PETALING JAYA: Aturmaju Resources Bhd could be poised to making inroads into the solar panel industry.
Last week, a local media reported that Aturmaju Resources Bhd was poised to acquiring a majority stake in a solar company that had been awarded a 30-year concession by a local university for a 5MW solar panel project.
When queried by Bursa Malaysia, Aturmaju confirmed that it was in negotiations with a relevant party pertaining to a possible acquisition or collaboration with regards to a solar project worth over RM100mil.
The group announced on Bursa last week that the matter is still at the very early stages and that the board had yet to appoint any professionals for the proposal.
“We will make the necessary announcements in time. “Our main focus now is to rebuild and turn around Aturmaju into a profitable company .As you can see, we have recently recorded our first profit in a decade.
“We are aiming to secure more Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) contracts and futher grow the company this year,” said Liew.
Liew would appear to be the company’s new driver, as since his appointment as executive director on Aug 30, the company has secured a few projects.
In addition to that, he has been steadily increasing his stake in the company since emerging with a 4% stake last August.
To date, he has a direct stake of 19% or 191.77 million shares and an indirect stake of 7.3% or 73.55 million shares in the ICPS.
Prior to this, Aturmaju was a Tawau-based wood processing and logging company that has been loss-making for a decade.
In the last quarter of 2018, Aturmaju got Bursa Malaysia’s approval for diversification into the IT business.
Since then, it has announced two IT contracts and has gone back to the black for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 -- its strongest set of results in a decade.
Aturmaju registered a net profit of RM4.2mil in FY18, compared to a net loss of RM3.6mil in the previous financial year.
This was mainly attributed to the group’s IT segment, which contributed RM6.9mil or 99% of revenue during the fourth quarter.
Total revenue for FY18 amounted to RM15.3mil, representing a 33% year-on-year increase.
On January 24, Aturmaju finalised its business contract with Yes’s Comm Enterprise Sdn Bhd on a RM20mil ERP contract.
Then, on March 5, it signed a MoU valued at RM78mil with Perkasa Selalu Sdn Bhd to provide smart home engineering system integration, procurement and commissioning of the project.
Liew had been in China for 15 years, but decided to come back to Malaysia for his children’s education purposes.
“While in China, my partners and I set up several businesses in information technology (IT), manufacturing, telecommunication and property development.
“So back in Malaysia, I am pleased to be invited to join Aturmaju to participate in driving the IT business in the company.
“My plan is to firstly turn the company around, and then grow the company in line with our three-year vision plan. I have received valuable assistance from the key team members here. With their help, I am confident our company will grow and we will create value for our shareholders,” said Liew.
Last year, Aturmaju went through a capital reduction, which saw its share capital reduce from RM61.1mil to RM6.72mil.
This exercise gave rise to a credit of approximately RM54.38mil, which was to be utilised to set off the accumulated losses of Aturmaju.
Shareholding changes are also taking place.
This is evident from the disposal of shares by members of the Yeo family, who is the largest shareholder of the company.
Bursa filings over the last few weeks clearly show the Yeo family disposing their shares both via their names and their investment vehicles.
The Yeo family vehicle Affinity Gateway Sdn Bhd also ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the company on March 18 after disposing 1.52 million shares in the company.
Meanwhile, on March 15, Yeo disposed off 118.5 million irredeemable convertible preference shares (ICPS), still leaving him with a 13.46% or 135.71 million shares.
Then, on March 20, filings to Bursa showed that Liew had acquired 18.5 million ICPS via an off market transaction.
He also acquired another 50 million ICPS via his vehicle Ukay One Sdn Bhd.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/03/25/aturmaju-set-to-enter-solar-panel-industry/#THmYrYZVUhf7uiyA.99
