Venue: Marina Mandarin Hotel
Time & date: 11 am, Apr 28
MAP Technology is not paying dividends for FY09 because of losses but its business is now riding on the Hard Disk Drive boom.
Its non-executive chairman, Robert Chia, assured shareholders at the AGM recently that it views paying dividends as being key to what it means to be a “good company”.
He was replying to a question from a shareholder at the company’s AGM.
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Mr Chia added: ”We will do our best. I hope next year, you will attend our AGM and I hope you stand out and say ‘thank you’ to us.”
Map Technology had paid out 60-70% of its net profit in 2007 and 2008 as dividends.
It is also in line with the dividend payout at Min Aik Technology, the major shareholder of Map Technology. Mr Chia is CEO of Min Aik Technology.
Map Technology’s fortunes appear to have brightened considerably.
Riding a boom in the Hard Disk Drive industry, it has reported 1Q profit of US$3 million, reversing a loss of US$1.34 million in the same quarter in 2009. If the 1Q results were annualised, the stock (at 5.5 cents) would be considered to be trading at about 5.5 X earnings.
Some highlights of the Q&A session:
Q The company’s attempt to list its shares as TDRs was rejected because of its losses in FY09. Was the board not aware of the requirement of the Taiwanese authorities?
Robert Chia: The initial indication from the authorities was positive. There were many layers and in the end, they decided not to approve our application. The reason we wanted to do the listing is to improve the liquidity of our shares and improve the shareholder value. But it happened that different authorities had different views.
Q There is a provision of doubtful debt of $13 million. Is that collectible or written off?
Philip Foo (executive director): We are taking legal action to recover it.
Robert Chia: This year we started afresh. We have done full 100% provision and any recovery of the debt will be positive to the company.
Q: Any more provisions expected this year?
Robert Chia: 2008 and 2009 were bad years for many companies. Fortunately, we are here today, which means our company survived. I don’t see any need to make provision for this year. I’m of the view, based on the 1Q result, we are very positive of the results for the whole year.
Q: A number of board directors have resigned and the CFO was terminated. Were these due to mismanagement of the company and because of the provisions made?
Robert Chia: In any family, there are always different views among siblings and spouses. One director is very busy and wanted to step down. It doesn’t mean mismanagement of the company. As of Dec 31, this company has a net cash of US$20 million, so the value is there. This company has not been mismanaged.
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