Lim Tai Toon, lead independent director of Medtecs International Corporation, now holds a deemed stake of 20,000 shares in the company after his wife, Wong Lai Kwan, bought 10,000 shares at $1.35 each from the open market on Sept 3. This follows an earlier purchase by Wong on Aug 13 for 10,000 shares at $1.50 each.
Medtecs is one of the better performing stocks on the Singapore Exchange thus far this year. The company, which sells consumables such as personal protective equipment (PPE) used by the healthcare industry, is enjoying a surge in business as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Aug 11, Medtecs reported that for the first half ended June 30, revenue surged nearly fivefold to US$162.6 million ($222 million) from a year ago while earnings surged 100 times to US$38.9 million as it enjoyed not just higher sales but also higher margins and foreign exchange gains.
At the start of the year, Medtecs shares, typically thinly traded, were hovering at just around four cents. It surged to an intra-day high of $1.98 on Aug 19 and closed at $1.44 cents on Sept 7. In addition to the capital gains, Medtecs has declared an interim dividend of 0.85 US cents per share.
Given how the world is still mired in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company, with long-term supply contracts as well as new orders in place, expects revenue and profit for the second half of the year to exceed the first half.
The company plans to make better use of ecommerce platforms to drive sales. In addition, it is mulling the setting up of a PPE production base in the US to help create and maintain a domestic stockpile of PPE and medical necessities. “The Covid-19 pandemic has increased awareness and demand for the group’s healthcare-related products and PPE. With the above-mentioned sales and operational strategies, the group will continue to build awareness for its own brand, develop and expand sales channels, and gradually decrease the group’s reliance on original product manufacturing revenues,” the company says.
Hand in glove
Lee Wai Keong, COO and executive director of Riverstone Holdings, sold nearly 15.5 million shares for just over $61.2 million, or $3.95 each, via a married deal on Sept 3. With this sale, Lee is left with just under 65.4 million shares, which is equivalent to 8.82% of the company. Prior to the deal, the most recent transaction made by a Riverstone director was on April 17, when Wong Teek Son, the company’s executive chairman and CEO, acquired 100,000 shares for $119,200, or an average of $1.192 each.
Both Lee and Wong are co-founders of the glove-maker, which, like many of its counterparts in the industry, has been enjoying a supernormal surge in earnings as demand shot up due to the pandemic. For the first six months of the year, Riverstone’s earnings more than doubled to RM137.5 million ($45.2 million). Revenue in the same period increased by 30.5% y-o-y to RM626.7 million. The company has declared an interim dividend of four sen, versus 1.55 sen in the year earlier period.
To meet higher demand, Riverstone plans to increase its annual production capacity by 1.4 billion pieces by end of the year, which will bring its total capacity to 10.4 billion pieces.
Trades by new leader
Lee Suan Hiang, a newly-appointed independent director of Leader Environmental Technologies, has been buying shares of the company from the open market. The most recent purchase was made on Sept 4 when Lee acquired just under 1.6 million shares for $81,436.80, or an average of 5.1 cents each. He now holds three million shares, or 0.23% of the company. Earlier on Sept 2 and Sept 3, Lee had bought 423,100 shares for $25,232.90, or 5.96 cents each, and 980,100 shares for $58,806, or six cents each, respectively.
Lee was appointed to the company’s board on July 16. For the three months to June 30, the company reported 13.9% narrower losses of RMB2.03 million ($406,000) from a year ago. Revenue in the same period was down 47.1% y-o-y to RMB4.5 million.
On March 3, the company undertook a private placement of 120 million new shares at 1.5 cents each. This increased its share base to 737.2 million units from 617.2 million units.
