KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 4): The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has emerged as a substantial shareholder in Mega First Corporation Bhd (KL:MFCB), after raising its direct stake in the utility conglomerate company to 5.99%, comprising 56.54 million shares.

This came as EPF, via Citigroup Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd, acquired 10 million shares of Mega First on Dec 2, the group’s filing on Wednesday showed.

The transaction price was not disclosed in the filing. For reference, Mega First's share price closed at RM4.30 on Monday.

According to Mega First’s latest annual report, EPF was the company’s tenth largest shareholder, with the provident fund holding 19.15 million shares or a 2.03% stake in the company as of March 29, 2024.

This is the first time EPF's stake has risen past the 5% mark in the company, which owns renewable energy generation assets and packaging business, checks on company filings with Bursa Malaysia showed.

For the financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2024 (3QFY2024), Mega First’s net profit rose 13.8% to RM116.64 million from RM102.53 million a year earlier, underpinned by stronger earnings from its renewable energy and resources segments.

Quarterly revenue grew 16.1% to RM372 million from RM320.38 million a year before, helped by an increase in hydro energy and solar energy sales.

For the nine months of FY2024 (9MFY2024), its net profit swelled by 21.3% to RM317.46 million from RM261.69 million a year earlier as cumulative revenue expanded 2.4% to RM1.02 billion from RM993.39 million.

The group has previously said that it was confident of sustaining its earnings growth momentum, underpinned by enhanced generation capacity following the commissioning of its fifth turbine at the Don Sahong hydropower plant in July this year.

Particularly, it said the increase in effective ownership of DSPC (Don Sahong Power Company Ltd) from 80% to 95% in late 2023 is projected to result in double-digit year-on-year growth in normalised profit after tax and non-controlling interest (Patnci) contribution to the group.

The group also forecasted continued growth in its solar earnings, driven by progressive installation of secured solar capacities, with an additional 65.9 megawatt-peak (MWp) expected to commence commercial operations substantially in 2025. Currently, its total solar generation capacity stands at 28.8 MWp.

Nevertheless, Mega First has sounded less upbeat about its resources division and packaging segment in its latest financial results commentary.

Shares in Mega First gained two sen or 0.5% to RM4.33 on Wednesday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM4.28 billion. Year-to-date, the stock has gained 17.3%.