Top S-E Asian stock that's returned nearly 400% stays under the radar

Kuala Lumpur

IT'S South-east Asia's best-performing stock and has returned almost 400 per cent to investors in three years. Yet, Malaysia's Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd has flown under many people's radars.

The property, plantation and building materials conglomerate controlled by Lau Cho Kun has managed to double its after-tax profit over the last four years amid falling palm oil prices and a real estate market that's slowed since 2014. Similar-sized firms like Thailand's Indorama Ventures PCL and PT Charoen Pokhphand Indonesia have a dozen or more analysts covering them, while Hap Seng, Malay-sia's 23rd-biggest company, hasn't been tracked since 2012.