Oldtown reports explosion at unit's food processing centre

PETALING JAYA: Oldtown Bhd has reported an explosion at the central food processing centre of its wholly owned subsidiary, Emperor’s Kitchen Sdn Bhd.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the company said the incident occurred at about 8am today, affecting only the production floor of the centre in Subang Jaya. The adjacent areas occupied by other operating units and administration offices were not affected.
“As a result of the explosion, several employees were injured and the management is closely monitoring their condition in the hospital. The company and the management are committed to provide full support and assistance to the injured employees,” it said.
Oldtown said the fire department and the police, as well as the management, are conducting investigations to ascertain the cause of the explosion.
Food processing operations at the plant have temporarily ceased and are expected to re-commence via auxiliary means in the shortest time possible in order to mitigate any supply disruption to chain outlets.
Oldtown said the incident has no impact on the coffee and beverage manufacturing and warehousing facilities.
“At this juncture, the board is unable to finalise the financial impact to Emperor’s Kitchen, but believes that the damages are adequately insured pending the insurance company’s assessment.”
The company will make an announcement once normal operations resume and losses are ascertained.
Oldtown’s share price fell 3.35% to close at RM2.60 with 4.61 million shares traded today. Its market capitalisation stood at RM1.20 billion.