Tcard death sees ERG shares suspended

in brief ERG Group has today voluntarily suspended its shares from trading on the Australian Securities Exchange while the company works out "issues" related to the termination of its Tcard contract.

The government's contract with ERG Group subsidiary ITSL to develop the Tcard -- a cashless electronic ticketing system for Sydney's public transport network -- was cancelled on 23 January after the project faced ongoing delays.

ERG Group is "in discussions with its secured lenders in relation to the continued availability and form of funding to facilitate the ongoing operation of the ERG Group and will provide a further update when those discussions have been completed", the company said.

The stock will be suspended "until the next announcement" according to an ERG spokesperson who declined to comment further.

The suspension was not early enough to stop Westpac reducing its holding in the company from 6.60 percent to 5.42 percent on 23 January, the day the Tcard contract was cancelled, although a trading halt was put into place on 24 January pending today's announcement. The company's shares are currently priced at AU$0.045 per share.