KUALA LUMPUR (May 20): Industrial waste recycling services provider Analabs Resources Bhd (KL:ANALABS) said on Tuesday it had purchased Malayan Banking Bhd (KL:MAYBANK) shares worth RM31.83 million between Feb 26, 2025 and May 19, 2026.

The purchases, funded by the group's share margin account, triggered a mandatory disclosure because it amounts to 6.51% of Analabs' net assets, crossing the regulatory 5% announcement threshold.

The RM31.83 million acquisitions also represent about 16.9% of Analabs market' capitalisation of RM188.6 million, based on its last traded share price of RM1.70 on May 12.

Analabs said in a bourse filing that the acquisitions were carried out with the intention of deriving dividend income and for potential capital gains.

“The shares were purchased in the open market at prevailing prices as quoted on Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd,” Analabs said, adding the acquisitions are not expected to have any material effect on its earnings per share and net assets per share for the financial year ended April 30, 2025.

The latest purchases add to Analabs’ growing investment in Maybank shares. In February 2025, the group announced that it had acquired RM30.6 million worth of Maybank shares between Sept 2, 2024 and Feb 25, 2025.

In a separate filing, Analabs revealed that its equity investment portfolio had accumulated an additional RM27.48 million — representing 5.62% of its audited consolidated net assets — in other unannounced quoted securities within the preceding 12 months.

The total cost of its overall holdings in quoted securities, as of May 19, stood at about RM516.37 million. The portfolio's book value and market value have come to RM619.06 million, indicating an unrealised paper gain of about RM102.7 million, indicating a 19.89% return on its total investment cost.