Jag plans to seek Main Market transfer

BY YVONNE TAN

   

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PETALING JAYA: ACE Market-listed Jag Bhd, which recently acquired an industrial and electronic waste (E-waste) recycling business, is planning to seek a transfer to the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.

“This is a natural step for us to enhance the company’s reputation, ” director Nigel Ng said.

IT firm Jag, formerly known as Infortech Alliance Bhd bought over profit-making Jaring Metal Industries Sdn Bhd (JMI) which is involved in the recycling of E-waste, last year.

With JMI in its stable, Jag was immediately pushed into the black, recording a net profit of RM1.7mil on revenue of RM35.5mil for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31,2013 after bleeding red ink for quarters on end.

“Via JMI, we already meet the formal requirements for a Main board listing but will need some time to prepare for the actual submission to the authorities,” Ng toldStarBiz.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2013 (FY13) JMI’s revenue stood at RM135.6mil while net profit was RM7.65mil. A year earlier, it generated RM125.51mil of sales with net profit totalling RM8.5mil.

Ng, together with his family members who founded JMI, have now become the controlling shareholders of Jag. He, together with his siblings and their mother hold a collective 71.23% in the firm.

Essentially, what JMI does is recycle E-waste to help produce ferrous, non-ferrous and precious metals which are then sold both here and overseas in markets like China and Japan.

Its customers are mainly traders and smelters and include steel mills.

JMI now processes about 12,000 tonnes each year, giving it a market share of about 15%. It has been in the business since the late 1990s.

In 2012, E-waste constituted close to 5% of total waste generated.

By the year 2020, some 21.4 million tonnes of E-waste will be generated locally, driven mainly by the growth of the electrical and electronics industry, according to industry figures.

Although the majority of Jag’s business now comes from E-waste recycling, the company would continue to generate about 5% of its sales from its IT side which sells software, Ng said. In March, it announced that it had joined forces with China-based SWT International to undertake the development, management, operation and implementation of medical waste in Malaysia. At yesterday’s close, Jag shares were flat at 36 sen.