New high for Dagang NeXchange Bhd
KUALA LUMPUR: Investor interest has now turned to Johan Holdings Bhd
, the company seen as a proxy to politically connected construction outfit George Kent (M) Bhd.
Both companies share the same major shareholder - Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock.
Tan owns an indirect 37.43% stake in George Kent, and an indirect 36% stake in Johan.
Tan is the chairman and CEO of Johan while at George Kent, he is the group chairman.
Investors have been chasing up George Kent, following the release of its financial results last week. Since then, its share price has surged from RM3 its new high of RM4.40 on Thursday.
Fundamentally, George Kent has an all-time high orderbook of over RM6.2bil.
Investors expect Johan to see some spillover from George Kent.
On Thursday, Johan rose four sen to 23.5 sen on volume of 48 million shares.
Tan has been accumulating Johan shares in recent days. He bought about 12 million shares at a prices of 18.3 sen and 19.1 sen on April 3 and 4 and upped his direct stake to 9.53% and indirect stake to 36.23%.
On March 20, Johan revalued its properties to RM306.587mil. This resulted in an increase of about 3.15 sen in the net asset per share from 28.41 sen to 31.56 sen as at Jan 31, 2017.
However, financials wise, Johan has not been doing well. For the financial year ended Jan 31, 2017, Johan’s net loss widened to RM37.22mil from RM13.12mil previously – the fifth straight year of losses.
Recall that Johan started in 1920 as Johan Tin Dredging Ltd. It operated a mining lease off the Sungei Johan in the Kinta District of Perak with a paid-up of RM136,000 which remained unchanged for 61 years until 1981. In 1979, the company was renamed Johan Holdings Bhd.
Since 1979, Johan diversified from its tin mining business and through acquisitions and organic growth. Its core businesses are include the franchise operator for Diners Club charge and credit cards, travel and tours, manufacture of ceramics wall and floor tiles, property development, resorts and hotels.
On Nov 3, 2015, Johan announced the rationalisation of the Diners Club card business of Diners Club (M) Sdn Bhd (DCM) in Malaysia. DCM ceased all cards issuing business and terminated the usage of Diners Club cards issued to individual and corporate cardholders with effect from 30 November 2015 and 31 March 2016 respectively.
However it continues for the time being as a processor to service Diners Club cards issued by foreign franchisees to cardholders visiting Malaysia.
Last May, it also announced the winding up of its membership scheme for the Lumut International Yacht Club (LIYC).
Johan's 70%-owned subsidiary Lumut Marine Resort Bhd (LMRB), which owns the club, decided to end the scheme because of the low membership base, which resulted in LIYC incurring monthly operating losses and negative cashflow.
The group said 239 memberships had been sold, comprising 227 individual members and 12 corporate members, since the launch of sale of the LIYC membership in December 1995.
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