SINGAPORE - The following companies made announcements on Tuesday which could affect trading of their shares on Wednesday (March 20).
CapitaLand: CapitaLand's subsidiary, CapitaLand (China) Investment Co, has divested its 100 per cent stake in Beijing CapitaLand Property Management Co (BCPM) for 20.8 million yuan (S$4.2 million). BCPM, whose main properties in Beijing are the clubhouse for the Orchid Garden residential development and 137 car park lots in the La Foret residential development, was sold to a party unrelated to CapitaLand. The divestment is in line with CapitaLand's strategy of delivering better value to shareholders through proactive portfolio reconstitution.
Best World International: Best World International on Tuesday said it has appointed independent reviewer PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting (PwC) to examine its franchise model, after The Business Times flagged concerns in February over the challenges in tracking sales of its DR's Secret line of premium skincare products in China. The group said that PwC's review will focus on the franchise model adopted by the company in China in 2018. Its objectives will be to verify the existence of the franchisees as at Dec 31, 2018, validate the sales to and cash received from sales to significant franchisees, and identify and make appropriate recommendations on any internal control weaknesses and breaches of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) listing manual, regulations or local laws.
The scope of work includes site visits to the business locations of the franchisees, conducting targeted reviews on the franchisees' sales and purchase records, reviewing the physical flow of inventory, reviewing internal controls surrounding sales to franchisees and recommending improvements where applicable. PwC will report its findings directly to Best World's audit committee and the SGX RegCo.
Anchun: Chemical engineering company Anchun International Holdings has appointed He Zu Bing as chief financial officer (CFO), while its head of sales and marketing has retired. According to the company's Singapore Exchange (SGX) filing, Mr He has served as deputy financial controller of Anchun's wholly owned subsidiary Hunan Anchun Advanced Technology Co Ltd since May 2018. Meanwhile, its head of sales and marketing Li Chun Yang has retired after 25 years with the group, although he will continue to serve as non-executive director of the company's wholly owned subsidiary Hunan Anchun Advanced Technology Co.
In a separate filing on Tuesday, Anchun responded to queries from SGX on the reason for the write-off of contract assets amounting to 6.97 million yuan (S$1.4 million), listed in its full-year results posted on Feb 28. Anchun said the amount was a provision for impairment losses on the assets, rather than a write-off. It also clarified that although the group recorded a profit before tax of 9.86 million yuan for FY2018, it did not declare any dividend for FY2018 because the company had incurred a loss of 2.7 million yuan. The group will continue its efforts to diversify into non-fertiliser industries and review its cash-flow requirements in view of the macroeconomic environment, and consider making appropriate dividend distributions to shareholders where its operating cash flow position allows, Anchun said.
