Becoming a Renewable Energy Player - YB Ventures Berhad (Ticker: 5048 YB)

Investment Highlight

1. Venturing into Renewable Energy

2. Core Business is Turning Around

3. Rights Issue to Fuel Its Expansion

4. IT Segment Start Contributing Earnings

5. To Acquire Another Main Market Listed Co

6. Subscribe to the Rights Issue to Ride on the Potential Share Price Appreciation

Company Background

YB Ventures Berhad (YB), formerly known as Yi-Lai Berhad, is a distinguished manufacturer of tiles that was established in 1990 in Kulai, Johor (listed in May 2002). The Company is the exclusive manufacturer of ALPHA TILES®, which is a major household name in construction, renovation and interior decoration.

In 2020, through its 49%-stake in TechBase System, YB had made a significant milestone by diversifying the Group’s business to include the provision of Information Technology (IT) solutions in the field of blockchain technology solutions and system integration services.

Its JV partner (TechBase Solution Sdn Bhd)  has around 11 years of experience in providing IT solutions and offers products ranging from enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) solutions, sales management systems, business productivity solutions and website design and development. Its target clientele ranges from small and medium enterprises to large corporations as well as organisations that need to upgrade or replace existing IT systems.

Investment Merits

1. Venturing into Renewable Energy: We gathered that YB is in an advanced stage of discussion with an experienced partner in Renewable Energy (RE) to set up a collaboration entity. We believe YB is eyeing Solar related projects (circa 100MW and direct negotiation with the state government) in East Malaysia.

It is important to note that direct negotiation projects are able to generate a higher rate of return. YB is likely to be involved in EPCC and will eventually be the asset owner to generate recurring earnings.

With its strong balance sheet (Net cash of RM72mil) and its strength as a listed company (lower borrowing cost), we believe YB will be the ideal partner for RE related business.

 2. Core Business is Turning Around: YB Launched its premium tiles product, the Talos Living          Tiles, the first negative ion tiles launched in Malaysia.

 The launch of Talos Living Tiles is a step-up for the Group as it moves towards the premium segment. Utilising YB Venture’s proprietary ground-breaking Nano Glazing technology, the coated tiles produces and releases negative ions into the air, improving indoor air quality and subsequently bring about a healing effect to the body.

 The management is confident that the Group will exceed its RM30.0 million sales target over the next three years, based on the positive feedback from property developers and end-users.

 

3. Rights Issue to Fuel Its Expansion: To recap, YB proposed rights issues of up to 1,213,082,625 ICULS, on the basis of five (5) ICULS at RM0.04 each for every one (1) existing ordinary share in YB (which will be able to raise up to RM48.5 mil).

 Proceed from the rights issue will be utilised to construct four (4) new production lines for its tiles business segment as the Group’s existing manufacturing facilities are currently operating at the peak capacity.

 Hence, the new production lines will allow the Group to focus on introducing products that are aligned with the customer buying behaviour as well as to optimise and improve the cost-efficiency for their manufacturing business. After the said expansion, the Group will be able to expand the total production capacity by around 50% from 7.1 mil sqm (8 lines) to 10.7 mil sqm (12 lines).  

 

4. IT Segment Start Contributing Earnings: On top of its existing tiles manufacturing business, YB ventured into IT solutions in the field of blockchain technology solutions and system integration services to boost the Group’s earnings growth.

 Through its JVA with TechBase Solution (an experience IT partner that has a proven track record and solid historical financial performance of profit after tax of RM5.9 million on the back of RM11.6 million in its latest full-year results), YB will be focusing on developing and distributing their in-house blockchain technology solutions and system integration services in the domestic market. We believe that YB will be able to recognise its maiden profit in the coming quarter results.

 

5. To Acquire another Main Market Listed Co: We were told that YB is close to seal a deal to acquire a stake in a Main Market listed company that would provide synergies to the Group. We believe YB will be announcing the news in Bursa Malaysia and this may boost the share price in the near term.

 

Our View

Subscribe to the Rights Issue to Ride on the Potential Share Price Appreciation

Based on what we gathered from our sources, we are convinced that YB will have a series of major announcements (refer to our write up above) to promote the share price.

We suggest investors to buy the LR on the market to have a better exposure to ride on the potential share price appreciation.

By investing into the LR is equivalent to the investment into Warrants, LR will be able to provide a leverage effect to investment return. Based on our calculation below, the total cost to invest in YB-LR will be RM0.05. The leverage effect against the investment into the mother share is huge! 

 

(1) YB-LR price = RM0.01

(2) Nominal value of LA = RM0.04

(1) + (2) Total purchase price = RM0.05

YB share price = RM0.465

LA Conversion price RM0.48

 

Assuming YB share appreciate to RM0.61

 

Scenario A

Investment Return by investing in YB Share

RM0.61 / RM 0.465 à Investment return = 31%

 

Scenario B

Investment Return by investing in YB-LR

YB share price appreciation = RM0.61- RM0.465 = RM0.145

RM0.145 / RM 0.05 = 200%!! (The power of leveraging)

YB-LA will provide the greatest share price gain! Conversion to Mother Share is unnecessary at this point in time.

 We think YB ventures could potentially be one of the key RE players in East Malaysia. Based on what we gathered, YB is close to finalising a RE deal in East Malaysia, and investors should expect some great announcements to be made in the near future. Its tile manufacturing business will provide base earnings for the Group to fuel the Group’s expansion in the IT and RE business. Earnings growth from the IT segment will likely be the short-term catalyst for the share price, while diversification into the RE segment will ensure the Group has another earnings boost in the mid-term.  

Technical

Based on technical we think that YB worth for a trade as we believe the management will support the share price to ensure the successful of the corporate exercise, technically the share should trade at above RM0.55.

 R1, R2, R3

0.53, 0.58, 0.63

 S1, S2

0.42, 0.40

 

Why RE in East Malaysia?

The growth potential of LSS projects in Sabah and Sarawak are huge, especially in the state of Sabah. Malaysia has targeted to increase installed capacity of 1,200 MW of LSS farms whereby 200MW in Sabah and another 1,000 MW is in Peninsular Malaysia. Studies have also shown that the average electricity production for a proposed 5MW power plant is projected to be 8,377MWh annually, available for export in Sabah.

Aside from that, the application of Solar photovoltaic for the grid-connected system over a 21-year project lifetime is also feasible financially. As for Sarawak, the state-owned energy provider, Sarawak Energy, is taking the lead in pushing the adoption of RE in the country.

Together with the Ministry of Utilities Sarawak, Sarawak Energy targets full electrification in Sarawak by 2025, and it is already exporting power to the Indonesian neighbour, West Kalimantan. By 2030, Sarawak Energy plans to incorporate more RE projects such as LSS power to account for 4% of the mix.