Brahmal emerges as substantial shareholder in AQRS

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Gabungan said that Brahmal, who is founder and chief executive officer of private equity firm Creador Sdn Bhd, bought 178,700 shares via the open market yesterday, thus bringing his total stake in the company to 5.07%. (Filepic shows Brahmal)

PETALING JAYA: Renowned investor Brahmal Vasudevan (pic) has emerged as a substantial shareholder in construction and property company Gabungan AQRS Bhd with a 5.07% stake or 23.11 million shares in the company.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Gabungan said that Brahmal, who is founder and chief executive officer of private equity firm Creador Sdn Bhd, bought 178,700 shares via the open market yesterday, thus bringing his total stake in the company to 5.07%.

At its closing price of RM1.21 yesterday, Gabungan AQRS, a stock which is perceived to be linked to the previous administration, is still down 36.6% on a year to date basis.

The stock hit its 52-week low of 61.5 sen on June 4. Sources said that Brahmal has been buying up shares of Gabungan AQRS since it was battered post elections. While the company is perceived to be politically-linked, its projects have actually been won via open tender even in previous opposition states such as Selangor, with a mix of both property and construction projects.

In a previous interview with StarBiz, Gabungan AQRS CEO Datuk Azizan Jaafar has said that its won local projects purely on merit.

“Brahmal is eyeing stocks that are very battered, offers a cheap price earnings (PE) ratio and has good or significant profit growth,” said the source.

Currently, Gabungan is trading at a forward PE of 7.3 times (x) and has an orderbook of RM2.74bil which will sustain the company over the next four years.

This order book of RM2.74bil also does not take into account projects such as the Pan Borneo Highway and the East Coast Rail Line.

The company’s current outstanding construction order book stands at RM2.74bil, which consists of infrastructure jobs including the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3), the Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Expressway (SUKE) and property projects such as the Pusat Pentadbiran Sultan Ahmad Shah (PPSAS) in Kuantan, PRIMA Gambang and the KotaSas design and built project.

For its first quarter ended March 31, 2018, Gabungan AQRS reported a revenue of RM127.5mil, representing a 19.8% year-on-year decrease as a result of the absence of land sales revenue amounting to RM90.4mil that was recognised in the corresponding quarter last year.

The company’s net profit edged up slightly by 2.1% from a year ago, to hit RM16.5mil.

It also declared a two sen interim dividend along with a one sen special dividend.

The company has a cash pile of RM138.2mil and has lowered its net gearing to 0.06 times for its first quarter ot March 31, compared with 0.11 times previously.