The first IPO of 2014, SCH Group Bhd garnered a strong interest with its offer of 13 million shares to the public being oversubscribed by 67.93 times at an IPO price of 23 sen.

Making its debut on the Ace Market in February, SCH deals in the trading services industry and derives its revenue from the quarry industry, mainly supplying quarry industrial products, spare parts, equipment and machinery. Its revenue is highly dependent on the demand of its customers which includes Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, YTL Cement Bhd and IJM Corp Bhd.

SCH is a key player in supplying quarry industrial products (it has exclusive distribution rights on certain machinery) and holds a large market share in this business. The closest comparison to this company listed on the market is UMS Holdings Bhd, which operates a product distribution business in the quarry, cement and rubber industry and has a similar market capitalization but with a total of 40,690,000 shares as compared to SCH’s much larger total of 412,234,020 shares. UMS Holdings is currently priced at RM2.93

Cumulative to the 3Q of the year, SCH recorded a profit before tax of RM5.35 million compared to a loss before tax of RM0.57 million in the preceding financial quarter. Most of the net profit is attributed to a continuing rise in revenue each quarter. EPS currently stands at 1.94 sen and NTA RM 0.1558. The company’s cash flow stands at RM 23,385,000 a huge increase since the first quarter of RM 3,062,000. Deciding to reward its shareholders on the back of a strong cash holding, SCH has declared an interim dividend of 1 sen per share totaling RM4.12 million for FY14. (A yield of 3.57% based on the price of 28 sen) A decision many did not foresee but welcomed by shareholders.

(source: bursa malaysia)

Technical Analysis

                                                            (source: tradesignum.com)

Hitting its all-time high on the very first day of trading, this counter has trouble keeping up the momentum and fell rapidly in the first week itself. It saw its all-time low dipping below the IPO price at RM0.22

However, SCH was seen actively traded in recent weeks, displaying a bullish momentum to the upside. This could partially be due to the announcement of the dividend payout, gaining retailer support.
This counter broke out of the RM0.30 level and has formed a new healthy trendline to the upside (45° trendline). With the surge in strong volume, this counter has gained strength to potentially re-test the RM0.40 all-time high resistance.

Immediate support: RM0.30

Resistance: RM0.40

Should the RM0.40 resistance be broken, SCH could edge higher to test the RM0.50 level.

Future Prospects

The cement industry sees a general positive growth trend for the year driven by ETP projects and strong demand on private infrastructure projects. A good example would be YTL Cement generating a 29% growth in FY14 operating profit which is estimated to have contributed to 33% of the group's bottomline. This plays out to be good news for SCH as well since a robust cement industry will lead to high demand for its products and services especially as quarry equipment tend to have a short lifespan.

The company is also looking at expanding its network supply trade through a breakthrough in countries that are fast developing such as Cambodia and within the South East Asian region.

It is also seeking a transfer to the main market within 2-3 yrs (source: The Star), and it looks likely to achieve this if it passes the qualification of minimum uninterrupted profit track record of RM20mil over three years.

It pays out a high dividend yield (but is yet to be seen if this continues in the future) It is also fast gaining a bullish momentum to the upside supported by strong volume.

To sum it up, SCH has moved rather slowly in the first half of the year with no significant gains in terms of share price compared to the other IPO debuts of the year but looks like it is fast gaining momentum and is set to make a complete turnaround.

After all, it’s better late than never.

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