Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 7): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus on Thursday (Nov 8) may include: Genting Malaysia Bhd, Iris Corp Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd, Damansara Realty Bhd, I-Bhd and BIMB Holdings Bhd,

Genting Malaysia Bhd, whose shares have been hammered since the Government announced last Friday the revision of certain gaming licence fees and casino duties, said today it is assessing the full implication of the additional taxes on the company.

It will also take appropriate "next course of action which includes a review of its marketing expenditure and cost structure to mitigate the impact of the tax increases", it said.

Genting Malaysia said it has been advised by the Ministry of Finance that the casino licence fee will be revised from RM120 million to RM150 million per annum, while the casino duties will be revised up to 35%. "The increase in casino duties represents a 10 percentage point increase over existing duty rates. The amendment will take effect from Jan 1, 2019," Genting Malaysia added.

Iris Corp Bhd announced today that Tan Sri Nik Mohamed Nik Yaacob will be its new independent and non-executive chairman effective today, following the retirement of Datuk Nik Azman Mohd Zain on Sept 28.

Nik Mohamed, 69, was the group chief executive officer of Sime Darby Bhd, serving as the conglomerate’s top executive from 1993 till 2004.

He was also chairman of the advisory council of the National Science Centre and of the UiTM board, as well as a member of various other councils including the INSEAD East Asian Council, and the National Coordinating Committee on Emerging Multilateral Trade Issues.

Frontken Corporation Bhd’s net profit jumped 65% to RM15.19 million in the third financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) from RM9.19 million in the previous corresponding quarter, thanks to better performance across its regional subsidiaries which benefited from growth in the semiconductor business.

Revenue grew 9.2% to RM85.86 million versus RM78.62 million a year ago; earnings per share grew to 1.45 sen from 0.88 sen in 3QFY17, its quarterly results filing today showed.

The group declared an interim dividend of 0.7 sen per share for FY18, with the entitlement and payment dates to be announced later.

For the cumulative nine months, Frontken's net profit surged 68% to RM33.57 million from RM20.03 million the previous year, again due largely to its regional businesses' improvements, while revenue rose 10% to RM238.55 million from RM216.2 million.

Moving forward, the group remains positive on the overall business condition for the remaining three months of FY18 as the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics has forecast that the industry will record an annual global market growth of 12.4% in 2018.

Former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali has withdrawn a counterclaim against Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd in the Court of Appeal which relates to its RM14 billion lawsuit against him and his predecessor Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

“Puncak wishes to announce to the Exchange that the hearing of Datuk Seri Azmin’s appeal to the Court of Appeal against the High Court's decision in dismissing his counterclaim against Puncak that was scheduled on November 5, 2018 was vacated as Datuk Seri Azmin had withdrawn the said appeal,” the company said.

This comes after almost a year-long lawsuit which started last November when Puncak Niaga filed an RM14 billion lawsuit against Azmin — who is now the Economic Affairs Minister — as well as Khalid. The company claimed they had abused their powers in public office during their time as Selangor Menteri Besar by threatening to cause, or attempting to cause, the federal government to invoke the use of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (WSIA) to force a take-over of the State’s water industry.

Damansara Realty Bhd announced today it has terminated its plan to issue redeemable convertible notes (RCN) to raise up to RM150 million as the group intends to “anchor its group financing through commercial borrowings and internal funds”.

In a statement, Damansara Realty said it has been able to moderate its dependence on its original core business of property development for sustained profitability as well as steering its capability to lean on its own financial stance.

The group noted that it expects its stronger balance sheet to anchor its group financing through commercial borrowings and internal funds with the end of the RCN programme.

I-Bhd has posted a 21% drop in net profit to RM5.69 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 compared with RM7.17 million a year ago on lower property development revenue, and cautioned it expects the last quarter to be challenging as well.

Earnings per share slipped to 0.54 sen from 0.68 sen, while revenue was down 19% to RM60.66 million from RM75.31 million a year ago.

For the cumulative nine months, net profit rose 6% to RM52.49 million from RM49.3 million previously, while revenue increased 4% to RM327.18 million from RM315.7 million a year ago.

It said the operating performance of the group will be challenging for the remaining quarter of the financial year despite the group's continuous efforts which includes a focus on enhancing i-City development and improving the living experience.

BIMB Holdings Bhd said it has issued the first tranche of its Sukuk Murabahah programme to raise RM300 million.

The company said the subordinated sukuk murabahah issued under the programme shall qualify as Tier 2 regulatory capital of Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd in compliance with Bank Negara Malaysia’s Capital Adequacy Framework for Islamic Banks (Capital Components).

“Hence, it will enhance the capital adequacy of the bank in line with the Basel III requirements,” it added.

BIMB Bank said the sukuk has a tenure of 10 years and is non-callable for five years.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share