In a filing today, Bursa Securities said short selling under IDSS for LCTitan has been suspended for the rest of the day as the last done price of the counter dropped more than 15% sen from the reference price.

It added that IDSS for LCTitan will resume at 8.30am tomorrow.

Investors sold off its shares after the company announced yesterday its FY2023 net loss widened to RM780.29 million from RM731.06 million a year earlier. It also suffered a 23.68% drop in revenue to RM7.65 billion during the year.

“The weaker performance was mainly due to a decline in margin spreads, and share of loss from Lotte Chemical USA Corp, but was partially offset by reversal of inventory write-down to its net realisable value,” LCTitan said in a bourse filing yesterday.

For its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 (Q4 FY2023), its net loss narrowed to RM186.48 million from RM333.64 million a year ago.

Established in 1989, LCTitan is one of Southeast Asia’s largest integrated producers of olefins and polyolefins. It has 12 plants in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat, Johor.

The group was acquired by South Korea’s Lotte Chemical Corp in 2010.

On the group’s weak 2023 performance, president and CEO Park Hyun Chul cited lower economic growth in China and Europe, as well as the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on oil price volatility, which is highly correlated with its key feedstock naphtha.

Meanwhile, TA Securities has maintained its “sell” rating on LCTitan with an unchanged target price of RM1.05, adding that its near-term earnings outlook remains challenging.

The research house said the group will continue to face losses in Q1 FY2024.

At day’s end, LCTitan was down 15.75% or 23 sen at RM1.23 with a market capitalisation of RM2.84 billion.