Recently, Zuojiang Technology received a letter of concern, and the exchange asked whether it actively catered to market hot spots to speculate on the company's stock price and cooperated with relevant shareholders to reduce their holdings.
According to incomplete statistics from the Shanghai Securities News, since this year, more than 60 A-share companies have been paid attention to or inquired by the exchange for suspected "hot spots" and "concept speculation." Among them, ST Shuguang and Dr. ST Peng were named or punished by the exchange.
The reporter found that the "new trends" of the aforementioned companies were mostly aimed at new energy tracks such as photovoltaics and energy storage, while the company's main business had little to do with this. The exchange asked the company about "zero-based" cross-border The strength and possibility of the stock price of some companies have surged because the company revealed or rumored that a certain business has made important progress, and then the company often clarified the rumors or bluntly stated the proportion of revenue after being asked by the exchange. Not big.
In the eyes of industry insiders, "hot spots" have become a chronic disease in the capital market. While disrupting the market order and harming the interests of small and medium-sized investors, it may also be accompanied by potential stock price demands such as the lifting of share bans, reduction of holdings by major shareholders, or even market manipulation and other violations.
Strictly investigate the "zero-based" cross-border hot spots
Recently, Shengxunda, Qianjing Garden, ST Kaiyuan, Mubang Hi-Tech, etc. are planning to "zero-based" cross-border layout of lithium Popular tracks such as mining, photovoltaics, and energy storage have attracted market attention.
On the evening of November 24, Shengxunda, which is mainly engaged in overseas game operations and live broadcast e-commerce business, disclosed that it will enter the upstream core areas of the new energy industry through the deployment of lithium ore resources. According to the plan, the company plans to cross-border acquire 80% of the equity of Yurui Technology for 8 million yuan in cash and increase its capital by approximately 147 million yuan, thereby holding parts of the Caijia Lithium Mine and Nanyangshan Lithium Mine in Guanpo Town, Lushi County, Henan Province rights and interests.
In this regard, the letter of concern requires the company to explain the feasibility of entering the new energy upstream lithium mining industry, including but not limited to industry competition and thresholds in new fields, professional technical talents and management talent reserves, etc., and further Explain whether the acquisition decision is prudent and reasonable, whether there is any situation to cater to hot topics and speculate on the stock price, etc.
ST Kaiyuan, which crosses the energy storage track from vocational education, also attracted the attention of the exchange. On the evening of October 11, ST Kaiyuan disclosed that its wholly-owned subsidiary Luyuan Energy Materials plans to jointly invest in the establishment of Changsha Kaiyuan Commercial Energy Storage Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kaiyuan Storage") together with Jarrett, Everray Technology, Hengyutai and other companies. "Energy"), to cooperate in the field of energy storage business. Kaiyuan Energy Storage plans to have a registered capital of 30 million yuan, and Luyuan Energy Materials plans to invest 12 million yuan, with a shareholding ratio of 40%.
ST Kaiyuan's own operating situation is not very optimistic. The financial report shows that from 2019 to 2021, the company's net profits attributable to the parent were -635 million yuan, -766 million yuan, and -461 million yuan respectively; as of the end of September 2022, the company's net assets were 104 million yuan. At the same time, the 2021 audit report shows that there is uncertainty in the company's ability to continue operating. Luyuan Energy Materials, the company's main entity participating in this investment, was established on September 9, 2022 and has not yet commenced business. In this regard, the letter of concern requires ST Kaiyuan to explain the reasons and necessity of participating in the establishment of Kaiyuan Energy Storage; and to explain whether it has the financial strength to carry out Kaiyuan Energy Storage business based on the company's financial status and operating conditions.
It is understandable that the hot new energy track has attracted many heroes to compete. The key to whether it is a "hot spot" may lie in whether the company has relevant accumulation and reserves of technology, personnel, resources, etc.; mergers and acquisitions, especially cross-border entry, coexist risks and opportunities, and whether the quality of the target is convincing enough, all are transactions focus.
