KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 26): Businessman Datuk Eddie Ong Choo Meng, a controlling shareholder in Hextar Global Bhd (KL:HEXTAR), has continued to pare down his stake in the agrochemical and fertiliser trading company.

Ong has divested 94.53 million shares in Hextar Global over the past four months. On top of that, he has also offloaded 25.25 million shares in the compaany via his private vehicle Hextar Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Following this, his direct stake in the company has dropped to 7.02% from 9.2% as at end-July, while his indirect stake has fallen to 51.85% from 52.5%.
 
Hextar last week reported a net profit of RM19.7 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2024,  an increase of 28% over RM15.39 million a year earlier, on strong growth from its specialty-chemicals segment. Revenue increased 38.3% to RM252.96 million from RM182.93 million.

For the first nine months of the year, Hextar's net profit rose 47% to RM51.01 million from RM34.7 million in the previous corresponding period, as revenue jumped 53.4% to RM698.19 million from RM455.16 million.  

This increase in revenue was due to the newly acquired fruits segment’s durian season, which contributed RM154.1 million, along with the specialty-chemicals segment’s contribution of RM109 million to the company’s revenue, while the agriculture segment was relatively stable.

Hextar had cash and cash equivalent of RM77.18 million as at Sept 30, while its borrowings totalled RM394.05 million, including RM241.06 million short-term borrowings.  

Headquartered in Klang, Hextar operates six manufacturing plants in Peninsular Malaysia and another plant in Indonesia.  

Shares of Hextar Global closed a sen or 1.12% lower to 88.5 sen on Tuesday, bringing the group a market capitalisation of RM3.49 billion. Year-to-date, the stock has risen 14%.