① Zhonghu Hi-Tech has fallen into a “fraud” crisis due to a real-name report from the subsidiary's former production director. An announcement was issued this evening clarifying that the market rumors were all false reports with no factual basis. ② According to breaking news, Chubang's delicious fresh series oyster sauce accounts for only 1.6%, but it is falsely labeled that the amount of oyster sauce used has increased tenfold. ③ Last year, the company became the focus of the market due to a control dispute, and the land contract dispute lawsuit has just come to an end.
Financial Services News, March 1 (Reporter Fu Jing) Zhonghu Hi-Tech (600872. SH) recently fell into a “fraud” crisis due to a real-name report from the subsidiary's former production director. This evening, the company issued an announcement clarifying that all market rumors are false reports with no factual basis.
According to the announcement, recently, the company noticed that some media published false reports on the Internet that its subsidiaries Guangdong Delicious Fresh Seasoned Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Chubang”) and Guangdong Chubang Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Chubang”) were reported under real names. In order to avoid misleading investors, the company now clarifies the following: The company produces 11 major categories and more than 100 series of condiments, and has always attached great importance to food safety and quality. The products are loved by consumers. The production standards, quality, and financial subsidies for soy sauce and oyster sauce products covered in the report are all false reports with no factual basis.
According to Zhonghu Hi-Tech, all production and operation of the company is legal and compliant, and the products produced strictly abide by the relevant regulations of the country's food safety management. The company will continue to strive to provide consumers with healthy, reliable and quality-assured products.
According to a reporter from the Financial Federation, Wang Hai, a well-known counterfeiter, recently posted on Weibo that Gao Tingming, the whistleblower of Chubang and former production director of Chubang “surrendered”: the core condiment company under Zhonju Gaoxin, a listed company owned by Yao Zhenhua, commissioned Yangxi Delicious Fresh Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yangxi Delicious Fresh”) to produce all production of Chubang series oyster sauce and delicious fresh series oyster sauce oyster sauce only accounts for 1.6%; while providing the amino acid nitrogen content of oyster sauce, the additive monosodium glutamate is 6 and 1.5 times that of the raw ingredients in oyster sauce At the same time, the amount of oyster sauce was increased by 10 times on the label ingredient list to falsely label Note (It is ranked 2nd on the label ingredients list; it should actually rank 6th according to the amount added).
Gao Tingming stated that the above situation did not meet the requirements of the national standard for oyster sauce, and also claimed that Chubang falsified the entire high-tech enterprise application process and defrauded about 200 million yuan of state subsidy funds; with Chubang oyster sauce alone, the suspected illegal proceeds would exceed 1 billion yuan.
According to the aforementioned Weibo, Gao Tingming is the production director of Yuanjiaxian's production site in Yangxi (Chubang and Yangxi Delicious Food). He worked for 22 years in R&D technology, quality control, and production management at Delicious Fresh from 2014 to July 2020.
A related Weibo also showed that the Guangdong Zhongshan Market Supervision Administration responded to Gao Tingming on February 18, 2024, saying that the case would not be filed and did not explain the reason; Gao Tingming made a report to relevant leaders of Yangjiang City in Guangdong Province and the director of the Yangxi County Taxation Bureau on December 30, 2023, and there has been no response so far. Gao Tingming expressed hope that relevant departments at the provincial level in Guangdong Province will organize a joint investigation team to intervene in the investigation of the fraud case.
The reporter noticed that today the Guangdong Zhongshan Market Supervision Administration issued an information notice: Recently, the Internet reported that Chubang's oyster sauce fraud was reported by a former executive under his real name. Our bureau attaches great importance to it and is currently organizing and carrying out related inspections.
According to the 2023 semi-annual report, as of the end of June last year, the number of Zhongju Hi-Tech dealers had exceeded 2,000, with a development rate of 94.06% in prefecture-level cities and a cumulative development rate of 71.46% in district and county markets. It is one of the few condiment companies with a national network. According to public information, Chubang is a brand under Delicious Fresh. Its products cover categories such as soy sauce, chicken powder (essence), cooking oil, oyster sauce, seasoning sauce, fermented milk, vinegar, monosodium glutamate, sauce, etc., and was one of the top ten condiment brands loved by the public in 2020.
Last year, the company once became the focus of the capital market due to a control dispute. On July 24, the company passed an extraordinary shareholders' meeting to complete the “blood exchange” of the board of directors. Meanwhile, in the first half of last year, due to a land contract dispute with Zhongshan Huoju Industrial Joint Co., Ltd., Zhonghu Hi-Tech calculated an estimated debt of 1,477 billion yuan and a net profit loss of 1,443 billion yuan to the mother, which also worried investors.
However, the company recently announced that the two parties have reached a settlement. The industry has jointly withdrawn the three land lawsuits, the court has granted permission to withdraw the lawsuits, and the three cases have been closed. After the settlement, the company expects all of its liabilities to be reversed, with profit and loss increasing by 1,178 billion yuan in 2023. The estimated liabilities calculated in 2022 will be included in non-operating income, while the estimated liabilities accrued in the first half of 2023 will be recovered. The company expects last year's results to turn a loss into a profit.