Yangzijiang's stock tumult: a primer for firms to respond swiftly, not recoil

TIMING is everything in the stock market - or so, it goes.

Based on Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding's two encounters with stock turbulence - last month and five years ago - and how it took charge of the situations rather differently, we can also surmise these - bad news travels fast, good news comes early and delayed reaction can cost you.

When Yangzijiang's shares tumbled over 10 per cent in mid-2014 after which trading was halted amid allegations of misdeeds by a Shenzhen-listed railway firm against the shipbuilder's founder, controlling owner and executive chairman Ren Yuanlin, a clarification was shot out within two days.

The China-listed firm's incumbent board had alleged the misdeeds as it was resisting Mr Ren's attempt to reconstruct the board after he emerged as largest shareholder. Mr Ren quashed the charges and in fact, had earlier confidentially submitted his rebuttals to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange - said Yangzijiang in resp…