THE Court of Appeal has today struck off an appeal by five former directors of lingerie and apparel manufacturer Classita Holdings Bhd (formerly Caely Holdings Bhd) to invalidate the adjournment of the group’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held on June 15 last year at the request of the appellants themselves.
The five ex-directors – Loh Ming Choon, Wong Siaw Puie, Sin Hock Min, Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria and Koo Chen Yeng – had filed their appeal against the decision of the appellant court on Aug 29 last year.
As a result, the five directors alongside four others were removed from the Board of Classita effective 15 June 2022.
“With the appeal struck off, it is proof that all parties recognise that the EGM was held and conducted in a proper manner within the guidelines and regulations. The current board of directors will ensure that there are no improper or illegal misconducts in its day-today operations of the group,” Classita’s executive chairman Ng Keok Chai pointed out.
Commenting on the overall business direction, he said the board and the management are currently working to expand the main income generating lingerie business while reviving its property development and construction businesses which used to be the group’s second income contributor prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Classita intends to re-align its resources to develop the property development and construction business and will be continuously looking out for potential development projects in view of the long-term prospects of the property industry,” noted Ng who spent 36 years in the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM).
Meanwhile, the group has been actively exporting its lingerie to among others, Germany, Canada, the US and Hong Kong. It is also continuously seeking to increase its revenue in OEM (original equipment manufacturing) by penetrating into other countries.
Currently, Classita is in talks with a prominent global fashion brand to manufacture undergarments for the overseas market by leveraging the latter’s global market presence.
Additionally, the group is also in talks with a few Malaysian renowned and up-and-coming celebrity brands to manufacture fashionwear for these brands aside from receiving numerous enquiries on its OEM products from Turkey, France and Australia.
It is learnt that the group’s new joint venture with its Indonesian counterpart to increase its lingerie production and to expand its distribution networks via the incorporation of P.T. Classita Indonesia Intimates has commenced following the completion of the manufacturing plant in February this year.
“The group also continuously engaged subcontractors for its manufacturing business in foreign countries such as Myanmar and Bangladesh to control its manufacturing cost as the labour cost and operating cost in these countries are relatively lower compared to Malaysia,” shared Ng.
“With the above initiatives and future-proofing measures, we believe that we will be able to greatly reduce our operational costs, increase our profit margins and eventually turnaround the group.”
He added the Classita board has also underscored its commitment to allocate all its available resources towards the efforts of recovering all monies believed to have been misappropriated from Classita, be it in currently ongoing or future legal actions.
At the close of today’s trading, Classita was up 2 sen or 12.5% to 18 sen with 84.49 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM62 mil. – April 27, 2023
