KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 25): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, the companies that may be in focus tomorrow (Nov 25) could include the following: CIMB, Mitrajaya, Masteel, Kulim, Tomypak, MSM, MMC Corp, AirAsia X, Genting Plantations, and Wintoni.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd posted a 8.4% grow in its operating income for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2015 (9MFY15) to RM11.35 billion from RM10.47 billion a year ago, underpinned by a 12.8% improvement in non-interest income and 6.6% growth in net interest income.

However, its 9MFY15 net profit of RM2.02 billion was 30.4% lower than its 9MFY14 net profit of RM2.91 billion, due to higher corporate loan provisions from Indonesia, it told stock exchange in a filing today. 

Nevertheless, the group's annualised business as usual (BAU) 9MFY15 net return on average equity (ROE) was 8.8% excluding restructuring costs, and its BAU cost-to-income ratio improved to 56.2% in 9MFY15, compared with 57.8% in 9MFY14, as the banking group's cost management initiatives begin to show traction.

Its gross impairment ratio rose to 3.4% as at September 2015 from 3.3% in September 2014, with an allowance coverage of 84.9% as at September 2015.

Net interest margins, however, were lower at 2.65% in 9MFY15 as compared to 2.86% last year, driven mainly by the higher cost of consumer deposits in Malaysia.

Operating income for 3QFY15 grew by 8.8% to RM3.84 billion from RM3.53 billion in 3QFY14 on the back of a 10.8% increase in net interest income and a 4.1% growth in non-interest income.

However, the country's second largest banking group by assets saw its net profit for 3QFY15 slide 9.7% to RM803.89 million or 9.52 sen a share, from RM890.27 million or 10.62 sen a share a year ago due to a decline in wholesale banking as a result of the weaker treasury and markets and investment banking operations.

Mitrajaya Holdings Bhd's net profit surged 97% to RM25.82 million or 4.08 sen per share for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) from RM13.12 million or 2.22 sen per share a year earlier, on higher contribution from the construction division and its South Africa investment.

Revenue for the quarter soared 59% to RM231.31 million from RM145.56 million in the previous year.

For the nine months ended Sept 30 (9MFY15), net profit jumped 66% to RM62.31 million from RM37.62 million in 9MFY14, while revenue was up 65% at RM62.31 million compared to RM37.62 million in the previous year.

Meanwhile, Mitrajaya said its units Pembinaan Mitrajaya Sdn Bhd (PMJ) and Syarikat Ismail Ibrahim Sdn Bhd (SII) as a consortium has bagged a construction contract relating to the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project worth RM186.38 million.

The contract, awarded by PRPC Utilities and Facilities Sdn Bhd, was for the procurement, construction and commissioning of civil and infrastructure works at Utilities Area 1 (Package 14-0304) and Petchem Commons Area (Package 14-0305) for interconnecting, storm water drainage and utilities for the RAPID project.

"Under the contract, the duration of Package 14-0304 and Package 14-0305 is 32 months and 22 months respectively from contract award date. The contract is expected to contribute positively to Mitrajaya group's future earnings," it said.

Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd potsed a 4.9 times jump in net profit to RM86.89 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) from RM17.68 million in the same quarter last year, largely due to foreign exchange (forex) gains and revenue improvement.

The group recorded an unrealised forex gain of RM48.82 million and realised foreign exchange gain of RM9.11 million during the quarter, its filing on Bursa Malaysia today showed.

Revenue for 3QFY15, meanwhile, was up 54% to RM406.97 million from RM263.59 million in 3QFY14.

For the cumulative nine months (9MFY15), its net profit came in at RM1.45 billion, 9.4 times higher from the RM154.25 million recorded in the same period last year, as revenue rose 46% to RM1.19 billion from RM811.53 million previously.

Malaysia Steel Works (KL) Bhd's (Masteel) announced today that it has recently presented to the senior management at Railway Assets Corp (RAC) the company's town planning scheme for a piece of land in Kempas, Johor, to build a proposed commuter train depot and other assets as required by the Transport Ministry.

It told Bursa Malaysia that the presentation is a follow-up to its joint venture (JV) with KUB Malaysia Bhd to pursue a rail transit network project in Iskandar Malaysia.

Meanwhile, it posted a net loss of RM24.14 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 from RM6.09 million a year ago, while revenue fell 16.8% to RM301.44 million, from RM362.09 million a year earlier.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2015 (9MFY15), it posted a net loss of RM49 million, as compared to a net profit of RM11.28 million a year earlier. Revenue was down 18% to RM869.03 million from RM1.06 billion in 9MFY14. 

Masteel expects to turn around in 2016, as the its newly-commissioned rolling mill in Bukit Raja is anticipated to contribute additional revenue of up to RM200 million per annum.

Tomypak Holdings Bhd posted a 2.7 times jump in net profit for the third financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) to RM6.03 million from RM2.23 million a year ago, due to a better sales mix, gain on foreign exchange, and continuous improvement in production efficiency.

Its latest quarterly revenue came in at RM55.76 million, 8.1% higher than its 3QFY14 revenue of RM51.57 million. It declared an interim dividend of three sen per share, to be paid on Dec 29.

For the nine months ended Sept 30 (9MFY15), the flexible food packaging materials provider recorded a net profit of RM17.18 million, an almost fourfold increase from its net profit of RM4.55 million a year ago.

Revenue for 9MFY15, however, was 0.8% lower at RM157.65 million, compared with RM158.9 million a year ago.

