# EVENTS AFTER THE REPORTING PERIOD

# Back-to-back Guarantee Agreement

Reference were made to the announcements of the Company dated 30 July 2018, 29 July 2019, 24 July 2020 and 28 July 2021 in relation to the provisional of financial guarantee services. A Renewal Agreement to renew the Back-to-back Guarantee Agreement was entered by Wuhu Feishang Non-metal Material Co., Limited\*（蕪湖飛尚非金屬材料有限公司）, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company established in the PRC (the “Wuhu Subsidiary”), pursuant to which the Wuhu Subsidiary has agreed to provide financial guarantee to the Borrower by means of pledging its deposit in the sum of CNY20 million for procuring the Borrower to obtain the loan of CNY19 million provided by the lending bank. In return, the Wuhu Subsidiary shall receive a guarantee fee of 6% of the amount of deposit pledged by the Wuhu Subsidiary. The Board considers that the Group has surplus cash in CNY in excess of the working capital needs for its business operation in the PRC. The provision of Guarantee in favour of the Borrower will better utilize the Group’s surplus cash with reasonable return.

# Proposed (i) share consolidation; and (ii) rights issue

The Company proposed to implement (i) the share consolidation on the basis that every ten (10) issued and unissued existing shares into one (1) consolidated share (“Consolidated Share(s)”) and (ii) the rights issue on the basis of one (1) rights shares for every one (1) Consolidated Shares held on the record date at the subscription price of HK\$0.350 per rights share, to raise gross proceeds of approximately HK\$27.8 million before expenses (assuming no other change in the number of Shares in issue save for the share consolidation on or before the record Date) by issuing 79,557,200 rights shares. Details were set out in the Company’s announcements dated 16 July 2021 and 6 August 2021.

As save as above, there is no material event undertaken by the Company or the Group subsequent to 30 June 2021 and up to the date of this report.

# OUTLOOK

The PRC has generally kept COVID-19 under control, and economic activities and confidence have rapidly recovered. The Chinese government has implemented strong fiscal and monetary stabilizing policies to further boost the PRC ‘s GDP growth by building a strong domestic market and supporting the domestic and international “dual circulation” strategy. Investment in fixed assets, real estate and infrastructure construction is expected to maintain solid growth, which will then support bentonite demand from downstream industries including the iron and steel and the energy sectors. Nevertheless, it would be difficult to gauge the longer term impact of such events as the situation is dynamically revolving. The Group has been proactive in closely monitoring the market conditions and taking appropriate measures to respond to the challenges. The Group will also continue to strengthen its cost control and resources management as well as to actively participate in project tenders, in order to maintain its competitiveness in the market.

Within the bentonite industry, uncertainties due to COVID-19 and international trade conflicts will cause market competition to further intensify and prices to fluctuate. Meanwhile, the new series of real estate market regulation and control policies and the PRC ‘s ambitious target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 are expected to adversely affect the iron and steel and the traditional energy industries in the long term, which will negatively impact the Group’s business by imposing pressures on demand for pelletising clay and drilling mud. The Group strives to maintain the sales volume of its bentonite products by improving product quality and adhering to the “selling more with lower margin” strategy, and yet the Group may not be able to maintain the current level of gross profit margin in the coming months. The Group intends to continue expanding its customer base and market share by boosting product awareness of its bentonite products, refining its production technology and developing new products with a view to enhance the Group’s overall competitiveness to cope with the risks and uncertainties of the business environment.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Hong Kong, the Group expects that the business environment in financial services, including wealth management and money lending business, would be challenging in the year 2021. However, with the expectation of increasing awareness in wealth management in recent years, as well as the probable easing of travel restrictions between Hong Kong and the PRC, the Group remains cautiously optimistic in the medium and long-term development of this business segment in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the Group will cautiously monitor market change and impose robust control measures to improve cost efficiency and risk management in order to provide a solid foundation for sustainable growth in the future.