Subsidiary's sale of nearly 5 tons of silver without timely disclosure; AOK shares receives warning letter as a result. The transaction was one of the factors in the listed company's return to profitability last year.

On March 20, Aoke Co., Ltd. (SZ300082, stock price 9.59 yuan, market value 6.522 billion yuan) disclosed that the company and related personnel received a warning letter from the Liaoning Securities Regulatory Bureau. The warning letter pointed out that the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Jiangsu Aoke Chemical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jiangsu Aoke), sold silver assets through the Shanghai Futures Exchange in November 2025, with a transaction amount of 59.2275 million yuan, but the company did not disclose this information in a timely manner, only doing so on January 30, 2026.

In the earnings forecast, Aoke Co. explicitly stated that it expects the non-recurring gains and losses impact attributable to shareholders to be about 52 million yuan in 2025, mainly due to the sale of Jiangsu Aoke’s silver and other factors.

Details of the information disclosure violation revealed in the warning letter

On November 18 and 19, 2025, Aoke Co.'s wholly-owned subsidiary Jiangsu Aoke sold 1,995.3738 kg and 2,991.7907 kg of silver, respectively, totaling 4,987.1645 kg (about 4.99 tons), with a total transaction amount of 59.2275 million yuan. However, the company did not fulfill its obligation to disclose this information promptly after the transaction, and the relevant matter was only disclosed on January 30, 2026, in the “Announcement on the Sale of Precious Metal Assets by Subsidiaries.”

The Liaoning Securities Regulatory Bureau determined that the above actions violated the “Administrative Measures for Information Disclosure by Listed Companies.” Chairman Zhu Jianmin, General Manager Zhu Zongjiang, and CFO Liu Dongmei did not perform their diligent duties in accordance with Articles 4 and 52, Paragraph 1 and 2 of the “Administrative Measures for Information Disclosure by Listed Companies,” and bear primary responsibility for the company’s violations.

According to relevant regulations, the Liaoning Securities Regulatory Bureau decided to issue warning letters to Aoke Co., Zhu Jianmin, Zhu Zongjiang, and Liu Dongmei, and record the situation in the securities and futures market integrity archive.

Aoke Co. stated in its announcement that after receiving the warning letter, the company and related personnel attached great importance, will strictly follow the requirements of the Liaoning Securities Regulatory Bureau, conduct in-depth reflection, carefully summarize and actively rectify the issues, and learn lessons seriously.

Supporting Turnaround and Profitability

Looking back to the end of January 2026, Aoke Co. issued two related announcements regarding this matter.

One was about the sale of precious metal assets by the subsidiary. It showed that the company’s board of directors authorized the wholly-owned subsidiary Jiangsu Aoke to sell up to 10,000 kg (10 tons) of silver within the authorized period (until December 31, 2026), including the 4,987.1645 kg already sold through the Shanghai Futures Exchange in the past 12 months, with a total transaction amount of 59.2275 million yuan.

The other was the 2025 annual earnings forecast, which predicted a net profit attributable to shareholders of between 2 million and 12 million yuan for the full year, turning from loss to profit year-on-year.

In the earnings forecast, Aoke Co. explicitly stated that it expects the non-recurring gains and losses impact attributable to shareholders to be about 52 million yuan in 2025, mainly from the gains from the sale of Jiangsu Aoke’s silver and the court-ordered Shanghai Dongshuo performance compensation.

In November 2025, silver prices were relatively high. Data from the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed a clear upward trend in silver prices in November 2025. On November 3, the closing price of SHFE silver (unadjusted) was 11,455 yuan per kilogram, with a settlement price of 11,389 yuan per kilogram; by November 28, the closing price had risen to 12,727 yuan per kilogram, with a settlement price of 12,543 yuan per kilogram, an increase of over 10% during the period. The 4,987.1645 kg of silver sold by the company generated a transaction amount of 59.2275 million yuan, with an average selling price close to the market average for that month.

This sale of silver assets not only brought considerable non-recurring income to the company but also reflected its strategic intention to activate existing assets and optimize its asset structure. The announcement indicated that the batch of silver was purchased in 2020, originally used for catalysts, and after the sale, it will be supplemented through leasing to ensure uninterrupted production.

Daily Economic News