Fu Yu Corporation’s shareholders have appointed four new independent non-executive directors to the company at their latest annual general meeting (AGM) held on June 27.

The new directors are: Gilbert L. Rodrigues, Ralf Pilarczyk, Yang Zhenrong and Haytham T KH Al Essa. All four were appointed at the AGM by a resolution tabled under a requisition by Lim Wei De, Victor, under Section 183 of the Companies Act 1967.

Fu Yu had appointed Asian Corporate Advisors (ACA) to assess the directors’ suitability and independence. Fu Yu, on June 20, announced that ACA had found nothing that would make the directors unsuitable to be appointed as the company’s independent non-executive directors. The board saw no reason to disagree with the assessment.

On Jan 9, Fu Yu announced that Lim had called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to remove two of the company’s directors at the time, citing its deteriorating performance. In his requisition letter, Lim noted the company’s drop in earnings from $17.58 million in FY2021 to a loss of $10.11 million in FY2023. The company’s share price also fell from 33 cents in 2021 to 13 cents as of Jan 9. Lim holds 29.45% of Fu Yu’s shares and is the largest shareholder of the company.

In his January letter, Lim also proposed the appointment of three independent directors, Rodrigues, Pilarczyk and Yang. Al Essa was included in the list in Lim’s follow-up letter dated March 11.

Rodrigues, Pilarczyk and Yang received approvals of over 92% each while Al Essa received an approval rate of 80.86%. Al Essa was previously an independent non-executive director of Fu Yu from Jan 18, 2021, to Oct 31, 2021. He had tendered his resignation on Oct 27, 2021, citing personal reasons behind his departure.

Shares in Fu Yu closed 0.2 cents higher or 2.11% up at 9.7 cents on June 27.