The Hour Glass, a luxury watch retailer, said it will propose a share spilt of one ordinary share into two shares to increase liquidity in its shares. The proposed share split is subject to shareholder approval at a meeting to be held at the end of Jan next year.
Some market watchers said The Hour Glass stock-split could pave the way for potential investors to come in in a big way, as seen in Peace Mark's takeover bid for rival Sincere Watch. When the stock-split is completed, the group will have an issued and paid-up share capital of 231.71m shares.
The Hour Glass plans to open more stores in Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand but will steer clear of mainland China and India and will not sacrifice profit growth for market share, a company official told Reuters.
The Hour Glass expects sales and earnings for the first half of the financial year to Mar 2008 will "easily" beat the results for the same period last year.
"We expect to post extremely positive results from our first half," Executive Director Michael Tay told Reuters in an interview.
The Hour Glass, which has a market value of US11 million, is the second-biggest player in Singapore's crowded luxury watch retail sector and competes with Sincere Watch and Cortina , which have market caps of US25 million and US0 million respectively.
Tay said The Hour Glass has submitted a proposal to open a store in The Marine Bay Sands, which will open in '09.
"We should expect an answer (about the proposal) to come in 6 to 12 months," said Tay.
Tay's father Henry is the executive chairman of the company and his mother Jannie Tay, is the vice chairman. Collectively they hold 62% of company shares.
UOB Kay Hian said in a research note released in July that Asia accounted for 43% of Swiss watch exports in 2006.
The Hour Glass has 23 stores in the Asia Pacific, including 7 in Singapore, 3 in Malaysia, 3 in Australia and stores in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bangkok.
Tay said the firm's new stores want to capitalise on Asia's fast-growing wealth, but he added that the company is not willing to expand too quickly into other developing Asian economies.
"We are more focused on bottomline growth than on market share," Tay said.
He said the Hong Kong store is The Hour Glass's proxy for China, but said the company was not in a rush to expand into mainland China and India due to the number of risks involved.
"The market in China is still in its infancy...once the market is built, we'll make our entry," he said.
The Hour Glass said it expects revenue growth for FY08 to beat the 15% figure posted for the previous year, thanks to growing affluence in the region.
"We believe that we will comfortably outpace 15%," Executive Director Michael Tay, told Reuters in an interview on Wed.
Hour Glass's revenue for the year ended Mar was $407.2 million, while net profit jumped 50% to $18.6 million.
Tay said sales and earnings for the first half of this financial year - which will be reported in Oct - can "easily" beat the results for the same period last year.
Hour Glass, which has a market cap of US$111 million, has 23 stores in the Asia Pacific region and sells luxury watches from brands such as Patek Philippe and Rolex.
"DISCLAIMER:- This announcement was prepared and issued by the belowmentioned listed issuer to the Exchange. The Exchange assumes no responsibility for the correctness of any of the statements made, opinions expressed or reports contained in this announcement and is posting this announcement on SGXNET for the sole purpose of dissemination only. In the event of any queries or clarification required in respect of any matters arising from this announcement, such queries are to be made to the listed issuer directly and not to the Exchange. The Exchange shall not be liable for any losses or damages howsoever arising as a result of the circulation, publication and dissemination of this announcement."
Name of Announcer *
THE HOUR GLASS LIMITED
Company Registration No.
197901972D
Announcement submitted on behalf of
THE HOUR GLASS LIMITED
Announcement is submitted with respect to *
THE HOUR GLASS LIMITED
Announcement is submitted by *
DR KENNY CHAN
Designation *
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Date & Time of Broadcast
03-Nov-2006 15:22:09
Announcement No.
00028
>> Announcement Details
The details of the announcement start here ...
Announcement Title *
INVESTMENT IN GEMS TV HOLDINGS LIMITED
Description
The Board of Directors of The Hour Glass Limited (the "Company") refers to the Company's announcement of 28 June 2006 and notes that Gems TV Holdings Limited ("Gems TV") has launched its initial public offering ("IPO") on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited today.
Background -
The Company had, on 28 June 2006, acquired 4,121,200 ordinary shares of US$0.01 each from a shareholder of Gems TV, representing 5.0% of the then total issued and paid-up capital of Gems TV (the "Investment") for a total cash consideration of US$9,726,032 (approximately S$15.5 million).
Company's shareholding in Gems TV -
In connection with the IPO, the shareholders of Gems TV had, prior to the IPO, approved the sub-division of every one share of par value US$0.01 in the authorised share capital of Gems TV into 10 ordinary shares of par value US$0.001 each. This has resulted in the Company's 5.0% shareholding in Gems TV comprising 41,212,000 shares of US$0.001 each fully paid.
The IPO launched by Gems TV today would result in the Company's shareholding of 41,212,000 Gems TV shares being diluted from 5.0% to approximately 4.0% of the enlarged issued share capital of Gem TV immediately post-IPO.
The Company has agreed that it will not, without the prior consent of the global co-ordinator of the IPO, dispose of any of its holding of the aforesaid 41,212,000 shares held by it in Gems TV for a period of 12 months following the listing date.
Accounting for the Investment under Singapore Financial Reporting Standards ("FRS") 39 -
As stated in its announcement of 28 June 2006, the Company intends to hold the Investment for the long term.
In accordance with FRS 39, the Company's investment in the quoted shares of Gems TV will be classified as being available-for-sale and restated at fair market value as at the financial year-end, with any financial gain or loss being recognised directly in equity through the statement of changes in equity. Assuming that the IPO had been completed on 31 March 2006 at the offer price of S$1.08 per Gems TV share, the Investment would have resulted in unrealised gains of approximately S$29.0 million being recognised directly in equity through the statement of changes in equity in accordance with FRS 39. Based on these assumptions and the audited consolidated accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 March 2006, the net tangible assets per share of the Group of 125.63 cents would have increased to approximately 152.25 cents. The foregoing is purely for illustrative purposes, and should not be taken as an indication of the future performance of Gems TV shares post-IPO. A restatement in value of the Investment pursuant to FRS 39 would not have any impact on the earnings per share of the Group.
Issued by: The Hour Glass Limited Date: 3 November 2006
Have a look at this. NTA at $1.20 and stock is at a low of $0.78. Have been a good dividend provider and hopefully full result in MAY WILL GIVE MORE.....
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