KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): Time dotCom Bhd climbed as much as 58 sen after the telecommunication group announced a special tax-free dividend of 73.5 sen a share.

Time (fundamental: 2.4; valuation: 0.8) reached its highest so far today at RM7.43, before reducing gains. At 10.40am, the stock was traded at RM6.99 with 320,200 shares trasacted.

Yesterday (July 1), Time said its shares would trade ex-dividend this July 13. The special dividend follows a tax-free payout of 5.6 sen a share in March this year.

Today, AllianceDBS Research Sdn Bhd said it was reviewing its “buy” rating and target price of RM7.05 for Time shares, pending completion of the special dividend distribution.

AllianceDBS said the dividend came after Time disposed of 68.7 million DiGi.Com Bhd (fundamental: 1.55; valuation: 1.7) shares at an average price of RM6.17 each.

“The gross proceeds of RM424 million will be used to fund this special dividend. Time still has 68.7 million DiGi shares on its balance sheet,” said AllianceDBS.

(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.)