KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): Based on corporate news flow and announcements today, stocks in focus tomorrow (Friday, Aug 21) could include: Boustead Plantations, Axiata, Dialog, WCT, Inari Amerton, Notion VTec, Kossan, Gabungan AQRS, Engtex, Prestariang, AirAsia, and YTL Corp.

Boustead Plantations Bhd's net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 surged over four-fold to RM48.6 million from RM9.46 million a year earlier, due to a one-off land disposal gain of RM39.1 million.

Put the land disposal gain aside, its operating profit in the current quarter under review and year-to-date was lower compared to last year due to the decline in fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production, bearish palm product prices and lower volume of crude palm oil (CPO) sales.

Quarterly revenue fell 18.73% to RM153.38 million from RM188.73 million a year earlier.

The plantation group declared a second interim dividend of five sen per share in respect of the financial year ending Dec 31, 2015, payable on Sept 29. Year-to-date, it has declared a seven sen dividend as compared to two sen last year.

For the cumulative six months (1HFY15), the group posted a 41.43% increase in net profit to RM55.95 million against RM39.56 million last year. Revenue for the period declined 26.35% to RM285.26 million from RM387.3 million in 1HFY14.

Axiata Group Bhd recorded a 34.2% increase in net profit for its second financial quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15) to RM610.76 million or 7.1 sen per share from RM455.01 million or 5.3 sen per share in 2QFY14, mainly due to lower losses from its Indonesian operations, PT XL Axiata Tbk, arising from lower foreign exchange losses and net finance costs.

Axiata (fundamental: 0.85; valuation: 1.1) said higher profits were also recorded by its Sri Lanka operations Dialog Axiata PLC and Cambodia operations Smart Axiata Co Ltd, and share of profits from its associate company in India, Idea Cellular Ltd, had also increased significantly.

The group has also proposed an interim dividend of 8 sen per share.

In terms of revenue, Axiata reported 2QFY15 revenue of RM4.71 billion, a marginal decrease of 0.5% compared to last year when it reported a revenue of RM4.73 billion, dragged by lower revenues in Malaysia and Indonesia.

For its first half ended June 30, 2015 (1HFY15) Axiata reported a 5.8% increase in net profit to RM1.2 billion, from RM1.13 billion in 1HFY14, mainly due to higher profits from its Sri Lanka and Cambodia operations.

Revenue for 1HFY15 also increased by 2.3% to RM9.46 billion, from RM9.25 billion a year ago, on higher revenue from Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

Axiata also plan to reduce its foreign borrowing exposure by restructuring its Indonesia unit, XL’s US$590million to local currencies and it was at the last stage of signing document. Its total US-denominated borrowings stand at US$823million.

Dialog Group Bhd's net profit jumped 21.8% to RM63.63 million or 1.26 sen per share for its fourth financial quarter ended June 30, 2015 (4QFY15) from RM52.24 million or 1.06 sen per share a year ago, mainly driven by its Malaysia operation.

Revenue for the quarter, however, declined 10.6% to RM576.58 million against RM643.73 million, dragged down by its international business and lower share of joint ventures (JV) results.

Dialog  (fundamental: 2.5; valuation: 1.1)  also declared a final dividend of 1.2 sen per share for the financial year ended  June 30, 2015 (FY15). This brings the total cash dividend for the current financial year to 2.2 sen amounting to RM111.76 million.

For the full FY15, Dialog saw its net profit grow 27.5% to RM275.13 million or 5.54 sen a share from RM215.87 million or 4.41 sen a share the previous year. This was despite revenue weakening by 7.45% to RM2.36 billion in FY15 from RM2.55 billion in FY14. 

WCT Holdings Bhd (fundamental: 0.6; valuation: 1.4) also reported a 9.5% decrease in net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15) to RM31.06 million from RM34.3 million in 2QFY14, mainly due to lower contribution from overseas projects and its property development segment.

However, WCT’s revenue was 5.2% higher at RM422.31 million against RM401.47 million a year ago.

The group is also proposing an interim single-tier dividend comprising a cash dividend of one sen per ordinary share, and a share dividend via a distribution of treasury shares on the basis of one treasury share for every one hundred ordinary shares held, fractions of treasury shares to be disregarded.

The interim dividend will be payable and credited into the entitled Depositors’ Securities Account on Oct 9, 2015.

For the first half of its financial year ended June 30, 2015 (1HFY15), WCT reported a 13.6% lower net profit at RM64.27 million, and a 10.9% decrease in revenue to RM773.93 million for 1HFY15 attributable to a lower sale of properties.

Digital products manufacturers Inari Amerton Bhd and Notion Vtec Bhd saw their net profit increased significantly.

Higher sales, lower operating expenses and a stronger US dollar have lifted Inari Amerton’s  (fundamental: 3; valuation:1.5) net profit up by 40.3% to RM40.38 million in the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2015 (4QFY15), from RM28.79 million in 4QFY14.

Its latest quarterly revenue expanded 13.9% to RM255.02 million, from RM223.88 million a year ago, mainly due to higher trading volumes, particularly in its radio frequency business, on the continued rise in demand for smartphones and mobile devices.

It also declared a fourth interim single-tier dividend of 2.3 sen, payable on Oct 8, bringing its total dividend payout for FY15 to 8.9 sen (FY14: 6.8 sen). The stock will trade ex-dividend on Sept 9.
 
For the whole FY15, net profit was up 53.7% to RM152.53 million, against RM99.22 million last year, attributable to the increase in revenue, coupled with the favourable foreign exchange rate during the financial year under review. Meanwhile, cumulative revenue increased 17.6% to RM933.10 million.
 
