KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 31): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies in focus on Monday (Feb 4) may include: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), AirAsia Bhd, AirAsia X Bhd, Vizione Holdings Bhd, Vertice Bhd, AmanahRaya REIT, Bina Darulaman Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, PrestariangBhd, Eduspec Holdings Bhd, Berjaya Food Bhd, Heitech Padu Bhd ,CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Dolomite Corporation Bhd, Gunung Capital Bhd, Astro Holdings Bhd and Crest Builder Holdings Bhd.

Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has confirmed that it has received a letter from solicitors representing AirAsia Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd in relation to a RM479.78 million suit.

The two airlines contend that the condition of klia2 plus poor service from MAHB led to the airline group losing customers and revenue.

In a separate announcement, MAHB said it does not have to provide more announcements concerning the RM61 million suit filed against the group by Syarikat Pembinaan Anggerik Sdn Bhd. This, it said, is because the amendments to the case do not count as material amendments.

A joint venture between Vizione Holdings Bhd and Vertice Bhd has been awarded an RM815 million contract by Consortium Zenith to undertake construction works for Package 2 of the Penang Mega Infrastructure project.

AmanahRaya REIT CEO Zalila Mohd Toon, 58, has resigned just after three months on the job. She took over on Nov 1, 2018, after the post was left vacant for eight months after Noorbaizura Hermeyney quit the REIT in March 2018.

Bina Darulaman Bhd has appointed Faris Najhan Hashim as the group’s CEO.  

The group’s chairman, Datuk Paduka Rasli Basir, meanwhile is retiring because his contract had expired on Dec 31 last year.

The group is currently managed by a three-man executive committee headed by Rasli after the passing of former MD Datuk Izham Yusoff on March 12, 2018

RHB Banking Group has appointed Danny Quah Boon Leng as the country head and CEO of RHB Bank Singapore, and Thoo Kim Seng as CEO of RHB Indochina Bank, Cambodia.

Meanwhile, its investment arm RHB Investment Bank has announced a proposed streamlining of its equity and economic research operations, and to close RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd to rationalise costs. Its  equity and economic research operations will be moved into a division within the investment bank, while the fixed income and currencies research function will be absorbed by RHB Bank.

Prestariang Bhd named its senior independent non-executive director Datuk Maznah Abdul Jalil as the group’s new non-executive chairman, replacing  Datuk Mohamed Yunus Ramli Abbas, 70, who has resigned from the group, “as he intends to focus on his long overdue time for himself and family”.

Eduspec Holdings Bhd has proposed to undertake a capital reduction to cancel RM107.31 million of its paid-up share capital to offset accumulated losses. It hopes to transform its  financial position from an unaudited accumulated loss of RM54.44 million as at Sept 30, 2018, to RM62.83 million in retained earnings.

It said this exercise will enable it to rationalise its financial position by reducing the accumulated losses via cancellation of the paid-up share capital which is lost or unrepresented by available assets.

Berjaya Foods Bhd (BFood) has set aside more than 50% of its RM100 million capex for the fiscal year ended April 2019 for Starbucks. With 20%-30% of the capex remaining, the group  indicated Starbucks would continue to be the focus of its expansion as the outlets had delivered stable same-store sales growth of about 6% to 8%.

Heitech Padu Bhd has bagged a RM14.4 million, two-year contract from the Inland Revenue Board to renew the software licence for the board’s mainframe systems. The contract is effective tomorrow, with group adding it will have positive effects for its future earnings.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd appointed Time dotCom Bhd chief executive officer Afzal Abdul Rahim as its independent and non-executive director, effective today.

Afzal currently sits on the boards of CIMB Bank Bhd, Symphony Communication PCL, CMC Telecommunication Infrastructure Corp, Megawisra Investments Ltd, Megawisra Sdn Bhd, Global Transit International Sdn Bhd and Pulau Kapas Ventures Sdn Bhd.

Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N) reported a 15% increase in its net profit to RM122.86 million for the first quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, from RM106.83 million in the same quarter a year ago, supported by a higher contribution from its operations in Malaysia and Thailand.

Revenue for the quarter grew 0.8% to RM1.01 billion from RM1 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share grew to 33.5 sen from 29.2 sen.

Dolomite Corp Bhd has appointed Datuk Mangsor Ismail, 68, as its independent and non-executive chairman. He is currently a director of the group, replacing Tan Sri Mohd Jamil Johari, 71, who has stepped down from the group's board of directors "in the interest of board rejuvenation", the property development and construction group said in a filing.

Gunung Resources Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned unit of Gunung Capital Bhd, has won a 12-month project management contract worth RM9.45 million. The contract was awarded by Conso Hydro RE Sdn Bhd — a 50.1% indirectly owned subsidiary of the group. It is for the procurement, construction and commissioning of a 2MW installed capacity small hydropower plant in Gopeng, Perak with the option to operate and maintain the hydropower plant after completion.

Henry Tan, 55, will officially assume the role of group CEO at Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd following the resignation of Datuk Rohana Rozhan today. He is currently also the chairman of Go Shop, Astro's home shopping platform. He was previously CEO of Mindshare Malaysia and GroupM (Malaysia and Singapore) and media director at Ogilvy & Mather.

Crest Builder Holdings Bhd has bagged a 27-month contract worth RM99.6 million to construct a 26-storey hotel at Jalan P Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur. The contract was awarded by Techvance Properties Management Sdn Bhd.