KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 30): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus tomorrow (Thursday, Oct 1) could include: Taliworks, Protasco, Mieco Chipboard, Weida, Theta Edge, UMW Holdings, Cypark Resources, Asia File and Hiap Teck.
LGB Taliworks Consortium Sdn Bhd (LGBTC), the joint venture company of Taliworks Corp Bhd and LGB Engineering Sdn Bhd (LGBE), has been awarded a RM75.87 million contract to construct and complete a 92 million litre balancing reservoir for the proposed Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant and Water Reticulation System in Selangor.
In Taliworks' filing to Bursa Malaysia today, Taliworks said the contract was awarded by the federal government’s Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB) to LGBTC, in which it owns a 20% stake, via a letter of acceptance dated Sept 28, received today.
The estimated time frame for the contract is 27 months. LGBE and Taliworks entered into a joint venture agreement today, expressly to undertake and complete the works in relation to the Langat 2 project.
Subject to the approval of PAAB, LGBTC shall sub-contract 70% of the works to Taliworks’ unit, Taliworks Construction Sdn Bhd.
The project is expected to contribute positively to the future earnings of the group.
Property developer Protasco Bhd's wholly-owned subsidiary HCM Engineering Sdn Bhd has received a letter of acceptance to design and build an additional four-storey building with basement car park, worth RM44 million, from Asian Football Confederation.
In a Bursa Malaysia announcement today, Protasco said the building will be located in Bukit Jalil, Mukim Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.
The contract is expected to be completed in 18 months, by March 2017.
The group expects the contract to contribute positively to its future earnings.
Mieco Chipboard Bhd said Datuk Seri Akhbar Khan Mohamed Khan had emerged as the new controlling shareholder, with a 56.76% stake.
In separate statements to Bursa today, Mieco said Akhbar Khan via Datuk Seri Akhbar Khan Trust Co Ltd (DSAKT) had acquired Ambang Sehati Sdn Bhd, which owns the Mieco stake, comprising 119.19 million shares, yesterday (Sept 29).
Today, Mieco said New Zealand-based DSAKT had bought Ambang Sehati from Datuk Mohamed Moiz J M Ali Moiz, Abdul Sathar MSM Abdul Kadir, Sascha Saleem Khan and Tania Aishah Khan.
According to Mieco, DSAKT “is the trustee of a discretionary trust, of which the beneficiaries are members of the family of Akbar Khan”.
Mieco said that following the Ambang Sehati transaction, Mohamed Moiz, Abdul Sathar, Sascha and Tania were no longer major shareholders of Mieco.
Polyethylene-based building materials supplier who's also involved in property development, Weida (M) Bhd, will wait for better times, before launching its projects due to property market slowdown.
“In view of the slowdown in the overall property market, the group is taking a prudent approach and will await a more opportune time to launch our other projects. At the moment, our focus is on delivering value and quality for our existing customers," said Weida's property development division executive director Victor Lee in a statement today.
According to its website, there are two projects in its pipeline: the high-rise residential Ardena Mont Kiara and another planned development in Cheras.
Weida also said the weakening of the ringgit will pose a challenge to the profitability of its manufacturing products, though it expects to mitigate that by upping sales, rationalising costs.
Theta Edge Bhd has bagged a contract to develop a web service for Accountant General's Department of Malaysia, from Ministry of Finance (MoF), worth RM91.89 million.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the system integration and turnkey solutions provider said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Konsortium Jaya Sdn Bhd, has accepted a letter of award from the MoF.
The contract, according to the company, was for the provision of hardware, software, training and implementation of the accruals accounting system for 11 state treasuries (1SPEKS).
The project is for 29 months, starting from Sept 1, 2015 until Jan 31, 2018.
Theta Edge expects the job to contribute positively to its consolidated net assets and earnings for the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2015.
UMW Holdings Bhd (UMWH) group chief operating officer Badrul Feisal Abdul Rahim will assume his duty as president and chief executive officer tomorrow (Oct 1).
In a Bursa filing, UMWH said Badrul Feisal, 46, takes over the helm from Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir, whose contract from both positions expires after five years, today.
