Ekovest up 6% on special dividend

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Ekovest Bhd rose as much as 17 sen or 6% after the company declared a special dividend of 25 sen a share to shareholders.

Ekovest declared the dividend after it completed the sale of a 40% stake in Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur (KL) Sdn Bhd to the Employees Provident Fund for RM1.13 billion.

Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur is the concessionaire for the Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway in the Klang Valley. After the stake sale, Ekovest still owns 60% of Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur.

Shares of Ekovest rose to their highest today at RM3.02. At 10:59am, the stock pared gains at RM2.99 to become Bursa Malaysia's third-largest gainer.

Ekovest saw a trading volume of some five million shares. In a note today, TA Securities Holdings Bhd analyst Ooi Beng Hooi said the research firm had a fair value of RM3.43 for Ekovest shares.

Ooi said Ekovest was not a rated entity under TA Securities' coverage. — theedgemarkets.com

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