CTOS hits record low as institutional investors reduce holdings

Institutional selling accompanied a further slide in CTOS Digital Bhd on Oct 19, when the stock ended trading at a record-low 36 sen. Bursa Malaysia filings showed that three major investors had sold about 21.57 million shares since the credit reporting company disclosed a cybersecurity breach on Sept 23.

The Oct 19 session left CTOS down 6.5 sen, equivalent to 15.29 per cent, after an intraday trough of 35.5 sen. Compared with its 64.5 sen close on Sept 22, the cumulative decline reached 44.19 per cent. Trading volume was 29.39 million shares, a daily high for more than three months.

Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP), the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Aberdeen Group plc recorded sales without any purchases during the period. Their combined disposals amounted to roughly one per cent of issued CTOS shares.

KWAP sold the most, at about 10.99 million shares. After selling 1.77 million on Oct 16, it retained an 8.724 per cent interest comprising 191.81 million shares. EPF's disposals totalled about 6.38 million; its Oct 14 sale of 1.31 million left a 20.43 per cent holding, or 449.10 million shares.

Aberdeen sold about 4.20 million shares over the period. Its latest reported transaction, involving 384,000 shares on Oct 14, reduced its holding to 325.22 million shares, equivalent to 14.79 per cent.

CTOS said the breach involved access to files holding a limited subset of processed consumer information. According to the company, containment had been completed, with systems outside the affected environment untouched.

Although CTOS initially expected no material financial effect, its Oct 13 estimate put the reduction in profit after tax and minority interests at RM12 million and the revenue reduction at RM16 million for its financial year ending on Dec 31, 2026. This assumed some affected services would stay unavailable until October's third week.