KUALA LUMPUR: Infrastructure provider Protasco Bhd’s director Datuk Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Nor has raised his equity stake to 26.8%, emerging as the single largest shareholder of the company.
Filings with Bursa Malaysia show that Ibrahim’s investment vehicles, Dream Cruiser Sdn Bhd and FNQ Advanced Materials Sdn Bhd, collectively acquired 44.6 million shares at RM1.20 on Monday.
The transaction price was at a premium of 26.3% to the stock’s closing price of 95 sen yesterday. The block of shares was valued at a price-earnings ratio of 11.4 times based on earnings per share of 10.51 sen for FY11 ended Dec 31.
The seller of the block of shares was not known at press time. Other substantial shareholders are Datuk Hasnur Rabiain Ismail, who holds 14.9%, Datuk Chong Ket Pen 15.3%, Yap Onn Neo 12.8% while Lembaga Tabung Haji holds 9.9%.
For 1QFY12 ended March 31, net profit rose 55.6% to RM5.6 million from RM3.6 million a year ago. Revenue fell 2.5% to RM118.9 million from RM121.9 million.
The construction segment’s revenue declined 5.5% to RM63.8 million on a lower order book in the quarter. Gross margins were also lower due to the higher price of raw materials, and increased operating expenses due to the restructuring of its corporate office.
The engineering division saw revenue drop 9.5% as the number of jobs declined significantly due to a reduction in expenditure by the public sector. For the trading segment, turnover improved marginally to RM31.9 million although its operating profit declined on moderate demand from the civil construction industry. This was exacerbated by an excess supply of bitumen in the quarter, leading to its gross profit margin falling 5%.
Protasco’s education and training segment saw turnover improve 26% to RM12.6 million on higher tuition fees charged at its Kuala Lumpur Infrastructure University College. The property development segment saw lower results as it only has one project, the Unipark Suria Condominium in Kajang.
The company’s stock has gained some 6.7% YTD, with its market capitalisation at RM101.4 million based on yesterday’s closing price of 95 sen.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, June 14, 2012.