Nanofilm Technologies International’s COO Ricky Tan Chong Ho has quit, less than two months after CEO Lee Liang Huang resigned.

As cited in Nanofilm’s IPO prospectus, Tan joined the company as senior vice president for operations on May 11 2020 and re-designated as COO on Aug 1 2020.

In an SGX filing on Aug 13, Nanofilm, which achieved unicorn status with its hotly-anticipated IPO last year, explains that there was a reorganisation of its reporting structure and assigned responsibility to oversee the overall operations of each business unit.

“Following the reorganisation, and a period of sabbatical leave by Mr Ricky Tan due to personal reasons, the group explored various options respecting Mr Ricky Tan's roles and responsibilities in the group based on prevailing business needs.”

“Having carefully considered the options discussed, Mr Ricky Tan decided to pursue other opportunities outside of the group,” the company adds.

Tan’s resignation came just weeks after CEO Lee on June 22 quit for “health reasons”. The resignation is to take place on Aug 21. Lee was appointed to this role back in Nov 2017.

With Lee’s resignation, the company’s founder, controlling shareholder and executive chairman Shi Xu has assumed CEO role as an interim measure.<br>Gary Ho, the company’s deputy CEO, was then appointed to Nanofilm’s board as an executive director on July 6.

In a separately filing, Nanofilm announced that revenue for its 1HFY2021 was up 24.2% y-o-y to $96.6 million.

However, its profit margin was down 5.1 percentage points to 18.7%, because of costs incurred for a new plant in Shanghai, new product introduction costs and also because the projects executed in 1HFY2021 happened to be of lower margin types.

As such, its earnings for its 1HFY2021 was down 3.1% y-o-y to $17.9 million.

With costs sunk in for additional facilities and capabilities, Nanofilm believes it is well-positioned to capture future growth opportunities.

“The group continues to invest in new product introduction projects potentially creating revenue streams beyond FY2021,” the company notes.

Atypical of fast-growing tech companies, Nanofilm plans to pay an interim dividend of one cent per share, versus 1.9 cents per share paid this time last year, before its IPO.

Nanofilm shares close Aug 13 at $5.97, down 1.32% for the day, and up more than 130% over its IPO price of $2.59 last November.

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Nanofilm's COO quits, less than two months after CEO; earnings down 3.1% on plant expansion costs

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