Warderly wants to resume trading amid SFC action
Warderly International Holdings, which has been suspended from trading its shares for almost 18 months and whose six former directors may face disciplinary action by the Securities and Futures Commission, says it is back in business and is seeking a resumption of trading.
Yesterday's announcement by Warderly, a maker of electrical appliances, came even though it had only six employees at the end of April, down from 1,500 before its share suspension by the SFC in 2007.
The company also has nine directors, none of whom were among the six named by the regulator.
In May 2007, the SFC ordered Warderly's shares suspended, without disclosing its reasons. Two weeks ago, it said it had started court proceedings to ban the firm's six former directors from future directorships.
The court case will be heard on November 6.
The directors were founding chairman Yeung Kui-wong, his daughter Ellen Yeung Ying-fong, Yu Hung-wong, John Lai Wing-chuen, Hermann Leung Ping-chung and Godfrey Hung Kwok-wa.
The SFC writ claimed the six former directors had 'failed to manage Warderly with the necessary skill, care, diligence and competence' in not disclosing its financial problems.
These included failing to pay wages to workers at its Kalee factory in Dongguan, which led to strikes between December 2006 and April 2007 that eventually led to the factory's liquidation last year.
After a shareholders' meeting yesterday, a spokeswoman said Warderly was shifting from manufacturing to trading household electronic and electrical products.
The company's annual report showed that for its financial year to April, it had turnover of HK$53 million and a loss of HK$21 million.
The spokeswoman said the SFC's action would not affect the company's operations.
'The company has had a major debt restructuring, so we have new shareholders, new management and a new board of directors,' she said. 'We applied to resume trading last year but have not yet received approval from the exchange, which has been asking us to clarify our resumption proposal. We would like to resume trading as soon as possible.'
Warderly's latest annual report says its major shareholder is Billy Albert Kan Che-kin, who, along with his wife Kung Chuen-lai, owns 36.03 per cent of the company. Cathay Investment Fund holds 10.42 per cent.
The board has four executive directors and five independent directors but no chairman or chief executive. At the annual meeting, there was no dim sum, lunchboxes or soft drinks for shareholders as no one attended except for one woman and a representative of the Central Clearing and Settlement System.
