KUALA LUMPUR (March 20): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus on Tuesday (March 21) could include the following: Axiata Group Bhd, George Kent Malaysia Bhd, IOI Properties Group Bhd, Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Bhd, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, IJM Corp Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Olympia Industries Bhd, Boustead Holdings Bhd, Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, DBE Gurney Resources Bhd, Genting Bhd, Genting Malaysia Bhd and Iris Corp Bhd
Axiata Group Bhd said it is currently analysing all potential impact on its investment in India-listed Idea Cellular Ltd.
This was after British telco giant Vodafone announced that is merging its Indian operations with Idea Celluar, in which Axiata Group Bhd holds a 19.8% stake, to create India’s largest telco group.
The merged entity will have almost 400 million customers, accounting for 35% of Indian market share.
Based on Idea Cellular’s closing price today, Axiata’s stake in the company is valued at 69.6 billion rupees, equivalent to RM4.71 billion.
George Kent Malaysia Bhd, which is planning a two-for-three share split, posted a 114% surge in net profit for the fourth quarter ended Jan 31, 2017 (4QFY17) to RM42.15 million, from RM19.66 million a year earlier, as gross profit improved while cost of sales shrank.
It also recorded higher unrealised gain on foreign exchange of RM1.85 million.
Quarterly revenue, however, was down 29% to RM189.14 million from RM265.58 million a year ago, mainly as its construction and metering segments' contributions fell.
George Kent recommended a final dividend of five sen per share for the financial year ending Jan 31, 2017 (FY17).
For FY17, its net profit doubled to RM101.41 million from RM50.07 million a year ago, while revenue climbed 12% to RM598.97 million from RM536.21 million.
IOI Properties Group Bhd’s rights issue has been oversubscribed by 136.73%.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, IOI Properties said it received valid applications for 1.51 billion rights shares over the total amount of 1.1 billion rights shares available for subscription.
"Together with the total valid excess applications received of 412.59 million rights shares, this represents an over-subscription of 37.45% over the total amount available for subscription," it added.
In November last year, IOI Properties had proposed to undertake a one-for-four rights issue at RM1.38 per rights share or totalling about RM1.5 billion to repay borrowings. This is the group's second rights issue in two years — the previous rights issue took place in November 2014.
This follows IOI Properties' successful tender for a parcel of leasehold land at Central Boulevard in Singapore’s Marina Bay for S$2.57 billion (RM8.14 billion), and it intends to fund the land tender mainly via bank borrowings.
Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Bhd, Malaysia’s largest trucking firm, has set up a new unit in China to expand its logistics business to that country.
Called Tiong Nam Logistics Solutions (Shenzhen) Co Ltd, it is held by wholly-owned subsidiary Tiong Nam Logistics Solutions Sdn Bhd.
Tiong Nam's venture into China came after it was reported that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to set up a regional distribution hub in Malaysia to cater its fast-growing business in the region.
LKL International Bhd’s net profit in its third quarter ended Jan 31, 2017 (3QFY17) dropped 48% to RM1.21 million compared with RM2.35 million in the previous year, mainly on lower sales of medical supplies.
The ACE Market-listed LKL, which manufactures medical beds, peripherals and accessories, saw its revenue drop 38% to RM7.34 million from RM11.78 million, on subdued market conditions that had resulted in lower sales of its products.
For the cumulative first nine months of the financial year (9MFY17), the group made a net profit of RM4.27 million, up 3.4% compared with the RM4.13 million reported for 9MFY16. Revenue fell slightly to RM27.8 million from RM27.84 million.
On prospects, LKL said it expects its recently-announced corporate proposals to contribute positively to its performance.
The Federal Land Authority (Felda) registered RM1.21 billion in unrealised losses that came from its holdings in Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV), according to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's department Datuk Razali Ibrahim.
Razali said Felda has a total stake of 33.67% in FGV, with a direct stake of 21.25% and indirect holdings of 12.42%, which is held via its wholly-owned subsidiary Felda Asset Holdings Company Sdn Bhd (FAHC).
