KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 18): Widad Group Bhd, which is involved in construction activities and integrated facilities management services, has joined a growing list of Bursa Malaysia-listed companies being issued unusual market activity (UMA) queries from Bursa Securities, on the sharp fall in its share price.

Widad saw its share price hit limit down during the morning trading session on Thursday, down 30 sen or 61% to a low of 19 sen - its lowest since 2015. At Thursday’s noon market break, it pared some of its earlier losses to close down 25.5 sen or 52% to 23.5 sen. Widad was the second most active stock on Bursa, with 124.99 million shares changing hands.

It saw as much as RM792 million of market capitalisation wiped off to RM727.7 million at noon market break, from RM1.52 billion at Wednesday (Jan 17)’s closing price.

The group is a loss-making construction outfit. For the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023), Widad’s net loss widened to RM7.65 million from RM0.84 million a year earlier, due to higher finance costs arising from borrowings made to acquire a concession business. The group said its margins were also impacted during the period due to high concentration on the construction business, which is on a low margin regime, and the impact of the rising cost of labour and materials since the beginning of the year.

The group’s recent quarterly filing on Bursa showed that Widad has an outstanding order book of RM1.6 billion at end-September 2023, of which RM722.3 million is from the construction segment and RM902.9 million from the concession segment.

The group’s largest shareholder is Tan Sri Muhammad Ikmal Opat Abdullah, founder and group executive chairman of Widad Business Group, with direct and indirect stakes of 30.11% as at Jan 17, 2024.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/node/697819