LandMark White blames ill-informed public commentary on its dark web data breach for further ASX share suspension
LandmarkWhite has again suspended its shares from trading on the stockmarket, in the wake of stolen valuation records being posted on a dark-web forum for 10 days.
It suggests the trading halt could be for as long as a month.
The company advised shareholders that LMW had lost work from a significant number of clients which was "impacting our revenues, profitability and cashflows."
Westpac confirmed it had joined Australia's three other major banks in not sending any further valuation work to LandMark White.
Only yesterday it indicated the valuation clients were likely to return.
"At this point in time we are unable to ascertain when these clients will reinstate LMW and hence when LMW will be in a position to assess with any certainty the financial impact of the incident," LMW updated the market at lunchtime Tuesday.
"In addition, LMW anticipates that continued public commentary does not allow for an informed market for trading in LMW securities."
LMW expects that it would be able to provide the market with accurate information relating to the financial impact of the incident and hence a forecast for FY2019 within the next two to four weeks and lift the suspension at that time.
The clients that pulled their business in the wake of a data breach included three of the big four banks.
On Monday the shares in the property valuation firm fell 10 percent to 38 cents after it resumed trading after its major data breach.
It was trading at 45 cents prior to its initial advisory of a privacy breach.
Last week Landmark White advised its investigations revealed that an unknown third party posted an illegally downloaded valuation dataset on a dark web forum for 10 days in late January 2019.
It sought the suspension of its ASX-listed shares after some of the big four banks indicated they had stopped using LMW valuations.
"We anticipate that the suspensions will be progressively lifted over the coming days and that workflows will return to more normal levels by the end of the month," it told shareholders on Monday.
"An unknown criminal has maliciously accessed a LandMark White’s system," it advised.
"LMW has been working with independent cyber security consultants, along with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, to ensure client information and LMW’s network is secure.
LMW has not obtained any evidence that the data has been misused.