Tan Teng Boo emerged as substantial shareholder for PIE

On 7 Nov 2007, iCapital.Biz Berhad (5108), the public listed closed end fund managed by Tan Teng Boo (陈鼎武) who has been famous for writing excellent independent financial review for many years, disclosed their substantial interest in P.I.E. (7095, 广宇科技) for 3,407,200 or 5.32% shares purchased at open market by 1 Nov 2007. Since then, the share price of P.I.E. has surged up from the RM4.20 closing on 1 Nov 2007 to way above RM5 all time now.

As published in the 2007 annual report of P.I.E., iCapital.Biz maintains as the 3rd largest shareholders following Pan Global Holding Co. of Taiwan (holding 51.42%) and Lembaga Tabung Haji (holding 5.82%). The shareholding of iCapital.Biz has increased from 4.78% interest in 2006 to 5.32%. What is more interesting is that, Tan Teng Boo by himself also acquired 194,000 shares or 0.30% of P.I.E., making him the 27th largest shareholder as well. Previously he was not in the top 30 shareholders list of P.I.E..

P.I.E. has an excellent growth record during the past 5 years (please refer to page 24 of its 2007 annual report), bringing a 5-year average EPS growth rate at 35.09% and 5-year average price appreciation rate at 20.79%. Baring unforeseen circumstances, its EPS is prospected to grow further by about 16% in 2008 to another record high.

In year 2007, their trading arm showed a substantial decline in revenue, but offset and covered by improvement in revenue of their manufacturing arm, making an overall revenue increase by 1.22% from 2006. Margin of trading activities was also seen lower, but offset and covered by higher margin of manufacturing activities, making an overall net profit growth of 36.05% from 2006.

P.I.E. has a strong balance sheet with zero borrowings, and cash in hand of RM80,960,674 which is equilvalent to RM1.26 per share. Its NTA stood at RM3.06 per share in 2007, from RM2.71 as in 2006. It has declared a first and final dividend of 12 sen per share (less 26% tax), a special dividend of 8 sen per share (tax exempt), and another special dividend II of 16 sen per share (less 26% tax), which goes-ex on this 26 May 2008 and payable on 10 Jun 2008. This makes up its gross dividend of 28.72 sen per share, or a nett DY of 5.13% based on its last closing price of RM5.60 on 9 May 2008.

Dr. Neoh Soon Kean (梁孙健博士) of Dynaquest has been making recommendation to P.I.E. since 2004 while its price was RM2.07 then. However, Fong Si Ling (冯时能, a.k.a. 冷眼) has not been seen in this counter yet.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.