Lwp Media Article

A news article has appeared on the Courier Mail overnight, thought it only a matter of time.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/busin...y/news-story/d83194871048eed8669b40298ed7053e



QLD Business
City Beat: Investors irate over LWP Technologies, Brisbane lawyer Niren Raj facing bankruptcy, The most beautiful holiday party

Anthony Marx, The Courier-Mail

INVESTORS IRATE

LOSS-making Brisbane energy outfit LWP Technologies faces a backlash from angry investors.

More than 170 former shareholders have joined forces in the hope of launching a class action against the listed firm, headed by Siegfried Konig.

They allege that poor management decisions and questionable transactions have resulted in the company’s market cap plummeting from about $50 million in mid-2015 to around $12 million today.

The firm, which is developing technology used in fracking, raised $1.6 million in June to invest in a company focused on next-generation batteries.

But the move has proved disastrous, with LWP now trying to claw back $774,000 and cancel 30 million of its shares.

The ASX has sent the LWP several “please explain’’ letters this year over numerous transactions, including a $300,000 loan to a traffic signalling research and development firm which went bust shortly afterwards.

LWP retrieved $500,000 invested in a franchising company controlled by director Sean Corbin after the ASX described the deal as a related party transaction in breach of listing rules.

The ASX has also questioned whether other deals were between related parties, including the acquisition of shares in capital raisings by the adult children of both Konig and Corbin.

In response, Corbin told the ASX that “any non-compliance was unintentional and inadvertent’’.

LWP is already under pressure, having suffered a $6 million net loss last year. That followed a $6.4 million loss in 2014-15.

Just this week LWP revealed the losses have continued in to the current financial year, with $1.5 million in red ink through to October.

It’s enough for auditors to warn that a “material uncertainty’’ now hangs over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Neither Konig, who earned a $430,000 pay packet last year, nor Corbin returned calls seeking comment yesterday.