Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 10): Based on corporate news flow and announcements today, stocks in focus tomorrow (Friday, Dec 11) could include: DRB-Hicom, Pos Malaysia, CLIQ Energy, Ideal United Bintang, EcoWorld, SP Setia, Berjaya Auto, MAHB and Malaysian Genomics.

DRB-Hicom Bhd has offered to sell to Pos Malaysia Bhd, in which it owns 32.21%, its KL Airport Services Sdn Bhd (KLAS) business and part of a freehold industrial land in Shah Alam, Selangor for RM835.16 million, to consolidate its logistics business under Pos Malaysia.

The total disposal consideration of RM835.16 million with respect to the proposed disposals shall be satisfied via the issuance of 250.80 million new ordinary shares of 50 sen each in Pos Malaysia to HICOM Holdings Bhd at an issue price of RM3.33 per share, according to DRB-Hicom’s Bursa Malaysia filing.

The shares’ issue price will be adjusted if the market price of Pos Malaysia shares closer to the signing of the sale and purchase agreements in relation to the disposals, exceeds a 10% variance from the stipulated issue price.

The disposals are expected to raise the shareholdings of DRB-Hicom and persons acting in concert with it, including HICOM Holdings, to over 33%, as they intend to seek an exemption from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) from the obligation to undertake a mandatory takeover for the remaining Pos Malaysia shares not already owned by them, after that.

DRB-Hicom said the disposal offers are conditional upon each other and shall only be implemented, after two parcels of agriculture land measuring 100 acres (40.46ha) in Bandar Kota Perdana, Kubang Pasu, Kedah — currently held by Konsortium Logistik Bhd, a unit of KLAS — are transferred to Hicom Vertex Sdn Bhd, an indirect wholly-owned unit of DRB-Hicom.

It is also dependent on the capitalisation of an existing loan facility obtained by KLAS of up to RM370 million, and a non-current inter-company amount owing by KLAS to DRB-Hicom of about RM182.9 million via the issuance of new KLAS shares at par value to Hicom Holdings.

KLAS is offered for sale at RM766.16 million, though the final price will be subject to adjustments.

As for the freehold industrial tract also on sale, it is located in Section 28, Shah Alam, and measures 9.91 acres; its price tag is RM69 million.

CLIQ Energy Bhd said the purchase consideration of US$117.3 million for a 51% stake in Phystech II Joint Stock Company, which owns two active oilfields in Kazakhstan, has been revised downward to US$110 million.

The downward revision of the consideration follows AGR's revised valuation of the Karazhanbas Northern Field as at Nov 1, as set out in the asset valuation report dated Dec 10, of between US$182.2 million and US$257.2 million, with a base case asset valuation at US$221 million, CLIQ said.

CLIQ said in a report dated today that Deloitte had estimated the range of fair market value of the sale shares as at Oct 31 to be between US$99.9 million and US$110.6 million, with a mid-point fair market value of US$105.2 million.

Deloitte has opined the revised purchase consideration to be fair and reasonable.

CLIQ and vendor Phystech Firm LLP had yesterday signed a supplemental letter of agreement to amend and vary the sale and purchase agreement to adjust the purchase consideration for the sales shares.

The SPAC expects to submit the revised application for the proposed acquisition to the Securities Commission Malaysia by the middle of this month.

Ideal United Bintang Bhd (IUBB) is looking to complete the sale of 22 floors of the 26-floor Menara LA (previously known as Menara Liang Court) that is located on Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Penang, by the first quarter of 2016.

IUBB chairman Datuk Alex Ooi Kee Liang said the group has already identified two potential buyers for the property.

The group currently owns 10 floors of the building, which was acquired after its shareholders approved the acquisition for RM15.04 million in November last year.

IUBB shareholders gave their approval for the group to acquire 12 more floors of the building for RM19.5 million, at the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today. Subsequently, the group intends to renovate and sell them.

Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld) has achieved its RM3 billion sales target for the financial year ended Oct 31, 2015 (FY15), after recording a total sales of RM3.02 billion for the year under review.

The group’s  fourth quarter ended Oct 31 (4QFY15) sales came in at RM924.2 million.

Net profit for 4QFY15 came in at RM19.69 million or 0.83 sen per share, on a revenue of RM681.94 million. There are no comparative figures provided, as the company changed its financial year end from Sept 30 to Oct 31 in 2014.

Its latest quarterly earnings brought its net profit for the year to RM43.95 million or 2.64 sen per share for FY15, on a revenue of RM1.71 billion, with gross margins averaging 24%.

Moving forward, EcoWorld said it will be launching two new projects in FY16, the Bukit Bintang City Centre in the middle of Kuala Lumpur's Golden Triangle, as well as the Eco Business Park II in Iskandar Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the company will also be pursuing its plans to take up to a 30% stake in Eco World International Sdn Bhd's proposed initial public offering, subject to the approval of the relevant authorities and the company's non-interested shareholders.

Property developer SP Setia Bhd posted a net profit of RM119.68 million in the three months period ended Oct 31, 2015, a decline of 8.9% from RM131.31 million a year ago, due mainly to higher selling and marketing expenses.

Thus, earnings per share (EPS) slid to 4.58 sen, from 5.19 sen, its filing to Bursa Malaysia today showed.

Revenue, however, was 14.7% higher at RM1.41 billion, from RM1.23 billion, on the back of increased revenue and profit recognition from the development of strong sales pipeline to date, and timely-staged handovers of the group’s Australian project, Fulton Lane.

For the 12 months period ended Oct 31 (12MFY15), S P Setia’s net profit jumped 75% to RM709.98 million or 27.66 sen per share, from RM405.68 million or 16.3 sen per share, as revenue rose 47.1% to RM5.61 billion, from RM3.81 billion a year ago.  

S P Setia's acting president and chief executive officer Datuk Khor Chap Jen said the group is confident of achieving its RM4 billion sales target by Dec 2015.

Total group sales for the 12 months period ended Oct 31 came in at RM3.45 billion; Malaysian projects contributed RM2.2 billion (64%) towards its total sales. Its sales for the fourth quarter alone stood at RM911 million, from which local projects contributed 83% or RM754 million.

The group will have two more months before ending its current financial year, after changing its financial year end from Oct 31 to Dec 31.

Berjaya Auto Bhd (BAuto) saw its net profit fall 7.75% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM53.06 million in the second quarter ended Oct 31, 2015 (2QFY16), from RM57.52 million, on lower gross profit margin from local operations, caused by unfavourable sales mix and intense competition.

The ringgit's weakening against the Japanese yen also ate into its earnings, as it had led to higher vehicle costs, its Bursa filing showed.

Its latest quarterly revenue was, however, 6.6% higher y-o-y at RM542.41 million, from RM508.82 million, mainly driven by its competitively-priced Mazda2 SKYACTIV and Mazda3 CKD SKYACTIV models here, while the Mazda2 SKYACTIV model was the main contributor in the Philippines.

The group has proposed a second interim dividend of 2.5 sen per share for the financial year ending Apr 30, 2016 (FY16), payable Jan 15, 2016.

Meanwhile, for 1HFY16, BAuto's net profit declined 7.35% to RM105.27 million, from RM113.62 million, even though revenue was 2.94% higher at RM1.05 billion versus RM1.02 billion previously.

Capacity cuts by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) contributed to a 2.7% drop in passenger traffic at the 39 airports managed by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) in the country, in November 2015.

MAHB said passenger numbers fell to 6.82 million in November 2015, from 7.01 million in November 2014.

International traffic recorded 3.18 million passengers in November 2015, a 1.2% decrease from 3.22 million in November 2014; while domestic traffic was down 3.9% to 3.64 million passengers, from 3.78 million a year ago.

The airport operator also saw 13.7% fewer passengers passing through the KL International Airport's main terminal in Sepang (KLIA-Main) in November 2015, at 1.67 million, compared with 1.93 million in November 2014. However, this was offset by an 11% increase in passenger numbers at klia2 to 2.31 million, from 2.08 million a year ago.

November traffic was negatively affected by routes and frequency cuts by MAS, which is undergoing restructuring. This resulted in a double digit percentage year-on-year decline in MAS passenger carriage, said MAHB.

MAHB noted while there were significant improvements in the carriage by other airlines in November 2015, it was not enough to offset the numbers lost by the national carrier.

KLIA-Main's year-to-date passenger traffic fell 8.8% to 20.49 million, from 22.48 million. At klia2, however, passenger traffic for the first 11 months of this year rose 9.3% to 23.6 million, from 21.6 million a year ago.

Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd (MGRC), which posted an 82.3% increase in its net profit for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 as revenue improved 40%, said it is banking on healthcare services to drive its growth.

The provider of genome sequencing, analysis, and genetic screening services, sees the healthcare sector contributing more to its growth in the near to medium term, as Malaysian doctors come to rely more on its screening and pathology services to diagnose and treat patients.

MGRC chief operating officer Sasha Nordin said there is a great deal of room for growth in the use of various pathology tests, which give doctors additional information to make clinical decisions.

The ACE Market-listed company ventured into the healthcare sector in 2012, after acquiring a 50% stake in pathology laboratory group Clinipath.

(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.)

      Print
      Text Size
      Share