KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 8): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus tomorrow may include the following: Gas Malaysia Bhd, Axis REIT, Perak Corp Bhd, Kelington Group Bhd, Zecon Bhd, IJM Corp Bhd, ECS ICT Bhd, DKSH Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd, MRCB-Quill REIT and AirAsia Group Bhd.

Gas Malaysia Bhd reported a 42% jump in its net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 (2QFY18) to RM48.07 million from RM33.76 million in the year-ago quarter, thanks to a higher volume of natural gas sold and higher natural gas tariff.

Quarterly revenue was up 17% to RM1.5 billion from RM1.28 billion previously.

For the cumulative first half ended June 30 (1HFY18), Gas Malaysia reported a 33% rise in net profit to RM88.29 million from RM66.19 million a year ago, mainly due to an increase in volume of natural gas sold. Revenue was up 19% to RM2.94 billion from RM2.47 billion.

Axis REIT has paid RM18.5 million cash for an industrial facility in Senawang, Negeri Sembilan, which yields some 7.7% before financing costs.

The freehold property, located within the Senawang Industrial Park, has a land area of 183,342 sq.ft comprising a three-storey office annexed with a 1.5-storey warehouse factory and other ancillary buildings.

It is currently tenanted to Nippon Wiper Blade (M) Sdn Bhd for a fixed 10-year lease which had commenced on 1 July 2016.

The acquisition, to be funded via debt facility from Axis REIT’s existing credit lines, is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

Perak Corp Bhd's indirect 51%-owned subsidiary Animation Theme Park Sdn Bhd (ATP) has dropped plans to include DreamWorks' attractions at its Movie Animation Park Studio (MAPS) in Ipoh, Perak, after both parties failed to reach agreement to open the DreamWorks' attractions to the public by Aug 1.

ATP has officially discontinued the licence agreement entered with DreamWorks Animation LLC on Jan 1, 2013 for the establishment and operation of DreamWorks' attractions within MAPS, and will completely remove all DreamWorks’ intellectual properties from the attractions zone.

Some RM33.2 million for the IP rights, inventories, and development in progress costs, will be written off in ATP’s current financial year.

Kelington Group Bhd has bagged several new orders worth RM55 million, boosting total new orders secured to RM236 million year-to-date, from RM181 million previously.

The contracts are expected to be completed by the second and fourth quarter of 2019 respectively.

Zecon Bhd has received a notice of termination from the Public Works Department (JKR) for the construction of Hospital Petra Jaya in Kuching Sarawak.

The contract, worth RM495 million, was first awarded by JKR to Zecon in April 2013.

Zecon said the purported termination is wrongful and has sought legal advice on the termination.

IJM Corp Bhd’s plan for a RM1.2 billion development project in Penang’s Seberang Perai Tengah has fallen through following the termination of a conditional share sale agreement to acquire Giant Hectares Sdn Bhd.

IJM Land Bhd and Aseania Development Sdn Bhd have mutually agreed to terminate the agreement signed in July 2017, due to the non-fulfilment of the condition precedent to the share sale agreement till to-date.

Giant Hectares had acquired land to pave the way for a mixed development project with an estimated gross development value of RM1.2 billion.

ECS ICT Bhd announced a 15% year-on-year decline in net profit to RM4.27 million in its second quarter ended June 30, 2018 (2QFY18), from RM5.01 million previously, as revenue fell 19% to RM358.21 million from RM443.47 million.

It attributed the lower sales and earnings to cautious consumer spending prior to the 14th general election, and the transitional period of the goods and services tax, which hit its ICT distribution business segment.

For the first half ended June 30 (1HFY18), ECS ICT's net profit retreated 12% y-o-y to RM8.66 million from RM9.83 million registered earlier, as cumulative revenue slumped 17% to RM750.01 million from RM900.26 million.

DKSH Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd registered a 14% year-on-year decline in its net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 (2QFY18) to RM14.05 million from RM16.36 million previously as rising operating expenditure offset growth in the group's quarterly revenue.

Revenue grew 3.5% to RM1.44 billion from RM1.39 billion, thanks to organic growth in existing clients.

For the first half of the year (1HFY18), DKSH Malaysia's net profit dipped 5.8% to RM24.86 million from RM26.4 million in 1HFY17, despite revenue growing 4.9% to RM2.9 billion from RM2.76 billion.

MRCB-Quill REIT (MQReit)'s net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 rose 6.5% year-on-year to RM23.49 million from RM22.04 million, underpinned by lower property expenses and total expenditure incurred.

Revenue for the quarter came in at RM43.69 million versus RM43.61 million a year ago.

For the six months ended June 30, MQReit recorded a distributable income and distributable income per unit of RM46.88 million and 4.38 sen.

AirAsia Group Bhd has completed the transfer of nine more aircraft which gave rise to gross proceeds of US$146.6 million (RM597 million), as part of its divestment plan for the aircraft-leasing unit that is currently managed by wholly-owned subsidiary Asia Aviation Capital Ltd (AACL).

To date, it has transferred 39 aircraft, for which the group has received gross proceeds of US$501.6 million (RM2.04 billion).

AirAsia said its planned staggered disposals of the remaining 45 aircraft and 14 aircraft engines under the sales and purchase agreement it had signed with Incline B Aviation Ltd Partnership and FLY Leasing Ltd, is on schedule.