KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 17): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus on Wednesday (Jan 18) include Hua Yang, Malayan Banking Bhd, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV), S P Setia, Sime Darby, Ekovest, Toyo Ink, Priceworth International and Silk Holdings.
Hua Yang Bhd saw its net profit decline 65.5% to RM10.42 million or 2.96 sen a share in its third quarter ended Dec 31, 2016 (3QFY17) from RM30.16 million or 8.57 sen a share a year ago.
Its quarterly revenue dropped 52.3% to RM73.95 million in 3QFY17 from RM154.98 million a year ago.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, it said its total unbilled sales as at Dec 31, 2016 under review stood at RM215.63 million.
Its 3QFY17 revenue for its property development segment stood at RM73.36 million compared with RM154.44 million in 3QFY16.
The group has declared a second interim dividend of two sen per share for the financial year ending March 31, 2017.
Going forward, the group said the outlook for the property industry remains challenging amidst uncertain global economic conditions.
Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) saw some 34.1 million shares, representing 0.33% of its total outstanding shares, disposed of via an off-market trade at RM8.05 apiece.
The disposal, which is believed to have been done by the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), was transacted in 14 tranches via off market deals. The shares that changed hands were valued at RM274.2 million.
The figure raised is close to the figure of US$63.1 million (RM281.8 million) reported by Dow Jones yesterday. The report stated that Felda was looking at selling part of its stake in Maybank at RM8.05 per share, in a move to raise funds to purchase a 37% stake in Indonesia's PT Eagle High Plantations Tbk.
The transaction at RM8.05 was at a discount of 1.47% to its current market price of RM8.17.
With this disposal, Felda would have seen its equity interest in Maybank drop to 1.6% from 1.9% as at Feb 10, according to the bank's annual report for financial year ended Dec 31, 2015.
The share sale comes at a time when Felda is still under heavy scrutiny over its plan to buy the 37% stake in Eagle High for US$505.4 million.
Felda has seen losses in its two consecutive fiscal years since the public listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) in June 2012. The statutory board has yet to present the audited accounts of FY15 to Parliament.
S P Setia Bhd announced today that S P Setia (Indonesia), Sime Darby Bhd and I&P Group Sdn Bhd have decided not to pursue the joint venture with Indonesia’s PT Hanson International Tbk to jointly develop an affordable housing project in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the group said S P Setia, Sime Darby and I&P Group are exercising the right to terminate the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) they had signed with Hanson International in accordance with the terms in the MoU, with immediate effect.
“The termination of the MoU does not have a material financial effect on the company,” it added.
No reason was given for the termination.
To recap, on Aug 2, the three Malaysian property developers entered into the MoU with Hanson International.
To be built on a 500ha piece of land, the project was to have gross development value of 11.29 trillion rupiah (RM3.5 billion). The land was located in Maja, Tangerang, which is about 80km from Jakarta.
Under the MoU, Sime Darby, S P Setia and I&P would each own a 20% stake while the remaining 40% was to be held by PT Hanson. I&P Group Sdn Bhd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd.
Ekovest Bhd has won a RM6.32 billion job to build an expressway that consists of Kampung Baru Link, Istana Link and Kapar Link Expressway in the Klang Valley.
The new expressway will be linked to the existing DUKE highway.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia this evening, the group announced that its subsidiary Lebuhraya DUKE Fasa 2A Sdn Bhd (LDF2A) has received a letter on the principle approval from the government for the construction of the 75.2km expressway.
The highway project is expected to be funded by internally generated funds, borrowings and/or other fundraising exercises.
However, Ekovest added that the proposed project is subject to further negotiation between the parties and the principle approval is not binding until the relevant agreement between LDF2A and the government is executed.
Toyo Ink Group Bhd has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Hau Giang Province in Vietnam (Hou Giang DONRE) with both parties agreeing to confirm the terms and conditions as set out in the Land Lease Agreement (LLA) to develop a thermal power plant project.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Toyo Ink said it will use its “commercially reasonable efforts” to reach agreements on all outstanding terms and issues regarding its Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract and the power purchase agreement before August this year.
“Hau Giang DONRE shall use their commercially reasonable efforts to accommodate certain changes raised by international lenders in the LLA which are standard and usual for this type of non-recourse financing and are in accordance with the Laws of Vietnam,” the company said in the filing.
Toyo Ink, a printing ink and materials manufacturer, added that the MOA is effective within the next eight months, or until it signs the BOT contract.
“The board, after having considered all aspects of the MOA, is of the opinion that the MOA is in the best interests of the Toyo Ink and its shareholders,” the company added.
To recap, Toyo Ink had in 2013 received approval from the Vietnam government to be the project investor to invest and develop a 2x1,000 MW coal-fired thermal power plant on a BOT basis, with a concession period of 25 years.
The mega-project was estimated to cost US$3.5 billion.
Priceworth International Bhd announced that it has fixed the second and final tranche of its placement shares at 10 sen per share.
The price, said the company in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, was at a discount of about 9.67% or 1.07 sen over the five-day volume weighted average price which spanned until Jan 16, 2017.
With 20.2 million shares to be placed out to investors, Priceworth is expected to raise some RM2.02 million.
It is worth noting that the price fixed for the second tranche of its shares is slightly lower than the price fixed for the first tranche of the placement exercise, which was 10.5 sen apiece for 44 million shares, raising a total of RM4.62 million.
According to its announcement on Oct 19 last year, Priceworth had said that the proceeds from the private placement of its shares to third party investors would be used to partly fund the acquisition of Rumpun Capaian Sdn Bhd and its 99.9%-subsidiary, which received a 100-year timber extraction and replanting concession on 101,161 hectares of forest reserve in Trus Madi, Sabah.
Silk Holdings Bhd will be be suspended from trading tomorrow from 9 am to 5pm, pending the release of an announcement relating to a material transaction.
According to a filing with Bursa, “the request for suspension is made under subparagraphs 3.1(b) of Practice Note 2 on Requests for Suspension of the Main Market Listing requirements of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd”.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/my/article/hua-yang-maybank-fgv-s-p-setia-sime-darby-ekovest-toyo-ink-priceworth-international-and-silk
