Topic
GOME Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd is an electrical appliance retailer in China and Hong Kong founded by Wong Kwong Yu in 1987, adopting the “Gome” brand name in 1993. It listed in Hong Kong in 2004, and in 2008 police revealed that Wong was being investigated for stock manipulation. He resigned in early 2009 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
- Gome Retail Holdings said bankruptcy petitions had been filed recently against its subsidiary Gome Appliances in the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court
- While the plaintiffs are seeking 4.7 million yuan (US$675,219) in outstanding dues, Gome says it is not contractually obliged to pay the amount
Gome Retail Holdings, one of China’s largest electronics retailers, which is said to have suspended staff payments and is seeking a debt restructuring, saw its shares rise in Hong Kong on Friday.
Gome Retail is seeking to raise US$573.7 million from the sale of new shares in Hong Kong after its founder Huang Guangyu pledged to return his company to its former glory after completing his parole last month.
Huang Guangyu, the founder and former chairman of Gome Retail Holdings, one of China’s largest bricks-and-mortar electronics retailers, has been released from jail on parole, a court in Beijing said on Wednesday.
Shares of Gome Electrical Appliances Holding fell 6.56 per cent after the retailer said it planned to buy a 5.7 per cent stake in Hefei-based Huishang Bank.
Jailed mainland billionaire Wong Kwong-yu, founder and former chairman of Gome Electrical Appliances, and his wife Du Juan will pay HK$420.6 million to the company as compensation for misconduct in a 2008 share repurchase deal.
Sales hit 27.1 billion yuan (HK$34.3 billion) in the period, up 10.2 per cent year on year. About 5 percentage points of that stemmed from its e-commerce business, chief financial officer Fang Wei said, emphasising that the company was focused on profitability and not sales volume.
The Beijing-based retailer said in a filing yesterday that the net loss for the year to December was 597 million yuan (HK$746 million), compared to a net profit of 1.84 billion yuan in 2011.
