Hot stock: Sino Construction surges after S$6.5m new share placement

SINO Construction's share price rose on Monday morning after the company said it would raise S$6.5 million through the placement of 262 million new shares.

At 10am, the shares were trading at S$0.035 each, up 0.6 cent, or almost 21 per cent. More than 20 million shares changed hands.

Four individuals have agreed to subscribe to a total of 262 million new shares at S$0.0248 each - a discount of 9.8 per cent to the weighted average price of S$0.0275 for trades done on March 26, 2015. The new shares represent 6.4 per cent of the existing issued share capital of the company.

Drew Madacsi, interim executive director of Sino Construction, said the company's first Micro Power Plant is still on track to be operational in April, with new generators having arrived in Korea.

"The money raised is to be used to shore up the current financial position of the company, allow the implementation of the personnel strategy and advance further construction of more micro power plants in South Korea.''

"Sino has been on a recent drive to restructure core parts of its business through more stable cash flow projects, those requiring narrow capital expenditure. Some of the recent changes have been painful but extremely necessary for the reemergence of the company in 2015 and beyond," he said.

The four investors are Lim Swee Yean (50 million shares), Lee Bu Hua (75 million shares), Levin Lee Keng Weng (60 million shares) and Wong Meng Choo (77 million shares).

The company - which saw the resignation of the previous executive director and non-executive chairman - recorded a S$7 million net loss for its latest quarter ended Dec 31, 2014, versus a S$2.18 million net gain in the year ago period. Revenue for the quarter was S$1.12 million versus nil in the restated period last year.