KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MHB) shares climbed as much as three sen or 4% to 85 sen after the company declared a dividend of three sen a share. The group declared the dividend after reporting a net profit of RM34.23 million for financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY17).

At 10:28am today, MHB shares were transacted at 84 sen with some three million shares traded. RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd wrote in a note today it raised its MHB share target price to 92 sen from 90 sen.

RHB said it maintained its "buy" recommendation on MHB shares. The research house said MHB's dividend of three sen a share is a "positive surprise" since the group has not forked out any dividends in three years.

"Despite the weaker FY18, we believe MMHE (MHB) is still undervalued," it said. This is because MHB shares are trading at a price-to-book ratio 0.5 time, according to RHB.

Yesterday, MHB reported a FY17 net profit at RM34.23 million versus a net loss of RM134.3 million a year earlier. Its latest reported net assets or book value per share stood at RM1.61.