KUALA LUMPUR (May 12): The Hong Leong group has ceased to be a substantial shareholder in property developer Eco World International Bhd (EWI), disposing of its entire stake.
In bourse filings, EWI announced that Hong Leong Company (Malaysia) Bhd and HL Holdings Sdn Bhd had ceased to be substantial shareholders in the company, after their vehicle GLL EWI (HK) Ltd had sold 648 million shares.
EWI said they ceased to substantial shareholders due to an “internal restructuring exercise”.
According to its annual report for the financial year ended Oct 31, 2020 (FY20), GLL EWI (HK) was the group’s second-largest shareholder, commanding a 27% stake or 648 million shares.
For its first quarter ended Jan 31, 2021 (1QFY21), EWI saw its net profit jump by more than 10-fold to RM56.03 million from RM5.19 million a year ago, thanks mainly to profit recognition of the group’s Melbourne project.
Quarterly revenue swelled to RM303.28 million from RM51,000.
The group declared an interim dividend of one sen, to be paid on April 28. This is EWI’s maiden dividend since its listing in 2017.
EWI said it delivered RM408 million sales in the first four months of the current financial year.
Sales in the first quarter totalled RM312 million, slightly in excess of RM100 million a month, which is similar to the rate recorded in the previous first quarter.
Shares in EWI closed unchanged at 55 sen apiece, valuing it at RM1.32 billion. It saw 1.31 million shares done.
