KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): A total of 26.68 million shares of Sycal Ventures Bhd, equivalent to an 8.33% stake in the construction player-cum-property developer, were traded at a steep discount to its open market price just half an hour before the closing bell today.

Bloomberg data showed that at 4.30pm, two blocks of Sycal’s shares were traded off-market at 25 sen apiece. One block carried 17.01 million shares while the other, 9.67 million shares. 

The transacted price was 14.5 sen or 36.71% lower than Sycal’s closing price of 39.5 sen last Friday. 

Today, Sycal closed one sen higher at 40.5 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM126.5 million, after recording a trading volume of 1.13 million.

The Edge Research showed that Sycal was traded at a 12-month trailing price-earnings ratio of 4.9 times.

While it is not immediately known who the buyer(s) and seller(s) of these transactions were, it is worth noting that the tightly held Sycal recently saw the entrance of new shareholder Fantastic Hallmark Sdn Bhd, which has been aggressively shoring up its shareholding in the company since last month.

In just three direct deals between Oct 2 and 19, Fantastic Hallmark bought 53.36 million or 16.66% of Sycal’s shares. It is now the second-largest shareholder in Sycal, next to Pengurusan Danaharta Sdn Bhd — which had a 22.71% stake as at Apr 30.

Fantastic Hallmark is controlled by one Mohd Wazir Khalid and Suzanna Mohd Nor, who are now deemed indirect shareholders of Sycal by way of Fantastic Hallmark’s entry into the company.

In the first half of its financial year ending Dec 31, 2015, Sycal reported a 23.17% growth in its net profit to RM10.5 million. Revenue, meanwhile, was up by 24.73% at RM195.33 million from RM156.61 million a year earlier.

(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.)