KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 4): Shares of Datasonic Group Bhd rose as much as 13 sen or 9% today on news that it has secured a new project from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The contract win yesterday also coincided with the announcement of the emergence of a new substantial shareholder, Azlan Abdul Kadir, who holds a 6.46% stake in Datasonic via Demi Mekar Sdn Bhd.

At 2.40pm today, Datasonic pared some gains but was still up 11 sen or 7.64% at RM1.55, giving the information technology solutions outfit a market capitalisation of RM2.09 billion.

The one-year contract, worth RM6.97 million, is to supply the Immigration Department with 16 units of e-gate with facial recognition system at the Malaysia-Singapore entry and exit points.

This is the second contract bagged by Datasonic after former managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Abu Hanifah Noordin disposed of his stake in the group in mid-December and eventually ceased to be its substantial shareholder.

Just mid last month, Datasonic had announced a one-year contract extension to supply 6.1 million raw MyKads and MyKad consumables to the government.

With shares at five-year high levels, analysts have commented that Datasonic needs more contract wins to justify its high valuation — although it was also noted that Datasonic is participating in multiple tenders including the National Integrated Immigration System project that could be worth RM1 billion to RM1.5 billion.