DeClout has rapidly increased its stake in Procurri in recent weeks to reject a 36.5 cents per share partial offer by investment firm Novo Tellus announced on March 15.
DeClout is the former controlling shareholder of Procurri. On April 14, Procurri announced it received a letter from DeClout stating its intention to vote against Novo Tellus’ partial offer.
Based on three separate filings on March 29, April 2 and April 6, DeClout bought around 19.2 million shares at prices ranging between 34.49 cents and 36.5 cents. Most recently on April 13, DeClout bought another tranche of nearly 1.52 million shares at 36.46 cents each, giving it a total stake of nearly 62.4 million shares, or 21.2%.
Procurri focuses on the buying, servicing and reselling of hardware equipment. Procurri was spun off from DeClout, the listed investment holding company of various technology businesses.
In FY2020 ended Dec 30, 2020, Procurri reported earnings of $2.7 million, down 28.6% from $3.8 million FY2019. If one-off pandemic grants and rebates were excluded, Procurri would have made a loss of $1.34 million.
New executive director
Alvin Teo Poh Kheng, a new executive director of property and construction firm Low Keng Huat (Singapore), made a series of open market purchases after his appointment took effect on April 5. Prior to his appointment, Teo was already holding a deemed interest of 250,000 shares via Raffles Nominees.
According to filings, Teo started buying on April 8 when he paid $81,756 for 180,000 shares; on April 9, he paid $86,678 for 190,000 shares, and on April 12, he paid $61,113 for another 130,000 shares. On April 13, he paid $139,026 for 290,000 shares.
The most recent purchase was on April 16 when he paid $98,588 for 201,200 shares, which brought his total interest to nearly 3.5 million. Based on disclosures, Teo’s average cost price ranges between just over 45 cents and 49 cents.
In FY2021 ended Jan 31, the company reported earnings of $48.7 million, up from $12.8 million in FY2020. The big lift came from a one-off gain booked from Low Keng Huat’s 50% share from the sale of AXA Tower. However, its hotel and development segments did not do as well. If the gain from AXA Tower was excluded, the company would end the year with $1.5 million in the red. Revenue in the same period was up 57% y-o-y to $73.4 million.
Year to April 19, Low Keng Huat shares have gained around 20% to 50 cents. But even at current levels, the stock, like that of most property companies, is trading at a significant discount off its book value. As at Jan 31, its NAV was 94 cents, up from 89 cents as at Jan 31, 2020.
In its earnings commentary, Low Keng Huat notes that the health consequence of Covid-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to the business community even with the roll-out of vaccination across the world. The impact of the pandemic on the global economy has been devastating and economic recovery is expected to be gradual, it adds.
“The group will continue to be selective in land bidding and investment projects. The group will strive to maintain rental rates for renewals. The management remains focused on maintaining stable and sustainable distributions to shareholders while achieving long-term growth,” says Low Keng Huat.
The company plans to pay a first and final dividend of 2.5 cents, to be approved by shareholders at its AGM on May 31. Last year, it paid 1.5 cents.
