THE vibrant initial public offering (IPO) market has had a marked impact on lower liners as indicated by the dominance of newly listed companies on Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market’s top-performing list.

Topping the list is Sunview Group Bhd, whose share price has been on a tear since it was listed in October last year. Making its debut at 29 sen per share, the stock has skyrocketed nearly 119% in the past three months.

Sunview is involved in engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning as well as construction and installation of solar photovoltaic facilities, solar power generation and supply.

Other listings last year included those of Infoline Tec Group Bhd, Coraza Integrated Technology Bhd, Cosmos Technology International Bhd and SFP Tech Holdings Bhd, whose investors have been amply rewarded with gains of between 59.6% and 109.5% over the past three months.

Cosmos was initially listed on Bursa’s LEAP Market in March 2020, but it did not stay there long as it withdrew its listing in November 2021 to facilitate its transfer to the more prestigious ACE Market.

Nameplate and plastic injection mould parts manufacturer Volcano Bhd, which was listed in April 2021, has drawn considerable interest of late given the 94% gain in its share price over the same period.

VisDynamics Holdings Bhd has recently appeared on the radar screens of investors following a proposed bonus issue. Having traded between 50 sen and 85 sen over the past year, its shares reached a high of RM1.12 last week after a bonus issue of up to 87.6 million new shares on the basis of one bonus share for every two existing shares held was proposed. The automated test equipment manufacturer also proposed a bonus issue of warrants, involving up to 65.7 million warrants on the basis of one warrant for every four shares held.

Among the small-cap stocks listed on the Main Market, or those with a market capitalisation of less than RM500 million, K Seng Seng Corp Bhd (KSSC) led the gainers list with an impressive 106.7% jump in its share price over the past three months.

The stainless steel manufacturer saw the emergence of a substantial shareholder in Frazel Group Sdn Bhd after it purchased a 26.64% stake last month. Frazel is controlled by Datuk Seri Keh Chuan Seng and Cheong Kai Meng. Keh, who is the non-independent, non-executive chairman of EG Industries Bhd, was then appointed the new executive chairman of KSSC.

EG Industries was also among the best-performing stocks in the past three months, having gained 74.2%. Taking advantage of its share price rally, Singapore-listed Jubilee Industries Holdings Ltd disposed of a 5.52% stake in the company and ceased to be a substantial shareholder. Jubilee is the private vehicle of Singapore businessman Datuk Terence Tea Yeok Kian.

EG Industries recently proposed to undertake a private placement exercise to raise RM22.41 million to fund its business expansion and working capital.

Meanwhile, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, which recorded its first full-year profit since FY2014, emerged as the second-highest gainer following a 105.6% increase in its share price. Its FY2022 net profit came in at RM11.39 million, versus a cumulative net loss of RM328.27 million a year earlier.

The company’s turnaround reflects the recovery of the offshore support vessel market, which has seen higher utilisation and charter rates in the offshore chartering segment.

Another oil and gas service provider Uzma Bhd recorded a three-month share price gain of 64.9%.

Focus Point Holdings Bhd, which transferred to the Main Market from the ACE Market last month, has seen its share price surge 76.2% since last November. This was on the back of a significant improvement in its financial results as its net profit for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2022, had leaped fivefold to RM25.4 million from RM4.76 million a year earlier.

As the optical retail business moves to a mature growth phase, Focus Point is focusing on the expansion of its two other business segments — food and beverage as well as its eye specialist business.

After being bashed down at the end of 2021 owing to the loss of its major customer Dyson Ltd, the share price of ATA IMS Bhd started to rebound last month. The stock touched a high of 49.5 sen to see a three-month gain of 65.2%, making it one of the best-performing counters in the small-cap space.

The spike in share price could be due to optimism that the electronics manufacturing service provider is on the verge of securing a new major customer, according to a Feb 6 note by CGS-CIMB Research.

Two entities associated with tycoon Tan Sri Tony Fernandes also made the list.

The share price of budget airline AirAsia X Bhd has soared on the back of the reopening of international borders, surging 73.2% over the past three months. The long-haul, low-cost carrier had triggered the criteria for Practice Note 17 classification in October 2021 after its external auditors, Messrs Ernst & Young PLT, expressed a disclaimer of opinion over the airline’s audited financial statements for the 18-month financial period ended June 30, 2021.

Insurer Tune Protect Group Bhd’s share price has also fared well, gaining 66.7% since mid-November 2022 despite a widening net loss of RM12.18 million in the July to September quarter last year from RM1.66 million a year earlier, dragged by the normalisation of motor claims post-Covid-19 lockdown and investment losses.