On April 24, 2018 we published our investment opinion (the “Report”) on Best World International Ltd. (BB: BEST __ SGX: CGN) (“Best World” or the “Company”). On May 8, 2019, two weeks later, Best World issued a clarification announcement (the “Response”).
Best World’s response is reminiscent of many companies we have identified in the past. They have chosen to hide behind their auditors for its reported financial performance and their lawyers for convoluted and misleading legal descriptions of its Chinese operations. Despite its length, Best World's Response fails to address the key issues raised in our Report. We think its Response is littered with lies in an attempt to discredit our findings, which has only strengthened our belief that the Dora’s will not voluntarily disclose the truth.
In our Rebuttal, we present additional evidence which corroborates our findings that Best World fabricated its 2017 reported sales to Changsha Best. Considering the abundance of factual, independently verifiable evidence including testimonials from Member Reps about Best World’s Direct-Selling China sales model, the Company blatantly lied in its response that it does not conduct direct selling in China.
The Company even surmises that the sudden influx of reviews on DR’s Secret online sales channels immediately after the Singapore Business Times article was because of “simply raised awareness” of its product and its brand to consumers. Best World expects investors to believe that consumers became more aware of its DR’s Secret skin care products because the Singapore Business Times article was critical of its China operations. How does that make any sense?
The Company continues to claim that its growth in China sales were “driven by underlying demand of the skin care products.” Another lie. How can any investor trust Best World after being told so many blatant lies?
We stand by our opinion and the evidence presented in our Report that Best World is a fraud, that it fabricated its reported 2017 sales to Changsha Best, and that it currently operates a direct selling sales model in China.
We have not been contacted by anyone yet, but in the event that we are mentioned in a defamation claim, we are ready with an exhaustive list of of internal discovery document requests for Best World which we expect will only corroborate publicly available findings. We encourage investors and regulators to replicate and confirm our findings to expedite the truth-gathering process.
We remain short Best World’s stock.
The latest news is Best World is suing Bonitas Research now.
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