Malaysia Market : Harvest Court shares soar to 9-year high

The stock rose 30.5 sen to RM1.18, while the warrants rose by 30 sen a piece to close at RM1.05.

Nazifuddin, who was recently appointed as a director of the company, bought 2.04 million shares at 84.5 sen.

This is believed to be his first purchase of Harvest Court shares, bringing his shareholding in the company to 1.19 per cent.

Filings to the stock exchange also show that Harvest Court's second largest shareholder, Datuk Raymond Chan Boon Siew, who controls Sagajuta (Sabah) Sdn Bhd, had also bought more shares in the company.

Chan bought 5.1 million shares at 84.9 sen a piece on the open market last Friday, Bursa Malaysia's record shows.

Nazifuddin is also a director in the privately held Sagajuta.

However, some of the other directors in Harvest Court have been selling their shares.

A check by Business Times showed that managing director Ng Swee Kiat sold 600,000 shares and almost six million warrants, while non-executive director and chairman of the company's audit committee, Chua Eng Chin, sold 329,400 shares.

Jupiter Securities head of research, Pong Teng Siew, told Business Times that the directors might sell their stakes to make way for new shareholders and new businesses.

He said the timber industry was getting tougher as timber resources were depleting, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.



"They have to find new business income streams. Therefore, new shareholders may emerge," Pong said.

The rapid rise in Harvest Court's share price has given a steroid-like boost to other retail stocks over the past couple of weeks.

Harvest Court's rise in recent weeks has been dramatic, and this has been matched almost blow for blow by rises in the value of its warrants.

The one-for-one warrants, which expires on November 19, 2019, has a conversion rate set at 25 sen.

This means that an investor who buys the warrant will have to add an extra 25 sen to convert the warrants to the mother share.

The long life of the warrant may have prompted investors to take a risk, but analysts pointed out that Harvest Court has already received as many as two unusual market queries from the stock exchange.

The last time the market had been set abuzz by a penny stock was early this year, when Ho Wah Genting rose to RM1 a share from 36.5 sen in a span of two months. (Business Times)