KUALA LUMPUR (July 5): HB Global Ltd's (KL:HBGLOB) former executive chairman, Keh Chuan Seng, has ceased to be a substantial shareholder in the frozen food manufacturer.

Keh offloaded 15.7 million shares or a 2.01% stake in the group via direct business transactions on Friday, HB Global’s filing showed. This reduced his shareholding in the group to 4.9% from 6.91% previously.

Keh resigned from HB Global’s board on Feb 22, after serving as chairman for two years and six months.

He is the founder and chairman of the Frazel Group of Companies and currently holds the position of executive chairman at both Tex Cycle Technology (M) Bhd (KL:TEXCYCL) and Ge-Shen Corp Bhd (KL:GESHEN).

Keh first emerged as HB Global’s largest shareholder in July 2020 after acquiring a 32.05% stake from the group’s founder and CEO, Shen Hengbao, via an off-market transaction.

At the end of April, HB Global’s external auditor, UHY Lee Seng Chan & Co, issued a statement of material uncertainty — in the frozen food maker's audited financial statements for the year ended Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023) — about the group's ability to continue as a going concern.
 
The auditor pointed out that HB Global had net current liabilities of 39.21 million yuan and incurred a net loss of 47.9 million yuan for FY2023.

The group has been experiencing continuous losses since 2020. For the first quarter of  FY2024, HB Global widened its net loss to RM7.9 million from RM4.7 million a year earlier.

Shares of HB Global, which have risen 35% year to date, closed unchanged at 13.5 sen on Friday. This gives the group a market capitalisation of RM101.8 million.