SINGAPORE (Aug 26): Yangzijiang Shipbuilding announced it had secured new shipbuilding orders for two 325,000 dwt bulk carriers.
In an SGX filing on Friday, Yangzijiang said the new orders were made by a shipowner based in Asia.
The new bulk carriers will be built by the group’s Xinfu shipyard and should be delivered to its client by June 2021.
CEO Ren Letian said this was a “significant milestone achieved by the group”, especially in the midst of a challenging shipping industry beset by trade war worries, declining orders, and fierce competition.
Letian is the son of executive chairman Ren Yuanlin, who has been granted a leave of absence by the board since Aug 9 to assist Chinese authorities in a corruption investigation.
See: Yangzijiang confirms executive chairman Ren Yuanlin 'assisting' in investigation by Chinese authorities
In an Aug 21 report, DBS Group Research said day-to-day operations of the shipyard are in the “good hands” of Letian who succeeded his father as CEO in March 2015, after having managed various divisions of the shipyard for nearly 10 years.
DBS was also told by CFO Liu Hua that the corruption investigation "was not related to the company".
The research house added that the clarification should alleviate some concerns, but reckoned the issue is likely to cause share price volatility -- which had been aggravated by short-sellers -- “until the dust settles”.
As at 12.34pm, shares in Yangzijiang are trading 2 cents higher at 94 cents.
