Parkson's appeal against award to HK unit’s landlord rejected

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 29): The Second Intermediate Court of Beijing has thrown out an application by Hong Kong-listed Parkson Retail Group Ltd, a 53.87% unit owned by Parkson Holdings Bhd, to revoke the arbitral award of 141 million yuan (RM94 million) to its landlord.

“On Dec 25, 2015, the court delivered a ruling rejecting the application for the revocation. The ruling given by the court is final and no further appeal can be made by either the landlord or the tenant (Parkson Retail) under People’s Republic of China’s law,” said Parkson in a Bursa Malaysia filing yesterday.

This revocation application was filed on April 22, as a month earlier Parkson said the landlord of Beijing’s Metro City Shopping Plaza was awarded the arbitration after Parkson Retail Group’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Parkson Retail Development Co Ltd’s failure to vacate the four rented floors of the mall — despite the termination of their tenancy agreement.

The damages Parkson Retail Development had to pay were a lump sum fee amounting to 36.76 million yuan and a daily fee calculated at the rate of 3.46 yuan per square metre for the period from Nov 1, 2014.

In yesterday’s Bursa Malaysia filing, Parkson said the total amount payable by Parkson Retail Development under the arbitral award was approximately 141 million yuan. However, it added: “The board is of the opinion that the ruling given by the Court does not have material adverse impact on the business and operation of the group.”

Parkson also said the court’s decision will not have a material impact on its earnings for the financial year ending June 30, 2016 (FY16), or even its net assets based on the audited consolidated statement of financial position as at June 30 of this year.

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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Dec 29, 2015. Subscribe to The Edge Financial Daily here.