Artroniq rally hits speed bump following UMA query

KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Artroniq Bhd topped the list of losers in morning trade on Bursa Malaysia today, dropping as much as 17 sen or 16.19% to 88 sen.

Formerly known as Plastrade Technology Bhd, the stock pared losses to settle at 91.5 sen at 9.40am, still down by 13.5 sen or 12.86%. A total of 15.16 million shares had been traded at the time of writing.

At 91.5 sen, Artoniq was valued at RM264 million.

Its share price hit a speed bump today after it was slapped with an unusual market activity (UMA) query by Bursa Malaysia last Friday over a sharp rise in its price and volume recently.

The counter surged to an all-time high of RM1.05 last Friday after closing 30.43% or 24.5 sen higher from 80.5 sen the previous day. For the past two trading days, it gained 32% or 25.5 sen from 79.5 sen last Wednesday.

Prior to that, the counter traded below 20 sen for much of the last few years. It started to climb from 20 sen in early November last year, rising to 50.5 sen at end-December 2020. Subsequently, the stock continued to surge to a peak of RM1.05 last Friday.

Artroniq manufactures compounds of power cables and distributes ICT products. It has largely been loss-making and booked four consecutive years in the red since the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY17).

For FY20, the group widened its losses to RM11.83 million, from RM2.23 million the year before, even as revenue climbed 43.3% to RM169.82 million from RM118.5 million.

As at June 1, 2020, Artroniq’s largest shareholders included Heng Kear Huat with direct and indirect stakes of 22.84% and 6.19% respectively, followed by Pua Kong Hoi (21.19%) and Tee Han Seang (an 8.3% indirect stake).

Heng emerged as the largest shareholder of Plastrade in January 2020. The company changed its name to Artroniq last November.

In December, the group proposed a private placement of 375.61 million shares or 30% of its issued share capital to raise up to RM30.77 million for working capital and future viable investments yet to be identified.

Prior to that, in October, it completed a placement (proposed in July) of 10% of its issued share capital, raising RM3.68 million to support its new venture into the ICT business.

Source: TheEdgeMarkets