KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 24): Signature International Bhd’s co-founder Datuk Michael Chooi Yoey Sun has emerged as a substantial shareholder of EcoFirst Consolidated Bhd, confirming The Edge Weekly report in its Jan 17-23 edition.
According to a statement on Monday (Jan 24), Chooi, who is also a major shareholder of Scanwolf Bhd, has acquired 20 million EcoFirst’s shares or 1.72% direct stake from the open market in the last two weeks.
He then further acquired another 40 million shares or 3.44% indirect stake via an off-market transaction through Wawasan Fokus Sdn Bhd.
In total, Chooi has a 5.16% stake in the property company.
“Chooi is best known for co-founding Signature Kitchen with his partner Tan Kee Choong back in 1994, where they supplied and installed built-in kitchen and wardrobe systems.
“Signature International was subsequently listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia in 2008.
“Known as a sales and marketing specialist with almost 30 years of experience, Chooi grew Signature Kitchen, where its kitchen cabinets soon made [their] mark in upmarket property projects. Signature also made inroads abroad via some 15 different markets,” it said.
Sources had told The Edge that Chooi had been accumulating EcoFirst shares on the open market at an average price of 45 sen apiece, as well as buying shares off-market at 50 sen each.
Notably, Chooiceased to be a substantial shareholder in Signature after 27 years when he sold his shares to Chin Hin Group Bhd in April last year.
EcoFirst reports a net loss of RM1.89 million in 2Q
In a separate local bourse filing on Monday, EcoFirst reported a net loss of RM1.89 million in the second quarter ended Nov 30, 2021 (2QFY22) from a net profit of RM1.98 million in the same period the year before, mainly due to postponement in the launching of new development and no revenue from the property development segment, which continued to be negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Quarterly revenue, on the other hand, fell by 53.14% to RM3.67 million from RM7.84 million amid no contribution from its property segment.
For the half-year period ended on Nov 30, the group registered a net loss of RM3.99 million from a net profit of RM2.02 million posted previously while revenue fell significantly to RM6.39 million from RM24.01 million.
Shares in EcoFirst settled 4.5 sen or 8.74% higher at 56 sen on Monday, valuing the company at RM652.3 million. It saw 12.21 million shares changed hands.