KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 12): Shares of loss-making timber counter, BTM Resources Bhd rose as high as 21.6% to 31 sen in morning trades following news on its plans to acquire a holding stake in Kuantan-based Pendragon Auto Sdn Bhd. Pendragon is an exclusive BMW car dealer in Malaysia's east coast.

As at 10.22am, BTM (fundamental: 1.65; valuation: 0.3) stock rose 2 sen or 7.84% to 27.5 sen with 11.13 million shares trading hands. The stock was the eighth most traded stock on the bourse in morning trades.

As at 10.16am, one of BTM warrants, BTM-WA (7188WA) was traded up 23.08% or 3 sen to 16 sen with 10.72 million warrants traded.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, BTM said its wholly-owned subsidiary BTM Marketing & Trading Sdn Bhd had entered into preliminary talks with Pendragon Auto, to lead up to a definitive share sale or a share subscription agreement (SSA) on a stake sale.

Pendragon Auto holds the exclusive rights to distribute BMW cars in Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan since July 5, 2010.

BTM said it intends to finance the purchase of the shares or the subscription of the new shares in Pendragon Auto, through internal funds and/or banking facility.

On July 29, BTM stock rose as much as 5.9% to a five-year high after the company managed to narrow its losses in its first financial quarter ended March 31, 2015 (1QFY15).

(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.)