Chat with Kenny

Hi SI users,

Thanks for your questions posted over the past week. I am happy to answer your questions online. I will repost the questions in blue italics followed by my comments in black.

Happy Labour Day!

Kenny the fish

Jayster, you wrote:

Qian hu has been building inventory of its dragon fish stock so much so it is drawing down on its cashflow.

What's the order book like for the next quarter given the kind of money you are throwing into dragon fish?

Hi Jayster,

Thank you for your question.

We continue to expand our fish farm in Malaysia due to greater demand of dragon fish from Asia(especially China). A few weeks of quarantine time is required for all fishes imported into China and that contributed to some build up as well. We do not think we will continue to build up the dragon fish inventory. It is seasonal and sometime temporary.

Kenny the fish

Marcus, you wrote:

Any plans to place out new shares to strategic investors given the small float of the company and low liquidity?

Selling a stake to partners may propel growth at a faster pace rather than growing organically.

Growth has been slow at Qianhu, do you agree that your business is a mature one and a sunset industry with little or no growth going forward?

Hi Marcus,

How are you?

We keep an open mind about placing out more shares to strategic investors. However, we do not think the current share price justifies us to do so. That means we do not intend to sell that cheap.

There is no such thing as sunset industry and this is why our government for the past 10 years seldom use that term. Sunset in Singapore is sunrise in New York. The only "sunset" problem is mindset. We are at the end of our transformation and I have to admit the growth for the past two years were disappointing. However, pruning tree takes time and if we prune the tree correctly, this tree will become stronger and able to last longer and bear more fruits.

Kenny the fish

Kristine Tan, you wrote:

I've noticed Qian hu had set up a few subsidiary in various countries to test the market aboard. Are there plans to venture into the Middle East and India?

Hi Kristine,

Thanks for your question

There are two markets that I am actively looking at; India and Vietnam. I believe one day, we will set up our operations there. As for Middle East, we have good distributors there but I am also quite open minded about having a JV there if a right partner appears.

Kenny the fish

Tan Kim Chong, you wrote:

Most of your management staff is within your own family members. Do you plan to hire outsiders whom can expand the business cause people from the same family tend to think alike and outsiders may bring in new ideas and directions to the company.

Hi Kim Chong,

If you are talking about top management, half of the management are family members. Relatively speaking, before our listing, almost 90% are family members. If you look at the group level, less than 20 people are related as compared to 600 over employees. Thus we believe we have to try our best to create a Qian hu family run business rather than a Yap family run business.

Kenny the fish

Fiona Chen, you wrote:

Your sales in Singapore seems to be dropping while overseas sales is making up for the slack. Any plans to increase local sales since it makes up the bulk of your earnings, almost one quarter of total sales?

Hi Fiona,

I have said in my previous interviews and Q&A sessions that Qian Hu's growth is overseas and not in Singapore. We will try to maintain our leadership in Singapore but no matter how, Singapore domestic market is too small to deserve much resources. China has a market which is at least 30 times Singapore, and thus deserve more of our resources.

Kenny the fish

Thanks again to all the investors who have posted their questions here. I hope I have answered them to your satisfaction. The next chance for us to correspond again will be the time when we announce our Half Year 2006 results. In the meantime, do feel free to visit our corporate website: http://www.qianhu.com/ and our IR website: http://qianhu.listedcompany.com for more information.

Take care and I look forward to our next online Q&A.

Happy Labour Day!

Kenny the fish