This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 8, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Cement manufacturer Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, which saw its shares surge as much as 30% yesterday to hit limit up, said it has no idea what might have caused the sudden price jump.

It said this in a filing in response to Bursa Malaysia’s unusual market activity query yesterday, after Lafarge’s shares climbed as much as 60 sen to RM2.60.

The stock later closed at RM2.35, still 35 sen or 17.5% higher from Wednesday’s close, which valued it at about RM2 billion, after 4.27 million shares were traded.

However, on a 12-month basis, the stock has declined nearly 53%.

It was reported last July that Lafarge’s RM270 million contract to supply cement to the RM81 billion East Coast Rail Link had been suspended, pending review of the project. There has been speculation since last month that the project could be revived, albeit at a lower cost.

Lafarge posted an expanded net loss of RM319.35 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18), versus RM215.16 million in FY17, on lower contribution from its cement segment, and higher cost due to lower production output and higher energy prices. Revenue fell 6% to RM2.12 billion from RM2.25 billion.

It also said the corresponding year benefitted from a one-off gain from the sale of land, while FY18’s other expenses included an impairment of goodwill on aggregate and concrete segment, restructuring costs, loss on foreign exchange and asset write-off.