PETALING JAYA: Drugmaker Pharmaniaga Bhd and Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd closed at all-time highs in line with the strong market momentum which saw the local bourse's benchmark FBM KLCI gain 0.59% or 9.41 points to 1,604.39, just shy of the historic close of 1,606.62 in April.

Pharmaniaga, which resumed trading last Friday after being suspended from June due to a narrow public spread, jumped RM1.01 to RM9.50 after the stock exchange lifted the price “freezing” with effect from yesterday following two consecutive days in which the counter hit limit-up.

Since trading of the counter resumed last Friday, the share price has surged 46.15%.

Earlier in the month, Boustead Holdings Bhd, which held a 72.36% stake in Pharmaniaga, announced a private placement proposal of 10.45 million shares for the purpose of rectifying the shortfall in the company's public spread requirement.

Pharmaniaga posted an 85.3% jump in net profit for the first quarter ended March 31 due to higher gross profit margins and improvement in operational efficiencies on revenue which increased 15.9% due to higher sales to the government sector.

Meanwhile, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia's share price rose 17 sen to RM5.92. Year-to-date, the share price has soared 220%. Last Friday, the company announced that it was interested in acquiring properties in the UK.

The company's goup managing director Datuk Mohamed Hassan Kamil did not discount mergers and acquisitions while focusing on growing the core markets locally and in Indonesia.

According to an OSK Research report dated May 29, the company's earnings took off strongly underpinned by higher surplus transfers from its family takaful business and higher wakalah fees. The research house, which maintains a “buy” call on the counter, has a fair value of RM4.60 on 10 times price to earnings ratio for financial year ending Dec 31, 2013.

It said key re-rating catalysts would be a a sharp improvement in underwriting margin, higher-than-expected premium growth, lower-than expected management expenses and faster-than-expected growth in the retail business.

TAKAFUL : [Stock Watch] [News]

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