NOTABLE filings

Notable shareholding changes in companies listed on Bursa Malaysia between Feb 24 and 27 included the disposal of 20.7 million shares in Asia Bioenergy Technologies Bhd (fundamental: 1.2; valuation: 0.3) by a substantial shareholder. Acritaz Holdings Sdn Bhd ceased to be a major shareholder of Asia Bioenergy following the sale of its 2.4% stake and the conversion of warrants by other shareholders, according to a Feb 24 filing with Bursa Malaysia.

Acritaz Holdings holds substantial stakes in other biotechnology companies.

Meanwhile, Unico Holdings Bhd ceased to be a substantial shareholder in ELK-Desa Resources Bhd (fundamental: 2.3; valuation: 3) after it sold 28.99 million shares or a 23.2% stake in the hire-purchase financing service provider.

Over at R&A Telecommunication Group Bhd (fundamental: 0.55; valuation: 0.9), substantial shareholder Nexgram Holdings Bhd disposed of 39 million shares or a 4% stake in the telecom service company, according to two filings on Feb 26.

Nexgram (fundamental: 2.3; valuation: 2.4), which is controlled by managing director and CEO Tey Por Yee, now holds 86.3 million shares or a 8.9% stake in R&A ater the disposals on Feb 23 to 25.

At Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd (fundamental: 1.3; valuation: 2.1), substantial shareholder of Lei Shing Hong Investment Ltd bought an additional 189.5 million shares or a 8.8% stake in the diversified group on Feb 24.

The transaction increased Lei Shing’s stake by about twofold to 364.56 million shares or 17.01%. The block of shares could have been acquired from Gek Poh Holdings Sdn Bhd, which sold the same number of shares on Feb 24.

Hap Seng’s fourth-quarter net profit leapt 32% to RM188.4 million from RM142.7 million a year ago on the back of lower revenue of RM983.3 million, down 4.8% from RM1.03 billion previously.

At Jadi Imaging Holdings Bhd (fundamental: 1.25; valuation: 2.4), major shareholder Mega First Housing Development Sdn Bhd (MFHD) disposed of some 52.76 million shares or a 7.5% stake.

The shares were transacted on the open market from Feb 12 to 18, leaving MHFD with some 43.22 million shares or a 6.12% stake in Jadi Imaging.

Jadi Imaging fell into the red with a net loss of RM2.4 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014, from a net profit of RM1.3 million a year ago. Revenue declined 24.5% to RM14.1 million from RM18.7 million.

Notable movements

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has accumulated a total of 6.4 million shares in SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (fundamental: 1.3; valuation: 1.8) after buying and selling the shares in a series of transactions from Feb 13 to 27.

Following the meltdown in crude oil prices in the second half of last year, SapuraKencana’s share price plummeted from a 2014 high of RM4.71 (April 3) to a low of RM2.06 as at Dec 16.

The falling oil price has sparked concerns that upstream oil and gas players such as SapuraKencana may see a significant reduction in earnings. After hovering at the US$40 to US$50 per barrel level in January, crude oil prices seem to have stabilised at about US$60 per barrel. Year-to-date, SapuraKencana’s share price has risen  28.2% to RM2.64 on March 3.

The share price of Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) (fundamental: 1; valuation: 0.9), rose 12% to RM7.23 on March 4 from a three-month low of RM6.45 on Dec 18 last year.
TM’s substantial shareholder AmanahRaya Trustees Bhd — Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera acquired a total of 13.2 million shares or 0.35% stake in the telecom group, according to filings on Feb 23 and 27.

However, the EPF sold some 14.4 million shares or a 39% stake in TM, according to filings from Feb 23 to 27.

Last week, TM announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TIME dotCom Bhd (fundamental: 2.4; valuation: 0.6) for the development and construction of a new submarine cable system dubbed “Sistem Kabel Rakyat 1 Malaysia (SKR1M)”.

For the year ahead, TM has set more cautious targets for revenue and earnings growth. It aims to hit 4% to 4.5% growth for both revenue and earnings before interest and tax for FY2015, compared with 5% and 5.5% respectively last year.

(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.)

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on March 9-15, 2015.

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