Synear Food Holdings

Business Times - 22 Oct 2011

Synear confirms contaminated food batch recall

By LYNETTE KHOO

SYNEAR Food Holdings yesterday confirmed that it had in July recalled a batch of savoury dumplings that failed to meet China's food safety requirements. The total retail value of the recalled batch of products was 40,000 yuan (S$7,950), which will not have a material impact on its financial performance for this fiscal year ending Dec 31.

'The group is currently monitoring market conditions and feedback closely, and is unable to assess the potential impact of the incident on its FY2011 financial performance at this stage,' it said in a clarification note.

Shares of the Zhengzhou-based group have already recovered from Thursday's sell-down, rising 3.1 per cent yesterday to 13.2 cents. Synear issued the statement after market close yesterday in response to recent media reports in China. According to these reports, the group had in July recalled savoury dumplings that were found to contain staph bacteria.

The group, one of the largest quick-freeze food producers in China, confirmed yesterday that minute traces of staphylococcus aureus had been found in a batch of savoury dumpling products produced in June during a random sampling test conducted by the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce in July.

This pathogen can cause serious infections such as pneumonia, colon infection and the deadly sepsis, which causes the immune system to attack the body's own organs and tissues. Synear said it had immediately recalled the entire batch of 350 cartons of savoury dumplings and issued an apology to consumers following the recall. It has since worked closely with the authorities to conduct more tests on its products.

'To date, the authorities have not found bacterial contamination in the group's products and all Synear products sold in the market have met the requisite food safety standards,' it added. The company also undertook an internal investigation and tightened its logistics and distribution process to prevent any potential contamination when transporting its products, it said.

According to the group, its facilities are certified to be hygienic under the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points), China's GB19295-2003 hygiene standard, and the international ISO9001:2000 standard.

China's current food safety standards do not allow any traces of staphylococcus in food products. But the standards are being revised to permit minute traces of staphylococcus in quick-freeze frozen products, pending approval from China's Ministry of Health.

'The levels of staphylococcus detected in the affected batch of savoury dumplings would have complied with the revised safety standards,' Synear said.

Business Times - 24 Oct 2011

Hock Lock Siew
Synear's unpalatable rude shocks

By LYNETTE KHOO

SHAREHOLDERS of Synear Food got their first rude shock last Thursday when media reports surfaced in China that a batch of savoury dumpling products were found to contain staph bacteria.

Their next rude shock came from realising that Synear had recalled that batch of products earlier in July - but it took the group three months to issue an announcement on this.

This raises the question why the group did not choose to disclose its product recall in July and waited till now to inform its shareholders.

During a random food inspection in China in July, a batch of savoury dumplings produced by Synear in June were found to contain minute traces of staphylococcus aureus - a pathogen that can cause serious infections such as pneumonia. The Zhengzhou-based company immediately recalled all 350 cartons of the infected products.

But news of this incident broke only last week after China's list of 18 food products that failed safety inspections was made public - which included that batch of savoury dumplings under the 'Synear' brand.

Prompted by a slew of media reports on this recall incident in China, Synear issued a clarification note on Friday confirming the recall. But by then, its share price had already plunged some 7.9 per cent the day before as investors who got wind of the incident dumped the stock. Other shareholders, however, were arguably compromised as a result of a lack of clarity from the group.

It appears that Synear did not deem the incident important enough to be disclosed when the recall took place in July given the lack of materiality - for now. According to the group, the total retail value of the recalled products was 40,000 yuan (S$7,950) and will not have a material impact on its financial performance for this fiscal year ending Dec 31.

But this should not serve as a convenient excuse for the group to not disclose the incident.

While the short-term impact on the group's financials may be immaterial, the longer-term impact on Synear's branding and consumer perception of its products remains unknown.

In fact, the group conceded that the actual impact remains unclear. In its clarification note, Synear said it was monitoring market conditions and feedback closely, and was unable to assess the potential impact of the incident on its fiscal 2011 financial performance. Its savoury dumpling products have historically accounted for about 40 per cent of group revenue.

And the fact that Synear shares reacted sharply to the news of the product recall suggests that this piece of information was potentially material information that required prompt disclosure under SGX listing rules. In any case, a lack of disclosure simply runs counter to corporate governance best practices that call for timely disclosure.

One could draw a comparison between this incident and the one that took place in 2008 involving Taiwanese candy maker Hsu Fu Chi. The latter publicly announced its recall of two puffed rice roll products one day after the products were tested positive in Singapore for the industrial chemical melamine in September 2008.

