The Court of Appeal (COA) on Tuesday overturned a High Court decision that required CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd (CDS) to pay RM200,000 damages to a businesswoman earlier this year.
A three-member bench, led by judge Datuk Lee Swee Seng, in allowing CDS’ appeal, ruled that there was no defamation, no negligence, and no breach of statutory duty by the credit-rating agency.
The bench also ruled that the High Court decision or ruling made earlier this year that gave businesswoman Suriati Mohd Yusoff the damages was erroneous.
In addition, Lee, who sat with judges Datuk Azimah Omar and Datuk Azmi Arifin, ordered Suriati to pay costs of RM65,000.
CDS was represented by Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Ashok Kandiah, and Khoo Suk Chyi. They separately confirmed the decision and brief broad grounds to The Edge.
Imtiaz said the decision on Tuesday is an important decision for the credit-rating industry.
Kan I dah kata, the judge was mulut celupar, if his honour kept his opinion to himself, then the businesswomen could've gotten compensation, now because of him, the high court had to throw the entire judgement out.
"This is a positive win for CTOS but we reckon that the market has baked in a victory ahead of today’s court outcome; this is because its price had recovered to RM1.45 a share from a low of RM1.05 a share when the negative High Court ruling was first announced," said Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research in an update.
"That said, before the price plunge, CTOS only managed to reach a one-year peak of RM1.52 a share and most of the time it was oscillating sideways."
The research firm expects the share price upside moving forward to be limited. It reiterated its "hold" recommendation but raised the target price to RM1.60 from RM1.50.
RHB Research, meanwhile, maintained its "buy" call and raised its target price on CTOS to RM1.84 from RM1.77.
"We lower the risk premium given the legality of credit scoring in CRA business is now settled and the dismissal of this dangerous precedent stemming from the initial High Court’s ruling may prevent a floodgate of claims against CTOS," it said in a note.
Kenanga Research upgraded CTOS to "outperform" from "underperform" with a higher target price of RM2 from RM1.15 previously.
hold CTOS until you old, this industry is a forever business, for 20 years since i came back from UK, i have wondered why malaysia still don't have any way to buy solid info on private companies. In UK people buy and sell micro and small businesses on a daily basis because they can check the health of the business, unlike here in the past we had to GAMBLE to buy someone else's business.
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"Reference is made to the previous announcements released on 11 March 2024, 14 March 2024, 3 April 2024, 9 July 2024 and 8 August 2024 in relation to the litigation case between Suriati binti Mohd Yusof ("Plaintiff " / “Applicant”) and CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd (“Defendant” / "CDS"). The Board of Directors of CTOS wishes to update on the progress of this case.
The Federal Court has fixed Case Management on 23 October 2024 and Hearing on 6 November 2024 for the Applicant’s Motion for permission to appeal to the Federal Court against the decision of the Court of Appeal on 9 July 2024 allowing CDS’ appeal.
CDS has been advised by its solicitors that there is high prospect in successfully opposing the Applicant’s Motion.
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
ChandranG
377 posts
Posted by ChandranG > 2024-07-09 10:05 | Report Abuse
CTOS will back to RM1.50 floor in one day 🤗