Additionally, 57-year-old Azmin Che Yusoff will take over the duties of group chief operating officer tomorrow, while retaining his post as the group financial services division executive director and UMW group chief financial officer.
Separately, the group said it has agreed to extend the completion date of a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for the disposal of its wholly-owned subsidiary UMW Corp Sdn Bhd (UMW Corp)'s 61.08% equity interest in MK Autocomponents Ltd, as well as 55% equity interest in MK Automotive Industries Ltd, to vendor Datuk Muthukumar Ayarpadde.
The completion date was pushed to Nov 30, to allow for full satisfaction of the conditions precedent in the agreement, it said.
The extension date was deferred several times since the initial completion date on Dec 31 last year.
UMW Corp entered into a SPA with Ayarpadde on July 25 last year, to dispose of its equities in the two Indian companies for RM73.1 million, after facing challenges in the automotive component business environment in India.
Cypark Resources Bhd reported a flat net profit of RM12.25 million or 6.09 sen a share for the third quarter ended July 31, 2015 (3QFY15), compared to RM12.15 million or 6.7 sen a share a year ago, mainly due to the provision of additional tax expenses.
The additional tax expenses was required to be recognised for non-tax-exempted projects, it added.
The integrated environmental engineering and technology provider’s revenue for the period was 9.4% lower at RM61.44 million, from RM67.8 million in 3QFY14, as its environmental engineering projects faced slower progress.
For the year ended July 31, 2015, Cypark’s net profit inched 5.4% higher at RM35.33 million or 17.58 sen a share, from RM33.53 million or 18.5 sen a share in the preceding year.
The group’s revenue for the period came in at RM196.11 million, a 3.5% gain from RM189.32 million a year ago, its filing with Bursa today showed.
Cypark noted the market growth of solid waste management services in Malaysia is expected to be driven by the increasing waste output of its population and the increasing awareness for environmental care and protection.
The weak ringgit factor is a boost to Penang-based filing and stationeries items manufacturer, Asia File Corp Bhd.
Asia File's executive chairman Datuk Michael Lim Soon Huat said 90% of its revenue now is denominated in currencies other than the ringgit, such as the US dollar, Euro and British Pound.
“We derive 90% of our revenue in currencies other than the ringgit; and with the current weak ringgit situation, it serves as a natural hedge for us, in the sense that our exports can cover 80% of imports which are in US dollars,” he told reporters, after the company’s annual general meeting today.
The weak ringgit helped boost the group’s earnings for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015 (1QFY16), where it reported a 32.6% increase in net profit to RM19.85 million, from RM14.97 million in 1QFY15.
However, revenue had dropped by 9.9% to RM93.97 million, from RM104.32 million a year ago.
Steel pipe maker Hiap Teck Venture Bhd ended its final quarter for the financial year ended July 31, 2015 (FY15), with a third consecutive loss.
It recorded a net loss of RM68.66 million or 9.63 sen per share, compared with a net profit of RM10.65 million or 1.5 sen per share in 4QFY14, due to the share of losses in a jointly-controlled entity of RM26.12 million, and a provision for impairment of investment in the jointly-controlled entity amounting to RM55 million, according to its filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
Revenue for the quarter came in 10.5% higher on year at RM314 million, compared to RM284.17 million last year, despite its trading and manufacturing division reporting a 23% growth in sales volume.
The lower revenue growth was due to the lower selling prices, due to keen competition and generally lower global steel prices, it said.
It proposed a single tier final dividend of 0.3 sen for the financial year ended July 31, 2015, subject to shareholders’ approval at its upcoming annual general meeting; it declared 0.6 sen dividend last year.
For the full FY15, the group’s net loss came to RM77.09 million or 10.88 sen per share, compared with a net profit of RM45.57 million or 6.42 sen seen in FY14, even though revenue climbed 9% to RM1.26 billion, from RM1.11 billion.
Going forward, Hiap Teck said the steel industry's outlook remains challenging, due to an oversupply situation.
(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.)