MSNIAGA: Another Big News?

MSNIAGA rose 19 sen to close at RM1.80 at the close of the morning session. What could cause the share price to rise nearly 12%? The Star shed some light on this sudden rally without trying too hard.

Chart: MSNIAGA's daily chart as at Feb 7, 2019_12.30pm (Source: Malaysiastock.biz)

If you look at Bursa website, the most recent announcement made by MSNIAGA was this one here. I have a quick glance at the announcement, and I came away with the impression that MSNIAGA was involved in a corporate exercise with SYMPHONY Share Registrar Sdn Bhd. After a double-take, I now know better that it was only a simple announcement of a change of share registrar.

I have highlighted 2 phrase and word which may trip you up, and made you came to the same understanding (or, misunderstanding) that I had. I broke down the entire announcement into 3 sentences, with the critical phrases/words emboldened and in red:

The Board of Directors of the Company wishes to announce that the Share Registrar of the Company, namely Symphony Share Registrars Sdn. Bhd. has changed its name to Boardroom Share Registrars Sdn. Bhd. with effect from 1 February 2019.
 

It is part of Boardroom’s internal integration and streamlining after the acquisition and merger of Symphony group of companies in alignment with other Boardroom offices in the Asia Pacific.
 

It is merely change of company name and no change in their address and contact details.

By the way, the word "Boardroom" refers to Boardroom Ltd, which is a SGX-listed company that bought over SYMPHONY Share Registrar Sdn Bhd in July 2018 (here).

I find this announcement to be very confusing. The use of the phrase "Board of Director" together with the word "Boardroom" is misleading. To add to the confusion is the detailed explanation of the business of Boardroom (in the 2nd sentence). Without the 2nd sentence, the announcement would have been perfectly fine. While the 3rd sentence - which would have corrected your misunderstanding - became superfluous because your misunderstanding had sunk in. And, you might have called your broker to buy a block of MSNIAGA shares. Of course, if you have bought it early, you would still be laughing your way to the bank.

I have checked a few other listed companies (such as KAWAN & CBIP) which have SYMPHONY Share Registrar Sdn Bhd as their registrars. They did not make the same announcement. One of them (Wellcal) did make the same announcement. Wellcal share price went up 1 sen.

I believe all listed companies should be more careful when they made announcements to the public. In this case, it could have been an innocent "copy & paste" to notify the exchange. Listed companies have a duty to their shareholders & investing public to avoid misleading them into taking the wrong decision to invest or to divest. I hope this will serve to make everyone involved in communicating to the public to be more aware of the consequence of their actions or omissions.