Sarine hires investment banking consultancy to enhance shareholder value
Michelle Zhu
DIAMOND technology company Sarine Technologies said it appointed an investment banking consultancy firm to “aid in analysing and pursuing means to maximising shareholder value”.
It said on Tuesday (Aug 29) that Zacki Tor Turkeltaub – the Israeli-resident director of the appointed agency Global Close Alliances Group (GCA Group) – will lead the GCA team working with Sarine.
The company underscored Turkeltaub’s experience in leading mergers and acquisitions in Israel and abroad over the past 15 years.
It also highlighted his expertise in the establishment of value events and the “conceiving of creative strategic avenues to increase value, and realising their rapid execution, all to the benefit of GCA’s clients and their shareholders”.
GCA Group has offices in 21 countries and provides strategic and operational business consulting to government and corporate clients.
Said Sarine’s board executive chairman Daniel Glinert: “The board of directors believes GCA’s comprehensive capabilities and extensive experience across global financial markets, along with their wide-ranging network of leading equity investment and corporate entities, will assist Sarine to maximise the value of the enterprise for the benefit of all its shareholders.”
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Shares of Sarine on the Singapore Exchange ended Monday unmoved at S$0.35.
The appointment of GCA Group comes weeks after Sarine posted an 85.4 per cent year-on-year decline in net profit to US$953,000 for the six months ended June, from US$6.5 million in H1 FY2022.
The company attributed the weaker H1 showing to reduced disposable income and consumer confidence that was affected by macroeconomic uncertainties arising from an inflationary and high interest-rate environment.
Revenue for the first half of the fiscal year fell 23.9 per cent to US$23.7 million from US$31.2 million, with the decline in the sale of polished diamonds and the subsequent reduction of rough diamonds in the pipeline.
This caused a fall in manufacturing activities and, in turn, adversely affected the group’s traditional business of selling capital equipment, said the group in its results filing on Aug 13.
It declared an interim dividend of US$0.0025 per share for H1 FY2023, compared with the previous year’s US$0.015 per share interim dividend which comprised a US$0.01 per share dividend and an additional special interim dividend of US$0.005 per share.
The company said it expected overall industry conditions to remain challenging for the rest of FY2023.
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