EPI achieves maiden profit

Press, 13 May 1987, Page 42

EPI achieves maiden profit

European Pacific Investments, SA, (EPI) the merchant banker which is based in Luxemburg, yesterday reported an unaudited group net profit of $U51,835,000 ($NZ3,191,000) in the first six months to December 31.

The directors said that they considered the result a successful one, because the company, in its present form, had only been trading for one month to December 31.

EPI was established in December with the Bank of New Zealand, Brierley Investments, Ltd, and Capital Markets, Ltd, each holding 28 per cent of the capital of SUSSOM. The chairman, Mr David Richwhite, said that the net result meant that EPI was on target for its forecast annual net profit of SUSIOM to June 30.

The company would benefit from its capital base and the wider trading, including the new Hong Kong companies, in the six months to June 30.

EPI also announced that the market capitalisation achieved after the shares were listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange entitled it to be taxed on distributions rather than market capitalisation.

The taxation move would be an advantage, irrespective of the amount distributed, Mr Richwhite said.

For this reason, it was necessary to change the company’s balance date from Jqne 30 to December 31, and so the result for the next six months would be for a halfyear.

The joint managing director of EPI, Mr Alex Adamovich, said that the offer by Glynhill, Ltd, the Hong Kong investment subsidiary for Dart Development Company,

Ltd, was unconditional. EPI now owned 99 per cent of the capital.

Dart had acquired the 12.1 per cent holding in Applied Electronics, Ltd, of Hong Kong, held by an EPI subsidiary. These shares had been bought by the EPI subsidiary for SHK4O.6M on March 9. Applied Electronics was a leading electronics and toy maker in Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China. Mr Richwhite said that the latest profit came mainly from activities of European Pacific Banking Corporation (EPBC) and Cook Islands Trust Corporation, Ltd (CITC). EPBC began trading as an international banking trust and investment group in April, 1986, and the CITC was 50 per cent-owned by the EPBC until December when it became wholly owned.