KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 19): Prudential Plc bought 1.5 million shares, or a 0.21% stake in InNature Bhd, whose share price has plummeted 52% over the past 12 months.

The latest share purchase raised Prudential’s stake to 5.14%, making it to the substantial shareholders' list of InNature — The Body Shop franchisee in Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

According to InNature’s bourse filing on Monday, the 1.5 million shares are held under funds managed by Eastspring Investments Bhd and Eastspring Al-Wara’ Investments Bhd, both asset management units of Prudential.

Eastspring’s managed funds hold 32.36 million shares or a 4.58% stake in InNature, while Eastspring Al-Wara’s managed funds own 3.91 million shares or a 0.55% stake.

Prudential emerged as a substantial shareholder of Innature in September 2022, after acquiring 37.41 million shares or a 5.3% stake in the company. Its equity interest in InNature increased to 5.69% before it trimmed its shareholding till it ceased to be a substantial shareholder in October 2023.

Besides Prudential, InNature’s other substantial shareholders are managing director Datin Mina Cheah-Foong and her husband, chairman Datuk Simon Foong, both of whom, together with their two sons, collectively hold about 70.6% in the company via four private firms.

Last week, news of the UK arm of The Body Shop falling into administration put InNature shares under pressure. The stock fell to its all-time low of 28.5 sen on Feb 14. It later pared its losses to end the trading week at 29.5 sen on Feb 16.

On Monday, shares of InNature retreated to 28.5 sen again, down one sen, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM197.82 million.

Nonetheless, Cheah-Foong told The Edge that the company is continuing to operate as usual, as it has been reassured by its franchisor — The Body Shop International (BSI) — that events in the UK have nothing to do with the group’s global head franchise partners like InNature.

“So, they’ve spoken to all of us in the head franchise markets to just reassure us. For us, the biggest concern was the supply chain — whether the products are going to come to us and whether there will be any interruptions. But they’ve assured us that they’ve actually secured supply chains right up until the contract runs, all the way until past 2025,” Cheah-Foong said when contacted by The Edge last week.