It is hard to tell whether the cause was bad timing or an irresistible temptation to bury bad news. But with share trading halted, many Hongkongers travelling and most newspapers taking a day off, the announcement board of the local stock exchange was littered with profit warnings and other burnt corporate offerings on the eve of the New Year celebrations on Wednesday.
While Lunar New Year is traditionally a time to share and celebrate wealth, Ko Yo Ecological Agrotech, a chemical products maker, put out an earnings alert at 5.42pm on Wednesday. 'The board expects a loss will be recorded for the group in the financial year of 2010,' Ko Yo said, blaming prolonged droughts in the south for raising the cost of its chemical supplies. No one was available for comment at Ko Yo yesterday afternoon.
Tree grower and logger China Grand Forestry Green Resources was the source of another holiday admission, saying late on Wednesday afternoon that a plan to diversify into coal mining in Mongolia had been scrapped. China Grand 'will not proceed with the proposed acquisition' of a Mongolian mine, it told the stock exchange, without giving reasons. No one could be reached for comment at China Grand.
Meanwhile, Natural Dairy's bid for 16 New Zealand farms has been blocked by the government in Wellington following protests from opponents of foreign investment in the country's farms, ranging from the Green Party to Federated Farmers.
On Wednesday, the company all but admitted it had given up on the deal. Natural Dairy said its lawyers 'were of the view that the company was unlikely to succeed in any judicial review or appeal' of the government's decision. A Natural Dairy spokesman could not be reached.
Issuing bad news on the eve of public holidays is as much a tradition in Hong Kong as New Year lai see.
