Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (May 28): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus on Wednesday (May 30) may include the following: Malayan Banking Bhd, Pos Malaysia Bhd, MMC Corp Bhd, YTL Corp Bhd, Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, Malaysia Building Society Bhd, UEM Sunrise Bhd, CCM Duopharma Biotech Bhd, Harrisons Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, Gas Malaysia Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Lay Hong Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Bhd, Hap Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd, Muda Holdings Bhd, Ewein Bhd and Tropicana Corp Bhd.

Malayan Banking Bhd's (Maybank) net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 rose 10% to RM1.87 billion, from RM1.7 billion a year ago on higher net interest income and Islamic Banking income.

Earnings per share rose to 17.26 sen from 16.73 sen.

Quarterly revenue increased 2.1% to RM11.52 billion from RM11.28 billion.

On prospects, Maybank said the country's GDP growth in 2018 will be driven by improved consumer spending growth and stronger net external demand following the general election.

Pos Malaysia Bhd's net profit nearly tripled to RM29.03 million in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018 from RM9.89 million a year ago, due to higher revenue coupled with improved cost management.

Earnings per share rose to 3.71 sen from 1.26 sen.

Quarterly revenue grew 2.8% to RM653.08 million from RM635.55 million, driven by the acquired logistics businesses coupled with strong growth in the courier segment.

For the full FY18, the group's net profit rose 14.2% to RM93.25 million from RM81.88 million in FY17, while revenue increased 18.7% to RM2.47 billion from RM2.08 billion.

MMC Corp Bhd's net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 fell by 26.3% to RM41.3 million or 1.4 sen per share from RM56.1 million or 1.8 sen per share in the previous corresponding quarter.

The conglomerate, which is one of the flagships controlled tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, attributed the earnings contraction to lower contribution from Johor Port Bhd and Northport (M) Bhd.

There was also a smaller share of profit from Malakoff Corp Bhd as a result of a drop in contribution from Segari Energy Venture Sdn Bhd (SEV)'s plant and lower fuel margins recorded at coal plants.

MMC Corp said the decline was compensated by higher contribution from the MRT2 (Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya Line) project and Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP).

Quarterly revenue rose 38.3% to RM1.28 billion from RM925.2 million previously, due to work progress from the MRT2 project and Langat sewerage treatment project as well as higher volume handled at PTP.

Shares of YTL Corp Bhd, whose price fell as much as 28% over the past year, saw its largest shareholder Yeoh Tiong Lay & Sons Holdings Sdn Bhd mopping up another five million shares on Friday (May 25).

Yeoh Tiong Lay & Sons’ direct interest in YTL Corp now stands at 5.26 billion shares, representing a 48.97%  stake.

Separately, YTL Corp managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh Sock Ping acquired three million shares in the company, bringing his total direct interest to 138.66 million shares or a 1.29% stake.

Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd, which recently secured a contract worth RM357.3 million, hopes to land more construction jobs to meet its internal replenishment order book target of RM1 billion for the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2018.

Its executive chairman Datuk Tee Eng Ho is confident the order book's internal target of RM1 billion is achievable by securing bigger jobs in the second half of the year, based on the group's track record.

“We will probably get new [bigger] jobs in the near future. We don’t see any problems and we are confident to achieve that RM1 billion order book internal target for this year, as we purely work on private projects, we don’t do government and infrastructure,” he said.

Currently, Kerjaya Prospek’s construction division has 24 ongoing projects, with an outstanding order book of about RM3.05 billion as at March 31 that will continue to provide clear earnings visibility for at least three years.

Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd's (FGV) net profit fell 22% to RM1.33 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 from RM1.7 million a year earlier on higher non-controlling interest.

Profit before zakat and taxation rose to RM26.22 million from a loss, previously, as the group’s sugar business improved.

Revenue dropped 16.5%  to RM3.6 billion from RM4.32 billion previously.

Profit after tax stood at RM8.47 million versus a loss after tax of RM32.2 million previously.

Malaysia Building Society Bhd’s (MBSB) net profit more than tripled to RM316.79 million or 5.33 sen per share for its first quarter ended March 31, 2018, from RM101.32 million or 1.75 sen per share a year ago, due to allowance write back for impaired loans.

MBSB reported an allowance write back for impaired loans of RM154.4 million, compared with an allowance charge for impaired loans of RM167.92 million.

Quarterly revenue rose marginally by 0.47% to RM815.04 million, from RM811.2 million.

UEM Sunrise Bhd has revised down its property sales figures for the first quarter of 2018 to RM354.1 million from RM434.3 million that was reported on May 22.

This brings its property sales to-date to RM538.6 million.

The revision is due to its development in Melbourne, Australia where the confirmed reservations, which were subsequently recognised as sales, was re-recorded as new sales in the quarter.

CCM Duopharma Biotech Bhd’s first quarter net profit rose 25.11% to RM10.78 million from RM8.62 million a year earlier, on higher demand for its pharmaceutical products.

Earnings per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 increased to 3.82 sen from 3.43 sen previously.

Revenue was up 10.14% to RM133.26 million, from RM120.99 million in the year-ago's first quarter.

“The double digit growth performance was due to higher demand from both the local private and public health sectors,” said CCM Duopharma’s group managing director Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar.

Harrisons Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd plans to venture into the retail business in Singapore via the acquisition of the Famous Amos cookies business there for S$5.7 million (RM16.85 million).

