Wo Kee Hong in issue
Audio-visual equipment trader Wo Kee Hong (Holdings) (WKH) is to raise $111.3 million for working capital after reporting a net loss of $236.62 million for the year to December 1996.
The company has proposed a one-for-five rights issue at 50 cents each, a 19 per cent discount to Thursday's closing price.
Its shares fell five cents to 57 cents yesterday.
Chief executive officer Richard Lee Man-fai said about $33 million of the funds raised would be used to lower outstanding debts, the rest for expansion.
He said the poor result was due to its inventory being purchased at a high yen cost. The loss jumped from $18 million in 1995 to $236 million last year.
'As inventory levels peaked in the second half of 1995, management decided to reduce inventory drastically in the shortest possible time, even at a high cost,' he said.