KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 24): Based on corporate announcements on Bursa Malaysia and news flow today, companies that will be in focus on Friday (August 24) may include: Hwang Capital, AAX, 7-Eleven, Genting, GenM, Yong Tai, AMMB, HLFG, Hong Leong Bank, Matrix Concepts, WCT and PPB.

AmInvestment Bank Bhd has recommended the minority shareholders of Hwang Capital Malaysia Bhd to accept the privatisation offer of RM2.94 per share through a selective capital repayment exercise as it is reasonable albeit “not fair”.

AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) said net profit soared to RM47.44 million in 2QFY17 from RM1.02 million a year ago, on foreign exchange gains, while quarterly revenue jumped 17% to RM1.04 billion from RM883.16 million, driven by a 34% increase in passengers carried.

For 1HFY17, net profit dropped 68% to RM57.78 million from RM180.51 million, despite revenue growth of 20% to RM2.22 billion from RM1.85 billion.

The Johor Sultan, who emerged as 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s second largest individual shareholder on Aug 8, has bought another 729,200 shares between Aug 16 and Aug 23, boosting his total shareholding to 99.07 million shares, equivalent to 8.92% in direct interest.

Genting Bhd’s net profit climbed 57% year-on-year in 2QFY17 to RM456.33 million from RM289.82 million, helped by a gain on disposal of available-for-sale financial assets, while quarterly revenue rose 17% to RM4.95 billion from RM4.23 billion a year ago.

Genting declared an interim dividend of 8.5 sen payable on Dec 31.

Its subsidiary Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM), however, reported net profit fell 60% y-o-y to RM193.42 million in 2QFY17 from RM476.44 million a year earlier, on unfavourable foreign exchange (forex) translation and higher operating costs, though turnover was higher at RM2.29 billion compared with RM2.23 billion previously.

In 1HFY17, GenM’s net profit shrank 18.98% y-o-y to RM516.94 million from RM638.01 million, though revenue grew 1.49% y-o-y to RM4.52 billion from RM4.45 billion.

Yong Tai Bhd’s 4QFY17 earnings jumped 45% to RM3.43 million from RM2.36 million a year ago, while quarterly revenue shot up about 24 times to RM67.24 million from RM2.78 million, due to the en-bloc sale of 262 retail lots in Terra Square in its Impression City development in Melaka.

For FY17, net profit shot up 80% to RM6.59 million from RM3.67 million previously.

Higher net interest income pushed up AMMB Holdings Bhd’s net profit by 1.6% in 1QFY18 to RM328.3 million, from RM323 million a year ago, while revenue rose to RM2.08 billion from RM2.06 billion.

Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd’s net profit dropped 34% to RM258.79 million in 4QFY17, from RM393.5 million a year earlier, hampered by declining earnings in its banking subsidiary.

Revenue, however, grew to RM1.27 billion from RM1.21 billion.

Full-year net profit climbed to RM1.51 billion in FY17, from RM1.36 billion a year earlier, while revenue increased to RM5.03 billion, from RM4.54 billion.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Bank Bhd told Bursa Malaysia that 4QFY17 net profit fell 14% to RM482.92 million from RM558.54 million a year earlier. Revenue, however, rose to RM1.15 billion from RM1.08 billion.

Hong Leong Bank’s full-year net profit climbed to RM2.15 billion, from RM1.9 billion a year earlier, while revenue was higher at RM4.55 billion, versus RM4.18 billion. It proposed a dividend of 30 sen a share for the quarter in review.

Matrix Concepts Holdings Bhd's net profit dropped 12% to RM45.55 million in 1QFY18 from RM51.92 million a year earlier, dragged by higher selling and marketing expenses while finance cost also curbed profit growth.

Quarterly revenue was lower at RM172.86 million versus RM196.23 million.

It declared 3.25 sen of dividend in the quarter.

WCT Holdings Bhd's net profit fell 33% to RM21.48 million in 2QFY17 from RM32.07 million a year ago, on shrinking topline with quarterly revenue slipping 34% to RM383.32 million from RM581.06 million.

For 1HFY17, net profit was up 33% to RM54.56 million from RM40.89 million, though revenue was 20% lower at RM856.71 million versus RM1.07 billion previously.

Going forward, WCT expects to continue building strong orderbook after securing about RM2 billion worth of new contracts in FY16.

PPB Group Bhd returned to the black with net profit of RM89.29 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2017 (2QFY17) compared with a net loss of RM78.72 million a year earlier, thanks to positive contribution from its core associate Wilmar International Ltd.

PPB said in its bourse filing that Wilmar, in which it holds 18.6% equity interest, posted a net profit of US$60 million in 2QFY17, which was an improvement from the net loss totalling US$220 million it recorded in 2QFY16.

PPB’s quarterly revenue declined by a marginal 0.1% year-on-year from RM1.057 billion to RM1.056 billion.

For the cumulative six months of FY17 (1HFY17), PPB’s net profit more than doubled to RM447.56 million from RM167.52 million in 1HFY16, while revenue dropped 4.2% to RM2.09 billion from RM2.18 billion.