Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): Based on corporate announcements and newsflow today, stocks that may be in focus tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb 17) could include: British American Tobacco Malaysia Bhd (BAT), Integrax Bhd, Mah Sing Group Bhd, Alliance Financial Group Bhd (AFG), Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB), IGB Corp Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) and Lay Hong Bhd.

British American Tobacco Malaysia Bhd (BAT) posted a net profit of RM185.5 million for the fourth financial quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (4QFY14), down a marginal 2% from RM189.9 million recorded in the previous year's corresponding quarter, despite a 10% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in revenue to RM1.21 billion, from RM1.09 billion, due to higher cost of sales, operating expenses and tax expenses.

BAT (fundamental: 1.35; valuation: 1.30) also declared a fourth interim dividend of 78 sen per share for FY14, which amounts to RM222.71 million payable on March 26 this year.

For the full FY14, BAT's net profit rose 9% to RM898.1 million, from RM825.8 million in the year before; while revenue climbed 6% y-o-y to RM4.80 billion, from RM4.52 billion.

Integrax Bhd (fundamental: 1.65; valuation: 0.6) saw its net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (4QFY14) grown 14.35% to RM12.27 million or 4.08 sen per share, from RM10.73 million or 3.57 sen per share a year ago, on other gains and higher profits of its associated company, Lumut Maritime Sdn Bhd (LMTSB).

However, the group said part of the gain was offset by higher depreciation and administrative overheads.

Revenue in 4QFY14 the quarter expanded by 29.88% to RM30.6 million, from RM23.56 million in 4QFY13.

In FY14, Integrax's net profit declined 5.4% to RM38.7 million or 12.86 sen per share, from RM40.91 million 13.6 sen per share; while revenue climbed 7.4% to RM99.79 million, from RM92.93 million in FY13.

Earlier, M&A Securities Sdn Bhd advised shareholders to reject the takeover bid by Tenaga Nasional Bhd, as it viewed the offer price of RM2.75 per share is “not fair but reasonable.”

Mah Sing Group Bhd’s net profit for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14) rose 20.9% to RM339.2 million, on the back of a 44.8% jump in revenue to RM2.9 billion.

Mah Sing (fundamental: 2.2; valuation: 2.4) said in a statement on Monday, that its total sales volume had grown 15% last year, to a record RM3.43 billion.

Comparatively, Mah Sing’s fourth quarter net profit grew 19.6% to RM84.5 million, on a 48% higher revenue of RM844million, compared with the same quarter in 2013.

Mah Sing proposed a first and final single-tier dividend of 6.5 sen per share, consistent with its dividend payout policy of a minimum 40% of net profit.

Alliance Financial Group Bhd (AFG) (fundamental: 2; valuation: 2.2) recorded a 7% decrease in net profit to RM126.37 million for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (3QFY15), compared to RM136.51 million a year earlier, due to higher allowance for bad loans.

Revenue however, grew to RM349.83 million, from RM328.63 million.

AFG’s income statement showed bad loan allowance had risen to RM26.95 million, from RM3.42 million.

For the nine month ended Dec 31, 2014 (9MFY15), AFG’s net profit had risen to RM437.51 million, from RM405.54 million in the previous corresponding period; while revenue increased to RM1.07 billion, from RM1.01 billion previously.

The improved results was mainly due to growth in interest income and recurring non-interest income, AFG said in a media statement.

Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB)’s net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (4QFY14) had risen 194% to RM393.07 million or 14.56 sen per share, from RM133.55 million or 7.66 sen per share, mainly on deferred taxes amounting to RM366.06 million.

Quarterly revenue was RM594.33 million, 17.54% lower compared to RM720.74 million in 4QFY13, MBSB (fundamental: 1.2; valuation: 2.4) told Bursa Malaysia today.

MBSB also proposed a total dividend of 12 sen a share, comprising of a single-tier final dividend of 10 sen per share and special dividend of 2 sen per share for FY14.

For the full year, MBSB's net profit climbed to RM1.02 billion or 39.15 sen per share — a 70% higher versus RM597.57 million or 37.07 sen per share a year ago. Revenue expanded to RM2.61 billion, up 2.76% from RM2.54 billion last year.

IGB Corp Bhd (fundamental: 1.05; valuation: 1.2) saw its net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (4QFY14) jumped 45.16% to RM59.37 million or 4.43 sen a share, from RM40.9 million or 2.92 sen a share a year ago, on lower administrative expenses and finance costs.

Revenue for the quarter, however, retreated by 3.25% to RM301.69 million, versus RM311.82 million in 4QFY13.

IGB also declared an interim dividend of 10 sen per share for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14), payable on March 27. In comparison, IGB paid a total of 7.5 sen dividend in FY13.

In FY14, IGB's net profit had risen 5% to RM218.11 million or 16.29 sen per share, from RM207.71 million or 14.81 sen per share in FY13; while revenue increased 8.26% to RM1.18 billion, from RM1.09 billion.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK)’s net profit for the first quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (1QFY15) dropped 26.81% to RM214.2 million or 20.1 sen per share, from RM292.68 million or 27.5 sen per share a year ago, on weaker contributions from its plantation, manufacturing and oleo-chemical businesses.

Revenue however, jumped 24.87% to RM3.11 billion, from RM2.49 billion in 1QFY14, boosted by higher revenue from its property, manufacturing and plantation business, which grew 9%, 11.8% and 40.9% respectively, its filing to Bursa Malaysia this evening showed.

Going forward, KLK (fundamental: 1.3; valuation: 0.7) expects palm oil prices to be buoyed by the weakening ringgit and tight supply of the commodity, but gains are expected to be capped by the current high soybean production. In view of these factors, plantations' profit for the current financial year is expected to be lower than that of last financial year.

KLK also expects satisfactory profit for the current financial year, albeit lower than that of the previous financial year.

The stock closed 18 sen higher to RM23.18 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM24.77 billion.

Lay Hong Bhd (fundamental: 0.45; valuation: 0.6) today defended its proposed share placement of up to 15.75 million shares, equivalent to 30% of its enlarged capital, as being not “unsually large”, while serving to protect its public shareholding spread.

The poultry producer also notes a conflict of interest in having Chia Mak Hooi on its board, as Chia is the executive director of QL Resources Bhd — a direct rival of Lay Hong.

In a statement, Lay Hong explained the proposed share placement is an “enabling mandate” to deal with the narrowing public shareholding spread, arising from QL Resources Bhd raising its equity interest in Lay Hong.

“It just does not make sense to issue just enough to meet the current requirements and then having to repeat the whole exercise of appointing advisers, preparing and making submissions to authorities and holding general meetings at shareholders’ costs, each time the level (the public shareholding spread) falls below the requirement which may be just one week after conclusion of the exercise,” Lay Hong explained in the statement.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)

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