This follows its recent acquisition of Watts Harrisons Sdn Bhd, which retails and wholesales the uniform price products under the Komonoya brand in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

“Harrisons plans to expand to other regional territories with this established brand (Famous Amos) together with the Komonoya brand,” it said.

Allianz Malaysia Bhd's net profit rose 29.9% to RM87.23 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2018, from RM67.17 million a year ago, on higher contribution from both its general insurance and life insurance segments.

Earnings per share rose to 49.79 sen from 38.67 sen.

Quarterly revenue increased 5.2% to RM1.27 billion from RM1.21 billion a year ago, mainly due to higher gross earned premiums and investment income by RM43.9 million and RM18.6 million respectively.

Gas Malaysia Bhd's net profit for its first quarter ended March 31, 2018 grew 24% year-on-year to RM40.21 million from RM32.43 million, despite higher operating expenses, as it recorded higher gross profit with a higher volume of gas sold.

Earnings per share rose to 3.13 sen from the year-ago-quarter's 2.53 sen.

Quarterly revenue rose 21% to RM1.44 billion from RM1.19 billion, on higher volume of gas sold and higher natural gas tariff.

Supermax Corp Bhd saw net profit rise 69% to RM33.38 million in the third financial quarter ended March 31, 2018 from RM19.75 million a year ago on higher revenue, increased production capacity and improved operational efficiency.

Earnings per share was 5.06 sen versus 2.94 sen previously.

Quarterly revenue grew 6.1% to RM327.07 million from RM308.23 million a year ago, on the back of strong demand for gloves and higher output despite the weaker US dollar versus the ringgit.

The group declared an interim dividend of 3 sen, amounting to RM19.7 million, payable on June 28.

Lay Hong Bhd's net profit nearly doubled to RM10.99 million in the fourth financial quarter ended March 31, 2018 from RM5.68 million a year ago, mainly due to higher revenue.

Earnings per share stood at 1.76 sen compared to 0.93 sen previously.

Quarterly revenue rose 28.8% to RM224.62 million from RM174.35 million a year ago.

Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended March 31, 2018 jumped by 12.8 times to RM83.1 million or 5.26 sen per share, from RM6.49 million or 0.45 sen per share last year.

The earnings were boosted by a "negative goodwill" of RM112.4 million — a one-off gain from the difference between the actual purchase price and the fair value of the asset at the completion date.

The asset it acquired was a 50% participating interest under the 2011 North Sabah Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) product sharing contract (PSC). The company also enjoyed a tax credit of RM1.57 million.

Hibiscus' revenue was up by 8.9% to RM75.4 million compared with RM69.2 million.

Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Bhd’s net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018 sank 81.7% to RM6.89 million or 1.59 sen a share, from RM37.6 million or 4.2 sen a share in the previous corresponding quarter.

The decrease in profit was mainly due to fair value loss on quoted investment amounting to RM2.6 million, compared to gain of RM16.6 million previously.

There was also loss on disposal of quoted shares amounting to RM300,000 compared to a gain of RM9.3 million a year ago, on top of higher depreciation and amortization, and finance cost.

Excluding results from the quoted investment segment, Tiong Nam’s fourth quarter core net profit dipped 4.1% to RM13.3 million, compared with a core net profit of RM13.9 million a year earlier.

Quarterly revenue rose 5.6% to RM170.8 million from RM161.74 million, mainly due to increase in contribution from logistics and warehousing services and property segment.

Hap Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd’s net profit for the first quarter fell 35.6% to RM15.48 million, from RM24.05 million a year ago, in line with the lower revenue posted.

Earnings per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2018  fell to 1.94 sen from 3.01 sen in the previous corresponding quarter.

Quarterly revenue shrank 15.9% to RM121.2 million from RM144.1 million in the previous January-March quarter, mainly due to lower average selling prices of crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel, despite higher sales volume.

Muda Holdings Bhd’s net profit dropped 13.45% year-on-year to RM15.71 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 from RM18.15 million.

The drop in net profit was partly due to higher tax expenses during the quarter which amounted to RM6.73 million versus RM2.39 million a year ago.

On top of that, the group received lower insurance compensation of RM3.11 million for the fire that occurred in 2016, compared with RM12.73 million last year.

Muda explained that if the impact of net compensation from the insurer for the fire, which occurred in 2016 was eliminated, the adjusted pre-tax profit of RM19.4 million for the current quarter under review was 2.4 times higher than the adjusted pre-tax profit of RM8.2 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

Quarterly revenue climbed 17.33% to RM371.59 million compared with RM316.72 million last year. Muda’s earnings per share stood at 5.15 sen compared with 5.95 sen a year ago.

Ewein Bhd's net profit in its first quarter ended March 31, 2018  jumped over four times year-on-year to RM12.05 million from RM2.53 million, mainly on higher sales of properties and faster construction progress.

Earnings per share grew to 4 sen from 1.11 sen in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue more than doubled to RM56.46 million from RM22.76 million.

Tropicana Corp Bhd has appointed Yeow Wai Siaw as its group chief executive officer, effective today.

Yeow, 53, has over 20 years of working experience and has held various key positions mainly in manufacturing and real estate industry companies in Malaysia.

Yeow is replacing Datuk Yau Kok Seng, who retired on Nov 30 due to health reasons. Yau had held the position since January 2013, Tropicana said.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share