Gulf Resources, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Gulf Resources Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Helen Chu. You may begin.

Hi, thank you, operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and good evening to all of those of you who are joining us from China. And we'd like to welcome all of you to GovResources' third quarter 2024 conference call. I'm Helen Xu, the IR Director. Our CEO of the company, Mr. Shelby Liu, is also joining this call today. I'd like to remind you, to all our listeners, that in this call, certain management statements during the call will contain for looking for information about Gulf Resources Incorporation and its subsidiary business. and products within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Security Act of 1933 and Rule 3B-6 under the Security Exchange Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. Actual results may differ from those discussed today taking into account a number of risk factors including but not limited to the general economic and business conditions in the PRC, the risks associated with the pandemic outbreak or future product development and production capabilities, shipments to end customers, market acceptance of new and existing products, additional competition from existing and new competition from the bromine and other oil fields and power production chemicals, changing technology, the ability to make future bromine assets and the various other factors beyond its control. All forelooking statements expressly qualify in their entirety by this cautionary statement. the risk factors detailed in the company's report filed with the SEC. Gulf Resources assumes no obligation to revise or update any forelooking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this call. Accordingly, our company believes expectations reflecting in those forelooking statements are reasonable and there can be no assurance of such will prove to be correct. In addition, any reference to a company's future performance represents the management's estimates as of today, the 20th of November, 2024. For those of you unable to listen to this entire call at this time, a replay will be available at the company's website. The call is also accessible through the webcast, and the link is accessible through our website, so please locate our press release issued earlier for the details. I'd like to start out the call by saying that the company regrets that the change in auditors made it difficult to file out our 2023 10-K and 2024 10-Q in a timely manner. We also regret that we have not had a conference call since the end of the third quarter of last year. We recognize that we have to be active in communicating with investors and hope today will be the start of a new discussion between the company and its investors. In this case, we will focus on the third quarter of 2024. But we are also willing to take questions about the first and second quarters as well as the fourth quarter of last year. I'd like to briefly cover the financial results. Then I will summarize a few issues of importance before turning the call over to Mr. Liu. And then we will be opening for the QA section. So since the company filed its 10Q yesterday for the third quarter All our financials are in the 10Q file. So for the three months ended September 30, 2024, the revenues for the third quarter were approximately $2.2 million, a decline of 21.8% compared to the same period of last year. The net loss was approximately $3.5 million. and the basic and diluted loss was 33 per share. During third quarter, the bombing revenues declined by 68% to approximately 1.6 million and crude salt revenue declined by 26% to $654,000. Bombing operation loss was approximately 4.0 million while crude salt operation loss was $102,000. The losses from operations from our currently inactive chemical and natural gas business were approximately $339,000 and $39,000 respectively. For the nine months ended September 30th to the 24th, The revenues were approximately $5.9 million, a decline of 74.4% compared to the same period of 2023. The losses from operations by segment were as follows. Bromine was approximately $13.5 million, crude salt was approximately $47 million, chemicals was $990,000, and natural gas was The net loss was approximately $40.6 million and the basic and diluted loss per share was $3.78. We incurred a loss of approximately $29.2 million from the disposition of equipment and purchased approximately $60.5 million worth of equipment. new equipment. Our cash position declined to approximately $11 million from $72.2 million as of December 31, 2023. The total assets at the end of the third quarter was approximately $193.9 million. There are five major issues we'd like to highlight during this call. the economics of the bromine business, the purchase of land for crude salt and bromine, and our chemical businesses, our natural gas business, and the last is the cost of our flood prevention project. Firstly, let's look at our bromine segment. To better understand the economics of our bromine segment, I'm going to focus on the results of the third quarters from year 2022, 2023, and 2024. So during the year 2022, the company earned approximately $10.6 million in bromine. But in year 2024, we lost $4 million. During this period, revenue declined by 92%. Much of the decline was due to the price of bromine, which dropped 68%, but some was also due to the lower level of tone produced, which declined 75%. During this period, our utilization dropped from 34% to 8%. One impact of the lower level of production and the decline in utilization was that the cost per tone more than doubled from 2,773 to 5,709 because overhead, depreciation, amortization, and other costs had to be allocated over a much lower level of production. Like oil, gold, or any other element, our company has a relatively fixed amount of bromine available for mining in our properties. When the pandemic hit, demand for bromine, especially for antiseptics, surged. As the price of bromine declined, Mangerman decided to limit the sales and protect our mineral assets for the time when prices rebound. When we made this decision, Mangerman recognized that a lower level of production would impact our profits. However, we believe it will have been to shareholders to sell more of our bromine at extremely low prices. Since the end of third quarter, bromine prices have increased substantially. We believe we are approaching the time when we will choose to increase production and utilization. The second issue was about the purchase of land for the crude salt fields and bromine. In June, the company had an opportunity to secure additional land for crude salt fields and bromine from groups in our production area nearby. At the time, we were aware of the existing price of bromine and the impact of that price on the likely earnings we would have in this quarter. We believe this was an exceptional opportunity for us to gain control of more land for the production of crude salt and bromine in the future. Our management team conducted an analysis of this opportunity and concluded that acquiring its crude salt fields would enable the company to produce more crude salt and bromine and that the cash we invested was likely to be returned in the next four to five years. We also want our shareholders to know that we are still in negotiations with sellers over the timing and the terms of the stock portion of the agreement. The company wants investors to understand that we would not have made this decision in June if we were not convinced This was an excellent short-term investment that would not jeopardize any of our other opportunities. The third issue is about our chemical factories. While the company made the decision to spend money on the crude salt field, We also decided to postpone spending money on completing our chemical factory. We have invested about $45 million out of a projected $69 million in building this new chemical factory. However, as we studied in the industry, we concluded that the most companies in our niches, currently some of them are losing money. Further, we continue to see interesting new opportunities in areas like zinc, bromine, and sodium iron factories. If we were to pursue one of these opportunities, we would modify the configuration of our factory rather than commit capital to a business that does not produce short or intermediate term returns. we decided to wait until we had better visibility as to the best opportunities. We are still committed to our list chemical business. We are looking at many different alternatives, including potential joint ventures, and we'll move ahead with chemicals as the market improves. The third issue is about our natural gas project. The company has also refrained from investing more money in our natural gas segment. We have been working with local authorities as they are finalizing the provincial environmental plan. During this period, we have become convinced that we may maximize our returns by strategy, such as in natural gas in Sichuan province, by finding the right joint venture partner. The last issue is about flood prevention. In flood prevention project in year 2023, the company spent slightly more than $50 million on flood prevention because the work was conducted in neighboring rivers that were not part of our property. These investments were expensive instead of capitalized. These expenditures impacted both our earnings and balance sheet. However, we believe they will benefit us in the future. In the past six years, the company spent about 47 million in flood repair after the two typhoons. As we have previously reported, not only did the flood damages our facilities, they also impacted our ability to produce from some of our wells. With this flood prevention project completed, we believe this may help the company to obtain approval to open our bombing factories number two and number 10. So now let me turn the call over to Mr. Liu for some comments.

