Equine closed 1.5 sen higher at 50 sen yesterday with 9.03 million shares traded. Shares of Equine have been trending upwards in recent weeks, with a noticeable spike in volume on Aug 2, 2010 when volume peaked at 25.86 million.
Market talk is that a new party could be eyeing the company because of its landbank in parts of Selangor and the Batu Kawan area in Penang.
According to its 2010 annual report, Equine has a total of 789 acres in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, and 179 acres in Batu Kawan, Penang. It also has about 13 acres of leasehold land in Cheras, Selangor.
Once touted by analysts as a potential hot property stock with a large Penang exposure, Equine’s shares rose to as high as RM5 in June 2007, before slumping in 2008 after its RM20 billion Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) project was shelved.
The project’s cancellation followed the 2008 general elections which saw a change of state government for Penang. This was followed by the resignation of Equine’s then chairman and executive director Datuk Patrick Lim Soo Kit.
The PGCC project was a much-talked-about multi-billion-ringgit development project in the heart of Penang island.
It was Patrick Lim’s biggest coup in his corporate heyday during the administration of former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as he managed to stave off competing bids from other tycoons to win the rights to develop the Penang Turf Club land.
The project was to be undertaken under Equine’s 25%-owned associate company, Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd. In return, Abad Naluri was to build a new turf club in Batu Kawan, on the mainland, among other considerations.
However, the project came under much criticism despite getting all approvals and was the target of DAP’s political campaign against the Barisan Nasional in the state.
Equine’s stake in Abad Naluri had since been sold in October 2008, for RM2 million cash to Kiara Ikhtisas, a privately-held concern.
For the financial year ended March 31, 2010, Equine saw a net loss of RM36.7 million on the back of RM83.32 million in revenue. The previous year, its net loss was wider at RM45.18 million on the back of RM86.16 million in revenue. The stock has net assets per share of 80 sen as at March 31, 2010.
In April this year, Equine sold a 6.04-acre leasehold commercial tract within Seri Kembangan to Safetags Solution Sdn Bhd for RM19.6 million with the intent of channelling proceeds from the disposal for working capital and to reduce debt.
It had also signed an agreement for the disposal of a 33.37-acre parcel of leasehold land to Analisa Kekal Sdn Bhd for RM37.8 million, which it said would generate a net profit of RM5.1 million at group level upon its expected completion in the financial year ending March 31, 2011.
Meanwhile, shares of another property player, Malton Bhd had also seen heavy trading volume earlier this week, hitting its 52-week high of 52.5 sen on Monday with 24.14 million done.
The Edge had reported in 2008 that there was speculation that officials of Malton, in particular its managing director Datuk Lim Siew Choon, were interested in taking over Equine, but this was never confirmed.
Shares of Malton ended the day unchanged at 51 sen with a volume of 5.15 million.
by Melody Song
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