(July 31): UOB-Kay Hian Holdings (UOBKH) independent director Tang Wee Loke has become the second-largest shareholder of DISA, an investment holding company with interests in energy management services, technology and construction.

On July 20, Tang exercised 300 million warrants, enlarging his direct stake from 4.1% to 7.3%, or 640.2 million shares. Tang is also deemed interested in 55 million of the company’s shares owned by his wife and two million held by his children. His deemed interest rose from 0.07% to 0.65% after his wife also exercised 51 million warrants. In total, Tang now holds 7.9% of the company.

Eddie Chng, DISA’s executive director and group CEO, remains the single-largest shareholder, with a 12% stake. Alan Wang Yu Huei, a well-known investor in local stocks and previously the second-largest shareholder of DISA, saw his stake fall to 7.7% from 8.2%.

Formerly deputy managing director of UOBKH, Tang stepped down in 2007. He remained an executive director until 2011. The following year, he was appointed a non-executive director and, in 2015, he became an independent director. He was also an independent director of the Singapore Exchange from 2002 to 2007.

Several other shareholders seem to have exercised their warrants on July 20. According to a filing by DISA, 523.6 million warrants were exercised at 0.7 cent each. The company raised a total of $3.7 million in proceeds. The warrants had been issued in August 2015 as part of a fundraising exercise. The last day for trading in the warrants was July 26, and warrants that are not exercised will cease to be valid on Aug 2 at 5pm. DISA’s shares closed on July 20 at 1.4 cents each.

On June 18, DISA announced that its wholly- owned subsidiary Disa Digital Safety (DiSa) had inked a deal with Wal-Mart Stores to implement DiSa’s Point-of-Sale Activation system for tablets at the retailer’s US stores. The PoSA system allows digital devices to be locked until a buyer inputs a security code from his receipt, ensuring that any stolen product is not usable. Wal-Mart is currently the largest retailer in the world, according to Forbes, with US$481 billion ($655 billion) in net sales for FY2017 ended Jan 31.

DiSa is also moving into livestock tracking. On June 5, the company signed a proofof- concept agreement with KMP — one of Singapore’s largest live pig suppliers — to test a blockchain device for tracing livestock. Newborn pigs will be tagged with a chip that encrypts information such as the pigs’ batch numbers and slaughter date. This would enable KMP to track the animals as they are exported from Indonesia to Singapore, and ensure food safety standards are met.

DISA’s revenue has been falling steadily since FY2009 ended June 30. Last year, the company’s revenue declined 20.3% y-o-y to $837,000 while losses rose 66.1% y-o-y to $10.8 million. The company’s primary sources of revenue at the moment are energy management and its PoSA system. The energy management business audits buildings for energy use and distributes energy-saving products to the building industry. For 3QFY2017 ended March 31, DISA’s revenue fell 11.5% to $123,000, owing mainly to the cessation of its electronic waste recycling business. Its losses for the quarter, meanwhile, increased to $9.1 million from $704,000 previously.

As at March 31, DISA had cash and cash equivalents of $19.4 million. Its total borrowings and debt came to $12.1 million.

In commentary accompanying its 3QFY2017 announcement, DISA’s management says it is “making good progress” with the rollout of its PoSA technology. “More vendors are expected to implement the PoSA technology in the coming months. The group will continue to engage retailers on the adoption of the award-winning PoSA technology as a digital security lock for electronic products sold in the US,” DISA says.

DISA was among the most actively traded stocks on the SGX on July 24, with 130 million shares changing hands. Shares in DISA closed at 1.5 cents on July 25.

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