What if withdrawn guidance is met., page-6

not whilst this is happening...

Slater & Gordon's chief in-house lawyer has resigned from the embattled listed legal firm after less than two months in the role.
Moana Weir who commenced her position as general counsel and company secretary on January 29, resigned on Thursday with immediate effect, the company said in a statement to the exchange late on Friday.
She will be replaced in the role by the current chief financial officer Bryce Houghton. Mr Houghton replaced Wayne Brown as chief financial officer late last year, after a string of accounting errors eroded investor confidence in the once high flying law firm. Slaters shares have fallen by more than 95 per cent in less than 12 months.
Ms Weir previously held similar roles at SEEK Ltd and REA Group after initially working as a solicitor at Allens Arthur Robinson. A Slater & Gordon spokeswoman declined to comment when asked why Ms Weir had resigned.
Advertisement
She agreed to join Slater & Gordon in late October, coinciding with the appointment of former E&Y auditor and current Fairfax Media director James Millar to the board. Her two months at the law firm were eventful. On February 24 she announced a suspension in trading of Slater & Gordon shares before the company revealed a $958 million half-year loss.
On Thursday, Slater & Gordon shares fell to a new low closing price of 25¢ valuing the company at just $80 million, compared to $2.75 billion just over a year ago when the company's share price traded above $8.00.
The law firm's precarious financial position has left it at the mercy of its bankers as its net debt position has ballooned to $741 million. That amount has meant that Slater & Gordon's net debt to equity ratio has risen to over 60 per cent, well above the board's self-imposed guideline of 30 to 40 per cent.
Slater & Gordon has until the end of the week to table a proposal to its banks, led by National Australia Bank and Westpac, in the hope of securing new loan terms. If an agreement is not reached by the end of April, Slater & Gordon will be forced to repay its bank loans within 12 months, an all but impossible task given the size of its debt relative to the cash it generates.
In addition to pressure from the banks, Slater & Gordon is facing the threat of shareholder class actions led by rival firms, including Maurice Blackburn.
In April of 2015 Slater & Gordon raised $890 million of new equity to finance the $1.3 billion acquisition of Quindell's professional services division in the United Kingdom.The transaction, however, has proved a disaster thus far, with the additional debt and poor cash flows placing immense strain on the law firm's financial health, resulting in a near total write down of the value of the deal.
Slater & Gordon is believed to be one of a handful of soured loan exposures that have resulted in a rise in bad and doubtful debt charges at the big banks. On Thursday, Westpac told investors on a conference call that five large exposures could represent "swing factors" to its bad debt charge for the financial year, as it may be forced to increase provisions.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/s...to-new-low-20160328-gns3sw.html#ixzz44BbQCoum
Follow us: @TheAge on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook