KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 3): Wintoni Group Bhd’s return to the black and boardroom shuffling again generated trading interest to become the fourth most active entity across the bourse, with the automation systems provider's shares rising by as much as 13% and its warrants, 9%.

At noon break, Wintoni (Fundamental: 1.95; Valuation: 0) settled one sen or 4.35% higher at 24 sen on a turnover of 48.97 million. Its warrant WINTONI-WA also rose one sen or 4.55% to 23 sen, trading at a 37.5% premium to its mother share after factoring in the conversion price of 10 sen. There were 6.64 million WINTONI-WA units traded as at noon break.

Wintoni, a recurring stock in Bursa Malaysia’s top active rankings recently, had already been issued an unusual market activity query by the stock exchange last Thursday (Feb 26). The company denied knowing any rumour or corporate development that could have generated the buzz around the counter.

Nonetheless, the company had reported a turnaround last year, and just yesterday (Mar 2), Wintoni announced that its chairman Tey Por Yee had been reassigned to executive director. Taking over the chair, in a non-executive capacity, will be Datuk Khairuddin Mat Yusof, a retired lieutenant general with chairmanship and directorship in privately held multilevel marketing and security companies.

In its fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14), Wintoni drew a profit of RM4.61 million or 0.9 sen per share on the back of RM25.61 million in revenue. More than half of the full-year earnings were made in 4QFY14, as the company said its cost-cutting measures and new wireless mobile application business improved its earnings in the quarter.

To compare, Wintoni made a net loss of RM2.9 million or 0.88 sen a share on revenue of RM16.6 million in FY13.

At 24 sen apiece, Wintoni’s stock is trading at 26.67 times its 12-month trailing earnings per share of 0.09 sen, which may seem expensive for an ACE Market counter.