From losing S$100m to earning S$55m profit

Singapore

IN 2015, Yao Hsiao Tung was 75 and looking to slow down. He'd begun seeking his successor as chief executive officer of Hi-P International Ltd, a contract manufacturer for customers including Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc. But an annual loss, and the US$126 million claim that Hi-P filed because of it, ended that plan.

The self-professed troubleshooter attributes the company's first red ink since listing on Singapore's stock exchange mostly to one big error that he oversaw. Its electronics unit took on a contract to co-design and produce a dual-screen smartphone for Yota Devices Ltd without doing enough due diligence. The Moscow-based firm didn't take delivery of the phones, according to Yao. Yota couldn't be reached for comment.