KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 15): Kenanga Research said Yi-Lai Bhd shares may attract renewed buying interest as its new major shareholder (businessman Au Yee Boon who is now the single biggest shareholder with a 13.9% stake) is seeking to jointly venture into IT solutions business.
In its daily technical highlights note today, Kenanga said the diversification strategy will hopefully turn around the Group, whose existing tiles manufacturing business has been loss-making over the past three financial years.
The research said the financially strong with a debt-free balance sheet that is backed by cash holdings & unit trust investments of RM82.7 million (or 57 sen per share which represents almost two-thirds of its current share price of 87 sen) as of end-June, Yi-Lai is well-positioned to scout around for interesting business deals ahead.
“From a charting perspective, after reaching a high of RM1.09 on Aug 11, the stock has retraced to as low as 85 sen last Thursday on declining trading volumes while its RSI is indicating that the share price is reversing out from an oversold territory.
“The appearance of a pennant formation, which is a bullish continuation pattern, also suggests the share price may ride on the positive momentum going forward.
“On the back of a probable technical breakout, Yi-Lai shares could climb towards our resistance thresholds of 99 sen (R1) and RM1.10 (R2).
“This translates to upside potentials of 14% and 26%, respectively. Our stop loss level is set at 78 sen (or 10% downside risk),” it said.
KUALA LUMPUR: Tiles manufacturer Yi-Lai Bhd (YLB)) today announced the appointment of Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa as its new independent non-executive director as the company advances further in its strategic business transformation plan.
Ali Hamsa began serving at the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Prime Minister's Department in 1997 and has held positions of director of distribution and deputy director-general of the National Transformation and Advancement Programme.
He last served as the 13th chief secretary to the government from 24 June 2012 until 28 August 2018.
"We are delighted to welcome the new appointee to the Board of Directors of Yi-Lai. Ali Hamsa is chosen based on his exceptionally rich blend of professional academic and corporate board experiences, which are all relevant to the needs of our board," YLB executive director Au Yee Boon said in a statement today.
"We are strongly convinced that his skills and connections in the government and private sector will no doubt add significant value to our quest to become a leading performer for local and regional investors with strong business prospects," Au said.
He said the appointment of Ali Hamsa signifies a step forward for the group as the company align its business aspirations for promising prospects ahead.
"He brings with him a vast experience in both the government and the private sector. We hope to be able to announce something exciting to the investment community in the near future following this development," Au said.
Yi-Lai invents Malaysia's first antivirus tiles By NST Business - December 3, 2020 @ 7:42pm Given the anticipated huge market demand, Au points out that YLB is ready to realign its production lines and resources to mass produce big format antivirus tiles. NST/EMAIL Given the anticipated huge market demand, Au points out that YLB is ready to realign its production lines and resources to mass produce big format antivirus tiles. NST/EMAIL KUALA LUMPUR: Tiles manufacturer Yi-Lai Bhd (YLB) has invested the first antivirus tiles in Malaysia.
With an innovative coating technology, YLB's unique antivirus tiles could not only deliver antiviral protection for life, but also help reduce the risk of Covid-19 spread.
"Following our official launch of Talos Living Tiles, which is Malaysia's first negative ion tiles to improve indoor air quality in September 2020, the group has gone one step further by now offering the country's first tile with antivirus surfaces," executive director Au Yee Boon said in a statement today.
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Notably, it is demonstrated that YLB's antivirus tiles could effectively eliminate contagious viruses, with various tests being performed on the H1N1 influenza A viruses have shown a very desirable antivirus activity rate.
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Au expects antivirus tiles to become the next major trend in the property industry for the coming years.
"As people become more health conscious and mindful about their safety and well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic, we foresee that there will be a huge demand for antivirus tiles in Malaysia in the next few years," he said.
Mr Au also highlights that antivirus tiles are already gaining traction in many European countries such as Italy, Spain and Austria, as these products can be found in not just residential property, but also hospital and pharmacy, gym and fitness centre, as well as restaurants and commercial property.
Considering that antivirus tiles are materials that could provide enormous health and hygiene benefits, Au believes that developers, designers, contractors and house owners will make a more forward-looking choices for their buildings.
"Antivirus tiles will be a big selling point for the Malaysian property developers in the future, because every home buyer would want to own a house with residential tiles that are able to destroy all types of harmful bacteria and insidious viruses in an absolutely natural way," he said.
