KUALA LUMPUR (May 13): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus for Tuesday (May 14) may include the following: Seacera Group Bhd, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd, FGV Holdings Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, AirAsia Group Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd, MISC Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Wah Seong Corp Bhd, Hiap Teck Venture Bhd, DRB-HICOM Bhd and Scientex Bhd.

Seacera Group Bhd is to partner up with a South Korean company to explore commercial possibilities in the LED lighting market in Malaysia.

The group said that it had entered a three-month Memorandum of Understanding with KR EMS Co Ltd on May 11 to enable LED lighting production infrastructure development technology exchanges, information exchange on the development of LED lighting products and the joint marketing of said products.

It added that the group would be looking at establishing a joint venture.

Sime Darby Plantation Bhd is looking to buy refineries in Latin America as it grapples with poor margins and mounting costs at home.

Sime Darby Plantation has Latin America “on the radar” as it looks to expand its global refining capacity, said Mohd Haris Mohd Arshad, the chief operating officer of the downstream business.

It has set aside RM400 million to invest in refineries, though more will be needed for acquisitions, and the company may consider turning to the debt market or listing its units’ shares, he said.

FGV Holdings Bhd has terminated its Memorandum of Understanding with Hong Kong-listed China Machinery Engineering Corp to look into establishing paper pulp production facilities.

The termination of the MoU would not have any financial impact on FGV and its subsidiaries.

No reason was given for the termination.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has leased two Renault Zoe electric vehicles to be used and tested at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as part of its long-term plans in reducing carbon emission.

The airport operator said the move was also part of the plans in optimising operational costs and sustaining the current Airport Carbon Accreditation at Level 3-Optimisation that was certified by the Airport Council International (ACI).

MAHB said it was looking forward to increasing the number of electric vehicles as data compiled from the current usage proves favourable.

Two Malaysian stocks, AirAsia Group Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, are among latest additions to FTSE Russell's FTSE Value-Stocks Asean Index.  

Meanwhile, three Malaysian stocks have been excluded from the list, as part of the review. They are Sime Darby Property Bhd, MISC Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd.  

FTSE Rusell said the changes will become effective after the close of business on Friday, May 17.

Wah Seong Corp Bhd reported a 30.9% drop in first quarter net profit to RM20.2 million, from RM29.25 million a year earlier, following a fall in its revenue.

Earnings per share profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 stood at 2.62 sen compared with 3.78 sen previously.

Quarterly revenue dropped 13.8% to RM683.76 million from RM792.83 million previously.

Hiap Teck Venture Bhd has proposed to lend RM140 million to its 35%-owned associate, Eastern Steel Sdn Bhd, as part of a RM400 million sum that Eastern Steel is looking to raise for its working capital retirements.

The group may also be required to provide corporate guarantees and indemnities proportionate to its shareholding in Eastern Steel.

Eastern Steel's working capital requirements include the purchase of raw materials for its production, including iron ore, coking coal, limestone, manganese, anthracites and scrap, among other things.

DRB-HICOM Bhd confirmed today that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has remanded two top executives of its wholly-owned subsidiary DRB-HICOM Bhd Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd (Deftech), in connection with a graft probe on a RM17 million defence contract.

“DRB-HICOM wishes to emphasise that the group and Deftech shall provide utmost cooperation to the authorities in this matter,” it said.

The group did not provide any other details, other than saying it wished to confirm the media report on the matter.

Scientex Bhd is acquiring land in Rawang for a total of RM123.28 million in order to boost its property development landbank, with a focus on building affordable homes.

The group’s wholly-owned unit Scientex Park (M) Sdn Bhd today signed two sales and purchase agreements with Swan Lake City Sdn Bhd and Fair City Sdn Bhd for the proposed acquisition.

Swan Lake City is selling land measuring 607,735.7 square metres in Mukim Rawang to Scientex for RM111.21 million, while Fair City will sell an adjacent 65,983 square metres of land in Bandar Kundang for RM12.07 million.

The two plots of land are proposed to be developed into a mixed property development.