KWEICHOW Moutai Co, maker of Moutai-brand liquor, said yesterday its general manager will quit and become a state-asset regulator. This ends rumors that he has financial problems.

Qiao Hong, who leads management at Kweichow Moutai, will serve as a vice director at the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission in the southwest province of Guizhou, the Shanghai-listed firm said in an exchange filing.

Yuan Renguo, the company's chairman, will assume Qiao's post temporarily, according to the statement. The firm will hold a shareholders' meeting on May 30 to have a final vote on Qiao's move, the statement said.

Media reports said last week that Qiao, his wife and three relatives were being investigated for unspecified wrongdoing by disciplinary authorities in Guizhou. The firm halted trading of its shares on Thursday pending the clarifying statement.

Qiao, 54, took the helm at Kweichow Moutai in 2000 and was mainly responsible for boosting sales of Moutai liquor, which is often used in toasts by Chinese business people and government officials. Before that Qiao was a vice director at the supervision department for light industry in the Guizhou government.

Shares of Kweichow Moutai jumped 2.60 percent to close yesterday at 94.39 yuan (US$12.29). The stock has risen 7.47 percent so far this year.

Kweichow Moutai said last month that its 2006 net profit jumped 34 percent to 1.5 billion yuan as sales added 25 percent to 4.90 billion yuan. The firm aims to boost yearly production of Moutai liquor from 17,096 tons in 2006 to about 20,000 tons in the next five to 10 years.

Source:佚名