Director Liu. Director Liu.

As Helen said at the phone meeting, we are very happy. Our document is the latest and we look forward to communicating with our audience again. China's economy has been struggling, but we can see the signs of recovery. When we saw the weakening, we delayed the final delivery of new chemical equipment. Because we can't see the short-term profit, we are now continuing to explore the opportunity of new and old and old lithium-ion batteries. This may provide a more attractive return. and are considering potential partners in these areas. When we consider various strategic cooperation opportunities, we have also stopped investing in natural gas. The reason why we invested in acquiring new raw materials is because we believe that this investment will be We hope you understand that we are making the most beneficial decision in the stock market. We also believe that this anti-pandemic project will help us produce more embroidery and raw materials, and help our two closed factories reopen. China. China. China. China.

So as Mr. Liu stated that at the beginning of this call, we are very pleased to have our filings, which is up to date and look forward to renewed communication with our investors. The economy of China has been difficult, but we see signs that it is beginning to recover. When we saw the weakness, we postponed the final delivery of equipment for our chemical business because we did not see a short-term path to profitability. We are continuing to explore opportunities for zinc and bromine and sodium iron batteries that could potentially offer much more attractive returns and are considering potential partners in this field. We also stopped spending money on natural gas while we considered various joint venture opportunities and strategies. We made our investment in acquiring land for crude salt. Because we believed this investment would produce more strong returns in coming years, we want our investors to understand that the company are making decisions that are in the best interest for its shareholders. The company also believes that the flood prevention project will enable it to produce more bromine and cross-soil and allow the company to open its rest to closed factories. The company now will position to capitalize if the Chinese economy improves. As the company believes, it will see the end of the last quarter. Roaming prices have increased substantially. We believe that this change will continue and we appreciate the patience of our shareholders and look forward to more active communication in the future. So hi Tom operator, can we open for the QA section?

Absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions. If you would like to ask a question at this time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad to join the queue. You will hear a brief tone to indicate you have successfully joined the queue. We do ask if listening on speakerphone this morning that you pick up your handset while asking your question to provide optimal sound quality. Once again, please press star one on your telephone keypad at this time if you wish to join the queue to ask a question. Please hold a moment while we poll for questions. And the first question this morning is coming from Kuming Chin. Kuming, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. I have been an investor for more than 10 years. And then I still remember a few years ago that when you did the quarterly report, saying nice things and saying confidence, stay with us. And then in the report, you just stated that you spend millions of dollars in the new field while your revenue and the profit is substantially going downhill. And then I would like to say, I'd like to hear that how you, what is the reasoning and the color on investing millions of dollars while the revenue is and profit is substantially going downhill. And you said that that investment is going to be returned back to profit or whatever, but you hope within four or five years. I'd like you to kind of share some light on that. What is the reasoning, you know, behind that so that we would have a better understanding? Instead of keep saying that we're very hopeful, please stay with us, and like what you said a few years ago, but nothing has changed.

That's my question. Oh, hi, Kuni.

Can I just be more specific about your question? Based on my understanding that you are talking about the cool socks acquisition, am I right? You want to get a more clear explanation why the company expects it will have a good return in coming four to five years? This is your question.

Yeah, you keep investing, including whatever typhoon reinforcing facility to spend millions of dollars. You said that it's a better prevention. I mean, while the revenue is going downhill, meaning as a businessman, I would not do anything until I see the uptrend in the market and the demand is going up. That's when I'm going to invest. But you do that while the revenue is still down. There's no hope of the revenue going up. And then you say that the We do everything we can for the benefit of the investors. I was in China in July of 2024, this year. During business hour, I keep calling the number on record about 20 times. No one answered the phone. Is this the sign that you do everything for the benefit of the investor? There's not even a person to answer the phone. I thought the business is dead. There is no way for me to sell my share because I have a substantial loss on my investment. I'm very upset about this thing. I keep calling the number on record. No one answers the phone. Can you answer this question as well? Thank you.

Okay, thank you. The first question is from Queenie Chin. She is an investor who has worked for more than 10 years. Her main problem is that she thinks the company has spent a lot of money on our anti-pandemic projects, including our original year of acquisition, and it has cost a lot of money, and it has cost a lot of money. Then the company has been emphasizing that the company believes there will be a good return. and the decisions made from the perspective of maximizing the interests of the investors. But the result he saw was that the company spent a lot of money, but the company's economy was declining. He hopes that the company can solve this problem more specifically. Another problem is that when he went to China in July this year, he called the company again, but no one answered. Then he wanted to ask about this matter. How is it?

First of all, I would like to ask you a question.

Because of the company's emergency, it is not necessarily that someone is there at any time. He can make an appointment. This is one of them. The second one is about the investment in the flood protection project. First of all, let me make an explanation. Why do we need to do this flood protection project? First of all, according to the Chinese law, the government requires us to do it. According to the Chinese law, mining and mining enterprises We are responsible for the restoration and revitalization of the environment. These years, the development has had a certain impact on the local environment. um um The first is to meet the requirements of the Chinese law. The second is also for our factory to avoid flooding. The third is also for us to protect the company's normal business. This is what we must do.

This is the first point.

The second point is that the acquisition of salt fields is for us. There are a few factories. Now China's environmental protection is also a very strict requirement. The processing plant must have the corresponding salt field compensation. so that we can continue to produce. If we can't reach the target, there will be no place for the waste. We will have to spend more money to deal with the waste. So from this point of view, from the company's point of view, we have to acquire enough salt to ensure the production of our factory. As for the current short-term loss, it is due to the decline in China's economy. We are also at a low price on the empty market. I believe that the price of sales will gradually increase, and according to the price of sales, we will gradually expand production and ensure profit.

