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KarenSoft CEO quashes talk of directors leaving
StarBiz, Thursday, April 7, 2005
SHARES in KarenSoft Technology Bhd closed
one sen lower yesterday at 25 sen on sustained
selling due to market talk that a key
director was leaving the company.
Its share price tumbled 22 sen last Friday, falling to a record low up till then, with 13.9
million shares traded.
When contacted by StarBiz yesterday, KarenSoft chief executive officer Chee Chong Hwa said
there was “panic selling” of the company’s shares because of rumours that he was leaving the
company due to ill health.
“I want to inform all stakeholders that none of the three directors are leaving the company
and that I’m in good health,” he said.
Besides panic selling by shareholders and the sale of shares by Chee himself, he said the
bearish market compounded the problem.
”I’m confident that KarenSoft will ride through these tough times,” he said.
Over the last 12 months, the company’s shares peaked at RM1.13 sen per share on Nov 22.
An analyst said KarenSoft’s share price had fallen considerably over that period. ”There’s a
lot of potential for an upswing from its current price,” he said, adding that the plunge
occurred despite “the lack of news” to warrant the fall.
“It’s hard to justify the hefty fall in its share price,” he said.
For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2004, KarenSoft registered a turnover of RM6.15mil, 17%
higher than the RM5.24mil recorded the previous year.
“Its pre-tax profit was nearly RM1mil last year, a significant turnaround from its previous
financial year pre-tax loss of RM0.5mil,” he said, attributing the company’s improvement in
profitability to higher sales and lower operational costs.
The analyst said the higher revenue was also attributed to the improvement to its flagship
product, KarenSoft ERP2 and the introduction of KarenSoft ExecSuite.
“KarenSoft showed positive earnings of 1.4 sen per share in 2004, compared with a loss of 0.9
sen per share previously,” he said.
The firm’s net tangible assets per share had also improved from 16.21 sen to 18.18 sen as at
Dec 31, 2004.
“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, KarenSoft’s financial performance this year is
expected to improve,” he added.
The company was included in the 2002 and 2003 Delloitte Touche Tohmatsu's Asia Pacific FAST
500, a ranking of the fastest growing technology companies in the Asia-Pacific.
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