Malton shares jump 17.3% on AI compute centre partnership with US firm

KUALA LUMPUR (June 24): Shares of Malton Bhd (KL:MALTON) surged in early trade on Wednesday after the property developer unveiled plans to collaborate with a US-based artificial intelligence (AI) cloud infrastructure company to develop AI compute centres in Malaysia.

The counter opened at its day’s low of 28 sen before climbing to an intra-day high of 38.5 sen. The stock closed up 4.5 sen or 17.3% to 30.5 sen, with a trading volume of 29.9 million shares. At the last price, it had a market capitalisation of RM175 million. Year to date, the counter has fallen by 4.69%.

Malton was one of the most actively traded stocks on Bursa Malaysia during early trade. Its gains join a recovery in technology and semiconductor-related stocks after the Bursa Malaysia Technology Index fell 3.96% on Tuesday amid a wider rout in Asian tech shares.

At market close on Wednesday, the Technology Index rose 1.6% or 1.14 points to 72.53 points.

Among the counters rebounding on Wednesday were UWC Bhd (KL:UWC), which rose after posting stronger quarterly earnings, as well as SkyeChip Bhd (KL:SKYECHIP), Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd (KL:MPI) and Mi Technovation Bhd (KL:MI), all of which had come under pressure in the previous session.

Tuesday’s sell-off was triggered by weakness in regional technology stocks, particularly in South Korea, where a correction in semiconductor counters dragged down sentiment across Asian markets and spilled over to Bursa.

Malton’s rally signalled a show of investors looking beyond traditional chipmakers and equipment firms for exposure to the AI and data centre build-out theme, despite the still-cautious backdrop for technology shares more broadly.

The property developer signed a memorandum of understanding with Ricloud AI Inc on Tuesday, which is an official Nvidia cloud partner, to explore the development of AI compute centres in Malaysia.

Under the proposed collaboration, Ricloud is expected to help bring in technology companies — particularly large global players — to invest in and set up AI compute centres in Malaysia, while also providing technical expertise for the facilities, AI server procurement, Nvidia GPU clusters and related AI solutions.

Malton, in turn, will assist in identifying suitable locations for the facilities, help with land acquisition where needed, deal with local authorities for approvals and permits, and serve as the main contractor for the construction and commissioning of the AI compute centres and related infrastructure.

The company said the collaboration would initially focus on promoting Ricloud’s services in Malaysia before potentially expanding into neighbouring Southeast Asian markets. It added that the arrangement offers the group an opportunity to tap growing demand for cloud, AI-related computing and data centre infrastructure.

For the third quarter ended March 31, 2026 (3QFY2026), the property developer posted a 98% jump in net profit to RM3.38 million from RM1.7 million in the previous corresponding quarter. Revenue rose by 21.1% to RM121.05 million compared with RM99.93 million previously.

The group attributed the stronger performance to higher contributions from its property development business, faster progress billings from ongoing projects and lower finance costs, according to a previous filing.

AskEdge data showed Matlon trading at a price-earnings ratio of 8.7 times, which is lower than most peers and is at the lower end compared to its historical valuation in recent years. Its price-to-net asset value ratio is at 0.2 multiples, lower than peers and is at its lowest level in recent years.

There is no analysts' coverage of Malton.

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