KUALA LUMPUR (April 17): Loss-making Salutica Bhd has been issued with an unusual market activity (UMA) query by Bursa Malaysia on the sharp rise in its share price and volume on Monday (April 17).

Salutica shares climbed as much as 29 sen or 27% to RM1.38 — the highest since December 2017.

As of 11.40am, the stock was trading up 24 sen or 22.02% to RM1.33, giving it a market capitalisation of RM567.25 million.

Meanwhile, its trading volume was 25.48 million — more than double its 200-day average volume of 2.57 million — making it among the top 10 active stocks across the local bourse.

The stock’s share price has been climbing steadily in these past few weeks, from 28 sen at end-March. Since the beginning of this year, its share price has soared 411% from 26 sen.

In a bourse filing on Monday, Bursa requested that Salutica disclose any corporate developments, rumours or reports concerning the business and affairs of the group, and any other possible reasons, which may account for the UMA.

Additionally, the bourse regulator also asked whether the group is in compliance with the Bursa Securities Listing Requirements (LRs), in particular Paragraph 9.03 of the Bursa Securities LRs on immediate disclosure obligations.

Last week, the group saw the emergence of a new shareholder, Cheong Siew Chyuan, who is also a shareholder of ViTrox Corp Bhd with a 1.26% stake.

Cheong bought 4.43 million shares in the electronics manufacturer on April 12. Two days later, he bought 349,000 more shares in the company, raising his direct stake to 4.57%. Cheong also has an indirect stake of 2.65% in Salutica.

Salutica has been loss making since the financial year ended June 30, 2019 (FY2019).

For the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (2QFY2023), Salutica’s net loss widened to RM3.53 million from RM1.13 million for the same quarter in the previous year, mainly because it had stopped producing computer peripherals, while it experienced a low order volume for its Truly Wireless System models.

Revenue for 2QFY2023 also decreased to RM9 million, from RM38.12 million a year earlier.