KUCHING: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Board has steadily built up its stake in Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd since emerging as a substantial shareholder in March this year.
The pension fund accumulated additional 1,771,000 shares on September 25, bringing its total shareholdings in Dayang to 103.62 million shares (8.95%), according to Dayang’s latest filings with Bursa Malaysia.
The EPF became a substantial shareholder in Dayang after acquiring 2,522,100 shares on March 19, 2025, increasing its stake to 59,725,300 units (5.159%).
Dayang’s share price closed at RM1.60 on Tuesday. On a 52-week period, the stock traded between RM1.43 and RM2.58.
As at March 28, 2025, property developer Naim Holdings Bhd was Dayang’s single largest shareholder, with ownership of about 280.4 million shares (24.22%), followed by Joe Ling Siew Loung @ Lin Shou Long (105,697,950 shares (9.13%) — direct and indirect).
Miri-based Dayang group is involved in offshore topside maintenance services, charter of marine vessels and rental of offshore equipment.
In its research report on August 25, 2025, Phillip Capital Malaysia is upbeat about Dayang’s performance going forward, and reiterate its “buy” rating and 12-month target price of RM2.21, based on a target 10x PE multiple applied to 2026E EPS.
The research house’s optimism is based on Dayang’s improving vessel utilisation and strong maintenance activity that will drive earnings momentum in third quarter of 2025 (3Q25), and its RM5 billion sizeable order book multi-year earnings visibility
“The resumption of offshore activities after the monsoon season is expected to drive higher vessel utilisation and accelerate work order execution.
“Dayang’s vessel utilisation improved from 26 per cent in 1Q25 to 64 per cent in 2Q25, with 3Q25 projected to exceed 90 per cent (higher than 86% recorded in 3Q24), being the seasonally strongest quarter.
“Topside maintenance activity is also anticipated to pick up with the restart of upstream maintenance works. Its 64 per cent-owned subsidiary, Perdana Petroleum (NR) guided (vessel) utilisation to reach 70 per cent in 3Q25 (vs 78% in 3Q24, 52% in 2Q25) underpinned by stronger maintenance demand.
“The tight domestic vessel availability and absence of new builds should continue to support charter rates,” said Phillip Capital.
The research house said Dayang’s current order book of RM5 billion will keep the group busy over the next four years.
“The group is currently bidding for RM3 billion offshore platform decommissioning package and is the only vendor invited for all 3 packages across Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, covering 31 platforms over 3-years.The tender is currently in the late stage of evaluation, with the outcome expected to be finalised by 4Q25 or 1H26 latest.
“With its strong local presence, we believe Dayang is well-positioned to secure a portion of the package, particularly for Sarawak,” it added.
Said Phillip Capital: “We remain positive on Dayang’s earnings prospects, underpined by its sizeable multi-year order book, which provides reassurance on the sustainability of its long-term earnings.
“Dayang is trading at an attractive 8x 2026E PER, backed by solid balance sheet with healthy net cash position. A higher DPS (dividend per share) of 7sen was declared in 2Q25, on track to meet our full-year forecast of 10sen and appealing 6 per cent dividend yield.
“Key risks include unforeseen delays in work orders, a sharp decline in (vessels) charter rates and higher-than-expected operating costs. Dayang remain our sector and country top pick.”
Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) has maintained a “buy” rating on Dayang but with a lower target price of RM2.01 from RM2.67.
“We expect Dayang’s earnings to remain resilient, supported by the seasonal post-monsoon recovery.”
However, HLIB remains cautious on Dayang’s near-term earnings outlooks amid capital expenditure cuts from Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).
Meanwhile, other research houses are pessimistic on Dayang’s earnings outlook because of the Petronas-Petroleum Sarawak Bhd (Petros) dispute.
Public investment Bank (PublicInvest) said despite a robust RM5 billion order book and healthy industry activity outlook, Dayang’s near-term outlook remains “clouded by persistent delays in work order execution.
“The disconnect between contract awards and actual job flow poses downside risk to earnings visibility in the coming quarters,” it added in a recent note.
PublicInvest slashed its earnings forecasts for Dayang by an average of 49.3 per cent to reflect these setbacks. It also downgraded its call on Dayang to “underperform”, with a lower target price of RM1.58 from RM1.70 previously.
CIMB Securities has maintained its “hold” rating and kept its RM1.70 target price for Dayang as it believes the latter’s current valuation fairly reflects the challenging operating climate.
The stockbroking firm’s caution stems from the Petronas-Petros dispute, which risks prolonging regulatory uncertainty, dampening contract rollouts, and ultimately weighing on the company’s earnings momentum.
Kenanga Research also maintained its “underperform” rating on Dayang and lowered its target price to RM1.44 from RM1.56.
It cited weak upstream activity outlook amid a soft marco backdrop, including tepid crude oil prices, and the Petronas-Petros gridlock.
