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Antelope Enterprise Holdings (AEHL) Risk Analysis
Risk Overview Q4, 2023
Source: the company's latest filing for the period ended Dec 31, 2023, filed May 10, 2024
Risk Change Over Time
- Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1We might not be able to launch the energy supply business as planned or at all, or generate revenue as planned.
Our plan is subject to many factors that are beyond of our control such as fluctuation of the natural gas price, business negotiation with the natural gas provider(s), fluctuation of the crypto price, competition of various electricity suppliers in the region where we plan to operate etc. As a new player in the energy industry, we might not be able to secure natural gas at the price point as we desire and manage the business as planned.
Risk Highlights Q4, 2023
Risk Word Cloud
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 49
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1Volatility in the price of our shares may result in shareholder litigation that could in turn result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management's attention and resources.
The financial markets in the United States and other countries have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations, and market prices have been and continue to be extremely volatile. Volatility in the price of our shares may be caused by factors outside of our control and may be unrelated or disproportionate to our results of operations. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a public company's securities, shareholders have frequently instituted securities class action litigation against that company. Litigation of this kind could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management's attention and resources.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2The market price for our shares has been and may continue to be volatile.
The market price for our shares has been and is likely to continue to be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors including the following: - actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly operating results and changes or revisions of our expected results; - changes in financial estimates by securities research analysts; - changes in the economic performance or market valuations of companies specializing in the ceramics business in China; - announcements by us and our affiliates or our competitors of new products, acquisitions, strategic relationships, joint ventures or capital commitments; - addition or departure of our senior management and key personnel; and - fluctuations of exchange rates between the RMB and the U.S. dollar.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3If we cease to qualify as a foreign private issuer, we would be required to comply fully with the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, and we would incur significant additional legal, accounting and other expenses that we would not incur as a foreign private issuer.
As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from the rules under the Exchange Act prescribing the furnishing and content of proxy statements, and our officers, directors and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and short-swing profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we are not required under the Exchange Act to file periodic reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as United States domestic issuers, and we are not required to disclose in our periodic reports all of the information that United States domestic issuers are required to disclose. While we currently expect to qualify as a foreign private issuer, we may cease to qualify as a foreign private issuer in the future.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4We are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the NASDAQ Stock Market Rules and, as a result, may rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to shareholders of other companies.
We are a "controlled company" as defined under the NASDAQ Stock Market Rules because our CEO and chairman, Mr. Weilai (Will) Zhang, beneficially owns more than 50% of voting power for the election of directors. As of the date of this annual report, Mr. Zhang holds all the issued and outstanding 2,005,497 Class B ordinary shares, each of which is entitled to twenty (20) votes. For so long as we are a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely, and may rely, on certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including: - an exemption from the rule that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors;- an exemption from the rule that the compensation of our chief executive officer must be determined or recommended solely by independent directors; and - an exemption from the rule that our director nominees must be selected or recommended solely by independent directors. As a result, if we elect to rely on the exemptions available for the controlled companies, you will not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5The price of our shares could be volatile and could decline at a time when you want to sell your holdings.
The price of our shares has been and may continue to be volatile, and that volatility may continue for an extended period of time.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6British Virgin Islands companies may not be able to initiate shareholder derivative actions, thereby depriving shareholders of the ability to protect their interests.
British Virgin Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States. The circumstances in which any such action may be brought, and the procedures and defenses that may be available in respect to any such action, may result in the rights of shareholders of a British Virgin Islands company being more limited than those of shareholders of a company organized in the United States. Accordingly, shareholders may have fewer alternatives available to them if they believe that corporate wrongdoing has occurred. The British Virgin Islands courts are also unlikely to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts in the United States based on certain liability provisions of U.S. securities law; and to impose liabilities against us, in original actions brought in the British Virgin Islands, based on certain liability provisions of U.S. securities laws that are penal in nature. There is no statutory recognition in the British Virgin Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, although the courts of the British Virgin Islands will generally recognize and enforce the non-penal judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits. This means that even if shareholders were to sue us successfully, they may not be able to recover anything to make up for the losses suffered.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7As the rights of shareholders under British Virgin Islands law differ from those under U.S. law, you may have fewer protections as a shareholder.
Our corporate affairs will be governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the BVI Business Companies Act, 2023 (as amended) (the "BVI Act"), and the common law of the British Virgin Islands. The rights of shareholders to take legal action against our directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under British Virgin Islands law are governed by the common law of the British Virgin Islands and by the BVI Act. The common law of the British Virgin Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the British Virgin Islands as well as from English common law, which is applied in the British Virgin Islands by virtue of the Common Law (Declaration of Application) Act. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under British Virgin Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedents in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the British Virgin Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and some states (such as Delaware) have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. As a result of all of the above, holders of our shares may have more difficulty in protecting their interests through actions against our management, directors or major shareholders than they would as shareholders of a U.S. company.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8It may be difficult for overseas shareholders and/or regulators to conduct investigation or collect evidence within China.
