Search the Community

BreadTalk Will Delist Company On 5 Jun After Posting $5.8 Million Loss In 2019 source: https://mustsharenews.com/breadtalk-delist/ BreadTalk Faces Financial Woes Amidst Decision To Delist Company BreadTalk is synonymous with freshly baked $1 floss buns & an open concept bakery store with their signature white tongs & trays. However, the homegrown brand has been facing financial woes of late, posting a $5.8 million net loss in 2019, reports The Straits Times. Now, the company will be delisting themselves on Friday (5 Jun) after a “compulsory acquisition” by BTG Holding. This means that BreadTalk will no longer be listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), and citizens won’t be able to buy or sell shares from the company. BreadTalk will be privately owned again The group first issued a “voluntary conditional cash offer” to buy back shares at a price of $0.77 in Feb 2020. BreadTalk’s share price has previously oscillated between S$0.50-$1.25, according to DrWealth. This was followed by the halting of the trading of BreadTalk’s shares on 21 Apr. Bought back by founders & Thailand hospitality chain United Overseas Bank made an offer on BTG Holding Company’s behalf to buy back remaining ordinary shares issued, before exercising their right to a compulsory acquisition. BTG Holding Company was created by BreadTalk’s founder Mr George Quek, his wife Ms Katherine Lee & Thailand’s Minor International as a “special purpose vehicle” to complete this deal, reports Business Times. Osim, Hyflux & M1 were delisted too Possible reasons for delisting a company from the stock exchange include: Greater freedom to privately execute cost-saving strategies No need to publicly disclose as much financial info Less accountability required to public shareholders BreadTalk will join other homegrown companies who’ve delisted from SGX like: Eu Yan Sang Osim Hyflux M1 Business woes & salary cuts Back in March, BreadTalk shared that paycuts of 10-50% were conducted till June for staff in senior & middle management roles. BreadTalk’s expansion to China was also one of the reasons attributed for a “challenging” business environment, with 4th quarter earnings “dragged down” by the performance of outlets in China & the impact of Covid-19 outbreak. Food Republic, Food Junction & Toast Box are brands which remain & continue to operate under the domain of BreadTalk. Hope restructuring goes smoothly For a company founded in 2000, BreadTalk has achieved much over the short span of 20 years. From a humble single outlet at Bugis Junction, to hundreds of bakeries & food courts in the region, BreadTalk remains one of Singapore’s success stories. We hope that the company’s decision to delist from SGX & restructuring measures will go smoothly.

Breadtalk founder Quek to privatise company with 77 cents per share offer source: https://www.theedgesingapore.com/news/company-news/breadtalk-founder-quek-privatise-company-77-cents-share-offer SINGAPORE (Feb 24): BreadTalk Group, one of the more high-profile consumer brand names in Singapore, might soon join the growing list of companies privatised from the Singapore Exchange. On Feb 24, the company announced that a consortium led by BreadTalk founder and chairman George Quek is offering to buy over the remaining 29.47% of the company they do not already own. The offer price, at 77 cents per share, is a premium of 19.4% over BreadTalk’s last traded price of 64.5 cents earlier on Feb 24, before a trading halt was called. The offer price is more than double the net asset value of 32.5 cents as at Dec 31 2019. Besides Quek, the consortium includes his wife Katherine Lee, who is the deputy chairman and an executive director of BreadTalk, as well as other investors with smaller stakes, such as Thailand-based Minor International. In a stock market filing at 11.38 pm, the offerors note that the company has not raised funds from the stock market in the past decade, and that the company is now facing tougher operating conditions across the region. The offerors claim they are giving “an attractive cash exit opportunity for shareholders to liquidate and realise their entire investment at a premium to the prevailing market prices.” This announcement comes some five weeks after BreadTalk had sounded a profit warning for FY2019, saying that it was likely to report a loss for the financial year ended December 31, 2019. The group had cited contributing factors such as wider losses at its bakery business in China and Thailand, losses at its 4orth division due to a challenging operating environment, as well as the impact of the Hong Kong protests on the financial performance of its bakery and food atrium divisions in the former British colony. The group also hit the headlines due to the spate of resignations by key executive figures including CEO Henry Chu, as well as CFO and CIO Chan Ying Jian. Just half hour before Quek's takeover was announced, the group reported losses of $8.1 million for 4QFY2019 ended December, a reversal from earnings of $8.9 million in the corresponding period last year. This translated into a loss per share of 1.44 cent for the quarter, compared to earnings per share of 1.58 cents in 4QFY2018. As a result, the group booked a loss of $5.2 million for FY2019 in contrast to earnings of $15.2 million in FY2018. Revenue for the quarter increased 10.1% to $170.4 million from $154.8 million last year, which in turn saw revenue for FY2019 increase 9.0% to $664.9 million. Cost of sales for the quarter doubled to $132.2 million from $67.1 million a year ago. Correspondingly, gross profit for the quarter slumped 56.4% to $38.2 million from $87.6 million last year. A breakdown of the group’s revenue figures for FY2019 revealed that the bakery division booked a y-o-y increase of 2.0% to $287.7 million due to the consolidation of revenue from its Thailand Bakery business following the acquisition of a 50% stake in BTM (Thailand) from Minor Food Group. The group says that excluding this, revenue would have been lowered by 6.3% y-o-y, due primarily to lower revenue from both the direct operated stores and the franchise business in China, partly offset by stronger revenue by its direct operated stores in Singapore, as well as its international franchise business. BreadTalk’s food atrium division saw its revenue grow 5.3% y-o-y to $165.3 million following the consolidation of the Food Junction financials from November 1 2019 after the group successfully acquired Food Junction Management. Revenue from the restaurant division rose 15.0% from the previous year due to the addition of six more outlets - four in Singapore and two in Thailand, as well as the closure of one outlet in Singapore. The group adds that its UK operations have yet to turn profitable. Revenue from the group’s 4orth division surged 129% to $32.5 million in FY2019 as the group commenced Song Fa Bak Kut Teh operations in Beijing, Guangzhou and Bangkok, as well as deepened its presence in Shanghai. However, BreadTalk says that the division had not only incurred start-up costs for new outlets, but had also experienced below expectation performance in certain outlets. As at end-December, cash and cash equivalents stood at $157.6 million. The group has also not recommended a dividend for the quarter as it is in a net loss position. In 4QFY2018, the group had recommended a dividend of one cent per ordinary share. In its outlook statement, the group says that while its key markets such as Singapore, China and Hong Kong continue to be plagued by challenging operating environments, its management team has been working actively to turnaround the group’s loss-making businesses. “The outbreak of Covid-19 has added further challenges to the Group’s operations. The uncertainty in Hong Kong will continue to have a negative impact to our Food Atrium and Bakery businesses in the territory,” says BreadTalk. As a well-known brand, BreadTalk was an easy target for criticism over social media when its marketing and promotional activities went wrong. The company has been aggressively expanding over the years. Its most recent venture saw it take over food court operator Food Junction for $80 million in September last year. Year to date, BreadTalk shares have dropped more than a quarter. Even at the last traded price of 64.5 cents on Feb 24, the company is valued at 41.5 times historical earnings.