Going forward, Tomypak is optimistic that demand for the group's products from the food and beverage sector will grow and the group will increase the production capacity to meet the expected growth in sales revenue. 

MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd posted a 33.2% jump in net profit in the third financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) at RM63.87 million or 9.09 sen a share from RM47.96 million or 6.82 sen a share a year ago on the back of lower raw sugar price.

The refined sugar producer reported a 2.4% decline in 3QFY15 revenue to RM546.49 million from RM559.74 million a year ago, which was attributed to lower tonnage sold for the domestic and export markets segments by 21% and 15% respectively, its filing with Bursa Malaysia showed.

It also announced a first interim dividend of 12 sen per share for the period, payable on Dec 29.

For its nine months ended Sept 30, 2015 (9MFY15), MSM reported a net profit of RM214.04 million or 30.45 sen a share, which was 17.6% higher than its 9MFY14 net profit of RM182.05 million or 25.9 sen a share.

Revenue for 9MFY15, however, was 0.6% lower at RM1.64 billion compared to RM1.65 billion a year ago.

MMC Corp Bhd said it will consider spinning off its port operations, following the approval of its shareholders to increase its stake in NCB Holdings Bhd, which wholly owns Northport (M) Bhd.

When asked on the possible listing of its port operations, its managing director Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohammad Noh said: "That is an option we may consider later, not immediately."

At the EGM, he said 99.99% of the group's shareholders had supported its proposed acquisition of NCB.

For the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15), MMC's net profit halved to RM47.81 million or 1.57 sen per share from RM104.75 million or 3.44 sen per share last year, as revenue fell 61% to RM674.54 million from RM1.73 billion.

For the nine-month period (9MFY15), its net profit surged four times to RM1.49 billion or 49.03 sen per share from RM293.78 million or 9.65 sen per share in 9MFY14, largely due to an exceptional gain of RM1.34 billion from Malakoff Corp Bhd’s listing.

Revenue was down 36.7% to RM4.09 billion from RM6.46 billion last year, due to the deconsolidation of Malakoff's results, absence of substantial sale of land in respect of the overall development of Senai Airport City, and lower work progress recorded from Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line project following completion of tunnelling drive works in April 2015. 

AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) saw its net loss widen 36.7% to RM288.19 million or 9.1 sen per share for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) from RM210.85 million or 8.9 sen per share a year ago, due to higher foreign exchange (forex) losses on borrowings caused by the weaker ringgit.

The long-haul, low-cost affiliate of AirAsia Bhd told stock exchange that it recognised unrealised forex loss of RM241.3 million in 3QFY15 compared with RM48.2 million in 3QFY14. 

Nevertheless, it recorded a lower operating loss of RM31.1 million in 3QFY15 compared with RM132.6 million a year ago, on higher revenue and lower fuel costs.

Quarterly revenue rose 13.5% to RM793.01 million from RM698.76 million in 3QFY14, due to higher charter flights revenue, aircraft operating lease income and cargo revenue. As a result, revenue per available seat kilometer (RASK) for 3QFY15 also increased 25% to 13.78 sen from 11.02 sen in 3QFY14.

For the cumulative nine-months period (9MFY15), AAX's net loss rose 60% to RM561.82 million or 17.8 sen loss per share from RM350.92 million or 14.8 sen loss per share in 9MFY14, amid higher forex losses.

The airline recognised unrealised forex loss of RM356.7 million in 9MFY15 compared with RM18.1 million in 9MFY14.

Cumulative revenue gained 4.2% to RM2.21 billion from RM2.12 billion in 9MFY14. RASK was also higher by 12.9% at 12.75 sen from 11.3 sen a year ago.

Genting Plantations Bhd posted a 45.6% fall in net profit to RM37.67 million or 4.88 sen a share for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) from RM69.28 million or 9.1 sen a share a year ago, due to softer selling prices of palm products and slower property sales.

Revenue for 3QFY15 dropped 13.5% to RM320.4 million from RM370.53 million in 3QFY14.

The plantation group said the reduction was partly cushioned by higher contribution from the plantation segment in Indonesia, where the impact of selling prices was more than compensated by higher production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), as well as higher biodiesel sales in the downstream manufacturing segment.

For the nine-month period (9MFY15), Genting Plantations also saw its net profit drop 45.6% to RM130.35 million or 16.86 sen a share from RM239.57 million or 31.4 sen a share in 9MFY14, while revenue for 9MFY15 fell 10.7% to RM950.53 million from RM1.06 billion a year ago.

TDM Bhd said its chief executive officer (CEO) Badrul Hisham Mahari, 56, will be leaving his post effective Jan 1, 2016 due to his medical condition.

The plantation and healthcare group told stock exchange that it has accepted Badrul Hisham's resignation and has already found a suitable replacement, but did not name who.

"The new CEO will tentatively report to work on Jan 1, 2016. The company will make the appropriate announcement on the appointment of the new CEO in due course," it added.

Wintoni Group Bhd announced today that it is unable to submit its financial statement for the third quarter (3QFY15) ended Sept 30, which is due next Monday (Nov 30) due to loss of data following a recent break in of its office.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the group said it required more time to seek third party opinion on the 3QFY15's financial statement. 

Wintoni noted that if it fails to issue the outstanding 3QFY15 financial statement within five market days after the expiry of the deadline, Bursa Securities shall suspend trading of its shares with effect from Dec 8. 

In view of the above, Wintoni said it is in the midst of finalising the outstanding 3QFY15 and is expecting to submit the financial statement to Bursa Securities by Dec 31.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)