KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 3): Astral Asia Bhd has proposed to undertake a capital reduction which will give rise to a credit of RM96 million to offset its accumulated losses, with the balance to be transferred to its capital reserve account.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Astral Asia (fundamental: 2.25; valuation: 1.2) said the proposed par value reduction entails cancelling 80 sen of the par value of every existing share of the company from RM1 to 20 sen.

As at March 25, 2015, the issued share capital of the company before the proposed par value reduction was RM120 million comprising of 120 million shares of RM1 each.

"The issued share capital after the proposed par value reduction will be reduced by RM96 million to RM24 million comprising 120 million shares of Astral Asia of 20 sen each," said Astral Asia, which is involved in the cultivation of oil palm, civil engineering, construction works and property development. 

The proposals are expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2015.

Astral Asia's share price closed at RM1.10 when the counter was last traded on March 27 for a market capitalisation of RM132 million. The counter was not traded since then. 

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)