KUALA LUMPUR (April 20): Technology company Censof Holdings Bhd, which has been named as a partner of Microsoft under the Bersama Malaysia initiative, saw its share price surges to a five-year high in active morning trade today.

As at 9.57am, the stock had soared 34.21% or 13 sen to 51 sen, translating into a market capitalisation of RM271.83 million. Trading volume stood at 174.83 million, exceeding its 200-day average volume of 8.59 million.

The stock had climbed 88.9% year-to-date (YTD) from when it was trading at 26.5 sen apiece on Dec 31 last year.

Yesterday, the government announced a partnership with Microsoft under the Bersama Malaysia initiative, which will see the hyperscaler establish its first data centre region in the country.

Microsoft signed five memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with government agencies and local companies to train about one million Malaysians by the end of 2023 to help create economic opportunities for people and businesses in the digital era.

Microsoft said it will partner with Censof, Silverlake Group and Web Bytes to accelerate digital transformation of the nation’s key industries.

Earlier this month, the technology company said it had completed the acquisition of a 30.87% equity stake in Asian Business Software Solutions Pte Ltd for RM14.1 million on a "willing buyer, willing seller" basis.

Asian Business Software is involved in the development and supply of financial management and accounting software for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The stake was acquired by Censof from Asian Business' minority shareholders, namely Paul Alistair Jennings, Fox Equities Pty Ltd and Lum Chong Eu, who disposed of 22.34%, 7.27% and 1.26% respectively.

After the completion of the acquisition, the group’s stake in Asia Business increased to 89.07% from 58.2% previously.