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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18): Businessman Chung Chee Yang, who emerged as Cape EMS Bhd’s (KL:CEB) substantial shareholder last week, has mopped up an additional 3.39 million shares in the company.
The latest filing to Bursa Malaysia shows that Chung bought 3.39 million shares, or 0.34% last Friday (Nov 14) via the open market. The transacted price was not disclosed, the Johor-based electronics manufacturing services provider bourse filing showed.
Based on the company’s closing price of 38 sen on Nov 14, a back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that Chung could have acquired the stake for about RM1.29 million.
Prior to this, Chung surfaced as a substantial shareholder of Cape EMS after he bought 8.42 million shares, or 0.85% last Wednesday, raising his stake to around 5% — the threshold necessary to be deemed a substantial shareholder.
Following the acquisition, Chung now owns a total of 53 million shares or a 5.34% stake in the company.
Chung is also a substantial shareholder in Cypark Resources Bhd (KL:CYPARK), with a 8.87% stake in the solar farm developer as at Nov 13. Cypark shares, which have risen 34% in the past month, last closed at 90 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM736.14 million.
Meanwhile, Cape EMS group chief executive officer and managing director Christina Tee Kim Chin trimmed her stake to 11.13% from 38.39% in August 2024, as a result of margin calls.
In August, the Employees Provident Fund also trimmed its stake in Cape EMS to 4.44% from 5.04%.
For the second quarter ended June 30 (2QFY2024), Cape EMS posted a net profit of RM8.7 million, a 43% year-on-year decrease from RM15.16 million, despite a 37% growth in revenue to RM166.57 million from RM121.78 million a year ago. The company attributed the contraction in earnings to thinner margins due to exclusion of sales from thermal energy devices and increase in freight costs.
Furthermore, Cape EMS booked an impairment loss on trade receivables of RM2.2 million. The company also blamed the strengthening of the ringgit against the greenback for its lower earnings.
For the first half of FY2024, its net profit fell 6.57% to RM22.11 million, from RM23.66 million a year earlier, while revenue expanded 23.9% to RM321.05 million, from RM259.13 million.
Cape EMS’s share price closed down 1.5 sen or 3.8% to 38 sen, bringing the group a market capitalisation of RM377 million. Year-to-date, the stock had fallen 64%.