New high for Dagang NeXchange Bhd
KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of Rev Asia Bhd have sped up once again, climbing 14 sen to RM1.06 on Tuesday after announcing a dividend in specie of 134.64 million shares of ICQ Holdings Bhd to shareholders of the company.
The ex-date for the dividend is April 21.
ICQ Holdings owns a stake in Australia-listed iCar Asia Ltd, which is an operator of online auto classifieds.
While the distribution has excited the share price in Rev Asia to move back close to its recent 52-week high at RM1.20 a share, the deal, while neutral on Rev Asia, may not be as sweet as it looks for shareholders of the company.
iCar has been loss-making, and while revenue rose to A$6.67mil last year, the company reported a EBITDA loss of A$13.8mil, an increase of A$2.35mil.
The angle that could have fuelled rev Asia’s share price is that shareholders will be able to sell the iCar shares it receives. iCar shares were trading at A$0.26 (86 sen) and are at a lowest since February 2013.
But shareholders of Rev Asia will receive shares in ICQ, which owns 52.5mil shares in iCar. The only shares it can sell will be that of ICQ, which is a special purpose vehicle and is not publicly traded.
Another reason for the rise in RevAsia’s share price is its improving business. Rev Asia reported a profit of RM5.9mil for its past financial year with revenue rising to RM23.5mil from RM17.8mil the year before.
Its financial results for its fourth quarter took a hit of RM4.6mil after its investment in iCar was marked-to-market.
With the shares of iCar trading at a multi-year low, there is little room for big financial hits from the same exercise.
In its latest filing accompanying its financial results, Rev Asia said, the group recorded a revenue of RM23.5mil, which was RM5.7mil or 31.85% higher for the current financial period ended Dec 31, 2016 than the preceding year.
Its social media and online media business recorded a combined revenue of 95% of group revenue. It said the combined revenue has registered a growth of RM6.5mil or 40.9% as compared to preceding year.
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