KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 6): Quarry operator Minetech Resources Bhd climbed 7.69% upon its plan to diversify into the property development sector with the purchase of four parcels of land in Perak.

At 10.11am, the stock rose by half sen to seven sen, with 50,000 shares done for a market capitalisation of RM43.2 million.

Minetech announced yesterday it had signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Glamour Heights Sdn Bhd, which owned 7,924 sq m of land and had development experience.

The land is approved for a 21-storey mixed project, for which Minetech will be the main developer and Glamour Heights the co-developer to assist in the construction of the Glamour Avenue project, thereby making it its maiden venture in this sector.

"The building plans for Glamour Avenue were approved by Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh on Feb 28, 2014. Based on current planning, the estimated gross development value (GDV) and the estimated gross development cost (GDC) of the project are RM76.97 million and RM68.99 million respectively, yielding an estimated profit of RM7.98 million to Minetech," said the group.

Minetech is also planning to buy two companies: Medium Visa Sdn Bhd (MVSB) and Harapan Iringan Sdn Bhd (HISB) for RM9.43 million and RM7.51 million respectively.

MVSB owns two parcels of adjacent leasehold land in Bernam Timur, Perak, measuring 124,136.7 sq m. HISB owns a 99,730 sq m parcel of leasehold land, also in Bernam Timur.

(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.)