KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Thailand-listed SCGJWD Logistics PCL (SJWD) has emerged as a substantial shareholder of Swift Haulage Bhd with a 20.44% stake after the completion of its share acquisition in Malaysia's largest container haulage company.
SJWD’s wholly-owned unit, Singapore-based logistics firm JWD Asia Holding Pte Ltd, acquired the stake in Swift Haulage comprising 180 million shares on Thursday at 63 sen apiece or a total of RM113.4 million, according to a bourse filing on Friday.
JWD Asia had on Feb 5 entered into a deal to purchase the stake from Persada Bina Sdn Bhd, Retirement Fund (Inc)(KWAP), Kenanga Private Equity Sdn Bhd (Kenanga PE), Angka Dayamas Sdn Bhd, and Swift Haulage Central Region executive director Ng Chee Kin.
JWD Asia bought 98.27 million shares (11.16% stake) from Persada Bina, 39.75 million shares (4.51% stake) from KWAP, 25.98 million shares (2.95%) from Kenanga PE, and the remaining 16 million shares (1.82%) from Angka Dayamas and Ng.
The transaction price of 63 sen represents a 16.67% premium to Feb 5’s close of 54 sen and a 12.5% premium to Thursday’s close of 56 sen.
Post-transaction, Persada Bina’s stake was slashed to 24%, KWAP ceased to be a substantial shareholder with its stake halved to 4.51%, Kenanga PE to nought, while Angka Dayamas’ and Ng’s shareholding changes cannot be ascertained.
As at April 3, 2023, Angka Dayamas and Ng held stakes of 2.63% and 1.35% respectively in Swift Haulage, according to the company’s annual report 2022.
JWD Asia’s 20.44% stake slots the SJWD unit as Swift Haulage’s second-largest shareholder, behind Persada Bina — the investment vehicle of group director and adviser Loo Hooi Keat, his son group executive director and CEO Loo Yong Hui, and director Datuk Md Yusoff @ Mohd Yusoff Jaafar.
Hooi Keat and Yong Hui also own direct stakes of 4.83% and 0.01% in Swift Haulage.
Swift Haulage net profit up 72.3% in 4Q
According to a separate filing, Swift Haulage's net profit surged 72.3% to RM15.98 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 (4QFY2023), from RM9.28 million a year earlier, on recognising tax credit instead of tax expense previously.
Revenue, meanwhile, rose 5.61% to RM173.3 million from RM164.1 million in the previous fourth quarter.
Swift Haulage declared a single-tier interim dividend of 0.8 sen per share, payable on April 8.
For the full year, Swift Haulage's net profit climbed 32.45% to RM64.23 million versus RM48.49 million in FY2023, on higher other income and lower tax expenses. Full-year revenue rose 4.26% to RM671.19 million from RM643.77 million.
Looking to FY2024, Swift Haulage said the group continues to see an uptick in demand for warehousing services, despite the decline in global trade.
“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we are cautiously confident of our financial performance for the next financial year,” the group said.
“Despite the foreseeable hurdles, we aim to continue to seize all possible opportunities to achieve another year of resilient results, whilst making meaningful progress in our ESG agenda to contribute to Malaysia’s sustainable progress,” it added.
Shares in Swift Haulage ended unchanged at 56 sen on Friday, valuing the container haulage company at RM494.03 million.