Stock on the Move: Panpages

PETALING JAYA: Marketing and data services company Panpages Bhd has been actively traded today following an off-market deal which saw 20.57 million shares traded at 30 sen each.
These shares amount to a 8.52% stake in Panpages based on its number of shares of 241.35 million.

As at 11.48am, some 37.8 million Panpages shares had been traded. The stock was unchanged from its previous days closing price of 34 sen.

On a year to date basis, this stock is now up 4.5 sen or 15.25% at 34 sen. At this price it has a market capitalisation of RM82.06mil.

Dealers said that the most probably cause for the off market deal was likely the entrance of a new strategic shareholder.  

Meanwhile, its director Lau Kok Fui has been steadily accumulating the shares for more than a year. As of Feb 6, he has a 12.37% stake in the company.

The single largest shareholder of the company is its group managing director Tan Tian Sin with a 23.77% stake in the company.

Dealers say that the interest in Panpages could be due to its businesses which appear to be linked to e-commerce.

On its website, PanPages says that is the leading regional business communities builder in Southeast Asia.  The Group specializes in developing business platforms, providing advertisement and marketing services to SMEs though online local business platforms, print directories and Data as a Service engine

Currently, Panpages is the authorised reseller for Alibaba.com Gold Supplier membership in Malaysia and has helped more than 3,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia on export trade.

Panpages offers marketing-as-a-service, where it publishes business content on platforms such as Malaysia Super Pages, print directories, Alibaba.com’s global trade portal and other business sites.

Nonetheless the company is now in the red. For its financial year ended Dec 31, 2016, it recorded a loss of RM8.1mil from a previous net profit of RM4.28mil. Revenue dropped to RM30.85mil from RM42.41mil in the previous financial year. It has cash of some RM5.9mil compared to RM8.28mil previously.

As of Dec 31, 2016, it has a net tangible asset of 22.3 sen.  

On Dec 30 last year, Panpages had proposed a 10% private placement of the company. This proposed placement will entail the issuance of up to 24.14 million placement shares.