NVC Lighting shareholders vote 95pc to oust founder
NVC Lighting's shareholders voted overwhelmingly to remove Wu Changjiang from all positions on the board yesterday, but the firm said it continues to lose millions of yuan while its founder refuses to accept his ouster.
NVC Lighting's shareholders voted overwhelmingly to remove Wu Changjiang from all positions on the board yesterday, but the firm said it continues to lose millions of yuan while its founder refuses to accept his ouster.
The Hong Kong-listed firm said its factory in Wanzhou, Chongqing, will lose 21 million yuan (HK$26.4 million) for every month Wu fails to relinquish his grip on it. So far, his refusal to yield the plant has generated 14 million yuan of losses, said NVC, one of China's biggest lighting manufacturers.
This threatens to send the firm into the red. Its net profit fell 28.5 per cent to 58 million yuan last year, while revenue grew just 0.9 per cent to 1.7 billion yuan.
At an extraordinary general meeting yesterday, a motion to remove Wu from all positions on the board received 95.84 per cent of shareholders' votes, with 4.16 per cent opposed.
[The board is] extremely irresponsible. I will defend my rights
NVC's lawyers in Hong Kong and on the mainland have started legal proceedings against Wu, said Wang Donglei, NVC's non-executive chairman and interim chief executive, but he gave no details.
The board is "extremely irresponsible. I will defend my rights according to the law", Wu said on Thursday in an email to the South China Morning Post.