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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Education firm 'in dire straits'
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->CHINESE education provider Oriental Century is facing severe cash-flow problems, and its units are on the verge of insolvency, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) revealed yesterday.
In its report, PwC said the group's total bank balance as of Dec 31 last year amounted to only 1.78 million yuan (S$378,100), not 234.34 million yuan as previously stated.
The board of directors warned that Oriental Century's units were 'on the verge of insolvency as they face severe cash-flow problems that may potentially jeopardise their ongoing operations'.
The Catalist-listed firm stunned the market in March when it revealed that founder Wang Yuean admitted to cooking the books and 'substantially inflated' the firm's cash holdings. Oriental Century counts mainboard-listed Raffles Education, which invested $30.2 million for a 29.9 per cent stake, as a major investor. Its ability to continue to operate is 'largely dependent on its ability to secure fresh funding and rebuild confidence', said the board.
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->CHINESE education provider Oriental Century is facing severe cash-flow problems, and its units are on the verge of insolvency, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) revealed yesterday.
In its report, PwC said the group's total bank balance as of Dec 31 last year amounted to only 1.78 million yuan (S$378,100), not 234.34 million yuan as previously stated.
The board of directors warned that Oriental Century's units were 'on the verge of insolvency as they face severe cash-flow problems that may potentially jeopardise their ongoing operations'.
The Catalist-listed firm stunned the market in March when it revealed that founder Wang Yuean admitted to cooking the books and 'substantially inflated' the firm's cash holdings. Oriental Century counts mainboard-listed Raffles Education, which invested $30.2 million for a 29.9 per cent stake, as a major investor. Its ability to continue to operate is 'largely dependent on its ability to secure fresh funding and rebuild confidence', said the board.
