Who Are The Major Shareholders Of Greater China Financial Holdings Limited (HKG:431)?

Simply Wall St.

Tue, Oct 16, 2018, 11:14 PM

If you want to know who really controls Greater China Financial Holdings Limited (HKG:431), then you’ll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it’s not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said ‘Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.’

With a market capitalization of HK$1.4b, Greater China Financial Holdings is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at the our data on the ownership groups (below), it’s seems that institutions are not on the share registry. Let’s take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about 431.

Check out our latest analysis for Greater China Financial Holdings

SEHK:431 Ownership Summary October 17th 18

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Greater China Financial Holdings?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it’s unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. On the other hand, it’s always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don’t think it’s the best place for their money. Greater China Financial Holdings might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

SEHK:431 Income Statement Export October 17th 18

Greater China Financial Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. Our information suggests that there isn’t any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Greater China Financial Holdings

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Greater China Financial Holdings Limited. It has a market capitalization of just HK$1.4b, and insiders have HK$415m worth of shares in their own names. I would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public — mostly retail investors — own 61% of Greater China Financial Holdings . With this size of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to decline an acquisition or merger that may not improve profitability.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 8.9%, of the 431 stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

It’s always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Greater China Financial Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow for free .

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

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