[SINGAPORE] Del Monte Pacific (DMP) will not have to repay a loan of nearly US$443 million in the current fiscal year after reclassifying them as non-current liabilities.
In a Singapore Exchange (SGX) filing on Thursday (Sep 18), DMP said it secured on Aug 8 a waiver from a few banks on the breach of a debt-equity ratio (DER) covenant. The waiver states that these banks will not conduct a DER testing for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years, with the next test set to take place in September 2026 for the said banks.
As a result, almost US$443 million of non-current loans that were reclassified as current loans have been reverted to a non-current loan classification. They were earlier stated as current liabilities as the covenant waivers were obtained from the banks only after the fiscal year ended on Apr 30.
The company, which is listed on SGX and Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE), previously requested an extension to its annual report submission deadline from both the PSE and the Singapore Exchange (SGX), but had been unable to meet the extended PSE deadline. The delay led to the PSE suspending DMP trading with effect from Tuesday.
The company submitted its annual report late on Wednesday (Sep 17).
It cited independent auditor Ernst & Young’s (EY) explanation that the extension was needed due to an inability to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding DMP’s US subsidiary, Del Monte Foods (DMF), which is undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
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DMP in July announced that it would deconsolidate DMF from its accounts as it had lost control of the US unit.
The audited figures for DMP’s operating and net profit were also 39 and 350 per cent higher than the respective unaudited figures. The audited numbers were at US$147 million and US$48.9 million, respectively and excluded the company’s US operations.
EY added a disclaimer that it was not expressing an opinion on the accompanying financial statements of the group.
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It said DMP had assessed the carrying value of the DMF-related assets held for disposal and recognised impairment losses of US$703 million in 2025. However, it could not obtain sufficient audit evidence needed to accurately assess the carrying values of such assets and associated liabilities, the appropriateness of the cited impairment losses and the carrying value of DMP’s investments in its subsidiaries.
