Don't Act On Han's 'Forecast', Says F&N

Source : The Business Times, October 8, 2007

Company distances itself from outgoing CEO's remarks given to the media

FRASER & Neave (F&N) has distanced itself from comments made by Han Cheng Fong, its former chief executive whose unexpected resignation on Friday shocked the market.

A statement from the company yesterday referred to comments Dr Han gave to the media in which he spoke about the company's future. Dr Han, who stepped down following disagreements with the board, had given his own take on the company's prospects. An F&N spokesman took pains to stress that investors should not act on that information.

In a statement of his own after F&N announced his departure, Dr Han had said: 'As the third-quarter results indicate, we are going to end this year with sterling quality performance.'

Dr Han added that he is confident of strong double-digit growth over the next five years and F&N is likely to achieve a doubling of this year's bottom-line performance by the end of the fifth year.

F&N said its outlook for the year, given during its third-quarter results in August, is expected to improve over that of the previous year, barring any unexpected circumstances.

In addition, F&N said while it is known it has set itself a target of 10 per cent improvement each year, it does not make public forecasts of its long-term performance.

'Investors are advised not to act on information which has not been issued by the company,' said F&N's group company secretary Anthony Cheong.

The booming property market helped to boost F&N's third-quarter net profit by 28 per cent to $97.1 million, while net earnings for the first nine months rose 36 per cent to $280.7 million.

On Friday, F&N said Dr Han is leaving with immediate effect, citing differences with the board.

No successor has been named but F&N said that pending the appointment of a new chief executive, the board's chairman will oversee management of the group.

Current chairman Michael Fam steps down next week to make way for Lee Hsien Yang, the former chief executive of Singapore Telecommunications.