KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 13): Shares in Iris Corp Bhd stumbled in active trade on Monday (Feb 13), after the company said last Friday that it was disposing of 80% equity interest in its wholly-owned subsidiary Iris Information Technology Systems Sdn Bhd (IITS) for RM70 million cash.
IITS is the developer of the RM1.13 billion National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe). The purchaser of the 80% stake in IITS is information technology company Tass Tech Technologies Sdn Bhd, which is wholly-owned by Tass Tech (M) Sdn Bhd.
Iris fell 14.81% or two sen to close at 11.5 sen on Monday, with 170.11 million shares traded. It earlier fell to a low of 11 sen.
Meanwhile, its peer MyEG Services Bhd also continued to be under pressure and was the top active counter, with its share price dropping to 60.5 sen.
MyEG’s share price dropped to 61 sen at last Friday’s close from 71.5 sen. It was hovering at 57 sen to 62 sen on Monday, with 217.05 million shares traded.
NIISe is an initiative under the Ministry of Home Affairs to modernise the Immigration Department by implementing the latest digital applications to improve service delivery, and strengthen safety and security at the nation’s borders.
A check with the Companies Commission of Malaysia showed that as of Nov 7, 2022, Tass Tech (M) was 70%-owned by Shukor Ahmed, while the remaining 30% was held by Raja Muhammad Badiuzzaman Raja Chulan.
Meanwhile, MyEG last Friday bought back an additional two million shares in the company at 61 sen apiece for a total of RM1.22 million, the third block of shares it purchased in the week. In total, MyEG has spent RM4.1 million for six million shares in its share buy-back exercise.
MyEG and Iris shares were on active trade since news reports that the government intends to converge all immigration services and processes — including passport renewals, visa applications, and applications and renewals of permits for foreign workers — under NIISe by 2025.
NIISe, which is currently developed by Iris, will replace the current Malaysian Immigration System (myIMMS) that the department has been using for about 13 years.