BreadTalk's finance and investment chief quits just weeks after group warns of FY2019 net loss

SINGAPORE (Jan 31): Chan Ying Jian, the group chief financial officer and group chief investment officer of BreadTalk Group, has thrown in the towel – just two weeks after the F&B group warned it is expected to report a net loss for FY2019 ended December.

In a filing to SGX before market open on Friday, BreadTalk said Chan has resigned from his posts with effect from Mar 15 to “pursue other career opportunities”.

Chan has been BreadTalk’s group CFO since June 2015, leading the corporate finance, reporting, as well as legal and risk management functions across the group’s businesses.

In October last year, he was appointed group CIO to plan and execute its corporate strategies.

In this role, Chan was in charge of charting the growth of the group through the identification of merger and acquisition opportunities, as well as the effective management of the group’s investments.

He owns a direct interest of 64,421 shares in BreadTalk Group.

Following Chan’s resignation, BreadTalk says founder and group executive chairman George Quek Meng Tong will oversee the group’s accounting, financial, treasury and tax matters, assisted by the group financial controller and the division financial controller.

Already, Quek, the iconic face of BreadTalk, is covering the group’s CEO duties, after former group CEO Chu Heng Hwee left the company a month ago on Dec 31, 2019.

BreadTalk on Jan 16 announced it is expected to sink into the red in FY2019, on the back of widening losses at its bakery business in China and Thailand, as well as across several brands within its so-called 4orth division.

The group said the division, which includes the Wu Pao Chun, Song Fa, Tai Gai and Nayuki brands, faces a “challenging operating environment”.

BreadTalk also flagged a “significant deterioration” in the financial performance of the group’s businesses in Hong Kong across both the bakery and food atrium divisions due to the social unrest in the region.

See: BreadTalk Group to sink into the red for FY2019

For the first nine months of FY2019, BreadTalk saw its earnings plummet 54.8% to $2.9 million, compared to $6.3 million in 9MFY2018.

9MFY2019 revenue rose 8.7% to $4494.6 million, with gross profit climbing 29.7% to $331.3 million during the period.

However, the group’s bottom-line was hit by a 37.6% jump in distribution and selling expenses to $252.4 million.

In addition, overall interest expense for 9MFY2019 more than doubled to $18.0 million, due to the adoption of a new accounting standard.

Net asset value per share was 9.7% lower at 26.1 cents for 9MFY2019, compared to 28.9 cents in FY2018.

The group is expected to announce its FY2019 results on Feb 24.

The counter has shed some 15.9% since its profit guidance on Jan 16. As at 9.35am, shares in BreadTalk are trading at 58 cents.