This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 3, 2017

Advance Synergy Bhd (-ve)

SHARES in Advance Synergy Bhd (fundamental: 1.85/3, valuation: 1.2/3) closed one sen or 5% higher at 21 sen yesterday, with 41.79 million shares traded, compared with the 2.03 million average shares seen in the past 200 days.

Advance Synergy operates hotels and resorts under the brand name of Holiday Villa Hotels and Resorts besides providing ticketing and travel services. It also provides software and technology solutions for the mobile telecommunication sector.

The group turned around in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2016 (4QFY16) with a net profit of RM8.56 million, compared with a net loss of RM10.84 million in 4QFY15, on lower operating expenses. Revenue rose 18.43% to RM90.66 million from RM76.55 million.

For FY16, it returned to black with a net profit of RM4.07 million compared with a net loss of RM11.59 million, while revenue climbed 2.95% to RM276.78 million from RM268.84 million.

Last Thursday, Advance Synergy proposed a final dividend of 0.25 sen per share for FY16, payable on Aug 18.