Cordlife says directors committed to waive fees for FY24; defends choice of auditor ahead of EGM

EMBATTLED cord-blood bank Cordlife said that its remaining directors have committed to waive their directors fees for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024, in response to questions raised ahead of the company’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Nov 14.

The EGM is being called to appoint new auditors and approve its directors’ fees.

In a bourse filing on Sunday (Nov 10), the company said that non-independent non-executive directors Zhai Lingyun, Yiu Ming Yiu and Chow Wai Leong will not be receiving directors fees.

However, Chen Xiaoling, who was redesignated as group executive director as at Jul 17, 2024, will receive her remuneration for the role.

She will also not receive any directors’ fees as long as she serves as group executive director, the company said.

Cordlife added that further consideration may be made in due course as to whether Zhai, Yiu and Chow will continue to waive their fees after FY24.

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They will take into account factors such as time spent and the effort and individual responsibilities of each director, as well as the financial condition of the company, it said.

On why the company was “downgrading” to a smaller audit firm, PKF-Cap, after KPMG did not seek reappointment, the company said that it only received two fee proposals, the other of which came from another mid-sized audit firm.

The company added that audit partner Lee Eng Kian has 29 years of experience auditing listed issuers such as USP Group, Bromat Holdings – formerly known as No Signboard – and Zico Holdings.

Shares of the company closed flat at S$0.15 on Friday (Nov 8), before the filing was made.