Tanah Makmur soars on market debut

KUALA LUMPUR: Tanah Makmur Bhd, which made its debut on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd yesterday, saw its share price surge 55.2% or 69 sen to RM1.94 on the close of its first trading day with 68.6 million shares traded.
The stock had earlier opened at RM1.60 yesterday morning at a 35 sen or 28% premium to its issue price of RM1.25.
Its managing director Tengku Datuk Zubir Tengku Datuk Ubaidillah said the oil palm plantations and property developer is happy with the share price and that Tanah Makmur is a company with good track record and potential growth prospects.
"It appears that the market shares the same view as the management of Tanah Makmur. We're very excited about implementing our future expansion plans moving forward," he told a press conference after the group's listing ceremony yesterday.
Pahang-based Tanah Makmur plans to carry out replanting and new planting programmes, grow its plantation landbank through the co-operation with its major shareholder Lembaga Kemajuan Perusahaan Pertanian Negeri Pahang, increase its palm oil mill capacity, continue to develop the KotaSAS township and to obtain the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil Standard (MSPO) accreditations.
The group has identified two potential plantation land in Kampong Bongsu and Ulu Lepar with land size measuring 1,214ha and 1,436ha respectively. It is estimated that the acquisition of these two plantation land banks will cost RM10 million.
"We're in the midst of negotiating and waiting approval from the Pahang state government for the alienation of the land to Tanah Makmur," said Zubir.
Tanah Makmur has 17,969ha of plantation land in Pahang and currently operates a palm oil mill with a capacity to process up to 30 tons of fresh fruit bunch per hour.
The group was formerly Kurnia Setia Bhd, which was privatised in 2010. Since then, it enlarged its plantation landbank, diversified downstream into oil palm milling and unlocked the value of its land by venturing into property development.
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2014, the group registered a net profit of RM12.1 million on the back of RM91.8 million revenue.