Okay. So firstly, about your question about the phone numbers of the company, because it's, you know, fixed number and in the office, sometimes, you know, because people not in China, they normally use mobile phones and we cannot make sure every time there is a people sitting there. But if you want to visit the company, you can make an appointment or email me first, then we can visit. And I think there is an investor who has been in the factory's company sites for twice, visited successfully. There is no doubt on it. And then about your questions, firstly, let's look at the alert protection project. Ms. Liu had two points. Firstly, we do this. It's required by the government because based on the government policy, there is a mineral restoration policy, which means that the companies in mining industry, due to its mining, impacted on the environment and the company sites and the surrounding area. So the company has to do this. to do the flood protection project to following the government requirements. Secondly, because this project can help the company to avoid future potential flood damage. This is about the flood protection project. Secondly, about the crew salt acquisition project because For the long-term environmental issue, the government required the consolidation, consolidated production of bromine and crude salt. So for company currently, we do not have sufficient place for the wasted halogen water to flow to our crude salt aqueducts. So in order to do the consolidated production, we must have enough crude salt fields for this consolidated production and for the long-term growth of the company. This is about the crude salt project. So for short-term now, we see the company temporarily at a loss because the low price of browning at the market, then companies intentionally control the production and the selling volume of browning, so which temporarily caused the company loss at this moment. But we think following the Chinese economic recovery and the price of browning will be increased, then the company will start to increase its production as well. economy, the profit will also increase.

Thank you.

Your next question today is coming from... Oh, sorry. And just as a reminder to the audience, should you wish to ask a question at this time, you may press star 1 on your telephone keypad to join the queue. Once again, that'll be star 1 on your telephone keypad. if you wish to join Q at this time to ask a question. Your next question is coming from John Rawls. John, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Yes, I have two questions. The first is, when do you expect to make decisions about the future of the chemical factory and about the natural gas project? Natural gas was announced 12 years ago. And virtually every interaction since then has been that we are contemplating having a partner doing it this way, doing it that way. I wonder when a decision is actually going to be made. Can you respond to that question?

Okay. Okay. Mr. Liu, this question is for John. His first question is, when and under what circumstances will the company make decisions in the future of the chemical factory and the weather project? Because the company's weather project has been mentioned more than 12 years ago, but there is still no progress at the moment. The chemical factory also has no major progress. Under what circumstances will the company make a decision to continue doing this?

First of all, the chemical project This thing is mainly determined by the market. We think that a major investment should first have a market prospect. Last year, when we expected to invest in this project, it was a move project. When we moved, we thought this project was... At that time, this product had a market prospect, that is to say, it was profitable. But when we did a part of it, we felt that there were some changes in the market environment. Some of our original design products have been saturated by the market. So if we continue to build, we may face major losses. So we decided to pause this project. When can we start? It depends on our product. If there is a suitable product with a promising future, we will continue to invest. This is the first thing. The second thing is the P&T project. The most important thing is that we can't get the national P&T. We have no way to make the next investment. We have been trying to cooperate with local state-owned enterprises, but the efficiency of state-owned enterprises is very low. So we are also very anxious about this, including our senior officials who will come to Sichuan on a regular basis to promote these issues with them. When exactly will there be a result? We're not sure yet.

Okay. Hi, John. So here's a response from Leo. Firstly, look at the chemical segment. When it will be making the decision, it totally depends on the market. Because the company management thinks that when we do a big investment, we have to see the future of this product or this segment. So some years ago, when the company started this chemical segment, it was a relocation project. That time, we can see in the market this project with really good profit and a good future. for antibiotics, which your materials to be used for human and animals. But the plan was simply stopped because the market for these products and the future is becoming dramatically decreased. And if companies start continuing with this project, it may face loss even. Now companies looking for some other products or some other industries this can be transferred to. So totally depends on the next appropriate product which can meet the market demand and with good future. This is first one. Second one about the natural gas project. The major problem is that the company now want to get cooperation with state-owned operation and to in order to better get the government approval on this natural gas mining and treating. But you know the state-owned factories, they is very low efficient. Even our management team always frequently they had to fly to Sichuan to be in discussion with this state-owned team. But we cannot confirm when this will happen. This is our current situation.

