Can Toyo Ventures continue its upward momentum?

Toyo Ventures Holdings Bhd hit a 52-week high of RM1.65 in June this year. But the counter succumbed to profit taking tumbling to a low of 48 sen in October, after persistent downtrends.

In July, the company saw a massive decline in its share price after it confirmed the termination of the Song Hau 2 thermal power plant project by the Vietnamese government. Toyo said its unit didn’t meet the deadline to secure financing for the project. Investors were surprised by the news, as they had expected an extension of deadline since Toyo just secured a financing facility of US$980 million in the preceeding month.

In March last year, Toyo inked an agreement for the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the upcoming power plant. Toyo’s wholly owned unit Song Hau 2 Power Co Ltd signed the O&M contract with Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 2 (PECC2) with an annual contract price of US$86 million for the upcoming US$2.42 billion power plant.

The contract comprises site works, technical services and advisory services. The O&M contract came just a week after Toyo’s unit signed a separate contract worth US$2.42 billion with a consortium of Sunway Construction Sdn Bhd and PECC2 to develop the power plant. The project is scheduled for completion in four and a half years from the date Toyo Ventures issues a notice to proceed to the contractor.

Toyo Ventures announced back in December 2020 that it had executed the BOT contract with Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT). The BOT contract involves 25 years of concession before the facility is transferred to an entity nominated by MOIT.

For the third quarter ended June 30, 2024, Toyo plunged into the red with a net loss of RM942,000 from RM1.99 million a year ago on the back of flattish revenue of RM19 million. The gross profit margin for the quarter declined to 20.72% from 23.43% in 3QFY23. This reduction was largely due to a slowdown in the precision mould, tool and die manufacturing industry, which led to reduced capital expenditures.