KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 25): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus on Friday (Oct 26) may include Selangor Properties Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd, Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd, Eita Resources Bhd, Luxchem Corporation Bhd, FGV Holdings Bhd, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd, Perak Corp Bhd, Only World Group Holdings Bhd, Cypark Resources Bhd and Paramount Corp Bhd.

The Wen family, which holds a 68.23% stake in Selangor Properties Bhd, is looking to take the company private at RM5.70 per share, through a proposed selective capital reduction and repayment exercise (SCR).

Selangor Properties said it received a letter from its major shareholder Kayin Holdings Sdn Bhd, which is the vehicle of the Wen family, requesting for the company to undertake the SCR.

The proposed SCR entails a selective capital reduction and a corresponding capital repayment of RM5.70 per share in Selangor Properties held by all the shareholders (other than Kayin Holdings).

Trading of Selangor Properties’ shares will resume at 9am tomorrow (Oct 26).

Public Bank Bhd’s net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) slipped 1.5% to RM1.38 billion from RM1.4 billion a year ago, due to absence of a one-off capital gain on investment, higher operating expenses and lower gains from financial instruments.

This was despite net interest income inching up 0.71% year-on-year to RM1.88 billion in 3QFY18, while allowance for impairment on loans, advances and financing declined by 43% to RM48.88 million.

Operating revenue rose 5.88% to RM5.62 billion from RM5.31 billion in 3QFY17.

For the first nine months, net profit was 5% higher at RM4.19 billion or 108.17 sen per share compared with RM3.98 billion or 103.19 sen per share a year earlier. Revenue for the period grew 5.8% to RM16.41 billion from RM15.51 billion previously.

Moving forward, Public Bank said it will continue to be supported by ongoing demand for financing in residential properties, commercial properties, passenger vehicles, as well as lending to small and medium enterprises.

Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd, whose share price hit a record high of RM4.23 last week, has secured a total of 13 operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts worth an aggregate sum of at least RM512.17 million.

Four contracts were awarded to its wholly-owned subsidiary Serba Dinamik International Ltd (SDIL) for O&M works in the Middle East, and another nine local contracts to its wholly-owned Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd (SDSB) to be carried out on a “call-out” basis.

Duration of the contracts range from one to three years. Some have commenced as early as June this year.

Serba Dinamik said the contracts secured are expected to contribute positively to the group’s earnings for its current financial year ending Dec 31, 2018.

Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust’s (Pavilion REIT) net property income (NPI) rose by 20.5% to RM94.18 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) from RM78.16 million a year before, mainly owing to higher rental income from Elite Pavilion Mall, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur and higher occupancy rates at Intermark Mall.

Quarterly revenue increased 16.5% to RM141.35 million against RM121.36 million a year ago.

It proposed a distribution per unit of 2.14 sen, taking its annualised distribution yield to 5.41%.

For the cumulative nine months, its NPI ballooned 17.08% to RM273.8 million versus RM233.85 million last year while revenue increased 13.14% to RM407.92 million from RM360.55 million.

Despite higher sales growth reported for the retail market during the tax-free months from June to August, Pavilion REIT expects retail spending to pick up only during the year-end seasonal holidays.

ViTrox Corp Bhd’s net profit jumped 25% in its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 to RM28.02 million from RM22.41 million a year ago, while quarterly revenue grew 20.6% to RM101.77 million from RM84.36 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

ViTrox attributed its improved performance to the increase in revenue recorded for Automated Board Inspection (ABI) and Machine Vision System (MVS), which rose 21% and 20% respectively against the same quarter last year, mainly due to higher demand from wider customer base and positive acceptance of our products.

For the nine-month period, ViTrox’s net profit rose 22% to RM76.04 million from RM62.32 million in the same period last year; while revenue too rose by some 22% to RM284.1 million from RM231.6 million previously.

Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MHB) reported a net loss of RM22.72 million in its third quarter ended Sept 30 on additional cost provisions, against a net profit of RM16.41 million a year ago.

It also attributed the losses to compressed margins for its dry docking activities as well as additional costs on marine conversion works where it said revenue recognition is still pending verification and approval by clients.

This was despite registering a 34.6% increase in revenue to RM289.8 million compared with RM215.35 million in the same quarter last year, contributed by an ongoing heavy engineering project as well as conversion works and dry docking activities.

MHB’s cumulative nine-month net loss widened to RM97.47 million, from RM13.9 million in the same period last year. Revenue for the period was a marginal 1% lower at RM701.12 million compared with RM708.46 million a year ago.

