KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 9): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus on Tuesday (Dec 13) could include: Perisai, PetGas, MAHB, StemLife, Kein Hing, TNB and EcoWorld.
Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd, which declared it was insolvent in October after failing to meet bond obligations, is in dispute with its shareholder Emas Offshore Ltd (EOL) over the disposal of a 51% stake in SJR Marine (L) Ltd to EOL.
Through several bourse filings, Perisai said it has the right to dispose of its stake in SJR Marine to EOL for US$43.03 million, in accordance to agreements it inked with EOL previously.
However, EOL claimed that following the occurrence of "certain events", it has the right to terminate the agreement with Perisai and buy the stake for US$1. EOL has an 11.48% stake in Perisai.
It is also Perisai's joint venture partner in SJR Marine, with a 49% stake.
EOL is a subsidiary of Singapore-Exchange (SGX) listed oil and gas services provider Ezra Holdings Ltd, the single largest shareholder in Perisai with a 22.5% stake held through EOL and another unit.
Like Perisai, Ezra too has been hard-hit by the O&G slowdown and warned last month of "going concern issue" as it reported a loss of US$887.75 million on huge impairments for its financial year ended Aug 31, 2016.
Perisai said it has sought preliminary legal advice on EOL’s notice to terminate the agreements and has told EOL that Perisai disputes the claims under the EOL notice.
“Perisai intends to continue to defend and deny all allegations that events supporting the right of EOL to terminate the agreement has occurred or that any termination of the agreement is or has been supported by any provisions of the agreement,” read Perisai’s announcement.
Petronas Gas Bhd has appointed Datuk Anuar Taib as the group’s chairman with effect from Jan 1, following the resignation of Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas.
Anuar is currently the CEO and executive vice president of the upstream and liquid natural gas (LNG) segment at Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).
“Shamsul, 64, has expressed his intention to resign due to time constraint as he currently sits on the boards of various Malaysian and overseas companies,” Petronas Gas said in a bourse filing.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) registered a 7.3% growth in passenger traffic to 9.77 million, throughout its entire airport system in Malaysia and Turkey, in November 2016, from 9.11 million a year ago.
The traffic growth was largely driven by its Malaysian operations, where the number of passengers passing through the 39 airports it manages here grew by 8.8% to 7.48 million in November this year, from 6.87 million last year.
International passengers that used the group’s Malaysian airports registered a 12.1% y-o-y growth at 3.59 million passengers, while domestic passengers grew by 6.0% y-o-y in November, registering 3.89 million passengers.
KLIA Main Terminal’s passenger movements in November grew 32.8% y-o-y to 2.22 million, while klia2’s passenger numbers declined by 3.2% y-o-y to 2.24 million in the month under review.
StemLife Bhd’s unconditional take-over offer from Cordlife Group Ltd at 57.5 sen per share has been deemed by its independent advisor as “fair and reasonable”.
Independent advisor Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd and StemLife’s non-interested directors recommended that shareholders accept the offer from the Singaporean-listed healthcare company.
In November, Cordlife notified StemLife shareholders that it was raising the offer price for the remaining shares it does not already own in the Malaysian company to 57.5 sen from 54 sen a share.
Cordlife currently controls 89.89% of StemLife’s shares, which is just below the 90% shareholding level required by the firm to delist StemLife from the ACE market of Bursa Malaysia.
Kein Hing International Bhd saw its net profit fall 40.3% to RM1.82 million or 1.84 sen a share in its second quarter ended Oct 31, 2016 (2QFY17) from RM3.05 million or 3.08 sen a share a year ago, due to lower sales and also the initial set up costs of a new factory in Vietnam.
Its revenue decreased 3.92% to RM57 million in 2QFY17 from RM59.33 million a year ago mainly on the drop in sales of tooling despite growth in sales of parts for the TV and automotive industries.
For the cumulative six-month period ended Oct 31, 2016 (1HFY17), its net profit dropped 32.71% to RM3.47 million or 3.51 sen per share, against RM5.16 million or 5.21 sen per share in the same period of FY16. Revenue was up by 1.88% to RM111.4 million compared with RM109.34 million a year earlier.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) announced it is cutting its dividend payout ratio from 40%-60% to 30%-50%.
The dividend payout will be based on the company’s reported consolidated net profit attributable to shareholders after minority interest, excluding extraordinary, non-recurring items.
TNB said the revised dividend policy will take effect from financial year ending Aug 31, 2017
EcoWorld Development Bhd’s shareholders today approved the provision of financial assistance by the Employers Provident Fund (EPF) to the group’s subsidiary, Paragon Pinnacle Sdn Bhd.
The provision of financial assistance will see EPF advancing RM367 million to partly finance the development cost of the residential and commercial township and business park, to be repaid in full eight years after the funds have been utilised.
The deal also sees EPF taking up a 40% interest in Paragon, which is currently wholly-owned by EcoWorld. Paragon is the developer of the Eco Grandeur and Eco Business Park V projects in Bandar Puncak Alam.
Speaking after the extraordinary general meeting, EcoWorld president and chief executive officer Datuk Chang Khim Wah also said EcoWorld is confident of achieving its Malaysian sales target of RM4 billion for 2017.