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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.68 points to 661.10 Tuesday. Xizhou Tong's shell graduate, Chinese steel distributor Crownia Holdings Ltd. (CNH: $0.50), lost $311,984 (U.S.) on revenue of $533,249 (U.S.) in its second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2015. In Q2 of its previous fiscal year, Crownia earned $66,503 (U.S.) on revenue of $2.69-million (U.S.). The company blames its poor performance on the continuing slowdown in the Chinese steel industry. Now, it is seeking new customers outside China, particularly in Bangladesh. In a news release today, chief executive officer Herrick Lau estimates that the company's sales in 2016 have already reached about $1.5-million.

Mr. Tong is a former stockbroker, who lives in Hubei province, China. He is Crownia's president and largest shareholder, with 22 million shares or 61.3 per cent. His Crownia Holdings went public on the TSX-V through Mr. Lau's capital pool shell, Lingxian Capital Inc. Although currently unprofitable, Crownia has given (and continues to give) Lingxian's initial public offering shareholders a good chance to get out of their investment with a profit, so we can give Mr. Lau credit for a successful shell. Lingxian Capital listed in May, 2014, with a $400,000 IPO of shares at 10 cents. It completed its qualifying transaction in September, 2015, launching Mr. Tong's steel distributor. Crownia closed at 20 cents on its first day of trading, then by March, 2016, it had climbed to a peak of 70 cents. Today, if Lingxian's IPO investors are still holding their positions, then they would be up by 400 per cent on paper.

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