SERBA Dinamik Bhd’s meteoric rise, with its share price hitting its highest level this year, had seen the wealth of its founder almost tripled since the company’s listing two years and made him among Malaysia’s wealthiest.
The company which was listed in February 2017, at a time when the oil and gas (O&G) industry was still reeling from the 2014 oil rout, saw its share rising from the initial public offering price of RM1.50 to close at its highest level of RM4.56 this year.
Forbes listed Serba Dinamik’s founder and group MD/CEO Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah (picture) the 40th-richest Malaysian in its Malaysia’s 50 Richest 2019 list with a US$345 million (RM1.45 billion) net worth.
Mohd Abdul Karim currently holds a 23.61% stake or 346.78 million shares in Serba Dinamik based on Bloomberg’s latest data.
Based on the 348.94 million shares held by Mohd Abdul Karim on March 23, 2017, in Serba Dinamik and the company’s closing price of RM1.66 on that day, his shares in the company were valued at RM579.24 million.
As of Aug 8 this year, the shareholding of the 54-year-old very private entrepreneur was 346.78 million shares valued at RM1.56 billion based on the company’s last Friday’s intraday high of RM4.51.
The self-made Malaysian billionaire had guided the company into a multibillion-ringgit firm with consistent profits in an industry which is still recovering from the 2014 oil market rout.
Serba Dinamik had grown its revenue base over the past four years from RM755.77 million in 2014 to RM3.28 billion last year, and had become among the top performing O&G companies in the country.
Investors have been delighted with the company’s performance, pushing its market capitalisation to RM6.45 billion from RM2 billion when it first became a public firm.
Mohd Abdul Karim’s wealth would have almost than doubled since the listing.
For the first half of this year, Serba Dinamik’s net profit jumped 24.2% year-on-year to RM242.59 million as revenue grew 38.6% to RM2.12 billion, the company said.
Malaysia remained its largest revenue contributor last year, accounting for about 28% of total revenue that year, followed by Qatar (20.7%), the United Arab Emirates (20.6%) and Bahrain (10%).
Mohd Abdul Karim started as a mechanical engineer for Asean Bintulu Fertiliser Sdn Bhd in 1988, before he was appointed as the coordinator for the Ammonia and Rotary 5th Turnaround Preparation Team in 1990, and then as rotating equipment area engineer a year later.
In 1993, he formed what would prove his crowning achievement — Serba Dinamik — a maintenance, repair and overhaul service company in Bintulu, Sarawak.
This year, the company hopes to bring in RM4 billion in revenue and RM10 billion in the orderbook. Its current orderbook, reportedly stands at RM8.3 billion.
Notable contract wins include a RM313 million contract from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd in March this year and a US$250.3 million contract for engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning works in Uzbekistan.
Serba Dinamik is also reportedly allocating approximately RM30 million to support new information technology projects in 2019 which will be executed in collaboration with India’s eNoah iSolution Inda Pte Ltd. Serba Dinamik holds an indirect 30% stake in the latter via its wholly owned unit, Serba Dinamik IT Solutions Sdn Bhd.
Focus on Mohd Abdul Karim recently heightened after a mandatory general offer (MGO) for the remainder interest in Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd was tabled last week.
This came after he raised his stake in the precast concrete product manufacturer to 42.84% following a RM19.19 million deal. The MGO of RM1.10 per share relates to the remainder 44.12 million shares not already owned by Mohd Abdul Karim.
“Success is not a destination, it is a journey,” Mohd Abdul Karim said in the company’s latest annual report. He is one of the corporate figures worth watching.