Verdict on Tanco's Cash Flow
Aspect Assessment
Operating Cash Flow Severely weak – negative for 5 years and 4 of last 5 quarters.
Investing Cash Flow Heavy outflows – rising capex with no operating cash to support it.
Financing Cash Flow The only lifeline – entirely dependent on equity issuance and some debt.
Free Cash Flow Consistently deeply negative – the business model is cash‑incinerating.
Sustainability
Low – cannot continue without further equity raisings or a dramatic turnaround in working capital.
Critical Conclusion:
Tanco’s income statements show profitability, but its cash flow statements reveal a fundamentally unsustainable financial engine. The company is effectively a cash-burning machine that relies on repeated shareholder dilution to stay afloat. Unless the Midport project begins generating significant positive operating cash flow in the near future, the current trajectory is problematic.
[Not an uncommon problem faced by developers of properties. ]
Tanco’s balance sheet looks strong on the surface – low leverage, high equity, improving current ratio. However, a critical review reveals thin liquidity (very low cash), opaque and potentially illiquid assets, and an equity base built on continuous share issuances rather than internal cash generation. The company is not bankrupt, but the balance sheet’s strength is fragile because it does not translate into operational cash flow. If the Midport project fails to generate cash, another equity raising will be needed – further diluting shareholders.
In one sentence: Tanco’s balance sheet is structurally solid in terms of low debt, but its true health is undermined by poor asset quality, low cash, and a history of funding operations through equity dilution.
KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Tanco Holdings Bhd slid sharply again today, extending a four‑day sell‑off that has erased almost RM6 billion from the property developer’s market capitalisation.
In a report by The Edge, the latest decline followed a similar slump earlier today, as Tanco’s share price had already fallen for four straight sessions and triggered an automatic suspension of intraday short selling.
Tanco told Bursa Malaysia on June 8 that “there are presently endeavours at the stage of being discussed or negotiated”, adding that any announcement would only be made “once such matters become more definitive or are finalised and confirmed”.
The company also said it was unable to explain the unusual market activity that has driven the counter sharply lower.
Tanco’s shares dropped as much as 33.5 sen, or 30 per cent, to 78.5 sen today, marking its lower limit for the day.
The stock later closed at 80 sen, with nearly 78 million shares traded in its busiest session in more than three months.
The steep fall automatically triggered a suspension of intraday short selling, which will only resume at 8.30am tomorrow.
An exchange filing showed that Edwin Tan Kium Suan, an executive director at two Tanco subsidiaries and the younger brother of managing director Datuk Seri Andrew Tan Jun Suan, purchased 7.64 million shares at the day’s lowest price.
Tanco has now lost more than half its market value since June 4, reversing a rally that had lifted the stock by over 50 per cent by end‑May and briefly pushed its valuation above Sime Darby Property Bhd’s between March and May.
The counter is also back to levels last seen in September 2025.
Before the sell‑off, Tanco had been one of the most actively traded property stocks on Bursa Malaysia this year.
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