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Brightoil Petroleum (Holdings) Ltd said on Friday that it will be unable to publish its annual results for the year ended June 30, 2018, which were due to be released by September 30 under the listing rules of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK).

Furthermore, it will not be releasing its annual report for the year ended June 30, 2018, by October 31, the bunker seller confirmed.

The latest development follows the announcement made by Brightoil earlier this month, where the company explained that its Audit Committee had "encountered a number of difficulties" with regard to the work being carried out by an independent adviser to review previous transactions made by the company; that it was "deeply concerned" expenses associated with the independent review could get "out of control"; and that it was looking at alternative solutions in an effort to control the costs of the review.

Trading in shares of Hong Kong-listed Brightoil was halted almost a year ago, on October 3, with the company requesting a suspension until the publication of its financial results for the year ended June 30, 2017.

Since then, Brightoil's interim results for the six months ended December 31 and interim report for that period have also been due, but are yet to be submitted to SEHK.

And Friday's announcement that the release of its 2018 annual results and report will also be delayed means that Brightoil now has an even bigger backlog of financial paperwork to hand in.

Brightoil's so-called 'resumption plan' - to be re-listed on SEHK - is for the Audit Committee to first complete the aforementioned review; then for the audit to be completed; and then for the 2017 annual results and report, 2018 interim results and report, and 2018 annual results and report to be released.

Changes to listing rules

On August 1, SEHK implemented a number of changes to its Listing Rules, which include: being able to delist an issuer after a trading suspension of 18 continuous months; and being able to delist the issuer immediately in "appropriate circumstances".

Furthermore, following the delisting framework amendments, SEHK is able to publish a delisting notice stating its right to delist an issuer if the issuer fails to resume trading within the period specified in the notice. It has also removed a three-stage delisting procedure for issuers without sufficient operations or assets, which is no longer needed now that the new delisting process is in effect.

Prior to the amendments - and unlike markets such as London, New York and Tokyo - Hong Kong did not have an effective mechanism in place to forcibly expel listed companies, which resulted in firms suffering serious losses not being expelled, for example.

Delistings from leading global exchanges can be for a number of reasons, including failure to meet an exchange's minimum requirements for price, capitalisation or liquidity; failure to file reports; and also, in extreme cases, fraud.

Brightoil explained in July that, as the company's shares will have been suspended from trading for less than 12 months prior to the August 1 implementation date, SEHK may, under Rule 6.01A(2)(b)(i), cancel the company's listing if trading in the company's shares remains suspended for 18 continuous months after August 1 - on January 31, 2020.

Additionally, Brightoil noted that it will need to meet SEHK's list of conditions for the resumption of trading, received in December, in order to avoid a delisting.