This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 11, 2024 - March 17, 2024

From Feb 26 to March 1, notable shareholding changes at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies included that at Top Glove Corp Bhd. Its executive director Lim Hooi Sin, the brother of the glove maker’s founder and executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai, acquired a total of four million shares during the period, raising his direct shareholding by 0.05% to 1.38%. He also has a 35.27% interest via the extended family.

Hooi Sin bought 2.5 million shares at 83.25 sen on Feb 27 and 1.5 million shares on Feb 29 for 80.5 sen. Top Glove’s share price closed at 83 sen and 81 sen respectively on those days. The shares have shed 10% year to date to close at 81 sen on March 5 for a market value of RM6.65 billion.

Top Glove anticipates that its sales volume would be minimally affected by the recent Red Sea shipping crisis, according to AmInvestment Bank Bhd in a report last month. It said Top Glove’s management had guided that sales volumes for the second financial quarter ended Feb 29 may grow between 15% and 20% from the preceding quarter.

Over at Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd, there was a series of share disposals following a strong run-up in the stock this year. Managing director Tengku Yusof Tengku Ahmad Shahruddin sold three million shares on Feb 28 at RM2.32 each, reducing his stake to 2.963%. The share price closed at RM2.36 that day.

Deputy chairman Datuk Ling Suk Kiong, who is the founder of the Dayang group of companies, sold 1.5 million shares at an undisclosed price on Feb 23, while his wife Datin Wong Siew Hong sold 442,550 shares. This left Ling with a directly-held stake of 7.33% and an indirect stake of 5.62%.

So far this year, Dayang’s share price has gained 40% to RM2.24 as at March 5, giving the company a market value of RM2.59 billion.

The group, which provides integrated services to the oil and gas industry, including maintenance and chartering of marine vessels, saw its core net profit jump 53% to RM187 million last year, coming in above analysts’ expectations. Revenue that year, at RM1.1 billion, was the highest since 2019.

Meta Bright Group Bhd’s executive director Phang Kiew Lim acquired 8.5 million shares on Feb 29 for RM1.45 million in total, raising his stake in the group to 0.86%, or 21.42 million shares. Phang, who first became a shareholder last November, has been actively buying shares this year.

The Main Market-listed group has been moving away from its legacy business of property and hospitality and is increasingly focusing on growing its renewable energy, energy efficiency and equipment leasing businesses.

Leong Hup International Bhd (LHI)’s Singapore-based investor, Clarinden Investment Pte Ltd, ceased being a substantial shareholder after it sold 47.32 million shares, or a 1.3% stake, on the open market on Feb 29.

Clarinden now holds a 4.91% stake in the poultry, egg and livestock feed producer, and is the third-largest shareholder after Emerging Glory Sdn Bhd (52.8%) and Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (7.07%).

Three days before Clarinden disposed of its shares, LHI’s share price had risen to a one-year closing high of 73 sen. It then fell by a steep 19.2% over the next four trading days to close at 59 sen on March 5, for a market capitalisation of RM2.15 billion.

The group posted record earnings and revenue last year, but this year, several analysts expect it to register weaker earnings in the absence of subsidies and a lack of growth catalysts. Last year, LHI’s net profit grew 37.9% to RM301.74 million on the back of a 5.5% improvement in revenue to RM9.54 billion.

Over at Cape EMS Bhd, several directors of the electronics manufacturing services provider acquired shares on the open market following the sharp fall in its share price. The stock fell 24.1% from RM1.16 on Feb 23 to 88 sen on Feb 29 — below its IPO price of 90 sen when it listed on the Main Market on March 10 last year.

Its managing director-cum-group CEO Christina Tee Kim Chin scooped up two million shares on Feb 27 and 29, raising her stake to 38.05%; while independent non-executive directors Koh Beng San and Yau Yin Wee bought 20,000 and 11,000 shares respectively, giving them marginal stakes in the company. 

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