This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 17, 2017

Lion Diversified Holdings Bhd (-ve)

Shares in Lion Diversified Holdings Bhd (valuation: 0/3, fundamental: 0.2/3) triggered our momentum algorithm for the first time this year as the counter closed 0.5 sen or 8.33% higher at 6.5 sen last Friday. A total of 63.01 million shares exchanged hands compared with the counter’s 200-day average volume of 2.02 million shares.

On March 17, the ailing steelmaker sold two leasehold plots of land in Melaka for RM18.2 million in total. Prior to that, it sold another nearby factory-office for RM30.5 million in October last year to fund its working capital. It then leased back the property — first bought for RM16.8 million — from the new owner for just over RM171,000 per month.

Last November, Lion Diversified’s external auditor Ernst & Young expressed doubt over the viability of the group’s restructuring plan, based on the audited accounts for its financial year ended June 30, 2016.

The group narrowed its net loss by 30.85% in the six months ended Dec 31, 2016 (1HFY17) to RM34.59 million from RM50.02 million in 1HFY16.