bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Samuel Yeung

A one-year ban imposed on South East Group's chairman and connected parties from trading shares in the stock and futures markets expired last month, but chairman Cheong Swee Kheng does not intend to sell any shares.

'I definitely will not sell shares, especially at such a low price,' Ms Cheong said yesterday after a company shareholders meeting.

South East closed at 2.9 HK cents yesterday, unchanged, but down 82.94 per cent from its high this year.

Ms Cheong and her husband Hendra Rahardja and Indonesia-based Prestbury, a holding company, last year acted in concert to purchase a combined controlling stake in South East, according to the Securities and Futures Commission.

However, after acquiring the controlling stake, the parties failed to make a mandatory general offer under the takeovers code, the SFC said.

As a result, the SFC imposed in August last year a 'cold shoulder' penalty preventing them from trading in the stock or futures markets for 12 months.

The company, which was formerly known as Benelux International, is engaged mainly in the manufacturing and selling of floppy disks and micro-cassettes.

The company has changed tack on its business in recent years by diversifying into other areas such as property development and wine-making.

Among its projects is the establishment of a winery joint venture in Chengdu and the purchase of a plot of land in Sydney for a residential property project.

Ms Cheong said the company had invested about HK$4.5 million in the Australian project. She expects that it can become a major revenue stream this financial year.

She also said the company plans to expand the mainland winery in the coming year.

In the year to March 31, it reported profit of HK$92.93 million on revenue of only HK$70.87 million.

A year earlier, the company had reported a loss of HK$46.62 million.

The profit in the year was mainly the result of a change in accounting methods that reversed the liabilities of subsidiaries by excluding them from the consolidated profit and loss account.



South East chairman has no plans to sell shares as ban expires