The transactions took place over several trading days.

Chua Siok Lan, the wife of Gay Chee Cheong, a substantial shareholder of Mencast, has sold 1.63 million shares to the market for $51,213 or 3.14 cents apiece.

The transactions took place over different trading days, although the filing stated Sept 24 as the date that the disposal took place.

Following the disposal, the couple’s total stake in Mencast fell to 5.74% from 6.09% previously.

Mencast reported a loss of $416,000 in 1HFY2024 ended June 30, down from earnings of $2.08 million in the corresponding period the year before.

Even though revenue inched up by 7% to $25.5 million in 1HFY2024 with all segments seeing y-o-y increases, cost of sales increased by 20% y-o-y to $19.4 million at the same time. The higher cost of sales was partly attributed to the energy services segment, which included a $4.13 million revenue for a fast-track contract. The contract had a single-digit gross margin, which resulted in increased cost of sales and lower overall gross profit.

Shares in Mencast closed flat at 3.2 cents on Sept 25.