Meanwhile, Notion VTec  (fundamental: 1.15; valuation: 0.9) recorded an almost six-fold increase in net profit for its third financial quarter ended June 30, 2015 (3QFY15) to RM7.28 million, or 2.71 per share, from RM1.27 million, or 0.47 sen per share a year ago.

Its stellar performance was attributed to an extraordinary gain of RM8.9 million arising from the sale of a factory building and land, the group said in its filing to the exchange today.

Notion VTec, which manufactures high volume precision components and tools for hard disk drive and single lens reflex (SLR) camera industries, reported a 19% increase in revenue to RM62.09 million in 3QFY15, from RM52.19 million a year ago, due to higher revenue from camera parts.

For the nine months ended June 30, 2015 (9MFY15), Notion VTec’s net loss narrowed to RM2.51 million or 0.94 sen per share compared with RM16.12 million, or 6.01 sen per share last year due to its divestment gain coupled with a higher average selling price arising from the strengthening of the US dollar against the ringgit.

The group also recorded a nearly 28% increase in revenue to RM184.28 million in 9MFY15, from RM144.1 million in the same period last year.

Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, whose share price is hovering near the record high level, announced its net profit grew 37% to RM47.44 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15), from RM34.59 million in the previous corresponding quarter, driven by the same quantum increase in its sale quantity in the quarter under review.

Other than higher glove sales, Kossan (fundamental: 2.1; valuation: 0.5) told Bursa Malaysia that better product mix and improved operational efficiency also helped to boost its profitability.

The group’s quarterly revenue expanded nearly 27% to RM385.78 million in 2QFY15, from RM303.83 million a year ago.

For the first six months ended June 30, Kossan’s net profit increased 30% to RM92.89 million, from RM71.43 million last year; while its revenue grew almost 24% to RM755.04 million, from RM610 million.

Gabungan AQRS Bhd, whose share price slipped to record low of 84 sen today, saw its net profit shrunk 61% to RM5.44 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15); revenue also down 34.5% to RM85.88 million, due to lower revenue contribution from construction and property development segment.

For the cumulative six months (1HFY15) ended June 30, Gabungan AQRS (fundamental:1.1; valuation: 0.9)’s net profit and revenue respectively dropped by 55.8% to RM11.54 million and 31% to RM191.27 million.

Pipe manufacturer Engtex Group Bhd reported a net profit of RM14.73 million or 4.97 sen a share for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15), a slight 0.88% lower from RM14.86 million or 5.04 sen a share a year ago, on weakened revenue.

Engtex (fundamental: 0.9; valuation: 1.8)said revenue for the period slipped 10.7% to RM299.38 million from RM331.28 million in 2QFY14, due to the temporary softening of demand for certain metal-related trading products after the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) on April 1.

For the six-month period (6MFY15), net profit increased to RM28.24 million, 11.6% higher from RM25.31 million a year ago, as the group saw increased market demand for certain metal-related trading products and manufactured steel products.

Revenue for the period also increased 2.4% to RM605.77 million, from RM591.57 million in 6MFY14.

Information and communications technology service provider Prestariang Bhd saw its net profit fall nearly 28% to RM5.09 million its second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15) despite an increase of revenue by 20.5% to RM35million.

The drop of net profit was a because the group had taken on more low margin businesses, while higher revenue was due to extension and renewal of the Master Licensing Agreement 2.0 by Ministry of Finance to distribute Microsoft software to all government departments and agencies until Jan 31, 2018.

Prestariang (fundamental: 3.0; valuation: 0.5) declared a second interim dividend of one sen per share in respect of FY15.

For the first half of FY15 (1HFY15), the group’s net profit fell 32% to RM9.1 million, from RM13.44 million previously, although its revenue came in higher at RM75.03 million, up 51% from RM49.64 million during 1HFY14.

Low-cost carrier AirAsia Bhd’s net profit dropped 33.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM243.03 million or 8.7 sen per share in its second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15), mainly due to unrealised foreign exchange (forex) loss on borrowings from a strong US dollar.

AirAsia (fundamental: 0.2; valuation: 2) said the unrealised forex loss of RM43.59 million was due to adverse movement in the exchange rate on US dollar-denominated borrowings and noted that ringgit was trading at 3.6717 as at June 30, compared with 3.2298 as at June 30 a year ago.

Further, a one-off costs related to the sale of leaseback of aircraft had also impacted its earnings this quarter, it said.

Meanwhile, its latest quarterly revenue came in 1.06% higher at RM1.32 billion, compared with RM1.31 billion in 2QFY14, on the back of a 7% y-o-y growth in the number of passengers carried — in line with its capacity growth, saw it recording an 80% load factor, consistent with the same period last year.

For the six months period (1HFY15), the group’s net profit fell 22.6% to RM392.36 million from RM506.87 million in 1HFY14, again largely due to unrealised forex loss on borrowings. Revenue, however, improved 0.3% to RM2.62 billion from RM2.61 billion a year ago.

Malaysian infrastructure conglomerate YTL Corp Bhd saw a 15.6% decline in net profit to RM298.93 million or 2.87 sen a share, for its fourth quarter ended June 30, 2015 (4QFY15), from RM354.07 million or 3.42 sen a share a year ago, amidst wider loss in hotel division and lower contribution from property development.

This came on the back of lower revenue of RM4.11 billion, which fell 10.63% from RM4.6 billion last year.

The group declared an interim single tier dividend of 9.5 sen per share, payable on Oct 23.  

For the full year, YTL's (fundamental: 1.2; valuation: 1.4) net profit stood at RM1.07 billion or 10.27 sen a share, down nearly 31% from the RM1.55 billion on lower contribution from cement manufacturing and trading, property investment and development and utilities.

FY15 revenue was also lower at RM16.82 billion, a 12.7% decrease from RM19.27 million a year ago.

(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.)