Hsu Fu Chi made the disclosure in good faith even though the loss incurred from the recall was insignificant to its total earnings and no material impact on the group financials was expected.

Such accountability probably put Hsu Fu Chi in good stead with investors and its branding withstood the test. This second largest confectioner in China is now the subject of a US$1.7 billion takeover offer from Swiss-based Nestle.

As one of the largest quick-freeze food producers in China, Synear has painstakingly built up its branding and visibility in China over the years. But all it takes is a mismanagement of a critical situation to dilute its brand equity.

Shareholders here, who do not have full access to news in China, rely on S-chips to provide timely disclosures and updates. With food safety scare being a taboo for food companies, Synear should have erred on the side of caution and disclosed its product recall anyway.

Also, in fairness to investors, the potentially price-sensitive information warranted prompt disclosure.

this is the kind of danger confronting food manufacturing industries...sigh

*******
Synear Food Q1 net profit down 24.5%
ByJasmine Ng print |email this article Synear Food Holdings on Tuesday posted a 24.5 per cent year-on-year decline in first quarter net profit to 23.82 million yuan (US$3.77 million).

This translates to quarterly earnings per share of 1.7 RMB cents compared with 2.3 RMB cents in the corresponding period last year.

For the three months ended March, turnover fell 9 per cent to 496.53 million yuan from a year ago, largely due to poor sales of its dumpling products.

"The decrease in our overall sales was associated with the adverse publicity, which occurred in October 2011, concerning a batch of our products which had been tested positive for minute traces of the staph bacteria," the company said.

"Although the national food safety standards were revised and became effective subsequently in December 2011 to tolerate minute traces of staphylococcus in quick frozen products, consumers seem to have lost confidence in the quick frozen food industry," Synear Food said.


Going forward, the firm said it may continue to face cost pressures from rising raw material prices and labour costs.

It also expects the economic climate and business conditions to remain very challenging in the next twelve months.

Synear food holdings frozen products were tested to be unfit for consumption.

http://www.cqfzb.com/n31388c39.aspx

日期：2012-04-26 来源：第一财经日报 重庆法制网 编辑：xwb

林小昭 马继朝 崔丹

时隔不到半年，郑州思念食品有限公司再被查出问题食品，其旗下两款产品被检出过氧化值不合格。

昨日晚间，思念食品在其官网回应称，已立即对所有涉及产品进行盘点，到目前为止均未发现不合格批次产品，同时，思念食品已于25日紧急送检“中华面点西湖棠菜猪肉包”和 “猪肉煎饺”这两项产品的所有批次，并将于第一时间向广大消费者汇报检测结果。

然而，这起看似已经让人麻木的食品安全事件背后，也透露些许不寻常：根据思念的声明，2011年12月1日，惠州工商局对上述两产品进行抽检，并判定过氧化值超标，思念食品于12月21日提出复检申请。时隔两个月之后，今年2月，广州市质量监督检测研究院才对同一批次产品进行复检，仍然判定过氧化值超标。直至昨日，广东省工商行政管理局才将检测结果公之于众。更吊诡的是，昨日晚间，广东省工商局网站已经悄然撤下该通稿。

两批次产品已下架

昨日，广东省工商行政管理局发布信息称，2011年四季度对速冻米面制品进行了抽检，发现郑州思念食品有限公司生产的“中华面点西湖棠菜猪肉包”和“猪肉煎饺”过氧化值项目不合格，经企业申请，广州市质量监督检验研究院对上述产品进行了复检，并于2012年4月9日将复检结果报送该局，复检结果表明样品不合格。

来自速冻行业的一位业内人士告诉记者，如果食品中的过氧化值严重超标，则可能引起腹泻等胃肠不良反应，进而损害肝脏；同时也对心血管病、肿瘤等慢性病产生诱发作用。

广东省工商局相关人士对《第一财经（微博)日报》表示，目前这两批次的产品已全部下架。至于其他批次产品的销售情况，本报记者走访广州部分超市没有发现“中华面点西湖棠菜猪肉包”，部分超市则有猪肉煎饺出售。

行业扩张致问题频发

近一年来，思念食品安全问题频出。今年2月，有网友在微博上爆料，在思念牌汤圆内吃出了创可贴，同时附上了照片；随后，另一名北京网友也发微博和照片称，在思念牌水饺内吃出了塑料泡沫。