First they try to pull a fast one riding on the death of LKY, now they pass off package drinks as freshly prepared, and staffs spotted icing a bengawa solo cake. What next???...LOL BreadTalk stops selling soya milk; confirms that item was repackaged from Yeo's packet drink A photograph of a BreadTalk staff member using a packet of Yeo's soya bean milk to fill up bottles for sale has drawn ire from netizens.PHOTO: THE NEW PAPER PUBLISHEDAUG 4, 2015, 1:44 PM SGT UPDATED9 HOURS AGO 91.9K 38 4 Jessica Lim Consumer Correspondent SINGAPORE - Confectionary chain BreadTalk has pulled its soya bean drink from its shelves, after a photograph showing an employee filling up plastic bottles with Yeo's brand soya bean milk made its rounds on the Internet. The post, first published on online site Redwire Times on Monday evening, claimed that the chain was selling the packaged soya bean drink as "freshly prepared". Posted by someone known as Kev, the post called the discovery "shocking". "This 'freshly prepared' soya bean milk from BreadTalk always tasted very familiar, but somehow I couldn't figure out why until now. You see for yourself why. This BreadTalk staff is just pouring Yeo's soya bean milk into bottles of 'freshly prepared' soya bean sold by BreadTalk," he said. When contacted, BreadTalk admitted that the drink was from a Yeo's packet, and that it buys the drink in one-litre packs from Yeo's in bulk. The company then repackages it into plain plastic bottles with the words "freshly prepared" on them, seals the bottles, and sells them at its stores. The problem, said the BreadTalk spokesman, arose after the chain used the bottles with "freshly-prepared" labels to package the soy milk. The bottles are also used to package fresh juice for sale. "We have heard our customers' feedback about our bottled soya bean milk," she said. "We would like to apologise for any misaligned presentation or wrong impressions created, and clarify that it is never our intention to mislead." The chain will resume selling the drink out of labelled drink dispensers instead "to prevent misunderstanding", said the spokesman. Retail experts said it is common for eateries to buy in bulk and then repackage items, especially with the current labour crunch. But it is less common for them to sell them as freshly-prepared. "Firms just buy generic products in bulk or outsource production," said Singapore Polytechnic senior retail lecturer Sarah Lim, who added that it is then up to the retailer to decide on pricing. "It depends on demand, rental and other costs." In the case of the soya bean drink, selling it as freshly-prepared would have been unethical as it gave the impression that the drink was brewed in-house. Meanwhile, a picture of a staff member icing a Bengawan Solo layered cake at an Icing Room store, which also comes under BreadTalk, was also posted on Tuesday. It led some to ask if the under-fire bakery was also using cakes from rival bakeries. Insisting that this was the wrong impression, the BreadTalk spokesman said: “A staff member brought in the cake on her own accord to be decorated by a colleague. This is not allowed, and staff will be reminded of that.” http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/breadtalk-accused-of-selling-packaged-soya-milk-as-freshly-prepared

Just tried it this afternoon. its good and lots of pepper taste! inside the bun have some fillings as well