KUALA LUMPUR (June 10): Muar Ban Lee Group Bhd (MBL) has announced that Cocoaland Holdings Bhd co-founder Liew Fook Meng has emerged as its substantial shareholder, confirming an earlier report by theedgemarkets.com.
In a stock exchange filing, MBL said Liew had acquired 5.95 million shares that represent a 5.69% stake in the plantation firm, slightly lower than the 7% reported by theedgemarkets.com earlier today. The shares were purchased on June 5, when MBL's counter closed at RM1.39.
Today, shares in MBL settled at RM1.43, down 2.14% or three sen from the day before, after 651,600 units changed hands. This gave the company a market capitalisation of RM153.62 million.
It remains unclear at what price Liew bought the shares but sources familiar with the matter told theedgemarkets.com that it was fixed at around RM1.35 per unit as “he saw the potential of the latter to do something big”.
MBL, founded in 1987, is a palm kernel oil expeller as well as a manufacturer that specialises in palm oil and oilseed crushing machinery. It is also a minority shareholder of Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd, the country’s largest dealer of German premium marque Mercedes-Benz's cars.
The company made a net profit of RM19.44 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2019 (FY19), up 50% from FY18's RM12.96 million, as revenue grew 8% to RM169.93 million from RM157.52 million.
The earnings jump was mainly due to a stronger contribution from its manufacturing division, where pre-tax profit doubled to RM34.62 million, following higher project sales, a better product mix and lower costs.
Its bio-engineering division also saw improved earnings, while its oil milling division returned to the black following a plant upgrade that improved its productivity and efficiency amid better selling prices of crude palm kernel oil.