KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 4): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus on Monday (Aug 7) may include Malakoff Corp Bhd, Matrix Concepts Holdings Bhd, Gadang Holdings Bhd, Affin Holdings Bhd, SLP Resources Bhd and Zelan Bhd.

Malakoff Corp Bhd has reached an agreement with a consortium of three companies and three other Japanese boiler manufacturers to settle the lawsuits it had brought against them for an alleged breach of contract at its Tanjung Bin power plant in Johor.

The agreement was entered into by Malakoff’s 90%-owned subsidiary Tanjung Bin Power Sdn Bhd (TBP), and consortium partners — Sumitomo Corp, Zelan Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd and Sumi-Power Malaysia Sdn Bhd, and broiler manufacturers IHI Corp Japan, ISHI Power Sdn Bhd and IHI Power Systems (M) Sdn Bhd.

The parties have agreed to resolve and settle their disputes according to the terms and conditions of the agreement, Malakoff said, without revealing details of the agreement.

Meanwhile, TBP will withdraw and discontinue the arbitration proceedings against Sumitomo, Zelan and Sumi-Power, based on the terms agreed upon.

Malakoff had in December 2015 filed a RM780 million litigation action against IHI Corp, ISHI Power and IHI Power for at least 22 different boiler tube failure incidents at its Tanjung Bin power station, which led to the plant’s inability to meet certain required output conditions.

In November last year, Malakoff also sought RM785 million via arbitration proceedings from Sumitomo, Zelan, and Sumi-Power for breach of contract as the consortium had been engaged to provide TBP with engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) and related services.

Matrix Concepts Holdings Bhd plans to buy 21 parcels of land in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, for RM56.99 million, which will serve as an extension to its existing Bandar Sri Sendayan development.

Matrix said its wholly-owned unit BSS Development Bhd has signed sale and purchase agreements with individual landowners for the land measuring in total 53.43ha.

The land would sustain continuous development in the township, which is surrounded by upcoming developments, and acts as a catalyst to increase value to the properties in the vicinity to improve the infrastructure serving the land.

Gadang Holdings Bhd has bagged a RM475 million contract to build a 288-bed hospital in Cyberjaya, Selangor.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Gadang said its wholly-owned unit Gadang Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd has received a letter of acceptance from Cyberview Sdn Bhd, the state-owned company spearheading the development of Cyberjaya.

Affin Holdings Bhd is seeking Bank Negara Malaysia’s approval to acquire an additional 7.07% stake in AXA Affin General Insurance Bhd for RM99.09 million.

Affin currently owns a 36.94% stake in the general insurer.

It said it intends to buy the additional stake from Felda Marketing Services Sdn Bhd, an indirect subsidiary of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd.

In March last year, Affin announced that it had obtained approval from the central bank to commence negotiations with Felda Marketing for the acquisition of the stake.

SLP Resources Bhd recorded a 57.84% drop in net profit to RM2.56 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2017 (2QFY17) from RM6.07 million a year ago due to higher costs of raw materials, which were mainly caused by higher average prices of plastic resins.

Quarterly revenue, however, was up 2.53% to RM43.23 million in 2QFY17 from RM42.16 million in 2QFY16 on higher domestic sales of flexible plastic packaging products, in line with higher demand for food packaging products from domestic customers.

The group also declared a first interim dividend of 1.5 sen per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2017 (FY17), payable on Oct 5.

For the cumulative six months (1HFY17), its net profit fell 40.55% to RM6.63 million from RM11.15 million a year ago, while revenue was up 2.74% to RM89.21 million from RM86.84 million in 1HFY16.

Zelan Bhd has revised upwards its claim against United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Meena Holdings LLC to 555.9 million dirham (RM647.5 million), from 452.75 million dirham previously.

The increase in the amount is largely due to "various items of claims which have increased through effluxion of time" and also based on documents received subsequent to the compilation of the initial amount claimed.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Zelan said its wholly-owned subsidiary Zelan Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd has revised the amount of its claim against Meena as contained in its statement of case submitted to the Arbitral Tribunal.

Zelan had in August last year initiated arbitration proceedings against Meena for alleged breach and defaults of contract for the Meena Plaza mixed-use development project in Abu Dhabi. The International Court of Arbitration, International Chamber of Commerce, had accepted Zelan's request for arbitration against Meena.