HONG KONG, April 1 (Reuters) – The Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday suspended the listing of shares in Chinese developers such as Sunac China (1918.HK), Shimao Group (0813.HK) and Kaisa Group (1638.HK), and about 30 other companies for a delay in reporting annual results.

Companies listed in Hong Kong generally have three months after the end of the financial year to publish their results, although regulators in 2020 allowed trading to continue if companies whose audits were affected by pandemic curbs published results. preliminary results without agreement with the auditors or published management accounts.

“The exchange is committed to maintaining a fair, orderly and continuous market,” the exchange operator, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx), said in a statement.

He would monitor developments to ensure suspensions were as short as reasonably possible, he added.

Of the 32 companies suspended for missing the March 31 deadline, 14 had audits affected by pandemic curbs, the exchange said. That compared to 57 suspended in the corresponding period last year, when two were related to COVID-19.

Late Thursday, Shimao Group said its shares would be suspended from Friday because it was unable to release unaudited 2021 results in time, due to the epidemic.

The pandemic has led to the lockdown of an office building at the company’s Shanghai headquarters and the quarantine of some employees, with the date for lifting the restrictions still uncertain, Shimao added.

On Monday, Sunac China said trading in its shares would be halted for missing the HKEX deadline.

On Tuesday, China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd (0708.HK), a unit of embattled developer China Evergrande Group (3333.HK), reported a suspension for the same reason.

The company would work with its auditor to publish the results in about three months and seek to resume operations as soon as possible, he added.

Aoyuan Healthy Life Group (3662.HK), Fantasia Holdings (1777.HK) and Kaisa Group (1638.HK) are also facing trading halts due to the delay.

In Shanghai, more and more Chinese companies are suspending plans to list on the stock exchange as the coronvirus outbreak hampers due diligence and information gathering. Read more

Reporting by Donny Kwok and Alun John; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

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