KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Bulk Carriers Bhd
’s surge in its share price to RM1 amid very active trade came under scrutiny by Bursa Malaysia Securities on Thursday over the unusual market activity.
At 10.44am, shares of the dry bulk carrier was up 3.5 sen. There were 40.8 million shares done at prices ranging from 93 sen to RM1.
The FBM KLCI was up 4.13 points or 0.24% to 1,721.14. Turnover was 516.79 million shares valued at RM452.27mil. There were 285 gainers, 243 losers and 325 counters unchanged.
Bursa Securities queried the company whether there was any corporate development relating to the group’s business and affairs that has not been previously announced that may account for the trading activity including those in the stage of negotiation/discussion.
The regulator also advised investors to refer to the company’s reply when making their investment decisions.
MIDF Equities Research revised it from a Neutral and raised the target price from 59 sen to RM1.04.
The research house said the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), which measures charter rates across dry bulk ship sizes and routes bounced off its low of 290 on 10/2/2016 to hit 429 (+48%) on March 31, 2016.
“While the current BDI is still -40% below 2015’s average of 718, we believe there could be room for upside as Chinese steelmakers’ increase demand for higher grade imported iron ore (79% of iron ore consumed in China is imported).
“Meanwhile, dry bulk shipping overcapacity issues are set to ease with forecast net capacity addition of +1.3%, versus a higher +2.4% growth in demand. This bodes well for Maybulk,” it said.
for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2015, Maybulk sank into a much wider loss attributable to equity holders of RM1.12bil from a loss of RM21.78mil a year earlier, dragging the company into its first-ever annual loss.
The company, which operates the country’s largest fleet of international dry bulk shipping vessels incurred RM1.18bil in loss compared with earnings of RM12.15mil in the preceding year. Revenue fell 5.6% to RM241.5mil.
The dry bulk segment reported a loss of RM583.107mil in 2015, a drop of RM550.46mil compared to RM32.64mil profit previously, mainly due to impairment loss on vessels, provision for onerous contracts, and the non-recurrence of last year’s gain on disposal of vessel.
Excluding these items, net loss was RM104.164mil in 2015 versus RM41.429mil in 2014.
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