On Aug 29, Wilmar International : F34 -0.74% non-executive director Kuok Khoon Hua disposed of 220,000 shares via a market transaction at S$4.06 per share. The consideration of the acquisition totalled S$894,683 and marginally reduced his total interest in Asia&rsquo s leading agribusiness group from 0.965 per cent to 0.962 per cent.

 

Kuok filed similar sized market transactions, which were acquisitions, back in 2018. In that year, he acquired 225,000 shares at S$3.04 per share on Jun 28, and 222,000 shares at S$3.08 per share, on Jun 25.

 

Kuok was first appointed to the board of Wilmar in July 2016. He is the chairman of Kerry Holdings, the main investment holding company of the Kuok Group in Hong Kong.

 

He is also an executive director of Kerry Logistics Network and a non-executive director of Kerry Properties, both of which are companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and an independent director of Sea, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

 

Back on Aug 4, Wilmar reported a record US$1.16 billion net profit for H1 2022, on the back of an improved performance across all key business segments as well as higher contributions from its associates and joint ventures.

 

SHARES of Wilmar International : F34 +4.12% reached a 3-month high on Friday (Aug 5) after the agribusiness group reported a 55.1 per cent rise in net profit for the first half ended June.

 

Its board also proposed an interim dividend of S$0.06 per share for H1 2022 &ndash its highest interim dividend since listing.

 

The counter reached a high of S$4.31 on Friday afternoon, up 4.4 per cent or S$0.18 as at 2.40 pm. The last time the counter closed near this level was May 6. By 3.36 pm, around 13.7 million shares changed hands.

 

The group said in a financial update on Thursday that net profit for the 6-month period rose to US$1.2 billion from US$750.9 million in the year-ago period. This came on the back of improved performance across all key business segments and higher contributions from associates and joint ventures.

 

The proposed interim dividend will be payable on Aug 24.

Wilmar International shares gained as much as 9.8% to $4.26 today, prompting a query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

 

In a separate update, the palm oil giant said that plans to separately list its China subsidiary on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has taken one step ahead with the filing of an updated draft prospectus.

 

The subsidiary, 99.99% owned by Wilmar, is called Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings Co. It sells edible oil, among other businesses. The IPO is managed by China Securities Co. 

For the FY ended Dec 31 2019, Yihai Kerry reported earnings of RMB5.56 billion ($1.1 billion), up slightly from RMB5.5 billion in FY2018. Revenue in the same period was RMB170.7 billion, up from RMB167 billion.

 

&ldquo As work on the proposed listing is still in progress, there is no assurance that the Proposed Listing will proceed, so shareholders and potential investors are accordingly advised to exercise caution when dealing with the securities of the company,&rdquo says Wilmar.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/wilmar-shares-surge-impending-subsidiary-ipo-draws-query