This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 12, 2016.

Asia File Corporation Bhd (+ve)

Shares of Asia File (Fundamental: 3/3, Valuation: 2/3) rose 3.7% on active trade yesterday, closing at RM5.00 with over 1.8 million shares changing hands. In comparison, its average 200-day trading volume was just 97,331 shares.

Asia File is principally engaged in manufacturing and marketing various filing and stationery items, including its well-known ‘ABBA’ branded products. In FYMarch2015, it derived 91% of its revenue from export, mainly to Europe (78.2%). Domestic sales accounted for 8.7% of revenue.

For 2QFY16, revenue grew 8.8% y-o-y to RM100.1 million, while net profit nearly doubled to RM21.4 million. The increase was attributed to a combination of the weak ringgit, better sourcing strategy, higher efficiency and increased contribution from associates. In particular, forex gains amounted to RM6.1 million.

Notably, Asia File’s 1HFY16 net profit of RM41.2 million already accounts for 82% of its FY15 net profit.

The stock trades at a trailing 12-month P/E of 14.1 times and 1.8 times book.