Bonjour soars 24pc on news of stake sale

Bonjour (0653) saw its shares increase by 24 percent to HK$0.12 after resuming trading yesterday.

The local cosmetics chain said late Wednesday night that substantial shareholder Chen Jianwen has been in discussions with its controlling shareholder Wilson Ip Chun-heng and his spouse Chung Pui-wan concerning the possibility of purchasing all or part of their shares involving about 40.4 percent of the total issued shares of the company. Chen holds a 19.5 percent interest in the company.

In December,Bonjour warned it will record a heavier loss in 2019 compared with HK$39.6 million loss the previous year due to the social unrest.

Meanwhile, department store operator Wing On Company International (0289) says it expects to see a 55 percent drop in net profit for 2019. However, its underlying profit, which excludes net valuation gain on the investment properties and related deferred tax, is expected to be better than in 2018 by about 48 percent.

Shares of Wing On Company International fell 3.67 percent to HK$21 yesterday.

Meanwhile, Liu Chong Hing (0194) expects to record an approximately 50 percent year-on-year decrease in net profit for 2019, mainly due to the expected decrease in revaluation gains in the company's Hong Kong investment properties as well as reduced sales revenue from its Foshan property development as that project approaches its conclusion.