KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 17): Based on corporate announcements and news flow on Thursday, companies in focus on Friday (Feb 18) may include: Asia Poly Holdings Bhd, Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd, British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, CTOS Digital Bhd, Datasonic Group Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Kobay Technology Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Luxchem Group Bhd, Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd, MISC Bhd, Pharmaniaga Bhd and Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd.
Asia Poly Holdings Bhd said it had spent 5.2% or RM7.52 million of its net assets to acquire 51.1 million shares or a 1.5% equity interest in Ta Win Holdings Bhd, bringing the former’s stake to 191 million shares or 5.59% of the latter’s total issued shares. Asia Poly said the 51.1 million Ta Win shares were purchased between Jun 10, 2021 and Feb 16, 2022, using internally-generated funds. The company said that it had acquired Ta Win shares for the purpose of investment.
Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd has emerged as a substantial shareholder in Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd with a 5.03% stake, after acquiring 6.25 million shares. It said following the acquisition, Noor Azri Noor Azerai, who was redesignated as an executive director of MGRC effective from Feb 16, will oversee the business development, human resources and finance functions of the group. Azri Azerai said there are synergies in both companies that the firms intend to harness as Bintai Kinden diversified into the healthcare sector through the acquisition of Johnson Medical International Sdn Bhd (JMI) in November 2021.
A new law will be introduced to ban smoking and possession of tobacco products, including vape, for the generation born after 2005, as a Generational End Game for smoking in the country, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. He said the introduction of the law would be able to reduce the future generation’s exposure to cigarettes and tobacco products as tobacco use is the leading cause of cancer and contributes to 22% of deaths due to cancer. The new law is expected to affect British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd.
Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd saw its net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2021 rise 88.21% to RM71.42 million from RM37.95 million in the same period of the previous year, underpinned by higher profit contributions from its operations in Malaysia. Quarterly revenue increased 14.77% to RM542.33 million from RM472.54 million as the country entered the national recovery phase with more economic sectors reopened. The group declared a dividend of 46 sen per share. Meanwhile, Carlsberg Malaysia’s managing director, Stefano Clini said the group has allocated RM110 million of its capital expenditure to upgrade its brewery facilities, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s foreign shareholding increased to 24.9% in January 2022 from 24.7% in December 2021, the highest since May 2020, when the bank’s foreign shareholding stood at 25.6%. At a glance, CIMB’s foreign shareholding had risen steadily to the latest-report level at 24.9% in January 2022 from May 2021. CIMB’s foreign shareholding updates, which dates back as far as January 2010, show that the group’s foreign shareholding was at its highest at 42.9% in June 2011 while the lowest reading at 20.3% was recorded in May 2021.
Credit-reporting agency CTOS Digital Bhd plans to raise RM270 million via a private placement of up to 166.67 million new shares at an indicative RM1.62 each to fund its acquisition of Juris Technologies Sdn Bhd and Business Online Public Co Ltd as well as other investments to further grow its business. The proposed placement is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2022.
Datasonic Group Bhd has bagged an RM50.12 million contract to supply the National Registration Department with MyKad, MyTentera and MyPOCA raw cards and consumables. The contract awarded by the Home Ministry spans a period of 12 months from Feb 15, and Datasonic is required to furnish an RM2.51 million performance bond to the Ministry.
Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd’s net profit quadrupled to RM48.49 million for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2021, from RM12.02 million a year earlier, on the back of improved operational performance and higher crude oil prices. Quarterly revenue rose 49.46% to RM284.4 million, from RM190.29 million previously. The oil & gas group did not declare a dividend for the quarter. It had sold 751,983 barrels of crude oil during the quarter at average realised prices between US$72.02 and US$75.15.
Kobay Technology Bhd’s net profit more than doubled to RM14.52 million for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2021, from RM5.95 million a year prior, on the back of its manufacturing segment’s strong performance. Revenue for the quarter jumped nearly three folds to RM92.83 million from RM35.8 million a year ago.
Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd has reported a 60% plunge in its fourth quarter FY21’s net profit to RM218.67 million, compared with RM543.42 million on lower sales and normalisation of the average selling price (ASP) across its glove, technical rubber products and clean-room segments. Quarterly revenue declined 29.26% to RM924.56 million from RM1.31 billion a year prior. Kossan also declared a fourth interim dividend of 12 sen per share amounting to RM306.19 million, payable on April 22, with April 5 as the ex-date.
Luxchem Corp Bhd’s net profit inched up 3.08% to RM16.59 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2021, from RM16.1 million a year ago, on the back of a strong showing by its trading and manufacturing segments. Quarterly revenue rose 31.08% to RM288.69 million from RM220.23 million, due to higher sales from its manufacturing segment. The group declared a third interim dividend of one sen per share.
MISC Bhd's net profit fell 16.96% year-on-year to RM461.7 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2021 from RM556 million, dragged mainly by higher operating loss incurred by the marine and heavy engineering division and other adjustments. Revenue, however, rose 16.79% to RM3.09 billion from RM2.64 billion a year ago, underpinned by growth in revenue in all business segments. MISC declared a fourth dividend of 12 sen per share, taking the total dividend declared for the year to 33 sen.
Pharmaniaga Bhd reported a net profit of RM85.48 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2021, compared with a net loss of RM6.33 million in the same period of the previous year, on the back of higher revenue. Revenue grew 12.16% to RM711.72 million from RM634.58 million, mainly attributable to positive growth across the group's concession, non-concession and Indonesian businesses. The pharmaceutical group declared its fourth interim dividend of five sen per share, to be paid on April 5.
Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd has filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal to invalidate the High Court’s directive requiring the group to comply with Bursa Malaysia’s instruction to make public the fact-finding update on Serba Dinamik's special independent review. The review by Ernst & Young Consulting was on Serba Dinamik's financials.