Dr Barry Thng Lip Mong, chairman and executive director of Alliance Healthcare Group, has increased his stake in the company.
On Oct 21, Thng acquired 1.15 million shares for $218,500 in a married deal. This raised his personal stake to some 8.58 million shares or a stake of 4.13%, up from 3.57% previously.
In addition, an entity called Alpine Investment Holdings, also holds an indirect stake of 133.45 million shares or 64.19% on behalf of Thng. As a result, Thng’s total stake in the company has reached just over 142 million shares or 68.32%, up from 67.76% previously.
On Sept 22, Alliance Healthcare, which operates a chain of clinics, announced that it had completed the acquisition of a 20% stake in a clinic software management company, SGIMED, for $630,000.
The sellers are Alex Tsai Yu-Chen and Jerome Tang Chi Feng and their flagship software is “Hummingbird”, which pulls and manages data ranging from online appointment systems, data analytics, medical billing as well as inventory management.
Alliance Healthcare explains the acquisition of SGIMED gives it access to SGIMED’s platform so that its clinics can better manage the operations.
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For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2020, SGIMED reported earnings of $30,263. As at the end of last July, SGIMED’s book value and net tangible liabilities stood at $44,057 and $60,423 respectively.
Fast forward to Jan 31, SGIMED had a book value of $187,540 and net tangible liabilities of $39,627.
For the FY2021 ended June 30, Alliance Healthcare reported earnings of $1.5 million, down 34.4% from $2.3 million. Revenue in the same period was up 8.5% y-o-y to $46.4 million.
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The company explains that earnings had dropped despite higher revenue because of an increase in employee benefits expense from the full-year consolidation of an acquisition Jaga-Me made in January 2020 as well as higher payment to its specialist doctors.
Pandemic a blessing in disguise
Foo Suan Sai, co-founder and CEO of Multi-Chem, has also steadily increased his stake in the company.
On Oct 22, Foo had acquired 10,000 shares for $17,900 or $1.79 each on the open market. This brings his direct stake to around 36.8 million shares or 40.855%, up from 40.844% previously.
In addition, Foo’s wife, Han Juat Hoon, also the company’s chief operating officer, holds a direct stake of around 25.35 million shares or 28.131%.
As a result, Foo has a total stake of 62.15 million shares or 68.986% in the company, up from 68.975% previously.
The Oct 22 transaction followed right after Foo had acquired 10,000 shares at $1.81 each on Oct 21 on the open market, and 42,000 shares in total at $1.80 each on Oct 19 and 20.
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Before October, Foo had acquired 25,600 shares for $42,985.98 on June 15 and 55,300 shares for $99,437.14 on Aug 17.
In 1HFY2021 ended June 30, Multi-Chem recorded earnings of $11.6 million, up 58% from $7.3 million a year ago, on the back of a 32% jump in revenue to $298.5 million.
The company has declared an interim dividend of 4.2 cents per share. It did not declare an interim dividend in the same corresponding period last year.
Multi-Chem has two main businesses. It provides materials to customers such as manufacturers of printed circuit boards.
However, the bulk of the company’s business now comes from a newer business of the distribution of IT products and services across 29 cities in 15 countries.
The company explains that 1HFY2021 revenue rose because it managed to close “some big transactions”.
It adds that it is staying focused on selling “only the best-of-breed IT products” such as Check Point, CyberArk, Imperva, McAfee, Proofpoint, Riverbed, RSA, Solarwinds, Symantec (a division of Broadcom) and Trend Micro.
The company notes that the ongoing pandemic is causing uncertainty for economies.
“However, IT is still a critical requirement in businesses and security will continue to remain an integral part of the IT infrastructure. This should augur well for the group’s business,” the company adds.
