KUALA LUMPUR (July 10): Shares of Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd rose as much as 9.8% today following reports that its unit Mercedes-Benz Malaysia registered a 53% growth in passenger vehicle sales for the first half of 2015 (1H15).

As at 2.50pm, the stock has eased to RM2.77, still up 22 sen or 8.63% compared to the earlier high of RM2.80, after some 111,000 shares were traded, and was among the top gainers across the bourse today.

The current price gives it a market capitalisation of RM273.02 million.

On Wednesday, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia posted sales of 5,163 units for its 1H15 compared with 3,366 units in the previous corresponding period. For the whole of 2014, the group sold 6,932 units of passenger cars.

Speaking at a news briefing, its president and chief executive officer Roland Folger said with the implementation of a double shift at the Pekan production plant in Pahang, the group is now able to fulfil orders in a shorter time.

“Taking the S-Class for example, we went from an initial production rate of four cars a day to currently building 12 units a day. We are really surprised by the massive success of our cars at the moment,” he added.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia is a joint venture unit between Cycle & Carriage Bintang (fundamental: 1.70; valuation: 1.10) and Daimler AG.

(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.)