Ex-finance man at BreadTalk Chan Ying Jian to take over as Yeo Hiap Seng CFO

THE former chief financial officer (CFO) of BreadTalk Group is stepping up to the plate at mainboard-listed Yeo Hiap Seng, according to a late-night filing on Wednesday.

This is as the drinks maker's senior vice-president of group finance, Koo Liang Kwee, is set to leave on May 31 "to pursue other career opportunities", just over half a year since he jumped ship from chocolate company Delfi.

Yeo Hiap Seng's next CFO, Chan Ying Jian, is now CFO and information technology director at private education chain The Learning Lab. He joins the drinks maker on July 1. The 38-year-old is a chartered accountant and chartered financial analyst who has been with The Learning Lab since March 2020.

Before that, he was group CFO at the now-privatised BreadTalk, as well as its chief investment officer and group head of information technology. He had earlier served a stint as senior lead for Asean agri-commodities and consumer staples research at JP Morgan from 2012 to 2014.

His hiring comes slightly a year after Coca-Cola finance veteran and regional vice-president Samuel Koh became Yeo Hiap Seng's chief executive in March 2020, replacing Melvin Teo.

The outgoing Mr Koo, 51, joined Yeo Hiap Seng on Aug 12, 2020, a day after leaving Singapore-listed Delfi, citing both "health reasons" and "personal interests".

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There are no unresolved differences in opinion on material matters between him and the board of directors of Yeo Hiap Seng, said the latest update. Neither is there any relevant information that the board believes should be flagged to shareholders.

Yeo Hiap Seng shares closed at S$0.91 on Wednesday, up by half a Singapore cent or 0.55 per cent, before the management reshuffle was announced.