"Up to Dec 30, 2016, based on its direct holdings of 21.25%, Felda has recorded unrealised losses of RM1.2 billion. Meanwhile, FAHC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Felda which holds 452.92 million shares in FGV, has recorded RM9.36 million in losses.
"This brings the total losses to RM1.21 billion," he said in a written reply in Parliament to Sg Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul's query.
IJM Corp Bhd has established a private vehicle — IJM Dewas (Mauritius) Ltd — to invest up to 74% stake in Dewas Bypass Tollway Pte Ltd, a highway concessionaire in India.
The concessionaire is involved in the widening and upgrading of the 19.8km Dewas Bypass Road in Madhya Pradesh, India, to a four- and six-lane highway. The works are to be done on a design, build, operate and transfer basis, IJM said.
According to a report in May 2016 by an Indian daily, a sum of 2.86 billion rupees (RM194 million) is to be spent by the state-owned Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corp Ltd on the road.
Olympia Industries Bhd confirmed today that it is planning to dispose of its stake in its stockbroking unit Jupiter Securities Sdn Bhd.
"The board of directors of Olympia wishes to state that the company has plans to dispose [of] its equity interest in Jupiter Securities Sdn Bhd and has been in discussions with interested parties," the company said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
The announcement follows a media report last Friday which stated that CIMB Group Holdings Bhd is looking to acquire Jupiter Securities for RM50 million in relation to CIMB's 50:50 joint venture with China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd.
According to the report, CIMB plans to acquire loss-making Jupiter Securities for its stock broking licence, which is required by CIMB-China Galaxy JV in order to commence operations in Malaysia.
In a separate statement today, CIMB said it is "engaging in exploratory discussions with its stakeholders and various parties" to smoothen its partnership with China Galaxy, as the proposed partnership "is envisaged to involve multiple countries".
Boustead Holdings Bhd and Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd updated that they have secured a letter of acceptance (LoA) from the Defence Ministry to supply four vessels to the Royal Malaysian Navy, and that the deal is valued at RM1.17 billion.
Boustead said in a regulatory filing that its subsidiary Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) had received the LoA dated March 17, 2017 to supply four units of Littoral Mission Ships.
The contract is a collaboration between the Malaysian and Chinese governments, and was awarded to BNS under direct negotiation, it said.
It will be collaborating with Partner Shipyard in China for the four-year job. The ships will be designed by Partner Shipyard, with the first two vessels to be built and delivered in China in 2019 and 2020, and the remaining two vessels to be built and delivered in Malaysia in 2021.
DBE Gurney Resources Bhd announced that Singapore-based asset management firm Advance Capital Partners Pte Ltd has become its substantial shareholder, owning a 6.15% stake.
Poultry entity DBE said Advance Capital acquired an additional 35.71 million of its shares last Tuesday (March 14) following conversion of redeemable convertible notes or bonds that it had.
Following the bond conversion, Advance Capital owns 73.66 million shares representing 6.15% of DBE's issued share base.
The Genting Group has obtained preliminary approval for its proposed development of a 300-room hotel within the vicinity of a country bus terminal in Omni, Miami, according to a real estate publication in the US.
A report by real estate publication The Real Deal said that Miami Dade’s County Commission’s transportation committee had “unanimously agreed” to lease the public asset to the conglomerate for 90 years.
However, the approval for the 90-year lease will only be decided in April, the report said.
Loss-making Iris Corp Bhd announced a corporate restructuring plan which include refocusing its core business to trusted identification solutions, as well as raising additional funds via private placement exercise and divesting non-core businesses that include property development, education and waste-to-energy plant.
Iris’ non-core businesses – property development, education and waste-to-energy plant – are currently loss making.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/my/article/axiata-george-kent-ioi-properties-tiong-nam-lkl-international-fgv-ijm-cimb-olympia-boustead
