The notice must contain the unaudited key figures such as net revenues, EBITDA, EBIT, profit/loss, balance sheet total, equity etc. for the annual results 2019.”

For more information, write to info@leclanche.com or visit www.leclanche.com.

* * * * *

[1] FEFAM means: AM INVESTMENT SCA, SICAV-SIF – Illiquid Assets Sub-Fund, together with FINEXIS EQUITY FUND – Renewable Energy Sub-Fund, FINEXIS EQUITY FUND – Multi Asset Strategy Sub-Fund, FINEXIS EQUITY FUND – E Money Strategies Sub-Fund (also called Energy Storage Invest) and, all these funds being in aggregate the main shareholder of Leclanché, hereunder referred to as “FEFAM”.