SINGAPORE (May 6): Lim Tiong Hian, executive chairman and largest shareholder of retailer and wellness services provider Epicentre Holdings, has increased his stake in the company for the first time in about 20 months.
On April 29, Lim bought 1.5 million shares from the open market at an average price of 9.9 cents a share. Lim now holds 30.2 million shares, or 18.91%, up from 17.97% previously.
The last time Lim bought shares in the company was in September 2017. He paid 13.8 cents each for 932,000 shares. Lim, who is also acting CEO, was appointed to his current roles on July 31, 2016.
Another substantial shareholder, Chan Lai Choo, disposed of 6.66 million shares in an off-market deal on April 1. The price was not disclosed in the company filings. The transactions lowered Chan’s stake from 5.12% to 0.94%, or 1.5 million shares. Year to date, Epicentre shares have gained 16.47% to close at 9.9 cents on April 29, valuing the company at $15.8 million.
On April 16, the company announced that the targeted completion date of a placement exercise, first announced nearly a year ago, had been extended to May 31, following an earlier extension in December 2018.
On June 27, 2018, the company appointed SooChow CSSD Capital Markets (Asia) to place out 79.7 million new shares at 12 cents each, raising net proceeds of $9.3 million. At 12 cents, it was more than double the weighted average price of 5.1 cents for trades done on June 27, 2018. Between 60% and 70% of the net proceeds will be used to pare down debt, and the remainder for working capital and possible acquisitions. As at Dec 31, 2018, its liabilities stood at $11.5 million, down from $13.6 million as at June 30, 2018.
For the half-year ended Dec 31, 2018, Epicentre’s revenue dropped 68.4% y-o-y to $9.9 million from $31.5 million, largely because it stopped selling Apple products in Singapore. Losses in the same period fell 30.6% to $1.8 million from $2.6 million.
At its peak some years back, Epicentre had about a dozen stores across the region, but competition from other Apple resellers stiffened and it had to search for new businesses. The market for Epicentre turned worse when Apple opened its first directly owned and managed Singapore store in 2017.
On June 26, 2018, the company announced the sale of its four loss-making Apple stores in Singapore for $516,275, and booked a loss of $950,000 from the disposal. The buyer is an entity called Elush (T3), whose director Goh Chee Hong owns rival Apple reseller iStudio. The deal was completed on Nov 8, 2018.
With the sale of the Singapore business, Epicentre is left with four Apple retail outlets in Malaysia. In addition, it operates an entity called Japan ILP Holdings, which provides lifestyle and wellness services such as hair removal and skin rejuvenation.
With the Apple retail business deteriorating, Epicentre has been trying to transform itself. In December 2014, it tried to inject a chain of cosmetic surgery clinics worth $100 million into the company, but the deal was called off on July 31, 2015.
On June 27, 2018, it signed a $400 million reverse takeover deal for the acquisition of an entity called MacroCap Asia Capital, which owns Thai property developer Asia ThaiYuan and Chinese hotel manager Gloria International. The deal was called off, however, on Dec 10.
