Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 4): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus tomorrow (Thursday, Jan 5) could include: Affin Holdings Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Bioalpha Holdings Bhd, UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd, Ikhmas Jaya Group Bhd, Asia Poly Holdings Bhd, Gabungan AQRS Bhd, Keck Seng (M) Bhd and Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd.

Affin Holdings Bhd and Daiwa Securities Group Inc were unable to complete a proposed minority stake transaction as it could not finalise the transaction documents in time. The proposed transaction by Affin Holdings was for a minority stake in Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd by Daiwa Securities.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Affin said it and Daiwa Securities were unable to finalise the transaction documents in accordance with the terms and conditions of Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) approval letter within the stipulated timeframe, which expired on Dec 31, 2016. Accordingly the approval granted by BNM has lapsed.

Daiwa, in its bid to generate more income from abroad, has been looking to acquire minority stakes in brokerage firms in Asia. At present, Daiwa's investment in an Asean brokerage is Vietnam-listed Saigon Securities Inc, in which it holds a 10% stake.

Frontken Corp Bhd has obtained Taiwan authority's approval to dissolve its wholly-owned subsidiary Frontken Technology Corp (FTC). It had received the approval on Dec 27 last year.

FTC was incorporated on March 14, 2007 as a limited liability company under the Taiwan Companies Act for the purpose of acquiring and holding the group's share investment in Ares Green Technology Corp (AGTC). As at Dec 27, 2016, FTC held 23.11% of AGTC's share capital.

By Dec 30, 2016, FTC has transferred all its AGTC shares to Frontken and all FTC's assets and liabilities were merged into the group's book, including FTC's 23.11% stake in AGTC.

Frontken said it has been consolidating the results of FTC being a wholly-owned subsidiary and upon the dissolution of FTC, the group would be holding AGTC's stake directly instead of via FTC.

Bioalpha Holdings Bhd said its proposed rights issue with free warrants has been oversubscribed by 22.1%.

In a statement today, Bioalpha said it has received valid applications for 162.76 million rights shares over the total number of 133.33 million rights shares available for subscription.

The proposed rights issue with free warrants will raise gross proceeds of RM26.7 million based on the issue price of 20 sen per rights share. The proceeds will be used to fuel Bioalpha's expansion plan. The target completion date of the proposed exercise is Jan 10.

UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd (UMW-OG) has won a contract from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd to provide jack-up drilling rig services.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, UMW-OG said its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary UMW Offshore Drilling Sdn Bhd (UOD) has received a conditional letter of award from Petronas Carigali for the proposed job. It did not disclose the contract amount.

It added that it will assign its UMW Naga 7 jack-up rig for this contract, which is for a duration of up to 18 months.

"The provision of the services is expected to contribute positively to the earnings and net assets of UMW-OG Group during the contract period for the financial period ending Dec 31, 2017," said UMW-OG.

Ikhmas Jaya Group Bhd has been appointed to undertake the piling and substructure work for a commercial building in Damansara, Selangor, valued at RM37.74 million.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the bore piling and bridge specialist construction specialist said its unit Ikhmas Jaya Sdn Bhd has agreed and accepted the terms and conditions of the Letter of Award from Symphony Crescent Sdn Bhd.

Under the contract, Ikhmas Jaya is tasked to complete the piling and substructure work for two blocks of commercial buildings, which commenced yesterday and is to be completed by April 16 next year.

According to the filing, Block A is a 42-storey tower, of which 34 floors are small office, home office (SOHO) with a total of 626 units, one storey of fitness and other facilities, six levels of parking lots and one storey of general facilties and affordable shoplots.

Block B comprises retail space, trash and garbage collection.

"The project is expected to contribute positively to our earnings and net assets for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2017," it added.

Asia Poly Holdings Bhd plans to raise up to RM4.86 million via a private placement of up to 35.97 million shares based on an indicative price of 13.5 sen per share.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Asia Poly said the proceeds from the private placement will be used to ease the group's cash flow for working capital.

"The group's main raw materials [comprising] mainly methyl methacrylate monomer, which is used in the manufacture of cast acrylic sheets, has been on an increasing trend due to, among others, fluctuations in crude oil prices and the continued weakening of [the ringgit] against the US dollar, as the group's purchases are mainly in US dollars," Asia Poly stated.

The issue price of the placement shares shall be determined and fixed by the board at a later date.

Gabungan AQRS Bhd has bagged a RM360.98 million subcontract from its 30%-owned associate Kreatif Sinar Gabungan Sdn Bhd to undertake construction works for the proposed development of Pusat Pentadbiran Sultan Ahmad Shah in Kuantan, Pahang.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Gabungan AQRS said its wholly-owned subsidiary Gabungan Strategik Sdn Bhd has accepted a letter of award (LOA) from Kreatif Sinar Gabungan for the proposed project.

As part of the terms of the LOA, Gabungan Strategik will operate as a turnkey contractor for the proposed project. The works are to be completed within 39 months, from Dec 27, 2016 to March 26, 2020.

"The project is expected to contribute positively to the future earnings, net assets per share and gearing of Gabungan AQRS' group of companies for the financial years ending Dec 31, 2017 to 2020," said Gabungan AQRS.

Keck Seng (M) Bhd said the suspension of its Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certificate will not have a significant impact on the group.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Keck Seng said the financial and operational impact arising from the suspension of its RSPO certificate is not significant.

Keck Seng earlier announced that its RSPO certificate has been suspended for 60 days, effective Dec 30, 2016. The suspension was primarily due to inadequacies in providing estate contour maps for RSPO’s auditing purposes.

Keck Seng said it has taken immediate action to rectify the matter to lift the suspension soonest.

Panasonic Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a 40%-owned associate of Bursa Malaysia-listed Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, is targeting sales growth of 5% for its financial year ending March 31, 2018 (FY18), driven by its “shopfront” strategy.

This strategy focuses on the promotion of Panasonic’s products to attract customers, said Panasonic Malaysia managing director Cheng Chee Chung.

“The [shopfront strategy] means that we will pay more attention on how to promote the value of the product via demonstration and promotional activities to explain our products, and closing the deals in the shopfront,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the group’s partnership signing ceremony with Ramco Systems Sdn Bhd today.

Cheng also shared that the group is on track to achieve its FY17 sales growth target, which was also at 5%.

Earlier at the event, Panasonic Malaysia signed a multi-million ringgit partnership with Ramco Systems to overhaul its legacy human resource and payroll system.

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