KUALA LUMPUR: Civil engineering group WZ Satu Bhd, whose largest shareholder and executive chairman is a member of the Pahang royal family, saw its share price jump  as much as 21% to a five-month high yesterday of 40 sen apiece.

Chairman Tengku Datuk Seri Uzir Tengku Ubaidillah controls a 22.28% stake in the group, according to its annual report.

Another notable shareholder of the group is the new Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, who has been selected as the 16th Agong following a decision by the Conference of Rulers yesterday. The Sultan has a 9.98% stake in WZ Satu. He is expected to take his oath of office and sign the instrument of office on Jan 31.

At market close, WZ Satu pared some of its gains to close at 36.5 sen, still up 3.5 sen or 10.61%, after about 15 million shares were exchanged. At its latest price, WZ Satu has a market value of RM169.79 million.

The counter had been trading around 18 sen apiece — a five-year low — since November 2018, before an overnight jump of more than 54% on Jan 14 lifted the counter to above the 30-sen range.

WZ Satu is in oil and gas, and civil engineering and mining, particularly bauxite mining in Kuantan, Pahang.The group booked its first loss-making year since listing in the financial year ended Aug 31, 2018 (FY18) with a net loss of RM84.19 million from a net profit of RM25.41 million in FY17, dragged down by cost overruns in its oil and gas and civil engineering segments, coupled with impairment in its mining business. Annual revenue fell 10.47% to RM501.76 million from RM560.45 million the year before.

The group has said it is looking at ventures in onshore and downstream long-term service contracts, while waiting for the lifting of the bauxite mining moratorium and export ban in Pahang — which is currently scheduled for end-March.  As at end-FY18, WZ Satu had an order book of RM873 million.