TAHPS Group Bhd
TAHPS Group has a long history, going all the way back to 1907, when it was called Ayer Hitam Planting Syndicate Limited. Over time, its core business changed from rubber cultivation to primarily, property development. Current projects include the 1,290-acre modern integrated township development at Bandar Bukit Puchong. It also owns some agriculture land, cultivated with oil palm and rubber.

Revenue of the company has risen from RM22.7 million in FYMar2011 to RM98.4 million in FY14. Net profit expanded from RM11.1 million to RM46.4 million over the same period. Property development accounted for 88.5% of the company’s revenue in the last financial year and will remain the biggest contributor with the completion of the BP: Newton (Phase 2) development and new launches planned for next year.

TAHPS has a strong balance sheet with net cash holding of RM173.2 million – about 29% of its current market capitalization of RM598.8 million. It is, therefore, well positioned to pursue value accretive acquisitions or return more cash to shareholders – or it could be a potential privatisation candidate.

The company could expand its plantation business further. Back in August 2012, it acquired 10,000 acres of planted and undeveloped land in Terengganu. Before this, it owned 1,000 acres of agriculture land in Pahang, cultivated with oil palm and rubber.

TAHPS pays dividends, consistently each year. In FY14, dividends were upped to 35 sen per share, from 20 sen in FY13, in line with stronger earnings. This translates into a net yield of 4.4% at the prevailing price of RM8.00.

The stock is currently trading at price-to-book ratio of 1.3 and trailing 12-month P/E of 14.5 times. TheEdge Research rates this company a 2.4 out of 3 on valuations and 1.65 out of 3 on fundamentals.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 10, 2014.