KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Investors shorted 28.8 million shares in MyEG Services Bhd over the past two days when heavy selldown had wiped off RM1.79 billion in its market capitalisation. 

Some 11.51 million shares worth RM8.43 million were shorted on Tuesday (Feb 7), which accounted for 43% of total short selling volume of 26.58 million shares based on Bursa Malaysia’s Regulated Short Selling (RSS) data.

Meanwhile 17.31 million shares worth RM12.47 million were also shorted on Wednesday (Feb 8). The short selling volume of MyEG was equivalent to 53.7% of total volume on that day. In terms of value, MyEG accounted for 36% of the total short selling value of RM34.50 million.

Shares in MyEG settled unchanged at 71.5 sen on Thursday (Feb 9), valuing the group at RM5.35 billion. It was the second most actively traded counter on Bursa Malaysia, with a total volume of 166.55 million shares traded. 

MyEG bought back an additional two million shares at 72 sen each, according to the company’s latest filing to the stock exchange.

The block of shares cost a total of RM1.45 million.

This is its second block of shares it bought back on the open market this week. The e-government service provider mopped up two million shares on Tuesday at 71.5 sen per share. 

Cumulatively, it has now spent RM2.89 million to buy back its four million shares so far this week .

MyEG’s cumulative number of net outstanding treasury shares currently stands at 43.60 million, the filing shows.

It is worth noting that its major shareholder and managing director Wong Thean Soon also bought five million shares on Tuesday, at 73.8 sen each or RM3.69 million in total.

MyEG shares succumbed to heavy selldown on Tuesday, as it plunged 26.7% or 25.5 sen at 70 sen — the lowest since November 2020 — following news reports that all immigration services and processes will revert to the Immigration Department by 2025, including those being managed by third parties such as MyEG.

MyEG clarified on the same day that it has not held any meeting with Putrajaya on converging all immigration transactions under the government’s National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe).

Of the nine analysts tracked, MyEG showed that there are seven rated “buy” calls, while two had “hold” recommendations for the stock. The average 12-month target price rated by analysts is RM1 — 39.9% lower than MyEG’s closing price of 71.5 sen on Thursday.

For its latest financial performance, MyEG posted a net profit of RM150.7 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (3QFY2022), almost double the RM78.46 million recorded in the previous year, propelled by the resumption in full operations of its e-service centres nationwide.

The group saw a 3.7% revenue growth year-on-year to RM162.6 million for 3QFY2022, from RM156.8 million, supported by higher contribution from its foreign worker job matching service, as well as the sale of Zetrix tokens from MyEG’s new venture in the Zetrix blockchain platform.

For the cumulative nine-month ended Sept 30, 2022 (9MFY2022),  its net profit jumped 37.6% to RM324 million from RM235.4 million previously, although its revenue was nearly flat at RM486.18 million versus RM489.99 million in the corresponding period last year.

Read also: 
MyEG closes at 26-month low on news all immigration services to revert to govt by 2025 
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MyEG buys back two million shares as prices fall to over two-year low 
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