OFFICE interior specialist AHB Holdings Bhd rose 6.9% in active trading after Johor royalty Tunku Kamariah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah Sultan Iskandar was made its new non-executive chairman with effect from yesterday (May 16).
AHB (acronym for Artwright Holdings Bhd) inched up 1 sen at the close of today’s trading to 15.5 sen after hitting an intraday high of 16 sen to give the group a market capitalisation of RM78.32 mil.
News of the business-savvy eldest sister of Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar being appointed to her current capacity contributed to AHB’s brisk trading with 38.65 million shares exchanged hands, thus enabling the counter to end up being the day’s 13th most actively traded stock.
For the uninitiated, Sultan Ibrahim is widely expected to be the made the next Yang di-Pertuan Agong in January 2024 after the reign of Pahang’s Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah comes to an end.
Filling the vacancy left by Tan Sri Mazlan Lazim who resigned in September last year, Tunku Kamariah’s appointment has attracted the attention of investors who expect her to spur AHB’s future business to greater heights.
On prospect of AHB, a stock punter pointed to January 2017 when main board property-based Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWC) announced that it had won the Johor State Development Plan.
“Whether it was sheer coincidence or otherwise, IWC’s stock price started to spiral from 90 sen to a high of RM3.08 on May 3 that year,” he shared. “Only time will tell if under the leadership of a Johor princess, AHB will be able to repeat such feat.”
It is worth mentioning that since April this year, AHB’s shareholders’ list has changed significantly. RHB Trustee Bhd has emerged as the group’s substantial shareholder on April 18 after having acquired 63.08 million shares or a 15.957% stake in the company.
Subsequently, RHB Trustee had on last week (May 9) upped its stake in AHB by purchasing a further 73.29 million shares to raise its stake to 28.69% or 136.36 million shares.
Over the past three months, there were also significant changes to AHB’s board. On March 6, AHB’s independent non-executive director (INED) Loh Woen Tsau resigned from the position, citing the pursuit of “other personal opportunities” as the reason.
In the same month (March 23), AHB appointed former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) assistant commissioner (prosecution officer) Datuk Dr Anuar Mohd Noh as its new INED.
And more recently on April 20, AHB’s executive director Teh Boon Hong tendered his resignation, also citing “to pursue other personal opportunities” as his reason. – May 17, 2023