For example, Mubang Hi-Tech, which is mainly engaged in the business of educational toys, education, and medical equipment, disclosed multiple investment cooperation framework agreements on the TOPCon photovoltaic cell project during the year, but also stated that it is not currently engaged in the photovoltaic cell business. There is also no relevant R&D talent team and production technology reserves. In this regard, the Shanghai Stock Exchange asked the company in its inquiry letter to frequently disclose the reasons and commercial rationality for large-scale investments, given the current lack of production technology reserves and the talent team is still in the preparation stage.
Strictly crack down on "speculation of concepts" to guide rational investment
On the evening of December 6, ST Shuguang, whose new energy vehicle business is making sluggish progress but continues to speculate on concepts, once again issued a stock risk warning announcement saying, Huawei and Xiaomi have never had any form of contact with the company. Ganfeng Lithium only has business cooperation with the company. The relevant market rumors are completely false information.
This is not the first time the company has issued clarifications. It is reported that ST Sugon once mentioned in its promotional article "Integrating Huawei's advanced smart cockpit technology?". Since then, there has been public opinion in the stock market that the company may cooperate with Xiaomi; there are even rumors that Huawei and others may take over. The company's stock price also fluctuated significantly. From November 1st to 17th, ST Dawning achieved 11 daily limits, with a cumulative increase of 64%.
Exchanges are keeping a close eye on ST Shuguang, which has constant fundamental problems and frequent stock price rises and falls. ST Shuguang has been suspended for verification three times between September and November.
According to statistics, from the end of 2021 to the beginning of December this year, the exchange issued a total of 9 regulatory letters against ST Sugon.
In view of the abnormal trading behavior of some investors during the trading of this stock, such as driving up the stock price, maintaining price increases and limiting the price, which affects the normal trading order of the market and misleads investors' normal trading decisions, the exchange focused on and repeatedly named ST Shuguang's abnormal trading. , and adopted self-regulatory measures such as suspending account transactions for relevant investors in accordance with regulations.
Recently, the China Securities Regulatory Commission formulated and issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Improving the Quality of Listed Companies (2022-2025)" which clearly stated that it would standardize and guide the healthy development of the capital market and strengthen the control of "hot spots" and "speculation concepts". ” and the monitoring, handling and crackdown on manipulation by relevant parties of listed companies.
The era of strict supervision has arrived. On the one hand, this urges listed companies to operate in compliance and make transparent disclosures. On the other hand, it also encourages investors to return to the company's fundamentals and invest rationally.
At the same time, the "hot spots" and "speculation concepts" that disrupt the market order may imply other violation risks, such as the lifting of share bans, the reduction of major shareholders' holdings and other potential stock price demands. The reporter noticed that in its letters of concern for Zuojiang Technology, 3D Communications, Dongfang Zhongke and other companies, the exchange also specifically requested the companies to self-examine whether they cooperated with relevant shareholders in reducing their holdings.
Due to the concept of satellite communications, 3D Communications’ stock price rose by 52.6% from August 30 to September 6. On September 1, 3D Communications stated in the change announcement that there were no major matters that the company should disclose but had not disclosed; on September 6, the company disclosed another change announcement showing that the company’s actual controller Li Yuelun arrived on September 1. On September 5, it reduced its holdings of 4.7183 million shares of the company through centralized bidding transactions. In this regard, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of concern requesting the company to explain whether there was any untimely disclosure of information such as the reduction of the actual controller's holdings in the change announcement, and whether it actively catered to market hot spots, speculated on the company's stock price, and cooperated with the actual controller to reduce the company's shares. wait.
Dr. ST Peng is suspected of violating the disclosure rules of "speculating concepts" to drive up the stock price, which has attracted accountability from the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s disciplinary decision decision shows that from May to September 2022, Dr. ST Peng repeatedly disclosed undisclosed stock price-sensitive information, such as hydrogen energy, through self-media, SSE e-interaction and other channels ahead of statutory information disclosure channels. Industrial cooperation matters, big data industrial park projects, the progress of the termination of hydrogen energy industry cooperation, telecom operator cooperation matters, etc. The aforementioned information has repeatedly pushed the company's stock price to the limit.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange pointed out that the above-mentioned behavior of Dr. ST Peng violated the principle of fairness in information disclosure, and the relevant risk warnings were insufficient. In view of this, the company, the then chairman and acting secretary to the board of directors, and the then financial person in charge were notified and criticized, and will be reported to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and recorded in the integrity file of the listed company.