Surge as top guns at Soho step back

Shares of Soho China (0410) rose after chairman Pan Shiyi resigned yesterday. His wife Pan Zhangxin also resigned as chief executive of the company.

China's commercial property developer saw its share price climb 18 percent and close 11 percent higher at HK$1.52 yesterday.

While Pan Shiyi and Pan Zhangxin said they would shift their focus to supporting arts and philanthropic pursuits after their resignations, both will continue as executive directors of Soho China.

The independent non-executive director, Huang Jingsheng, was appointed non-executive chairman and took the roles of chairman of the nomination committee and chairman of the environment, social and governance committee from Pan Shiyi, while Pan Zhangxin's role will be shared by two former vice presidents, Xu Jin and Qian Ting.

Soho China's 2022 interim report says Pan and his spouse hold 63.39 percent of the company's interests.

For the first half of 2022, the developer swung to a net profit of 190.57 million yuan (HK$214.38 million) from a net loss of 80.22 million yuan the year before.

Its revenue, all from rents, rose 11 percent year-on-year to 896 million yuan.