KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 8): Genomics and biopharmaceutical company Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd (MGRC) highlighted the appointment of two new independent and non-executive directors effective Monday (Nov 8), as well as the acquisition of additional shares by its major shareholder Pixelvest Sdn Bhd, in response to Bursa’s unusual market activity (UMA) query.
MGRC's share price plunged by as much as 56 sen or 28% to RM1.44, before paring some losses to close at RM1.64, still down 36 sen or 18% at Monday’s closing bell. The counter saw some 18.3 million shares done.
At RM1.64, MGRC has a market capitalisation of RM203.71 million.
The stock, however, has jumped by 55% from when it was trading at RM1.06 on Jan 4.
In response to the UMA over the sharp fall in its share price, MGRC said it has appointed Wong Yew Sen as the group’s independent director, as well as the chairman of the audit committee.
“Wong has served 32 years (between 1971 and 2003) since he joined Bank Negara Malaysia in the capacities of Senior Executive, Manager and Director of Banking Supervision Department, Internal Audit and Insurance Supervision Department,” said the group in a bourse filing on Monday.
In addition, MGRC said Wong has also served for two years as Advisor of the Supervision Department in the Cooperative Commission of Malaysia.
The company also appointed Khoo Boo Bon as its independent director. Khoo served as Chief Technology Officer for Crowd Sense, with the overall management of systems infrastructure and launching the peer-to-peer (P2P) platform.
“In [the] year 2020, Khoo joined MBSB Bank to start-up its Digital Cash Management business. He has been a key contributor within the agile strategy team implementing financial products and digital solutions in MBSB Bank,” the group noted.
On another note, MGRC’s substantial shareholder Pixelvest has bought 250,000 shares in the group on the open market on Nov 5.
This raised its direct stake in the group to 5.579% or 6.93 million. The Edge Weekly reported in early September, citing Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) filings, that Pixelvest is wholly owned by Ang Jen Chuen.
MGRC said it was otherwise not aware of any corporate development, rumour or reports that may account for the trading activity.
On Nov 3, the company announced that its largest shareholder I Concept Global Growth Fund had ceased to be its substantial shareholder following the disposal of 4.69 million shares in the company between Nov 1 and Nov 2 via the open market. It previously held, as at July 5, 10.3 million shares, representing an 8.69% interest in the company.
And in a filing dated Nov 1, the company, which remains an affected listed corporation under Rule 8.03A of the ACE Market Listing Requirements following its disposal of MPath Group in December 2019 for RM42 million, updated that it had until Dec 23 to submit a plan to Bursa Securities to regularise its condition.
MGRC fell into the red in its financial year ended June 30, 2021 (FY21) with a net loss of RM4.29 million, from a net profit of RM17.1 million a year ago, mainly because the previous financial year recorded a profit, net of tax, from discontinued operations of RM23.34 million. Revenue meanwhile came in at RM1.78 million, up from RM951,000 previously, mainly on the derecognition of the progress of genome sequencing and analysis services.