KUALA LUMPUR (March 29): Mudajaya Group Bhd has redesignated its group managing director and chief executive officer James Wong Tet Foh as executive chairman, effective April 1, 2024.

Wong, 63, succeeds Lee Eng Leong, 56, who is stepping down due to personal reasons.

Lee, who holds 0.09% stake in Mudajaya Group, will remain as an adviser to the group for the next few months to ensure a smooth leadership transition, together with the support of the board, Mudajaya's bourse filing showed.

The single largest shareholder of the group, which was known previously as the construction and engineering unit of the Lee family of the Mulpha group, is Taiwanese businessman Kuo Jen-Hao, via Yakin Setiamas Sdn Bhd. Kuo first emerged as the group's single largest shareholder in 2019.

“The group thanks Lee for his leadership and commitment and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. The group also takes this opportunity to assure all stakeholders that the business shall continue as usual and move forward with its growth plans,” Mudajaya said.

Mudajaya also appointed Alvin Chew Chee Wai, 45, who is currently heading its construction division, as the acting group chief operating officer to help oversee the group's operations, covering the construction, trading and manufacturing, property as well as power divisions.

In its latest quarterly report released in November, the group slipped back into losses in its nine months ended Sept 30, 2023 (9MFY2023), with a net loss of RM30.74 million, compared with a net profit of RM7.71 million it made in 9MFY2022, despite revenue almost doubling to RM349.69 million from RM177.66 million as it consolidated the revenue of its newly acquired cement manufacturer Real Jade Group.

The earnings drop was mainly due to the reassessment of the cost of a construction contract in the second quarter of this year, which was partly offset by profit generated from Real Jade Group.

Shares in Mudajaya ended unchanged at 14 sen, valuing the group at RM262.63 million.