CPL to resume shares trading

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
THE City Pharmacy Limited group hopes to have its shares resume trading on the Port Moresby Stock Exchange this week, according to managing director Joe Barberis.
The CPL group halted trading of its shares on the POMSOX last week following the damage to the company’s head office and warehouse in Port Moresby which caught fire.
POMSoX in a market release noted that CPL had a trading halt on its shares for a duration of two weeks while the company assessed damage to its business operations.
“I’m about to draft a request that trading be allowed again. Hopefully that will be done by end of this week,” Barberis told The National yesterday.
“The message to the Port Moresby Stock Exchange will be that while the business has been disrupted, we are quick to be getting it back on track and there is no concern that shareholders should have about the viability of the company,” he said.
Meanwhile, Barberis said only a handful of employees remained at home because their computers needed to be sorted out.
“But hopefully this week, they will be back at work.
“All employees are guaranteed their employment, they have all been paid,” he said.
“From CPL’s point of view, we want to get back to business as usual and as quickly as possible and we thank the customers for their patience and understanding and also the business community. They have been fantastic.
“The support we have received has been much appreciated and much valued.”
The head office and warehouse has about 300 staff in total.
CPL’s general manager commercial Omprakash Seshadri said: “We are not happy with what has happened but that did not stop us from moving forward.
“We’ve got a wonderful management team and we’ve people with a lot of creativity and ideas and we’ve got a strong team.”