Renaissance, the Omani oil services company that this week revealed fraud in one of its units, has embarked on a damage-control campaign to try to halt a sell-off.
Shares on the Muscat exchange rallied 7.8 per cent to close at .565 Omani rials yesterday after the company's top officials sought to reassure investors the ethical lapses were limited to an overseas division of Topaz Energy and Marine, a unit based in Dubai.
"The investigation into those matters centred on a total of US$2.9 million (Dh10.6m) cash over a six-and-a-half year period. That is the limit of it," said Stephen Thomas, the chief executive of Renaissance. "There is no black hole … For us inside the business, these matters are history."
The efforts revived shares of Renaissance, which had slumped by nearly a quarter in three days of straight losses after Monday's unveiling of what it called "the story of one of the most troubled periods in our company's history".
In a filing that day to the Muscat exchange, Renaissance said it had found fraud and other ethical misconduct inside an overseas Topaz subsidiary that it declined to name. It also said it had accepted the resignation of three top Topaz executives including Fazel Fazelbhoy, the former chief executive, after finding signs of a "command and control" leadership style.
"That's an organisation where hierarchy and systems and process drive, rather than support, the business," said Mr Thomas, who took over as chief executive at Topaz after Mr Fazelbhoy left in May. "There was a difference in agreement on the management style and shape to go forward, and there was a difference in the view of the priorities of the business and the CEO role. From those differences, we reached a point in which we agreed for the CEO to step down."
Until this week Renaissance planned to complete a $1.3 billion expansion over the next two years and hoped to list Topaz in a $500m IPO in London.
Renaissance acknowledged it could see slower growth than originally projected but insisted it was sticking to the original scope of the investment plan.
"Our long-term cap-ex plan is still intact," said Vishal Goenka, the chief financial officer. "We are still looking at 1.3bn cap-ex. The timing might expand."
He cited regional unrest, the US economic slowdown and the tsunami in Japan as causes for the delay in unrolling investments into new offshore vessels and other equipment for the oil industry.
Renaissance said the financial problem at Topaz began before it bought the Dubai company in 2005.
"That specific issue is something that was started in the business before we owned it," said Mr Thomas. "Clearly we didn't pick it up at the time we bought it, when there was a due diligence process."
ayee@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Company%20Profile
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
The five pillars of Islam
