Gulf Resources Discusses Sales of Shares by Executive Officers

SHOUGUANG, China, June 09, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gulf Resources, Inc. (Nasdaq:GURE) ("Gulf Resources" or the "Company"), a leading manufacturer of bromine, crude salt and specialty chemical products in China, today announced a statement on sales of shares in the Company by three executive officers.

On May 24, 2017, AST Investor Services, LLC (“ASTIS”) notified its holders of personal brokerage accounts that it is filing a Broker-Dealer Withdrawal with FINRA and ceasing its broker-dealer operations as of June 15, 2017, and therefore would no longer maintain personal brokerage accounts.  Due to the short timeframe certain of the Company’s executive officers who had accounts at ASTIS were unable to find a new brokerage to hold their shares.  As a result, they decided to sell their shares deposited at ASTIS, which is a portion of their total holding shares.  The executives each filed a Form 4 reflecting their sales.  ASTIS’s decision to cease its operations as a broker-dealer has no impact on the business, operations, financial condition or results of operations of the Company.  This action only had consequences for the personal brokerage accounts of the executive officers.

The executives continue to hold 271,725 shares in the aggregate, that were not on deposit at ASTIS and have agreed they will sign a lock-up agreement with the Company to restrict the sale of the remainder of their shares for the next three years. 

Mr. Liu, Mr. Li, and Mr. Miao recognize the sale of these securities is disappointing to investors. However, they believed there were no other better viable alternatives in such a short timeframe.

“This has been a very disturbing experience for me,” stated Xiaobin Liu, the CEO of Gulf Resources. “We tried to find another brokerage firm, but with the very short time frame, we thought we had no other choice.”

“However,” Mr. Liu continued, “this experience may end up being a good lesson for us. We now realize that we have to be more proactive in doing things to help recognize shareholder value.”

“I am going back to the Board of Directors,” Mr. Liu concluded, “to discuss alternatives for enhancing shareholder value. While we believe the future of our company is very bright and will not sell shares in the next three years, we believe this experience has taught us an important lesson.”

About Gulf Resources, Inc.
Gulf Resources, Inc. operates through four wholly-owned subsidiaries, Shouguang City Haoyuan Chemical Company Limited ("SCHC"), Shouguang Yuxin Chemical Industry Co., Limited ("SYCI"), Shouguang City Rongyuan Chemical Co, Limited (“ SCRC”) and Daying County Haoyuan Chemical Company Limited (“DCHC”). The company believes that it is one of the largest producers of bromine in China. Elemental Bromine is used to manufacture a wide variety of compounds utilized in industry and agriculture. Through SYCI, the company manufactures chemical products utilized in a variety of applications, including oil and gas field explorations and papermaking chemical agents. SCRC is a leading manufacturer of materials for human and animal antibiotics in China and other parts of Asia. DCHC was established to further explore and develop natural gas and brine resources (including bromine and crude salt) in China. For more information, visit www.gulfresourcesinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release contain forward-looking information about Gulf Resources and its subsidiaries business and products within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. The actual results may differ materially depending on a number of risk factors including, but not limited to, the general economic and business conditions in the PRC, future product development and production capabilities, shipments to end customers, market acceptance of new and existing products, additional competition from existing and new competitors for bromine and other oilfield and power production chemicals, changes in technology, the ability to make future bromine asset purchases, and various other factors beyond its control. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this Cautionary Statement and the risks factors detailed in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gulf Resources undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.

CONTACT: 
Gulf Resources, Inc.
Web: https://www.gulfresourcesinc.com

Director of Investor Relations
Helen Xu (Haiyan Xu)
beishengrong@vip.163.com