COMPANY NEWS 7
The Business Times, Wednesday, July 11, 2012
COMPANY BRIEFS
Tiger Airways’ load
factor falls in June
TIGER Airways carried
503,000 passengers in
June 2012, a 9 per cent
decrease from a year ago.
The carrier said its
passenger load factor
slipped 1 percentage point
to 85 per cent. For the 12
months to June 2012,
passenger load factor
slipped 5 percentage
points to 81 per cent, and
the number of passengers
carried decreased 18 per
cent year-on-year to 5.12
million. Tiger Singapore
carried 365,000
passengers in June, a 6
per cent increase from a
year ago, and passenger
load factor remained at 86
per cent. For the 12
months to June, Tiger
Singapore carried 3.95
million passengers, a 28
per cent increase from a
year ago. Passenger load
factor slipped 5 percentage
points to 81 per cent.
MapletreeLog shares
sink on investor sale
UNITS of Mapletree
Logistics Trust, which
owns warehouses and
logistics assets in Asia, fell
as much as 4.5 per cent to
a one-month low after a
shareholder sold its stake
in the trust in a block
trade. By 0110 GMT,
Mapletree Logistics was
down 4 per cent at
S$0.965, with over 143.2
million units traded, 62.3
times its average daily
volume over the last five
sessions. It eventually
finished down 2.5 cents at
S$0.98, seeing a total of
168.9 million shares
traded. It was the most
actively traded stock.
Alliance Global Properties
sold its 5.7 per cent stake
in Mapletree Logistics, or
139.3 million shares at
S$0.96 each in a block
trade. – Reuters
Duty Free Int’l Q1 net
dips to RM13.1m
DUTY Free International
said first-quarter net profit
for the three months
ended May 31 declined by
0.9 per cent to 13.1 million
Malaysian ringgit (S$5.2
million), or 1.17 Malaysian
sen per share, on the back
of persistent flood issues
and recent bombings in
Thailand. The retailer
plans to pay a 0.01
Singapore cent per share
interim dividend.
Sinopipe unit bags
500m yuan deal
SINOPIPE Holdings
announced yesterday that
its unit, Fujian Aton
Advanced Materials
Science and Technology
Co, had inked a deal with
property developer Beijing
Jingtaifu Property
Development (BJPD), in
which BJPD has agreed to
buy no less than 500
million yuan (S$99.5
million) worth of plastic
pipes over the two years.
Sinopipe’s announcement
said the deal is expected to
contribute positively to the
group’s financial
performance for the
financial year ended Dec
31, 2012.
ISDN restructures
China holdings
ISDN Holdings has,
through its wholly owned
subsidiary, Motion Control
Group Pte Ltd, set up an
investment holding
company (Newco) in
China, with a registered
and issued share capital of
US$2.4 million. ISDN’s
announcement yesterday
said Newco will also be
involved in the
procurement, sales and
marketing of products and
services for the group in
China. The group will also
transfer several China
businesses now currently
owned by Servo Dynamics
Co – a wholly owned unit
of Motion Control Group –
to Newco. ISDN said this
internal restructuring is
intended to enhance the
operational effectiveness of
Servo Dynamics by
streamlining its investment
holding and product sales
businesses.
Novo buys into China
firm for 4.2m yuan
STEELMAKER Novo Group
said it had bought a 60 per
cent stake in Chinese
sewage treatment
company Xing Hua City
Daduo Sewage Treatment
Co for 4.2 million yuan.
The deal was funded with
internal resources and is
not expected to have any
significant impact on the
company’s financial
position for the current
year ending April 2013.
Etika wins US fried
chicken franchise
CONDENSED milk
manufacturer Etika is
entering the fast food
sector having secured
exclusive 10-year rights to
develop the Texas Chicken
franchise in Malaysia and
Brunei. The first outlet is
set to open in Klang Valley
by December 2012. Owned
by US-based Cajun Global,
Texas Chicken serves
American-style fried
chicken and sides, among
other dishes. The brand is
in 22 countries in the
world with more than
US$1.2 billion in system
sales, Etika said.
Major Viz Branz
shareholder gets
‘buy more’ offer
Sale may or make
not lead to offer for
company’s shares
By KENNETH LIM
LIANHE ZAOBAO
Mr Neo: Says that the group is happy with the healthy appetite shown by the
investment community for its IPO, especially given the current economic climate
Neo Group IPO 15
times subscribed
The counter
will begin
trading on SGX
Catalist today
By GLENN CHOO
HOME-GROWN food caterer Neo Group’s initial public offering (IPO), which
closed yesterday, was 15
times subscribed. The counter begins trading on SGX
Catalist today.
On offer were one million shares available to the
public and 21 million placement shares, at $0.30
apiece.
At the close of the IPO
yesterday, there were
4,284 valid applications for
the one million shares of-
fered to the public. Applicants
applied
for
310,103,000 offer shares totalling roughly $93.03 million. There were also valid
applications for 20,825,000
placement shares totalling
around $6.3 million.
With total valid applications
standing
at
330,928,000 and 22 million new shares, the IPO
was approximately 15
times subscribed.
Commenting on the company’s IPO, chairman and
CEO Neo Kah Kiat said:
“We are happy with the
healthy appetite shown by
the investment community
for Neo Group’s IPO, especially given the current economic climate. As Singapore’s No 1 events caterer,
we are encouraged by the
confidence that our new
shareholders have shown
in us, which we believe
stems from factors that include our sound business
fundamentals and dynamic
growth plans.”
The company, which reported revenues of
$38.4 million and profits of
$5.4 million for FY2012,
plans to distribute dividends of at least 60 per
cent of its net profit attributable to shareholders for the
next three years.
The company said that it
intends to use the net IPO
proceeds of about $5 million to expand and develop
its food catering business
and food retail business. It
may also carry out acquisitions, joint ventures and
strategic alliances.
POWDERED beverage maker Viz Branz said a substantial shareholder has been offered additional shares by
another investor.
If a sale goes through, it
“may or may not lead to an
offer being made for the
shares of the company,”
Viz Branz announced yesterday.
The offer is non-binding
and there is no assurance
that any transaction will
take place, Viz Branz said.
According to Viz Branz’s
2011 annual report, the
company has only two substantial
shareholders.
Group managing director
Ben Chng currently holds a
35.89 per cent stake in the
company, while his father,
executive director Chng
Khoon Peng, owns a 38.25
per cent stake.
Their latest shareholdings came about following a
dispute settlement between
the two shareholders, in
which Ben Chng trans-
ferred about 53.3 million
shares to his father.
As part of that settlement, the parties on June
20 received a ruling from
the Securities Industry
Council exempting the
elder Chng from making a
general offer upon the
transfer of the settlement
shares, Viz Branz has said,
citing information provided
by Chng Khoon Peng.
It remains unclear who
was offering the shares in
the latest announcement.
Viz Branz is currently
proposing a one-for-one bonus issue of new shares in
the company by capitalising $7.2 million, or about
two cents per bonus share.
The bonus issue is
meant to reward loyal
shareholders, increase liquidity of the stock and
broaden the shareholder
base, Viz Branz has said.
Shareholder and exchange approval are still required for the bonus issue.
Viz Branz shares closed
at 63 cents, up by 3.3 per
cent or 2 cents, yesterday
before trading was halted
for the announcement.
The suspension was lifted after the market closed.