KUALA LUMPUR (July 7): Stationery maker Pelikan International Corp Bhd saw strong buying support today, lifting its share price by as much as 53% to 55 sen.

The counter pared part of the gains later, and closed 9.5 sen or 26.39% higher at 45.5 sen, valuing the company at RM276.70 million. It  was one of the top active counters on Bursa Malaysia with 293.12 million changing hands. 

Year to date, the stock has increased by 42.19% from 31 sen.

A check on previous filings by the group indicated no recent corporate developments that might have contributed to the sudden interest in the counter.

According to Pelikan's latest annual report, its biggest shareholder is Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd, the wholly-owned unit of the Ministry of Finance that took over Lembaga Tabung Haji's non-performing assets in late 2018, with a 26.06% stake in the group.

Other major shareholders include the group's president and chief executive officer, Loo Hooi Keat, with a direct stake of 10.18%, and Merit Plus Ventures Ltd, a company ultimately owned by Ikhlas Capital (a private equity firm partly owned by former banker Datuk Seri Nazir Razak) with a 9.09% stake.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020 (FY20), Pelikan reported an increase of 44.04% in net profit to RM10.96 million, from RM7.61 million registered in FY19. Revenue, however, fell 8.13% to RM974.44 million from RM1.06 billion. Earnings per share came in at 1.79 sen, up from 1.34 sen in FY19.

According to the group's website, Pelikan is one of the market leaders and pioneers in the writing instruments and stationery industry worldwide. It operates production sites in Germany, Mexico, Colombia and Poland as its products are supplied to nearly every country in the world.