C K Tang - U know how to do retail business?

ion across tang

Hi Management of C K Tang,

I saw the news today. You have reported ANOTHER $5.62 million loss for the year ended 31 Mar 2009. The loss was more than double the $2.19 million net loss a year ago.

The recent loss is due to the following:-

1. stock writeoff - $7.8 millions
2. marketing-related expenses up 8.2% to $21.9 millions
3. operating expenses up to $25.7 millions
4. depreciation expenses also up by 13% despite relaxing the useful life of some assets from 6 years to 10 years
5. Sales how? Only up a miserable 3% to $238 millions

The family - which owns 86.61 per cent of the company - has COINCIDENTALLY offered to buy the remaining shares it does not own at 83 cents per share through a delisting proposal a few weeks before the annoucement of this set of results.

Why do you want to buy over a money losing business year after year? Here are my speculative bits:-

• "Edgar, you are so stupid... it is not retail business that they are after. They are after the last piece of C K Tang building!!!!"
• "Ion, the building across C K Tang, must have aroused their interest."
• "Or is the buying back of shares, an expensive exercise to avoid listening to people like me and the public from querying their retail business management ability."