Okay. My second question has to do with the bromine operation. It's still quite profitable, high gross margin, even at today's prices. So I don't understand your reasoning about limiting production. I understand that you might get more for the sales when the price of bromine goes up. But today you're getting significant losses from this restriction of production. And the cash that the company now has is much less than it was in the past. Seems to me you're flirting with bankruptcy by taking this approach. All the cash has been invested in things which, to this point, do not seem to impact your revenue. So restricting your revenue seems to me a policy mistake. that's going to hurt the company in the long run.

Okay. About your first part of this question, I think we explained earlier because the companies think our bromine resources are limited, such as oil and gold. So, In order to get a better, you know, maximize profit, the company intentionally controlled its production at this very low market selling price. But when the Chinese economy started recovering, when blooming prices increased, our production will also increase as well. This will increase the company's revenue in future as well when Chinese economy come back recovering. About your second question, maybe I can translate to Mr. Liu and see what his comment on it. Mr. Liu, there are two parts to the second question. The first part I have already answered. The second part is that he thinks the company has spent a lot of cash on all these things, but he has not seen the This has nothing to do with bankruptcy. The main thing is

This company wants to develop for a long time. We think it must meet some of the requirements of Chinese law. At this time, we took some of the work that we had not done before and took it to do it now. For example, the wind protection project. We started many years ago, but we haven't invested in the recovery of the environment. This is an investment. This is an investment. This is an investment. This is an investment. This is an investment. This is an investment. This is an investment. This is an investment. This is an investment. I didn't do any work to make up for it. Another one is to lay a foundation for the future. So he spent so much money. This money is a must-spend. The second is to say that it is also for the company's next step to ensure that our embroidery is normal. And I have to do one thing. Okay, so I hear

John, here's Mr. Liu's comment, and he says that this is, you know, nonsense or does not have any really to bankrupt because all these actions, all the money, cash we spend it for the long-term growth purpose of the company. So firstly, if we look at the flood protection project, we have to follow China's rules. Because, you know, based on China's rules, the mining industry had to do this for the mineral restoration. These were the company's liabilities. For so many years, the companies are creating bombing resources, but never do this. So now companies doing this, since government is requiring it to do. So this is a necessary must to do. action, which help the company build a strong and necessary fundamental position, foundation for future growth. Secondly, the crude salt asset acquisition, which is secure the company future can produce more bromine with this more, you know, crude salt field. So all these two actions to have secured the company to be legally long-term production and growth. All this cash is spent on this purpose.

Thank you.

Your next question is coming from David Chu. David, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Thank you. I want to ask, you have spent so much money in improving the foundation or infrastructure of the field, but you have no guarantee to generate increased revenue or sales. And of course, you cannot control the price as well. So does the management or the board have any evaluation or done any research on how to secure increased revenue?

That's the question.

Okay. Hi, David. Because there are two major segments. The first one is about the flood control project. This one was based on the government requirements. We had to do this. Then the second one is the cross-off field acquisition. So I mean, if like really analysis, you mean the second one or the first one?

Management or the board did any research on the future demand of the product and how are they going to increase it in order to generate more revenue? Because you spend so much money on the project and if you do not have any plan to generate increased sales and revenue, then those money are pouring into a hole.

Okay, thank you. Got it.

Mr. Liu, this question is for David. What he means is, when the company invests, when it spends this cash, does it meet the needs of the market, including the future of the market, the market's demand for products, the demand for sales, and the price trend. If there is no such thing, how can we ensure that this can be done? Otherwise, will the money be wasted? We have definitely done this analysis.

Including the fact that we acquired this salt field, which means that in the future we can guarantee how many tons of harvest and how many tons of price trend you can get back in a few years. We all made this prediction, and it is a very conservative prediction. Even in this low situation, it is also a relatively cost-effective investment. We have this prediction.

yes we did the asset analysis based on the market and based on the acquisition we did like how many after our acquisition this the company how many pounds will produce and how it will influence the company's production capabilities and even based on current low market situation you know we did all the analysis on a very conservative perspective and with the profit like we estimated like we before say which we estimate will get returned in future photo failures are conservative point of view what is the management's estimation

of this current quarter's sales volume?

Current quarter?

Yeah, current quarter. The fourth quarter. Does the management come up with any estimated sales?

The volume, do you mean?

Volume on revenue.

