This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 16, 2023 - January 22, 2023
Notable filings
For the week of Jan 2 to 6, notable shareholding changes at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies included those at Central Global Bhd. Geneva Insurance Group (Barbados) Inc emerged as a substantial shareholder of the manufacturing and construction player after it bought eight million shares, or a 5.62% block, on Jan 4.
RYRT Holdings Sdn Bhd continued to pare down its stake in Central Global during the week in review, disposing of another 1.08 million shares to bring its equity interest to 6.64%, or 9.45 million shares.
Recall that at end-December 2022, RYRT — a vehicle of Soo Yu Chai and Lee Chee Vui — sold 10.22 million shares in Central Global, reducing its stake to 7.43%. Lee was appointed executive director at Central Global on April 1 last year.
RYRT emerged as a shareholder of Central Global in April last year with 14.47 million shares, or 12.44% equity interest, following the acquisition of a 70% stake in RYRT International Sdn Bhd for RM30 million. Central Global’s single largest shareholder is MCA politician Chiew Hian Tat, with a 31.47% stake.
The share price of Central Global closed at 97.5 sen last Wednesday, up more than 7.7% this year, to give the company a market capitalisation of RM138.74 million.
Over at Hubline Bhd, Royston Ling Ing Ding continued to raise his stake in the shipping company. On Jan 3, he bought 12 million shares in the company in an off-market transaction to raise his direct stake to 1.69%, or about 72.64 million shares. He has been nibbling at Hubline’s shares since July last year.
It is worth noting that Ling is the son of CEO Dennis Ling Li Kuang and is an alternate director to his father at the company. He also has an indirect stake of 1.55% in Hubline.
Sarawak-based Hubline provides dry bulk shipping logistics services and operates an aviation academy. For the financial year ended Sept 30, 2022, its net profit declined 22.6% to RM12.93 million from RM16.7 million a year earlier, despite posting an almost 50% jump in revenue to RM229.17 million from RM152.93 million previously.
BTM Resources Bhd, a Terengganu-based wood processing firm, saw Tan Sri Mohd Hussin Abd Hamid sell 9.68 million shares during the week in review and cease to be a substantial shareholder of the company.
Mohd Hussin is currently a director at Naza Asset Management and executive chairman of Concord Group, which is owned by his family. The group is involved in commodity trading, real estate, financial consultancy and renewable energy.
BTM Resources recently completed a six-for-one rights issue at eight sen each, with free detachable warrants. The rights shares were undersubscribed by 10.19%.
Based on the 921.57 million rights shares subscribed for at eight sen apiece, the company will raise RM73.73 million. It would have raised RM94.71 million had all 1.18 billion rights shares been subscribed.
BTM Resources has been loss-making since FY1998, except for FY2016. For the first nine months of FY2022 ended Sept 30, it posted a net loss of RM1.79 million on the back of RM2.44 million in revenue.
Notable movements
Jentayu Sustainables Bhd’s share price had gained as much as 171% from its 52-week low of 28 sen on May 27, 2022, to 76 sen on Jan 4. The stock closed at 70 sen last Wednesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM247.27 million.
On Jan 3, the renewable energy company saw Abdullah Faroff Husaain cease to be a substantial shareholder after he sold two million shares in the company for RM1.3 million, or 65 sen apiece. Following the disposal, he has a 4.92% stake, or 17.38 million shares, in Jentayu.
Faroff had emerged as a substantial shareholder of Jentayu in October last year, when he acquired 10 million shares in the company via a private placement at 50 sen per share. This increased his stake to 5.49%, or 19.38 million shares.
Another renewable energy-related company that has seen a surge in its share price over the past year is Cypark Resources Bhd. Jakel Capital Sdn Bhd recently emerged as the company’s single largest shareholder with a 27.33% stake. This came after Cypark completed a private placement exercise involving 176.65 million new shares, for which Jakel Capital subscribed at 38 sen each, or a total of RM67.1 million. Jakel Capital is the investment arm of textile wholesaler Jakel Group.
The share price of Cypark has been on a roller-coaster ride over the past year. The counter plunged to an all-time low of 27.5 sen in mid-June 2022 from a 52-week high of 92.5 sen on Jan 10 last year.
Cypark’s share price had recovered by 158.2% last Wednesday, closing at 71.5 sen to give the company a market capitalisation of RM547.33 million.
Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.
P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play.