Another new interesting development for PDZ Holdings Bhd (PDZ), which will see the company become one of the biggest logistics players in Malaysia.
Word has it that PDZ will form a joint venture with Sanichi Technology Bhd (Sanichi) to develop an e-commerce logistics hub in Johor, that could easily cost over RM1 billion.
This gives a reason why the stock has been rising steadily from a low of 7 sen to 8 sen to as high as 25.5 sen this week.
PDZ rose to a new high this week to touch 25.5 sen on Friday (July 10) and some 1 billion shares were traded. The stock has been on uptrend since Monday on news that PDZ has won a RM600 million contract from an e-commerce platform operator in China.
While there are no confirmed names, we believe the Chinese operator could be Alibaba Group Holding Ltd or Tencent Holdings Ltd who currently dominate the China e-commerce market with platforms such as Taobao and JD.com Inc.
The market has it that PDZ and a subsidiary company of Sanichi, a large technology and property firm, have received approval from the relevant authority to build the logistics hub over 253 acres of land.
“What is interesting is that we hear the Johor state government is also involved in this joint venture development,” said market analyst.
PDZ is planning to build a logistics hub to ride on the exponential growth in the e-commerce business across Asia, which has grown significantly since the outbreak of the COVID-19.
Because of COVID-19, more and more people are shopping online for household items to safeguard themselves from the virus and this makes the logistics business in Malaysia a lucrative venture.
The logistics business is currently dominated by companies linked to Malaysian billionaire Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary.
And the fact is that Syed Mokhtar is said to be eyeing a controlling stake in PDZ. I wonder what his game plan is!
Is Syed Mokhtar taking a controlling stake in PDZ to widen his own logistics business and get contracts in China from the top 2 e-commerce platform operators?
I must also mention that all this fantastic news on PDZ comes just after its largest shareholder Pelaburan Mara Bhd had disposed of its entire shareholding of 50.62 million shares or a 5.71 per cent stake in the company.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on July 9, PDZ said the disposal of the shares were done in the open market on July 3.
Interestingly, the selling by Pelaburan Mara did not deter the buying pattern in the stock or put pressure on it. There was heavy buying for PDZ on Friday’s closing.
