KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 27): Shares of MyMBN Bhd (KL:MBN) fell on Friday to their lowest since listing 17 months ago, and below the initial public offering price, after the Malaysian government temporarily suspended bird's nest exports to China.
MyMBN fell as much as 7.7% or one sen to 12 sen. The stock was trading at 12.5 sen at 9.45am, giving the company a market capitalisation of about RM48 million. Trading volume totalled 160,200 shares so far, the highest in more than a month.
No institutional analysts cover the stock.
The industry-wide suspension comes as the company embarked on ambitious expansion in China for a bigger slice of the market share. MyMBN relies on China for more than half of its revenue.
On Thursday, the company said it was notified by the Department of Veterinary Services that the suspension applies to both raw-cleaned and raw-uncleaned edible bird’s nest products.
On its part, MyMBN said it is implementing measures to mitigate the impact, including the redistribution of its sales focus to the existing alternate export market of Vietnam and the local market.
Year to date, the stock listed on the ACE Market has lost some 32% as the company, which mainly processes raw bird’s nest, grappled with losses as costs and expenses rose faster than revenue growth.
For the first nine months, MyMBN posted a net loss of RM280,000, compared to a net profit of RM1.48 million for the previous year’s corresponding period. Revenue rose 9.7% to RM54.18 million from RM49.39 million.
In July, the company said it is planning to further expand into the Chinese market through the acquisition of an 80% stake in a Chinese company — Guangxi Nan Yang Birdnest (M) Co Ltd.
The acquisition was expected to open opportunities for processing and sale of raw clean edible bird’s nest in China, and MyMBN said it had plans to process 20% of its total processing capacity of 32,256kg per year through the venture.
Chief executive officer Lavernt Chen Vun Wo is also the company’s biggest shareholder with a 34% stake, followed by non-executive director Lee Wei Kong and chairman Liw Chong Liong with about 11% each.