This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 9, 2015.

Dufu Technology Corp Bhd (+ve)

SINCE bottoming out at 26.5 sen on August 24, shares of hard-disk drive (HDD) component maker Dufu (Fundamental: 1.7/3, Valuation: 1.7/3) have surged 77.4% to close at 47 sen yesterday.

On Monday, Dufu announced a special interim dividend of 2 sen per share, translating into a dividend yield of 4.3%. To recap, the company did not pay any dividends in past four years. 

Loss-making in 2011-2013, Dufu diversified into non-HDD business, such as sensor controls and the medical devices. Export sales, mostly USD-denominated, accounted for 75.4% of its revenue in 2014.

Excluding a one-off gain of RM6.2 million in 3Q14, core pre-tax profit for 3Q15 jumped more than fivefold y-y to RM6.3 million. The improved performance was attributed to a 37.9% increase in revenue and forex gains of RM2.1 million. 

Notably, the largest shareholder Perfect Commerce Sdn Bhd has increased its stake to 10.3% from 9.7% on April 30.