Kinross year-end financials held up

Kinross Gold (K-T) will delay the release of its 2004 financial statements to allow a review of its post-merger balance sheet. It has requested a cease-trade order on insiders until the review is complete.

The questions are over the valuation applied to the assets Kinross inherited in its merger with TVX Gold and Echo Bay Mines. Both the allocation of purchase prices and the amount of goodwill (the excess of purchase price over the fair value of the assets) are under review.

Kinross hired Standard & Poor’s Corporate Value Consulting for the review, and expects the consultant to report early in April. Any changes to financial statements arising out of the report would need the approval of Kinross’s auditors, Deloitte & Touche.

Kinross said that any impairment of value might affect its 2003 financials as well as any quarterly reports up to the end of 2004.

The management cease-trade order, which Kinross plans to request from the Ontario Securities Commission, would be imposed on some or all insiders of the company, including directors and officers, while the stock continued to trade normally.