SINGAPORE (Nov 25): On Nov 13, Food Empire Holdings CEO Sudeep Nair purchased some 1.34 million shares in Food Empire through his nominee, DBSN Services, for a total consideration of $750,658, or 56 cents a share. On Nov 15, Nair acquired another 230,800 shares through DBSN Services for $138,226, or 59.9 cents a share.
Following these two purchases, Nair’s stake in the company, which sells foodstuff such as instant coffee, increased to 11.33%, from 10.84% prior to the transactions.
These transactions came just days after Food Empire released its quarterly results for 3QFY2019 on Nov 11, with marked improvements across key financial metrics.
Food Empire’s earnings surged 34% y-o-y to US$7.9 million ($10.75 million) from US$5.9 million in 3QFY2018. This came on the back of higher sales, which was reflected in a 5.4% increase in revenue to $76.8 million. Although the company’s cost of sales inched up 3.5% to US$46.3 million, gross profit increased 8.3% to US$30.5 million.
Despite expecting currency volatility in core markets such as Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Commonwealth of Independent States countries, Food Empire said it expected business to remain resilient and will continue to grow key markets and streamline business operations to consolidate its structure.
Separately, the Tan family, controlling shareholders of Hotel Grand Central, have maintained their regular purchases of shares in the open market via their vehicle, Tan Chee Hoe and Sons Holdings. On Nov 20, the Tans bought 21,000 shares at $1.30 apiece.
There are three Tan brothers running the company. Eng Teong is the group’s executive chairman and managing director, while Teck Lin and Eng How are its executive directors.
Following the Nov 20 acquisition, Eng Teong’s total stake in the company, consisting of both direct and deemed shares, increased to just over 64.3%, while Teck Lin’s and Eng How’s stakes rose to 61.1% and 58.0% respectively.
The trio have been buying shares in their own company over the past months. At the beginning of July, Eng Teong’s stake in Hotel Grand Central stood at 63.9%, while Teck Lin and Eng How held 60.9% and 57.8% of the company’s shares respectively.
For 3QFY2019 ended September, the company booked earnings of $5.1 million, 76% higher than earnings of $2.9 million in the year-earlier period. This was despite a 2% dip in revenue to $39.1 million on the back of lower sales at the hotels in Australia, New Zealand, China and Singapore.
Although its shareholders are bullish on the company, 2019 is expected to be a challenging year for Hotel Grand Central.
The company cites factors such as the regional economic slowdown, refurbishment works at some of its hotels and weaker performance of Singapore hotels on the back of intense competition and weakness in the market. Unfavourable currency movements are a risk as well, it adds.
