KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 10): Macpie Bhd, whose share price surged by as much as 6.4% today to 66.5 sen, has been slapped with an unusual market activity (UMA) query by Bursa Malaysia.

The group said in a filing that the query came in the wake of a sharp rise in its share price and volume recently.

The stock rose as much as 6.4% or four sen to hit its intraday high of 66.5 sen in early trade today, compared with its closing share price of 62.5 sen yesterday.

After rising in the morning, the counter retreated and was in negative territory in the afternoon. At 4pm, it was trading 2.5 sen or 4% lower at 60 sen after some 24.56 million shares were traded, exceeding its 200-day average volume of 11.22 million shares.

The stock has gained 38% or 16.5 sen from its closing price of 43.5 sen on Nov 2. And compared to early August, when it was trading at around 10 sen, it is up by a whopping 500%. 

The group was issued another UMA query previously on Sept 14, and in reply it said its largest shareholder Ng Chee Heng had exited the group after disposing of 86.71 million shares or a 24.54% stake on Sept 11.

The disposal was done through his private vehicle, SEG Capital Intelligence Sdn Bhd, in the open market for 33 sen a piece.

Subsequently, XOX Bhd emerged as a new substantial shareholder of Macpie after acquiring a 5.66% stake or 20 million shares in the group in the open market on Oct 2. XOX said it indirectly owns a 9.16% stake or 32.36 million shares in Macpie through its Hong Kong-based subsidiary XOX (Hong Kong) Ltd.

Macpie, which has been in the red since 2014, is involved in retail and distribution management, as well as event management.

The group saw its net loss widen to RM8.14 million for the financial year ended June 30, 2020 (FY20), from RM2.77 million for the previous year, as revenue fell 24.1% to RM64.93 million from RM85.6 million. The larger net loss was mainly due to losses from the event management segment and higher impairment losses due to the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.