KUALA LUMPUR (April 9): Shares of My E.G. Services Bhd (MyEG) extended their losses in early trade today after the government said it was looking at an alternative platform for the renewal of foreign work permits currently being offered by the company.

At 9.16am, MyEG (fundamental: 3.0; valuation: 1.1) fell 0.72% or two sen to RM1.75 with 1,23 million shares done. MyEG’s market capitalisation stood at RM3.33 billion.

Earlier yesterday, the Home Affairs Deputy Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said that the government was looking at an alternative platform currently monopolised by MyEG following complaints raised over the RM38 processing fees recently.

“There were a lot of companies who presented their products at that time in 2012, and MyEG was the only [company that] could perform what the government wanted them to do.

"(But) ... now the government is looking at other alternative into MyEG under MAMPU (Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit) by the government," he told reporters outside the parliament building yesterday.

Currently, employers pay MyEG RM125 for immigration processing fees when the online renewal of work permits for foreign workers. These employers also bear an additional RM38 charge per worker per year.

The charges by MyEG and the lack of option for renewal of foreign workers’ permit was met with protest from opposition politicians and employers.

The introduction of the mandatory use of MyEG for renewal of their foreign workers work permit was first announced on Jan 2 and came into effect on Jan 5.

MyEG had leapt 26.16% from RM2.14 on Jan 6 to RM2.70 on Jan 8.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)