Cordlife directors committed to waiving fees; firm defends choice of auditor ahead of EGM
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Ms Chen Xiaoling, who was redesignated as Cordlife’s group executive director, will receive her remuneration for the role but not any separate directors’ fees.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Yong Jun Yuan
SINGAPORE – Embattled cord blood bank Cordlife said that its remaining directors have committed to waiving their directors’ fees for the financial year that ends on Dec 31, 2024, in response to questions raised ahead of the company’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Nov 14.
The EGM is being called to appoint new auditors and approve its directors’ fees.
In a bourse filing on Nov 10, the company said that non-independent non-executive directors Zhai Lingyun, Yiu Ming Yiu and Chow Wai Leong will not be receiving directors’ fees.
Ms Chen Xiaoling, who was redesignated as group executive director as of July 17, 2024, will receive her remuneration for the role.
However, she will not receive any separate directors’ fees as long as she serves as group executive director, the company said.
Cordlife added that further consideration may be made in due course as to whether Mr Zhai, Mr Yiu and Mr Chow will continue to waive their fees after financial year 2024. They will take into account factors such as time spent and the effort and individual responsibilities of each director, as well as the financial condition of the company, it said.
On why the company was “downgrading” to a smaller audit firm PKF-Cap after KPMG did not seek reappointment, Cordlife said that it received only two fee proposals, the other of which came from another mid-sized audit firm.
The company added that audit partner Lee Eng Kian has 29 years of experience auditing listed issuers such as USP Group, Bromat Holdings – formerly known as No Signboard – and Zico Holdings.
Cordlife resumed limited cord blood banking services on Sept 15, about 9½ months after its services were suspended because of lapses found at its storage facility. Cord blood units in seven of its 22 storage tanks were exposed to suboptimal storage temperatures.
The green light came with caveats, including being allowed to receive no more than 30 new cord blood units a month for the first six months. This is less than 10 per cent of the roughly 400 units a month that it used to get.
Cordlife shares closed flat at 15 cents on Nov 8 before its latest filing. THE BUSINESS TIMES
