ONE of the remaining stock market-quoted companies offering forestry managed investment schemes has seen its sales nosedive, prompting it to secure revised borrowing terms from its banking syndicate.
Forest Enterprises Australia (FEA) - said to be at the centre of complaints to the corporate regulator about the role of financial planners directing investors into its schemes - has blamed the fall-out from the collapses of Great Southern and Timbercorp for the revenue plunge.
Income slumped in the three months to June, which was when its two bigger rivals called in administrators - owing billions of dollars to more than 60,000 investors.
Having warned just last week that sales made by its plantations division would be "significantly less" than the $60 million earned in 2006 and 2007, FEA yesterday put a figure of just $23 million on its expected revenue for its 2008-09 financial year that ended two days ago.
While the company did not disclose the impact on its profit-and-loss account for the same period, it appears FEA was in danger of breaching certain covenants in its loan deal with its banks.
"Given the challenging environment, the company has sought and received an agreement from its banking syndicate to waive relevant covenants for the June 2009 reporting period," it said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday.
FEA is planning to release an update on its profits to investors in mid-August before its full-year figures are published that month. Its shares slipped 1.5 cents to 12.5 cents in response to the likelihood that its earnings will slump as a result.
That came after investigators from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission raided the homes of a number of financial planners in Sydney and Melbourne on Tuesday, as part of an inquiry into allegations that the existence of investors in FEA's schemes had been fabricated.
But one of the planners at the centre of the investigation claims the investors are real and that FEA actually funded their investments, said to total $2 million.