KUALA LUMPUR (May 12): Hong Leong Company (Malaysia) Bhd is no longer the ultimate shareholder of the 27% stake in Eco World International Bhd (EWI) owned by the Hong Leong group following an internal restructuring.

Hong Leong Company and HL Holdings Sdn Bhd have ceased to be substantial shareholders of EWI, according to filings with Bursa Malaysia today. The reason cited was internal restructuring.

Hong Leong group’s 27% stake remains with GLL EWI (HK) Ltd.

According to its annual report for the financial year ended Oct 31, 2020 (FY20), GLL EWI (HK) is the group’s second-largest shareholder, with 648 million shares representing the 27% stake.

For its first quarter ended Jan 31, 2021 (1QFY21), EWI saw its net profit jump by more than 10-fold to RM56.03 million, from RM5.19 million a year ago, thanks mainly to profit recognition of the group’s Melbourne project.

Quarterly revenue swelled to RM303.28 million from RM51,000.

The group declared an interim dividend of one sen, to be paid on April 28. This is EWI's maiden dividend since its listing in 2017.

EWI said it delivered RM408 million sales in the first four months of the current financial year.

Sales in the first quarter totalled RM312 million, slightly in excess of RM100 million a month, which is similar to the rate recorded in the previous first quarter.

Shares in EWI closed unchanged at 55 sen apiece, valuing it at RM1.32 billion. It saw 1.31 million shares done.

(The previous version of this article reported that Hong Leong Group had ceased to be a substantial shareholder of EWI. We regret the error.)