THE first half-an-hour of trading yesterday (May 18) would be a session that property developer Country Heights Holdings Bhd would wish to forget for a long time to come.
This because by 9.35am, the counter had ‘officially’ hit limit down and that stayed on for the rest of the day with the company’s management in the dark of what had triggered the sell-down of its stocks.
Yesterday (May 18), Country Heights closed limit down after its share price nosedived 29.85% or 35.5 sen to close at 83.5 sen with 21.34 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM248 mil.
“The board is not aware of any corporate developments relating to the group’s business and affairs that has not been previously announced that may account for the trading activity including in the stage of negotiation/discussion,” Country Heights said in reply to an unusual market activity (UMA) query by Bursa Malaysia.
“The board is not aware of any rumour or report concerning the business and affairs of the group that may account for the trading activity.
“The company is in compliance with the Bursa Securities Listing Requirements, in particular Paragraph 9.03 on immediate disclosure obligations.”
Recall that the counter hit a multi-year high of RM2.77 momentarily on Feb 25 before succumbing to heavy profit taking and eventual downward spiral to close at RM1.22 (60% lower) on March 10 (a span of two weeks).
On Dec 28 last year, Country Heights hit limit up when it surged to a multi-year high of RM2.14 before closing at RM1.98 following an announcement that it had entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement with Beijing Wodong Tianjun Information Technology Co Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JD.com which is a leading technology-driven e-commerce company in China.
The collaboration will lead to the development of JD.com’s omnichannel business model using its technologies and Country Heights’ resources for the Malaysian market.
Country Heights returned to the black for its FY2021 ended Dec 31, 2021 with a net profit of RM2.65 mil (FY2020: net loss of RM33.88 mil) while its revenue jumped 173%% to RM99.98 mil (FY2020: RM36.58 mil). The company has yet to release its financial results for 1Q FY2022.
In October last year, Country Heights also revealed that it would acquire assets worth RM554 mil from its executive chairman and controlling shareholder Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew’s private investment holdings.
The deal, however, was downsized to RM507 mil in December. The acquisition would be satisfied via issuance of new Country Heights shares at RM1.4525 apiece. – May 19, 2022
