SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – Mainboard-listed Dukang Distillers has completed its restructuring with the acquisition of a kiwi fruit business and disposal of its existing liquor business, and therefore will take on a new name to reflect the change.
Dukang, in its statement to the bourse on Monday, announced that it will be renamed China Shenshan Orchard Holdings to reflect its transformation from a liquor business to kiwi cultivation.
The firm stated that revenue and net earnings of the acquired kiwi fruit business has been growing steadily since 2017 and has been “minimally impacted” by the pandemic. Therefore, Dukang expects a turnaround with “a steady revenue stream and sustained profitability”.
Post restructuring, China Shenshan will become a horticultural marketing company, focusing on the planting, cultivating and sale of kiwi in China.
The business it acquired holds the use rights for eight orchards, spanning a total land area of approximately 6.5 million square metres, which it believes to be one of the largest domestic kiwi fruit orchards concentrated in Chibi City, Hubei.
The business currently sells through distributors, wholesalers, corporates and e-commerce platforms.
Also, the company states that government policies including offering higher subsidies for large-scale landholders and accelerating rural land transfer process bode well for the kiwi cultivation industry.
Therefore, the company sees full exemption of enterprise income tax on profits derived from its kiwi business.
Earlier, the company could not get shareholders’ approval to transfer its listing status to the Catalist junior board. Therefore, if it cannot exit the bourse’s watch list, the company billing itself as the first Singapore listed pure-play kiwi producer faces a trading suspension or delisting.
Dukang shares closed 14.9 per cent lower at S$0.16 on Monday, before this statement was filed to the bourse.