Shareholder claims or regulatory investigation that are common in the United States generally are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigation initiated outside China. Although the authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the U.S. may not be efficient in the absence of mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, or Article 177, which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within China may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests. Our principal business operation is conducted in the PRC. If U.S. regulators carry out an investigation of us and there is a need to conduct investigation or collect evidence within the territory of the PRC, the U.S. regulators may not be able to carry out such investigation or evidence collection directly in the PRC under the PRC laws. The U.S. regulators may consider cross-border cooperation with securities regulatory authority of the PRC by way of judicial assistance, diplomatic channels or regulatory cooperation mechanism established with the securities regulatory authority of the PRC.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 9Our shares may be delisted under the HFCA Act as the PCAOB is unable to inspect our auditor with presence in Hong Kong, and the delisting of our shares, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment.
The HFCA Act was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states if the SEC determines that we have filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit our shares from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over the counter trading market in the United States. Our financial statements contained in this annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 have been audited by ARK, an independent registered public accounting firm that is headquartered in Hong Kong. ARK were among those audit firms listed by the PCAOB Hong Kong Determination, a determination announced by the PCAOB on December 16, 2021, that it was unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region and dependency of the PRC, because of a position taken by one or more authorities in Hong Kong. T he PCAOB made this determination pursuant to PCAOB Rule 6100, which provides a framework for how the PCAOB fulfills its responsibilities under the HFCA Act. On August 26, 2022, the CSRC, the MOF, and the PCAOB signed the Protocol, governing inspections and investigations of audit firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong, taking the first step toward opening access for the PCAOB to inspect and investigate registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong. Pursuant to the fact sheet with respect to the Protocol disclosed by the SEC, the PCAOB shall have independent discretion to select any issuer audits for inspection or investigation and has the unfettered ability to transfer information to the SEC. On December 15, 2022, the PCAOB Board determined that the PCAOB was able to secure complete access to inspect and investigate registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong and voted to vacate its previous determinations to the contrary. However, should PRC authorities obstruct or otherwise fail to facilitate the PCAOB's access in the future, the PCAOB Board will consider the need to issue a new determination. On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, was signed into law by President Biden, which amended the HFCA Act by reducing the number of consecutive non-inspection years required for triggering the prohibitions under the HFCA Act from three years to two.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 10Our independent registered public accounting firm's audit documentation related to their audit reports included in this annual report may be located in the People's Republic of China. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board currently cannot inspect audit documentation located in China and, as such, you may be deprived of the benefits of such inspection.
Auditors of companies whose shares are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and traded publicly in the United States, including our independent registered public accounting firm, must be registered with the U.S. PCAOB and are required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess their compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards applicable to auditors. Our financial statements contained in this annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 have been audited by ARK, an independent registered public accounting firm that is headquartered in Hong Kong. ARK were among those audit firms listed by the PCAOB Hong Kong Determination, a determination announced by the PCAOB on December 16, 2021, that it was unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region and dependency of the PRC, because of a position taken by one or more authorities in Hong Kong. T he PCAOB made this determination pursuant to PCAOB Rule 6100, which provides a framework for how the PCAOB fulfills its responsibilities under the HFCA Act. On August 26, 2022, the CSRC, the MOF, and the PCAOB signed the Protocol, governing inspections and investigations of audit firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong, taking the first step toward opening access for the PCAOB to inspect and investigate registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong. Pursuant to the fact sheet with respect to the Protocol disclosed by the SEC, the PCAOB shall have independent discretion to select any issuer audits for inspection or investigation and has the unfettered ability to transfer information to the SEC. On December 15, 2022, the PCAOB Board determined that the PCAOB was able to secure complete access to inspect and investigate registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong and voted to vacate its previous determinations to the contrary. However, should PRC authorities obstruct or otherwise fail to facilitate the PCAOB's access in the future, the PCAOB Board will consider the need to issue a new determination. On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, was signed into law by President Biden, which amended the HFCA Act by reducing the number of consecutive non-inspection years required for triggering the prohibitions under the HFCA Act from three years to two. In the event it is later determined that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely our auditor, it would make it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor's audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China and Hong Kong that are subject to PCAOB inspections. Investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information and procedures and the quality of our financial statements. In addition, our securities may be prohibited from trading under the HFCA Act, as amended, and ultimately result in a determination by the Nasdaq Capital Market to delist our securities.
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