Stocks linked to businessman Yu Kuan Chon get pummelled
Published on: Thursday, January 11, 2024
By:
Lee Min Keong, FMT
YNH Property was founded by the Yu family in Sitiawan, Perak, in the 1970s. (YNH Facebook pic)
PETALING JAYA: Three stocks linked to businessman Yu Kuan Chon have succumbed to selling pressure in recent days, prompting Bursa Malaysia to issue unusual market activity (UMA) queries to two of the companies yesterday.
The most badly affected was Rapid Synergy Bhd, which hit another limit down this morning, falling 29.9% or RM4.90 to RM11.48, while property developer YNH Property Bhd tumbled 22.1% or 81 sen to RM2.86 by the mid-day break. The least affected was Imaspro Corp Bhd, which fell 9.6% or 24 sen to RM2.26.
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Yu holds a 22.8% stake in industrial mould manufacturer Rapid Synergy, 32.6% in YNH and 14.6% of Imaspro, a manufacturer of agrochemicals and pest control products.
Rapid Synergy was the biggest loser among the trio with its share price plunging by 53.7% since Monday and 58% since the beginning of the year. YNH has fallen by 29.2% and Imaspro by 35% since Jan 2.
A medical doctor turned investor, Yu, 61, is Rapid Synergy’s single largest shareholder and its non-executive director. He is better known as the executive chairman of YNH, the Perak-based family property business he joined in 1995 after serving as a medical officer in various government hospitals.
Yu, who keeps a low profile, is listed in 39th position in Forbes’s 2023 Malaysia’s 50 Richest list with a net worth of US$430 million (RM2 billion).
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Red flags
It is not immediately clear the reasons why these stocks have come under extreme pressure this week. However, both Rapid Synergy and YNH were slapped with qualified opinions from their external auditors in recent months.
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In October last year, YNH’s auditor Baker Tilly Monteiro Heng issued a qualified opinion on its financial statements for the 18 months ended June 30, 2023 (FPE2023) with regard to its joint venture and turnkey contracts for property development works.
In its qualified opinion issued last November, KPMG highlighted that Rapid Synergy’s financial statements for the financial period ended June 30, 2023, provided “insufficient disclosures and evidence” over a RM4.43 million rental income, a RM2.32 million gain from the disposal of property, and deposits paid for the acquisition of properties.
In response to Bursa Malaysia’s UMA query, Rapid Synergy said it is currently considering proposals to sell some of the group’s landed properties but these proposals are still in the “stages of discussion”.
Apart from this, it stated that it is not aware of any corporate development relating to the group’s business that may account for the heightened trading activity in recent days.
“The board is not aware of any other possible explanation to account for the trading activity,” it said in a bourse filing today.
Meanwhile, Imaspro told Bursa Malaysia today there is no corporate development, including those in the negotiation stage, relating to its business and affairs that may account for the recent trading activity.
At the time of writing, Rapid Synergy has a market capitalisation of RM1.23 billion while YNH and Imaspro are valued at RM1.45 billion and RM161.6 million, respectively.
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