Trading halt on Best World shares extended by up to two days

THE trading halt on Best World International's shares has been extended by up to two days, for the company to finalise and release a clarification. The trading halt may be lifted no later than 8.30am on Feb 25, the company said in a filing on Thursday. It had requested a trading halt on Feb 18, 2019, 11.23am.

In response to a Feb 18 BT article "Sales of DR's Secret in China: Best World's best-kept secret?", which discussed the difficulties of tracking the company's strong sales in China, Best World said: "The company would like to assure its shareholders that it has conducted all areas of its business ethically and in compliance with applicable laws and accounting standards."

Best World shares slid 54 Singapore cents or 16.6 per cent to S$2.71 on 8.69 million shares traded before trading was halted on Feb 18. Before Monday, shares in the skincare maker and distributor soared 171 per cent over the past 12 months, driven by strong growth in China, where it has moved away from an export business model to a franchise one.

It has been queried by the Singapore Exchange nine times since April 2016 for unusual trading activity, the most recent being on Feb 7, when the counter gained 8.57 per cent in one day on no obvious news flow.

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