Executive chairman of Kitchen Culture Lim Wee Li has sold a substantial portion of his shares in a married deal. On Nov 26, Lim sold just below 26.18 million shares at 10 cents each, or for some $2.6 million in total. The identity of the buyer was not disclosed. With that sale, Lim is left with around 66.1 million shares, or 15.58% of the company, from 21.74% before the sale.
Kitchen Culture, which provides kitchen furnishings, has been actively moving into new businesses in recent months. On Oct 16, the company announced plans to venture into asset management via the incorporation of a subsidiary, 3L Asia Capital. This entity has an initial issued share capital of $2 million and is meant to undertake fund management activities for ultra-high net worth individuals and families mainly from Asia Pacific countries.
This follows an Oct 12 announcement that Kitchen Culture is taking a 30% stake in a China-based FinTech firm OOWAY Technology. The acquisition will be paid using 90 million new Kitchen Culture shares at 26.58 cents, which represents a 17.25% discount to the volume-weighted average price of 32.12 cents on Aug 11, which was the last full market day on which the shares were traded prior to the date of the announcement of the deal.
With the deal, Kitchen Culture says it will have access to a wider network of business contacts in the Greater China region and thereby access to potential business opportunities. Even so, Kitchen Culture will still maintain its focus on its core business although it will tap on new business opportunities to increase revenue streams.
In the same announcement, Kitchen Culture says that the fund management business will be led by executive director and chief investment officer Steven Lau Kay Heng, who has three decades of experience in the financial services industry and was previously managing director of Stirling Coleman Capital, a corporate finance firm.
Buying below book value
Hong Fok Corporation, a property company that is trading at a big discount to its book value, has been undertaking a series of share buybacks. Most recently, joint CEO Cheong Sim Eng has bought shares from the open market too.
On Nov 20, Cheong bought a total of 64,500 shares at prices of $31,020 and $14,555 respectively. This works out to an average share price of 70.7 cents each. Earlier, on Nov 17, Cheong had bought 85,000 shares at 70.9 each. With the Nov 20 transactions, Cheong’s direct stake increased to nearly 115 million shares, or 13.597%. In addition, he has a deemed stake of another 6.345%. This brings his total interest to around 168.6 million shares or 19.942%.
For the six months ended June 30, Hong Fok’s revenue dipped 8% y-o-y to $43.6 million. Earnings in the same period were down 45% y-o-y to $4.3 million from $7.8 million. As at June 30, the company’s NAV per share was $2.97, up slightly from $2.92 as at Dec 31, 2019.
Wanted: recurring income
Chua Beng Huat and Goh Bee Lan have bought more shares in Leader Environmental Technologies, according to a filing by the company on Nov 27. The couple had acquired 12.45 million shares for $498,000, or an average of four cents each. With that acquisition, Chua and Goh now own a total of 71.3 million shares, equivalent to 5.37%, up from 4.43% earlier.
Leader Environmental has been raising funds recently and is trying to move into different areas of environmental management, including those with recurring income potential.
For the three months ended June 30, Leader Environmental recorded revenue of RMB4.49 million ($911,427), down 47.1% y-o-y from RMB8.5 million a year ago. The company remains in the red, narrowing losses to RMB2 million from RMB2.4 million a year ago.
