Restaurant chain operator Wowprime Corp (王品) yesterday saw its share price increase 9.98 percent to NT$63.9, after the company announced that it would provide gift vouchers to those who bought its shares.
The company said that it would reward shareholders attending its annual meeting on June 5 with a voucher for its restaurants worth NT$2,200 (US$72.72).
In the previous two years, the company provided shareholders with a NT$500 voucher and a 25 percent discount coupon.
According to the Company Act (公司法), yesterday was the last day that investors could buy the company’s shares if they wanted to qualify to attend the annual general meeting.
As shareholders are entitled to the voucher even if they only own one of the company’s shares, which were trading at NT$58 at the close of trade on Monday, investors yesterday flooded into the odd-lot trading market, pushing total buy orders to 8.68 million shares, 511 times that of a day earlier, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Only 10,315 shares were traded in the odd-lot market, given that there were fewer sellers than buyers, the data showed.
Wowprime shares were also popular in the regular market, with 1.802 million shares traded, compared with the daily average transaction of 368,000 shares this month, the data showed.
The stock had plunged to NT$51 on Thursday last week, the lowest this year, as the dining sector has been severely hit by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“It seems that Wowprime successfully protected its share price with the food voucher. That was a clever strategy, not only attracting investors to buy its shares, but also encouraging consumption at its own stores,” local equity analyst Daniel Sun (孫慶龍) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
“Given that consumers usually spend extra money when using vouchers, it would help the company gain more revenue and pay personnel costs and rent,” Sun said.
Another market watcher, who declined to be named, said that the issuance of a food voucher is similar to the distribution of cash dividend in attracting investors.
However, as Wowprime is to hold the annual meeting in Taichung and shareholders must receive the gift in person, it might not be worthwhile for people who live far from the city, she said.
Given that the company has about 22,000 shareholders, it is expected to issue food vouchers worth NT$48.4 million.
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