KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Pacific Corp Bhd (MPCorp), which fell into Practice Note 17 (PN17) status this month, expects to perform “much better” for the financial year ending June 30, 2015 (FY15) after a dismal FY14 which saw the property developer sink deeper into losses and debt.

“We expect to do much better financially in FY15 because of the changes we have brought to the group,” MPCorp chief executive officer (CEO) Ch’ng Soon Sen told The Edge Financial Daily after the group’s five-hour long annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday.

However, he stopped short of saying that the group will return to profit in FY15.

“We have already accepted the bank’s offer to restructure our outstanding revolving credit and bank overdraft facilities into term loans. This means we are paying lower interest rates. There will be more activities from us going forward,” he said.

MPCorp slipped into PN17 status on Dec 1 after its external auditors expressed a disclaimer opinion on its audited accounts for FY14.

Soon Sen also said MPCorp is in the “final stages” of negotiations with potential local joint venture (JV) partners to build residential properties on some of the group’s 490 acres (162ha) of land “on a smaller scale” in Johor.However, he declined to elaborate.

Earlier, the AGM, which began at 10am and ended at 4pm with a one-hour lunch break yesterday, was punctuated by some heated questionings as minority shareholders were unconvinced by Soon Sen’s promises, citing the board’s disappointing financial management and corporate governance track record.

It is learnt that some shareholders requested that MPCorp conduct a “forensic and investigative” audit on the group’s accounts for the last six financial years in light of the allegations and questions raised during the meeting. Among others, concerns over MPCorp board of directors’ integrity and corporate governance practices were raised when shareholders questioned the board on several allegedly “illegal transactions” and “undisclosed” related party transactions involving the Ch’ng family.

It was also alleged that Soon Sen’s father Datuk Bill Ch’ng Chong Poh, who was MPCorp’s former CEO, continues to play an active role in the group’s management and chaired some of the company’s executive committee meetings. He is said to have a “service contract” with MPCorp, although the group’s external auditors Messrs BDO said they had neither seen the contract nor had knowledge of the remuneration package.In January, Chong Poh was charged with 58 counts of insider trading in the group’s shares and has claimed trial.

MPCorp’s board was also questioned extensively on the sum of RM1.39 million for directors’ remuneration for FY14, representing a 53% increase from the RM909,000 in FY13. “Why should the company pay directors to run the company into losses,’ said one minority shareholder.

To this, Soon Sen dismissed the allegations of unlawful transactions as “personal attacks” on him and his family.

“During the AGM, we were not really given a chance to respond to any of the questions. We have invited the respective shareholders to come to our office and discuss these issues for three years now. [But] they have not come to us,” he told The Edge Financial Daily.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 31, 2014.