Saturday, December 22, 2012

Keck Seng Cash-Rich and Asset-Rich

Keck Seng is cash-rich and asset-rich as well.

After a long period in the doldrums, Keck Seng's hive of activity last Friday came like a bolt from the blue. Its traded volume improved substantially at 1, 372,900 shares. The stock was up 14 sen. It closed at RM4.01.

Normally, it used to be around a few thousand shares transacted daily.
This sudden turn of sentiment is most likely to be a reflection of some bullish news known only to some insiders at this stage.

The company made a gain of RM259 million in 2010 from the disposal of its investment in Parkway Holdings Limited. Instead of giving out some currency notes to its shareholders, it chose to give out only a piece of paper (a bonus issue) and keeping all the cash. As at 31.12.2011, it has net cash of more than RM700 millions. I wonder what it intends to do with the money.

Most of its landed assets are in the Iskander Region. In KL, it has the Menara Keck Seng and the Regency Tower. If a revaluation of all its properties is made, the company will be worth many times more than its present book value of about RM5 per share.

Is the heavy volume transacted last Friday a prelude to something important about to happen at Keck Seng? I sincerely hope so, and I intend to hold on to my shares.