LDC London Asia

RNS Number:7974A
London Asia Capital PLC
25 July 2007


Embargoed until 07.00, 25 July 2007


                            LONDON ASIA CAPITAL PLC

                                 AGM Statement

                               Directorate Change


At the Annual General Meeting to be held today at 10am in London, Jack
Wigglesworth, Chairman of London Asia Capital PLC ("London Asia" or "the
Company") the UK listed (AIM: LDC.L) Asia focused investment group, will make
the following statement:


"With net assets of over 13p per share based on the last published accounts, and
the share price trading at less than 9p, London Asia shares are currently
trading at a discount of over 30% to net assets. Despite recently announcing
record profits after tax of #3.1 million and net assets of over #33 million for
the year ended 31 December 2006, the Company's share price has halved since
March, with the Company now valued at less than #30 million.


"The Board had previously announced that it considered expanding the operational
side of the business to be a necessary focus for the Company going forward. This
was for a number of reasons, not least that the operational business would need
to obtain licenses and regulatory capital in order to be able to continue to
operate and make investments in China. The restrictions on foreign financial
firms investing in Chinese businesses, and also on Chinese companies listing
outside China, continue to increase. Indeed there has been a further tightening
of the rules announced by the Chinese Government earlier this month. London Asia
does not meet the current regulatory requirements for investing directly in
Chinese listed stocks, and is excluded by the series of recent regulations from
investing directly in most Chinese businesses.


"In the Chairman's Statement to the December 2006 accounts issued last month, I
stated that "The Board has determined that it is not in shareholders' interests
at this point for London Asia to commit all the capital needed to fund the
expansion of the Merchant Banking Business". Since then, the share price has
declined further. At the current share price, raising the capital required to
bring the business to a level where it can operate effectively in the Chinese
market would be too dilutive to shareholders, and given the recent share price
performance, and the significant level of shareholder votes against the proposed
AGM resolutions which give the Board the power to continue to issue shares to
expand the business, there appears to be little support for the Board's
expansion strategy.


"As a result, the Board has now taken the decision to stop all expansion of the
Company via share issues until such time as the share price more adequately
reflects the value of the Company, or where the shares can be placed at a
premium to net assets.


"All expansion of the operational side of the business will, going forward, be
carried out through our 40% owned associate company, London Asia Ltd, which will
look to raise its own finances to expand, rather than seeing any more share
issues by the Company, as has been the strategy to date. The Company will focus
its efforts on realising the value of its assets, which we hope will result in a
narrowing of the gap between the value of the Company and the value of its net
assets.


"Simon Littlewood, London Asia Chief Executive, has stepped down from the Board
with immediate effect. He will continue to manage the London Asia Chinese
Private Equity Fund on behalf of the Company, and assist in the realisation of
the Company's assets, but given the scaling back of the Company's operations,
feels that there is no longer a need for a full time Chief Executive at the
Company. The London Asia Board now consists of three non executive directors,
which it believes is adequate for what is effectively now a #28 million
investment company."


"We hope that the commitment to realise assets rather than expand through new
share issues, and the simplification of the business through focusing on
investment only, rather than running operational businesses in parallel,
together with the greater transparency brought by the switch to IFRS accounting,
will restore the fortunes of the share price."


For further information please visit www.londonasia.com or contact:


Jack Wigglesworth           John West/Andrew Dunn            Jonathan Wright
London Asia Capital plc     Tavistock Communications         Seymour Pierce
Tel: 020 7231 0282          Tel: 020 7920 3150               Tel: 020 7107 8050




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END
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