KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 3): Main Market-listed TPC Plus Bhd has received Bursa Malaysia's approval for its regularisation plan to help lift it out of its Practice Note 17 (PN17) status.

The egg producer was classified as a PN17 company on Feb 28, 2014, after its auditors had expressed concern over TPC, which posted a net loss of RM4.1 million in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2013 (FY13). Bursa's decision had also taken into account that TPC's shareholders' equity as at Dec 31, 2013 was less than 50% of the latter's issued capital.

In a statement today, TPC said Bursa had vide its letter dated July 31, 2015, approved its revised proposed regularisation plan, which entails a proposed share premium reduction, proposed par value reduction, a proposed rights issue with warrants, proposed capitalisation of amount owing to its holding company, Huat Lai Resources Bhd; as well as proposed amendments to its memorandum of association and articles of association.

Based on its approval obtained from Bursa, TPC said the regulator has also approved the listing and quotation of up to 180 million new TPC shares, under its proposed rights issue with warrants and proposed capitalisation.

In addition, Bursa has approved the listing of and quotation for 80 million warrants, that would be issued pursuant to the proposed rights issue with warrants and the 80 million new TPC shares to be issued arising from the exercise of the warrants.

"The proceeds to be raised from the proposed rights issue with warrants will be utilised by TPC for the purchase of layer and pullet houses and equipment, working capital and expenses in relation to the proposed regularisation plan," said TPC.

TPC expects to complete its implementation of the proposed regularisation plan in the first quarter of 2016.

It is required to record net profits for two consecutive financial quarters, immediately after the completion of the implementation of its regularisation plan, in order to uplift its PN17 status.

For FY14, TPC posted a net profit of RM4.76 million, on revenue of RM83.61 million. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2015, TPC achieved an unaudited net profit of RM 1.83 million, on revenue of RM23.81 million.

According to the annual report 2014, Huat Lai held a 52.91% stake in TPC, as at April 20, 2015.   

TPC (fundamental: 0.75; valuation: 0.3) shares rose as much as 17.93% to an intraday high of 62.5 sen today, before closing at 61.5 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM49.2 million. Huat Lai stock, meanwhile, was untraded since last Wednesday (July 29). It last closed at RM3.25, giving it a market capitalisation of RM281.28 million.

(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.)