DANYANG, China, October 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Lihua International, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIWA) ("Lihua" or the "Company"), a leading Chinese developer, designer, and manufacturer of low cost, high quality alternatives to pure copper products, including refined copper products, copper wire and copper clad aluminum ("CCA") wire, today announced the results of matters considered at its Annual Meeting of Stockholders held in Nanjing City, China.
The five director nominees were all elected to the Lihua Board. In addition, the following management proposals were approved: the ratification of Crowe Horwath (HK) CPA Limited as the Company's independent auditor for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2013; and the compensation paid to the Company's named executive officers in the proxy statement.
During the meeting, Mr. Jianhua Zhu, founder, chairman and CEO, responded to questions from attending stockholders in which he provided an overview of the Company's progress. Mr. Zhu commented: "It is a testament to our strong team of R&D personnel and engineers that Lihua has successfully remained ahead of the curve. We expanded our business into scrap copper recycling approximately four years ago and have grown that business segment to 125,000 - 140,000 tons of annual capacity. Once the modifications to the dust collection system are finished, we will ramp up the output of the third copper anode smelter and complete the construction of the fourth anode smelter and put it into production. We now expect completion of the dust collection system modification and the subsequent fourth anode smelter in early 2014."
"We have also made material progress in the development of our new CCA cable and wire product including the submission of 16 patent applications. While there can be no guarantee that any of these patent applications will result in patents ultimately being issued, we anticipate resolution of these applications within the next 24 months. We are currently pursuing production permits for the new CCA power transmission cable and wire products, which can be used in power transmissions 1,000 voltage and under. We also began small qualification batch production of the new CCA product from the cladding of copper foil and aluminum process to drawing them into superfine wires. The new CCA product has higher percentage of copper component ratio, and uses new seamless binding technology of the two metals thereby allowing for use in higher technology applications. Raw materials for this new product are high purity copper and aluminum purchased from outside suppliers. Due to its superior electric conductivity and quality, the new CCA superfine wire can be used in more diversified and higher end applications such as computers, cell phones, medical equipment, automobiles, communication and audio-visual products. Qualification batches of the new CCA superfine wire product have been delivered to prospective customers, some of whom are current customers for our existing CCA and copper wire products.
"The investments we are making in 2013 will enable Lihua to enter into a new higher technology product segment which generates higher profit margins than our existing products. As such, we believe these investments will yield top and bottom line growth in both our existing scrap copper recycling segment and the new CCA products in 2014, and further solidify our future growth," concluded Mr. Zhu.
About Lihua International, Inc.
Lihua, through its two wholly owned subsidiaries, Lihua Electron and Lihua Copper, is a leading value-added manufacturer of copper replacement products for China's rapidly growing copper wire and copper replacement product market. Lihua is one of the first vertically integrated companies in China to develop, design and manufacture lower cost, high quality alternatives to pure copper magnet wire and pure copper alternative products. Lihua's products include CCA and refined copper products. Current product offerings include CCA and pure copper wire, copper rod and copper anode. Except for CCA wire, all other products are produced from recycled scrap copper. Lihua's products are sold in China either directly to manufacturers or through distributors in the wire and cable industries and manufacturers in a wide variety of industries including the consumer electronics, white goods, automotive, utility, telecommunications and specialty cable industries. Lihua's corporate and manufacturing headquarters are located in the heart of China's copper industry in Danyang, Jiangsu Province. For more information, visit: http://www.lihuaintl.com.
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Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including, without limitation, statements about its business or growth strategy, general industry conditions including availability of copper or recycled scrap copper, future operating results of the Company, capital expenditures, expansion and growth opportunities, bank borrowings, financing activities and other such matters, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that its expectations stated in this press release are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
Please note that information in this press release reflects management views as of the date of issuance.
Contact:
The Piacente Group, Inc.
Investor Relations
Kathy Price
(212) 481-2050
lihua@tpg-ir.com