事实上，整个行业都不太平。去年10月~11月中旬，思念、三全、湾仔码头等速冻食品曾相继被查出金黄色葡萄球菌超标。

食品安全问题频发或许跟行业生产能力与其特殊的生产工艺需求不能完全匹配有关。此前中投顾问食品研究员周思然就指出，近几年速冻食品行业产量急剧增加，规模也飞速扩张，但同时也对企业的资金、经营管理以及研发能力都提出了较高要求，一旦不适应就容易引发产品不合格等问题。

一名业内人士也表示，与金黄色葡萄球菌不同，此次过氧化值跟原料或生产工厂应该关系不大，可能主要出在冷链运输、销售储存等环节上。与发达国家相比，国内速冻行业仍然存在较大的差距，不仅目前处理技术和解冻技术相对落后，冷藏链不健全，而且食品包装、运输及销售过程也同样存在弊端。

数据显示，过去数年，速冻食品行业高速发展，整个产业由2002年的70亿元，膨胀到2010年的接近500亿元，行业年增长率30%以上。

掌门人转向资本运作

事实上，在整个行业高速发展的同时，思念食品近年来销售营业额一直裹足不前，甚至净利润还出现下降。

以2007年为例，当年，思念食品实现了22.17亿元的营业收入和4.76亿元的净利润，但到了2009年，该公司的营业收入和净利润则分别下降为18.7亿元和1.69 亿元。

关注思念食品多年的营销人士王建新认为，随着思念食品的逐步壮大，公司控制人李伟(微博)的精力开始逐渐从实业转向资本运作。

“通过仔细研究，我发现，所谓的速冻食品也好，商业地产、酒业也好，最终都是李伟从事资本运作的一个工具、载体，这些年，李伟其实已经在实业经营之外，构筑成一个庞大的资本运作平台，而他运作这些项目的目的，基本上都是‘上市’。”王建新说。

2006年8月，由李伟实际控制的思念食品于新加坡上市；随后，其旗下商业地产公司中部大观也于2008年2月在新加坡上市；2011年2月，同样由李伟等人控制的酒业企业杜康控股，也在台湾资本市场以TDR形式成功上市融资2.55亿元。


The last few paragraphs were interesting.

PROPOSED VOLUNTARY DELISTING OF SYNEAR FOOD HOLDINGS LIMITED

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...70081B4A8/$file/SynearFood_Proposed_Voluntary_Delisting_15Oct2012.pdf?openelement [SGX Announcement]

Exit offer of 18.6 cents per share.

(Not Vested)

I checked delist of CentralLand. In the end, they only collected around 85% and suspend the trading and delist itself from SGX.

wonder what happened to the rest of 15% minority shareholders.

will Synear suffer the same fate?

(15-10-2012, 08:47 AM)Nick Wrote: PROPOSED VOLUNTARY DELISTING OF SYNEAR FOOD HOLDINGS LIMITED

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...70081B4A8/$file/SynearFood_Proposed_Voluntary_Delisting_15Oct2012.pdf?openelement [SGX Announcement]

Exit offer of 18.6 cents per share.

(Not Vested)

The Company listed at 54c back in 2006 and went as high as $2.50 in 2007 (source: NextInsight).

So it seems a lot of value was destroyed over the years as the delisting offer is only 18.6c!

It's quite a good tactic I must admit.

List a company at 54c and take it private at 18.6c. Do this a few more times and you'll guarantee a net cash inflow!

There are some s-chips with dodgy numbers but in general that's not the real issue. Mostly the problem is "credit risk" because no matter how undervalued they are, you can't seize the asset in PRC and monetise the value. All things equal I would rather buy a company that the chairman owns a S$50m GCB in Singapore, than one with a S$500m factory in China.

It's not purely about numbers crunching.

Synear Food was listed on 18th Aug 2006 at $0.54 and went all the way up to $2.48 on 2nd Oct 2007.

I bought her shares over the years for its fundamental looked great.

I also believed that her food products had great potential for the large Chinese population.

But now they are offering to delist at $0.186 (BIG LOST for me).

I’m definitely going to vote against the delisting and hope that many minority shareholders do likewise.

I voted against the Offer by ST Engineering to delist NeraTel at $0.45 in June 2012 and I’m glad the minority shareholders had won.

ST Engineering failed to delist NeraTel at $0.45 and we later received a Dividend of $0.04 on 3rd Aug 2012 and its share price now stands at $0.530 as on 17th Oct 2012.