FashionValet founders Datin Vivy Sofinas Yusof and husband Datuk Fadzaruddin Shah Anuar have relinquished their positions in the company and apologised for the controversy caused to Khazanah and PNB over the two GLICs’ fire sale of their stakes for RM3.1 million after initially investing RM47 million. - Vivy Yusof Instagram, November 4, 2024
FashionValet a loss-making entity before and after Khazanah, PNB’s RM47 mil investment
GLICs bought stakes in 2018, company records show total RM103.3 million losses after tax from 2017 to 2022
Arjun Mohanakrishnan
Updated 2 days ago
4 November, 2024
8:00 AM MYT
KUALA LUMPUR – Financial statements spanning six years reveal that Fashion Valet Sdn Bhd (FashionValet) had consistently recorded losses – including the year Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) invested RM47 million into the e-commerce platform.
Between 2017 and 2022, FashionValet, which was founded by Datin Vivy Sofinas Yusof and her husband Datuk Fadzaruddin Shah Anuar with an initial focus on third-party fashion items, recorded a total of RM103.3 million in losses after tax.
In 2018, the year sovereign wealth fund Khazanah and fund management firm PNB invested RM27 million and RM20 million, respectively, into FashionValet, the company recorded losses of RM20.18 million in losses after tax – a steep RM9.4 million increase from the previous year.
Company documents obtained from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) suggest that red flags were raised about FashionValet’s ability to continue business operations, with its 2022 annual report stating that the company’s current liabilities exceeded current assets by RM8.4 million.
However, it also recorded that FashionValet’s board of directors deemed the company able to continue operations and meet financial obligations.
“In the opinion of the directors, the group (FashionValet) is able to continue as a going concern despite its net current liabilities position as the directors are of the view that the group will be able to generate net cash inflows from its operating activities for a period 12 months from the date of financial statements to meet its financial obligations when it falls due,” stated the 2022 report.
During that financial year, Vivy, Fadzarudin, Capital A president Aireen Omar, MyEG Services Bh corporate affairs head Benjamin Low and Khazanah’s senior vice president of investments Nurul Iman Zaman were listed as directors of FashionValet.
For the record, Vivy’s sister Intan Safina Yusof, who was charged with criminal breach of trust in 2020, served as director for FashionValet until March 2019.
Regarding FashionValet’s expenditure as of January 2021, the documents state that the company spent RM12.3 million on renovations. In Khazanah’s recent to defend its investment and “responsible exit” from the company in late 2023, it was explained that FashionValet had faced financial challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Several issues also appear regarding FashionValet’s subsidiaries, particularly the company’s 25% stake in an entity called DropIt Ventures Sdn Bhd, which was deemed inactive in 2019 after it recorded RM25,425 in losses the previous year.
In 2021, FashionValet divested its shares in DropIt for RM10, but the report did not state how much FashionValet had spent to acquire those shares in the first place.
FashionValet’s annual reports also recorded a decline in the value of its investments in a subsidiary called 30 Mable Sdn Bhd, which operates Vivy’s dUCk brand of headscarves, through an impairment loss of RM14.8 million.
Additionally, the documents state that the dUCk brand faced difficulties due to intense competition in the fashion industry, which was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This appears to echo a statement by Vivy and husband Fadzaruddin last Friday, in which they claimed responsibility for FashionValet’s failures while attributing their losses to struggles in expanding their business during the global pandemic.
Khazanah’s press statement on the matter also mentioned that the Covid-19 pandemic forced FashionValet to shift its focus from operating as an e-commerce platform for Asean products to promoting its in-house brands dUCk and Lilit instead.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said it has begun a probe into Khazanah and PNB’s failed investments in FashionValet, which saw the two government-linked investment companies sell their collective stakes bought at RM47 million in the e-commerce platform for RM3.1 million.
The investment and loss was told to the Dewan Rakyat in a parliamentary written reply by the finance ministry last week.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki has said the probe is necessary as the issue involves taxpayers’ monies. – November 4, 2024
FashionValet a loss-making entity before and after Khazanah, PNB’s RM47 mil investment
GLICs bought stakes in 2018, company records show total RM103.3 million losses after tax from 2017 to 2022
Arjun Mohanakrishnan
Updated 2 days ago
4 November, 2024
8:00 AM MYT
KUALA LUMPUR – Financial statements spanning six years reveal that Fashion Valet Sdn Bhd (FashionValet) had consistently recorded losses – including the year Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) invested RM47 million into the e-commerce platform.
Between 2017 and 2022, FashionValet, which was founded by Datin Vivy Sofinas Yusof and her husband Datuk Fadzaruddin Shah Anuar with an initial focus on third-party fashion items, recorded a total of RM103.3 million in losses after tax.
In 2018, the year sovereign wealth fund Khazanah and fund management firm PNB invested RM27 million and RM20 million, respectively, into FashionValet, the company recorded losses of RM20.18 million in losses after tax – a steep RM9.4 million increase from the previous year.
Company documents obtained from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) suggest that red flags were raised about FashionValet’s ability to continue business operations, with its 2022 annual report stating that the company’s current liabilities exceeded current assets by RM8.4 million.
However, it also recorded that FashionValet’s board of directors deemed the company able to continue operations and meet financial obligations.
“In the opinion of the directors, the group (FashionValet) is able to continue as a going concern despite its net current liabilities position as the directors are of the view that the group will be able to generate net cash inflows from its operating activities for a period 12 months from the date of financial statements to meet its financial obligations when it falls due,” stated the 2022 report.
During that financial year, Vivy, Fadzarudin, Capital A president Aireen Omar, MyEG Services Bh corporate affairs head Benjamin Low and Khazanah’s senior vice president of investments Nurul Iman Zaman were listed as directors of FashionValet.
For the record, Vivy’s sister Intan Safina Yusof, who was charged with criminal breach of trust in 2020, served as director for FashionValet until March 2019.
Regarding FashionValet’s expenditure as of January 2021, the documents state that the company spent RM12.3 million on renovations. In Khazanah’s recent to defend its investment and “responsible exit” from the company in late 2023, it was explained that FashionValet had faced financial challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Several issues also appear regarding FashionValet’s subsidiaries, particularly the company’s 25% stake in an entity called DropIt Ventures Sdn Bhd, which was deemed inactive in 2019 after it recorded RM25,425 in losses the previous year.
In 2021, FashionValet divested its shares in DropIt for RM10, but the report did not state how much FashionValet had spent to acquire those shares in the first place.
FashionValet’s annual reports also recorded a decline in the value of its investments in a subsidiary called 30 Mable Sdn Bhd, which operates Vivy’s dUCk brand of headscarves, through an impairment loss of RM14.8 million.
Additionally, the documents state that the dUCk brand faced difficulties due to intense competition in the fashion industry, which was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This appears to echo a statement by Vivy and husband Fadzaruddin last Friday, in which they claimed responsibility for FashionValet’s failures while attributing their losses to struggles in expanding their business during the global pandemic.
Khazanah’s press statement on the matter also mentioned that the Covid-19 pandemic forced FashionValet to shift its focus from operating as an e-commerce platform for Asean products to promoting its in-house brands dUCk and Lilit instead.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said it has begun a probe into Khazanah and PNB’s failed investments in FashionValet, which saw the two government-linked investment companies sell their collective stakes bought at RM47 million in the e-commerce platform for RM3.1 million.
The investment and loss was told to the Dewan Rakyat in a parliamentary written reply by the finance ministry last week.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki has said the probe is necessary as the issue involves taxpayers’ monies. – November 4, 2024
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