Given the anticipated huge market demand, Au points out that YLB is ready to realign its production lines and resources to mass produce big format antivirus tiles.
"Antivirus tile is going to be one of the most important key product segments for our group. In terms of volume, it may not be as high as our existing product offerings.
"But in terms of value, we expect a very significant contribution because antivirus tile is a premium product which could give us fairly attractive profit margin," he said.
According to the analysis and test results by Guangdong Detection Center of Microbiology (Gmicro), an independent product testing and certification company based in China, the infectivity titre value has dropped significantly after contacting with YLB's antivirus tiles.
Sample and test specimen have also been sent to Germany for further laboratory tests, which will be carried out by HygCen Germany GmbH, an accredited and internationally renowned testing lab for hygiene and biocidal activity.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people could catch Covid-19 by touching contaminated surfaces, and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
While most people pay attention to high-touch surfaces such as handrails and wall surfaces, another surface has been neglected — the tiles. Just imagine, when an infected person cough or sneeze, some droplets would land on the floor.
Executive director Au Yee Boon said: “Leaning on Yi-Lai’s strong balance sheet, the management is always on the lookout for good businesses either via strategic collaborations or M&As. (File pic shows Yi-Lai tiles)
PETALING JAYA: Tile manufacturer Yi-Lai Bhd is stepping up its merger and acquisition (M&A) and diversification exercises having allocated an initial RM30mil to RM40mil for such purpose.
The company hopes to secure at least one M&A next year and to diversify its business in a bid to mitigate the risk of over dependence on a particular business.
Executive director Au Yee Boon said: “Leaning on Yi-Lai’s strong balance sheet, the management is always on the lookout for good businesses either via strategic collaborations or M&As.
”We hope to have at least one earnings accretive acquisition in 2021. Currently, we have several good local candidates in different industries such as renewable energy, building materials and technology that we have expressed our interest in.
“However, all of these discussions are still preliminary.”
At the same time, he added Yi-Lai is also looking to venture into different industries as it is imperative for the company to diversify its businesses to mitigate the risk of over-reliance on a single business.
This was evident after the Covid-19 outbreak as it needed to have a solid backup plan for a resilient business direction, Au noted.
He said the company currently has close to RM78mil cash and cash equivalents with zero borrowings which would facilitate, among others, its M&A and diversification exercises.
“We have also allocated about RM10mil in investments to boost our two new products – “Talos Living Tiles” and “Antivirus Tiles”. Both of these products were launched this year and we received very positive responses from our partners.
“It also gave us better margins as compared to the conventional tiles. The company foresees there will be huge demand for such tiles over the next few years, and we are in the midst of realigning our production lines and resources to mass produce these tiles, ” Au said.
After three consecutive financial year losses, the company returned to the black with RM7mil in the third quarter ended September 2020, with the net loss narrowed to RM2mil for the nine months period.
Commenting on its financial performance, Au, who is also a major shareholder of Yi-Lai, said he believes the company would turnaround for its full year 2020.
“Due to the low-base effect, I expect a spurt in growth for Yi-Lai’s FY2021 profit. The worst is over for the company. Our two-pronged engines (tiles manufacturing and IT business) would charter the company to a new height in 2021.
In terms of revenue generation, he said Yi-Lai’s revenue from tile manufacturing has always been in the range of RM100mil to RM130mil per annum. We expect it to be the same for the next three years.
However, he said the company should see high margins due to the different product offerings that it has launched, as well as the cost saving measures and effort to increase efficiency.
The new IT business would play an important part in the bottom line generation, as it is serviced-based, its margins are much higher despite lower top line, he noted.
In the next three to five years, Au said he is upbeat Yi-Lai’s revenue would be above RM300mil per annum, with profit margins of at least 20%. “I strongly believe this is achievable, and I believe this will provide a re-rating catalyst to Yi-Lai, ” he said.
Yi-Lai diversified its business into the IT segment in September when it announced a joint venture agreement with TechBase Solution Sdn Bhd. The joint venture would enable Y-Lai to specialise in the provision of blockchain and system integration services.
Yi-Lai has been relatively low profile and out of investors’ radar over the years, despite its strong fundamentals and sturdy balance sheet. Prior to 2015, Au said Yi-Lai was a high dividend yield company.
“With the new management team in place, I hope to attract more investors to put in faith in us, and together, we will create sustainable long term value and be able to return to a high dividend yield company to reward our shareholders, ” Au said.
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