Hupsteel shares fall below public float, to be suspended at offer close

THE valid acceptances exceeding 90 per cent held by the founding Lim family, following its voluntary conditional cash offer for steel trader Hupsteel, mean that the company's shares have breached the minimum 10-per-cent public float requirement.

As such, the Singapore Exchange will suspend trading of the shares at the close of the offer. The offeror plans to delist the company and so will not take any steps to restore the public float or lift the trading suspension, it said.

An offer, once declared unconditional, has to remain open for acceptance for at least 14 days after the date on which the offer would otherwise have closed. Therefore, the closing date is now extended from Aug 30 to Sept 13, which will be the final closing date.

Separately, Hupsteel also announced that its fourth-quarter net profit fell 11 per cent to S$1.2 million, on the back of a flat revenue at S$17.9 million, thanks to relatively stable demand for its steel products. The bottom line was affected by lower other operating income, comprising rental, dividend and interest income, while other operating expenses rose with higher sales volume.

For the full year ended June 30, net profit fell 29 per cent to S$3.3 million, while revenue rose 14 per cent to S$68 million, due to higher demand for steel products in the first half of FY19, before Sino-US trade tensions caused a slowdown in demand from the second half of FY19.