KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 21): The intraday short selling (IDSS) of Pertama Digital Bhd has been suspended for the rest of Tuesday, after its last done price dropped more than 15% or five sen of its reference price.

Bursa Malaysia said in a filing that the short selling under IDSS will be reactivated 8.30am Wednesday.

At the first start of trading on Tuesday, shares of Pertama Digital (formerly known as Sinotop Holdings Bhd) dropped nearly 10% to RM4.20, from a record high of RM4.65 on Monday.

The counter then extended its losses to RM3.64 at the time of writing, down 21.72% or RM1.01, giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.6 billion.

Prior to its steep decline, the counter had gained 166% year-to-date from RM1.75, and 206% over the past year from RM1.52.

Pertama Digital, which was classified as an "affected listed issuer", applied for a 12-month extension in August to submit its regularisation plan to the relevant authorities.

On its financial front, the group has suffered losses for five consecutive quarters.

Its net loss widened to RM4.5 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 (2QFY2023), from RM24,000 in the previous year’s corresponding quarter, mainly due to higher administrative and operating expenses.

This was despite revenue growing 37.15% to RM1.65 million from RM1.21 million, due to higher commission earned from its eJamin bail collection service — a digital bail payment solution used in criminal courts throughout the country. 

The group triggered Paragraph 8.03A(2)(a) (b) of the Main Market Listing Requirements in August 2022, due to the sale of its China-based textile subsidiary, Be Top Group Ltd, for RM70 million, with the aim of becoming a pure-play digital services provider.