The chemical company whose head made derogatory comments about prominent chef Nadia Lim is to quit the New Zealand stock exchange.
Photo: DGL
DGL Group says it has too few New Zealand shareholders to justify being on the local exchange and it will trade only in Australia.
It will leave the NZX at the end of June with New Zealand shareholders transferred to its Australian register.
DGL chief executive Simon Henry was roundly criticised for sexist and racial comments about Lim.
Its board called the comments offensive and unacceptable, but accepted Henry's regret and apology.
Henry's apology to Lim was two lines long, and Deborah Pead, owner of PR firm Pead, who confirmed Lim had received it, said: "In my opinion his acknowledgement adds further insult to injury and one has to wonder why he even bothered".
The company's statement made no reference to the incident, which caused its share price to fall and talk of a boycott by some investment funds.
DGL also launched an independent review of the firm's culture after Henry's comments.
"DGL anticipated, at the time of listing on NZX, that shareholder participation in New Zealand would be higher than what has transpired," it said in a statement to the NZX and ASX," the firm said.
"The Board believe that offering a New Zealand based trading platform is of little or no value to DGL or its shareholders, and that there is no benefit from continuing to remain listed on NZX."
It said it had 689 New Zealand shareholders, who made up about 13 percent of all its investors but held only 2.4 percent of its shares.
DGL said June 28 would be the last day of trading on the NZX, with delisting on June 30, and ASX only trading from July 1.
DGL's shareprice fell nearly 5 percent to a two month low on news it was quitting the New Zealand market. Since the Lim controversy its price has fallen close to 30 percent compared to a 7 percent fall for the broader New Zealand market.
