This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 19, 2022 - September 25, 2022
Notable filings
For the week of Sept 5 to 9, notable shareholding changes at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies included those at Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank). AmanahRaya Trustees Bhd — Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB), a fund managed by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), sold 56.47 million shares in the country’s largest bank by assets during the period in review.
The sale of the block trimmed the fund’s stake to 32.8% from 33.4%. Based on Maybank’s average share price of RM8.93 during the week in review, the fund pocketed a whopping RM503.32 million from the sale. PNB is the largest shareholder of the banking group, with a 38% stake held by four funds.
For the second quarter ended June 30, Maybank’s net profit fell 5.36% to RM1.86 billion from RM1.96 billion a year ago after being hit by higher impairments. Its allowances for impairment losses on loans for the quarter swelled RM312.8 million, or 59.6%, to RM837.5 million from RM524.7 million a year earlier.
Over the past year, Maybank’s share price had gained more than 15.3% to close at RM8.92 last Tuesday, giving the banking group a market capitalisation of RM106.77 billion. The bank recently declared a first interim dividend of 28 sen per share.
Over at Jade Marvel Group Bhd, X Infinity Holding Sdn Bhd ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the company after selling 13.25 million shares in two separate transactions on Sept 5 and 7. X Infinity still owns 8.2 million shares or a stake of about 2.5% in the manufacturing, property development and money lending company.
On Sept 7, Jade Marvel saw a slew of board changes at its 20th annual general meeting, including the departure of deputy chairman Chong Wei Liang, 38, and joint managing director Datuk Khoo Yik Chou, 35. Datuk Seri Chong Wei Chuan, who has interest in Jade Marvel via X Infinity, was appointed executive director of the company. The AGM also saw a proposal for the company to diversify into the mining, sale and trading of iron ore, dolomite, sand and other minerals rejected.
The shares of Jade Marvel had seen heavy selling since Aug 25, plunging as much as 72% to as low as 23.5 sen on Sept 12, from 85 sen. The stock had recovered to
25.5 sen a share on Sept 13, valuing the company at RM83.6 million. On Aug 30, the counter hit limit down after falling 30 sen, or 37.27%, to 50.5 sen, possibly due to margin calls by brokerages.
Notable movements
The share price of Metronic Global Bhd had plunged almost 80% year to date to an all-time low of 2.5 sen last Tuesday. The stock was the most traded counter on Bursa last week.
On Sept 9, Fitters Diversified Bhd ceased to be a substantial shareholder of Metronic after its unit Fitters Property Development Sdn Bhd sold 12.4 million shares, or an 8% stake. The property development firm still has about 66.7 million shares, or about 4.36% equity interest, in the loss-making Metronic following the sale.
Fitters Diversified emerged as a substantial shareholder of Metronic in mid-July after subscribing for rights shares in the provider of hardware and software for smart building management. Two weeks later, it bought another 31.7 million shares on the open market to increase its stake to 15.4%.
On July 14, Metronic announced the resignation of former attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali from its board. Apandi, 72, who had been appointed as an independent non-executive chairman in July 2021, resigned on account of “personal commitments”, according to the company’s stock exchange filing.
In just one week, Aimflex Bhd’s share price had shot up more than 30% to 16 sen last Tuesday from 11 sen on Sept 7.
Meanwhile, its executive chairman Datuk Awang Daud Awang Putera is no longer a substantial shareholder of the company following the divestment of his entire stake in Aimflex, which was previously known as I-Stone Group Bhd. Over the past two weeks, he had been selling his shares in the manufacturer of specialised automation machines. An earlier filing showed that he had a 9.7% stake on Aug 8.
Aimflex saw the emergence of Awang Daud back in August 2020 with a 26.98% stake in the company. At the time, the stock was trading at 31 sen apiece. Awang Daud is a co-founder of Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd.
Interestingly, he sold a substantial stake in Aimflex to Bursa-listed Luster Industries Bhd in January. The company bought 100 million shares representing an 8.169% stake in Aimflex for RM22 million, or 22 sen per share. Luster — which is involved in the manufacturing of precision plastic parts and latex gloves, property development and gaming in Cambodia — had raised its stake in Aimflex to 12.36%, according to a June 2 filing.
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