KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 31): PUC Bhd, which has been thinly traded, is now attracting buying interest after co-founders of Cocoaland Bhd, Lau Pak Lam and Liew Fook Meng, have emerged as substantial shareholders in the integrated media services and payment solutions provider.
The stock surged by as much as 1.5 sen or 42.9% to five sen during Wednesday's morning session just after the opening bell. At the lunch break, it pared some gains to trade at four sen, still up by half a sen or 14.29% from Tuesday's closing price of 3.5 sen, valuing the group at RM98.71 million.
The counter also experienced brisk trading, with a total of 39.41 million shares changing hands, three times more than its 90-day volume moving average of 11.86 million, placing it among the top active stocks on Bursa Malaysia.
On Tuesday, PUC announced that on Jan 26, Lau acquired 232 million units of PUC’s shares via off-market transactions, representing 9.64% of the group’s share base. On the same day, Liew acquired 241.55 million shares, equivalent to a 9.8% stake.
In addition, Lau increased his stake in PUC on Monday by acquiring another 10 million shares, bringing his total holdings in the integrated media services and payment solutions provider to 248 million shares, or 10.05%.
Lau and Liew were partners in Leverage Success Sdn Bhd, a company that once held a 40.65% stake in Cocoaland before their holdings were acquired by Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd in 2022.
PUC reported a net profit of RM1 million in the fourth quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023), compared to a net loss of RM9.66 million a year ago. This improvement was mainly due to the reversal of a provision for doubtful debts. Quarterly revenue also jumped nearly tenfold to RM14.67 million from RM1.37 million in the same period.