KUALA LUMPUR: Johan Holdings Bhd
's share price climbed to a high of 34 sen on Friday, its highest since May this year in active trade as investors expected a spillover effect from George Kent (M) Bhd.
At midday, it was up 2.5 sen to 33 sen with 20.38 million shares done, the highest volume since July 19.
Johan is involved in ceramic products and property and its chairman is Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock – who has a direct and indirect stake totalling 36.2%.
Tan had been raising his stake in Johan via Kin Fai International Ltd, which bought six million shares on April 3 at 18.3 sen and another six million shares the next day at 19.1 sen.
Tan is also the driving force behind George Kent (M) Bhd which manufactures water meters and valves and now has a strong presence in infrastructure via the LRT3 project.
Johan has been trading between 12 sen and 39.5 sen over the last 52 weeks and hit a 52-week high of 37 sen on April 10. Although it retreated to 22 sen on June 1, the share price has picked up momentum following the announcement of its results.
For its first quarter ended April 30, 2017, Johan recorded a profit of RM8.9 mil as compared to a loss of RM6.05 mil a year ago. Net assets per share stood at 33.5 sen.
The group recorded a profit before tax of RM8.872mil compared to a loss before tax of RM6.05mil a year ago, mainly due to fair value gain of investment securities of RM24.44mil.
Previously, Johan recorded annual losses for five straight years, closing its financial year on Jan 31, 2017 with a net loss of RM37.22mil.
Investors should note that Johan cautioned that it expected “weak market conditions to remain challenging in Malaysia and Singapore”.
It also stated that its receivables ended April 30, 2017 were RM598.44mil compared with RM607mil at Jan 31, 2017.
Its net asset per share was 33.5 sen.
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