It does not anticipate significant contribution from its heavy engineering segment for the rest of the year, but guided that there could be a pickup in marine repair activities in the coming year as companies have until January 2020 to comply with the International Maritime Organisation's fuel sulphur cap ruling.

Eita Resources Bhd’s 60%-owned subsidiary, Transsystem Continental Sdn Bhd, has secured an underground cable works contract from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) worth RM48.83 million.

The contract is to undertake the 132kV double circuit loop in and loop out underground cable works from the Transmission Main Intake (or Pencawang Masuk Utama [PMU]) of Gelugor to PMU Farlim and into PMU Datuk Keramat in Penang.

The job, which is effective from today, will take 730 days to complete, and is expected to contribute positively to Eita Resources’ earnings over the duration of the contract.

Luxchem Corporation Bhd’s net profit rose 9% to RM9.84 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) from RM8.99 million a year ago, thanks to lower expenses. Quarterly revenue rose 13% to RM212.28 million from RM188.23 million previously, attributable mainly to the group’s trading segment.

For the cumulative nine months (9MFY18), Luxchem said net profit fell 7% to RM29.21 million from RM31.26 million previously, while revenue fell to RM607.84 million from RM609.48 million.

Moving forward, the group said its performance could be affected by fluctuations in USD/ringgit exchange rates, raw material price fluctuations, raw material demand and supply situations, as well as competition.

FGV Holdings Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary FGV Trading Sdn Bhd has commenced arbitration proceedings against Twin Wealth Macao Commercial Offshore Ltd for outstanding payments of US$13.25 million (RM55.16 million) under various palm olein contracts.

The proceedings commenced on Sept 18 under the auspices of the Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia.

FGV Trading is alleging that Twin Wealth had only made part payments (about US$1.37 million or RM5.68 million) for 2,000 tonnes out of the 21,765 tonnes bulk purchase of its refined, bleached, and deodorised palm olein.

As the sum represents less than a tenth of the total price, FGV said the balance of US$13.25 million (RM55.16 million) remains due and outstanding in favour of FGV Trading.

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd has posted a 73% jump in net profit to RM83.96 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018, from RM48.57 million previously, owing to higher net wakalah fee income.

Gross earned contributions were up 38.5% to RM613.96 million in 3QFY18.

Revenue rose 36.26% to RM648.95 million from RM476.24 million the year before (3QFY17), attributable to higher sales generated by the Family and General Takaful segments.

Cumulative nine-month net profit increased 35.88% to RM204.35 million from RM150.4 million or 18.29 sen per share. Revenue improved by nearly a fifth to RM1.94 billion against RM1.62 billion previously.

Looking ahead, Takaful Malaysia will remain focused on sustaining its position as the market leader in the Family Takaful business whilst expanding its market share in the General Takaful business to establish a strong foothold in the industry.

Perak Corp Bhd and Only World Group Holdings Bhd (OWG) have scrapped plans to co-manage and co-operate in the floundering Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) in Ipoh, Perak.

Both companies announced in bourse filings that they had mutually agreed to end the term of the HOA on Oct 23, 2018 as the parties have not executed the definitive master services agreement.

Cypark Resources Bhd has proposed the issuance of one bonus share for every two existing shares held at an entitlement date to be determined later.

Assuming that all of the 14.49 million outstanding employee share option scheme options are exercised prior to the entitlement date, 157.15 million bonus shares will be issued. This will result in an enlarged issued share capital of up to 471.46 million shares, from 299.81 million shares as at Oct 4.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances and subject to all requisite approvals being obtained, the bonus issue is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Paramount Corp Bhd has proposed to dispose of three of its tertiary education campuses in Penang and Selangor to a special purpose vehicle (SPV), for a combination of cash amounting to RM420 million and new cumulative redeemable non-convertible preference shares in the vehicle.

The proposed sale of the campuses — from its wholly-owned subsidiaries KDU University College (PG) Sdn Bhd (KDUPG) and KDU University College Sdn Bhd (KDUUC) to the SPV, Dynamic Gates Sdn Bhd (DGSB) — also entails a subsequent leaseback of the properties.

KDUPG will be selling its Jalan Anson Campus Properties and Batu Kawan Campus Properties, both in Penang, for RM50 million and RM120 million, respectively, while KDUUC will be disposing its Utropolis Glenmarie Campus Properties in Selangor for RM250 million.

The original investment cost for the three properties was RM377.64 million.

The proposed exercises will be undertaken via a securitisation exercise and will streamline the assets owned by the group to achieve a more efficient capital structure by better matching the maturity profile of the borrowings to the lease period of the subject campus properties.