Okay. Okay. Mr. Liu, what is the company's forecast for the fourth quarter? What are the sales figures? We will announce it in the next part. Yeah, we will have an announcement later for the transparency and fairness to all shareholders.

Thank you. As a reminder, should anyone wish to chat? Okay, you're welcome.

Any further questions, you may press star 1 on your keypad at this time. Once again, if you did wish to join the queue, you may press star 1 on your telephone keypad at this time. And we have a follow-up from David Chu. David, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Yeah. So the management cannot provide the current quarter estimation. Does it mean that the management also do not have a full picture on 2025 sales figure and volume?

No, hi, David, because for the transparency and fairness to all our shareholders, this number we can provide for guidance, but it cannot only disclose in this conference call.

Why not?

Yeah, we will make an announcement later on in our press release for the guidance.

Okay, another question. Is it possible for shareholders to visit the factory or the plant?

Yes, of course.

So the company can arrange to have the shareholders go to the factories and visit the factories directly?

Yes, we have shareholders visiting the companies actually already. When is that?

um i think twice i cannot remember the clearly mouth as this shareholder as my memory at least twice but you have no idea when let me check

Most recently was...

I think the end of last year, beginning of this year, is the most recent one.

Okay, what is the best time to visit the factory?

Okay, I checked. Mr. Liu, Debbie just asked if it is possible for investors to visit the factory. I said yes, because some investors have been there. She asked when it was. I said it was at the end of last year, at the beginning of this year. Then he thought, when is the best time to visit the company? Hello? Hi. 你听到吗? What is the reply?

What is the best time to visit?

Yes, yes. I'm waiting for Mr. Liu to respond.

Yes, normally just notify the company or email me in advance.

You can visit the company's site or field.

Another question concerning the shareholdings. I want to know What is the percentage the management or the board of directors own the company's shares?

I think you can reference to a company most recently annual general holders meeting proxy being filed on SEC website. I can send you the link if you email me.

You mean under the SEC filing?

yes and well just for just a follow-up it looks like that they do not have a majority ownership of a company based on the number of shares they have is that correct yes i cannot you know clearly remember it like you mean who Are there any other type of shares that the management own that really control the company or they are just purely like the other shareholders, just own ordinary shares and control the company?

I think you can reference the filings on the ICC website. If you need, I can email you the link.

I can't find it in the website. That's why I'm asking. It sounds pretty strange. It indicates that the management own a pretty small number of percentage of the shares, but they control the company. So there must be some other ownership that the management or board has that we do not know.

I don't get you, because as I see here, Mr. Yang and his family owns around 18.5%. I don't know who you are referring to.

I know, that's a small percentage. And based on that percentage, they can easily be outvoted and kicked out of the management by the majority of other shareholders. So if they own just less than 20% of a company, but they control the company, that's really strange. That's why I'm curious. Is there other shares ownership that protect them or help them to control the company? Or other shareholders on the line can throw some light on this?

But the company has bought our directors and we have annual general meeting as well.

Yeah. I understand.

So I would say the other 80% ownership shareholders didn't do anything to address the company issues. They just sit there and didn't do anything at all. And then the minority shareholders do the things.

That's a pretty strange issue. Any other shareholders on the line comment on this? Thank you.

We do have another question, a follow-up from Qiming Chen. Kuming, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. I consent with the gentleman's opinion on the majority of the owners. They're not in control of the company. From the website, it indicated as of December 2023, all the major control people like CEO, CFFO, and a few others, they own only approximately 58,000 shares, which is really a fraction of the company's entire holding. That's the minority. And also, I want to follow up. with my previous questions, which were not exactly translated correctly. I was in China in July and I called during business hours about 20 times, no answer. And then Mr. Liu, the company CEO said that you can schedule. I also, in the past year or two, sent email to Helen twice with no answer. and with no answer from my email request and with no answer anybody's phone call from the company phone record, how can I as an investor to schedule something to visit or get any communication at all from the company?

That's my question.

Kunming, I don't know when did you send me email because I just now checked on my mailbox. I did not get any email from you. But there are shareholders which have visited the company site. You can send me email in advance and arrange your trip to company.

Thank you.

We have reached the end of the Q&A session at this time, and we do thank you for your participation. I'd now like to turn the floor back to Helen Hsu for closing remarks.

Hi, operator. Since the time is up, I think we can close the call for today. Thank you.

Thank you. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.