Vichaya's comment came after Songphon Chantaraphant bought 93.5 million shares, representing a 19.61-per-cent stake in General Engineering.

"I met with Songphon on September 15, and he affirmed that he had bought the shares as an investment and didn't want to take part in management, because he himself did not have expertise in the construction business. He still supports the existing management team," he said.

He said he had a personal preference for new shareholders joining management for the sake of transparency. At the moment, there are 10 top executives: one is chairman, six are board directors, and the rest are independent directors.

He explained if the number of executives needed to be increased, it was a matter of getting shareholder approval. "We'll arrange a board meeting as scheduled in early October, and he can inform us if he intends to send representatives as board members to participate in management. We have yet to receive any contact," he said.

The stock plunged 30 per cent yesterday, closing at Bt1.05.

Vichaya is confident his firm's revenues this year will achieve its Bt1-billion target, taking into account the current backlog.

The company's first-half revenues totalled Bt492 million. However, the company's second-half net profit will drop from the first half, to Bt28.47 million, due to reduced margins from rising prices for raw materials. General Engineering's gross margin in the first half was 3-4 per cent.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation