KUALA LUMPUR (April 29): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies in focus tomorrow (April 30) could include Bina Puri Holdings Bhd, Key Alliance Group Bhd, Pensonic Holdings Bhd, NetX Holdings Bhd, Unisem (M) Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, AirAsia Group Bhd, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd and Eversendai Corp Bhd.
Bina Puri Holdings Bhd has teamed up with Key Alliance Group Bhd to develop building information systems (BIS) for companies in the construction sector.
The group will be providing its “expertise and knowledge in the construction sector and our actual worksites to help develop the BIS” under an agreement it signed with Key Alliance’s subsidiary Progenet Innovations Sdn Bhd.
The collaboration is in line with its move towards adoption of technology, it said.
Pensonic Holdings Bhd posted a net profit of RM5.08 million in the third quarter ended Feb 29, 2020, against a net loss of RM968,000 in the same quarter a year ago.
The group said its revenue increased to RM69.43 million during the quarter under review from RM66.98 million previously.
Pre-tax profit was RM5.94 million compared to a pre-tax loss of RM0.7 million in the preceding year corresponding quarter, mainly due to gain from disposal of property, plant and equipment in the current financial quarter, it said.
Going forward, Pensonic said necessary measures in consolidating the local businesses would be taken with more cost savings by merging certain business units.
It said a focus on e-commerce would be greatly emphasised and foresees better margin from this sector.
NetX Holdings Bhd is teaming up with Australian financial services provider Finexia Securities Ltd to introduce, promote and operate a point-to-point currency exchange digital platform that NetX developed, which comes with an in-built e-wallet function, in Australia.
The group's wholly-owned E-FX Sdn Bhd has inked a two-year collaboration agreement with Finexia Securities.
Under the agreement, Finexia Securities will have the exclusive right to use and operate the E-FX platform in Australia. In return, it will have to generate a minimum revenue of A$4 million (RM11.32 million) over the next two years, A$1 million in the first year and A$3 million in the second year.
Any profits generated from the spread of forex, remittance, investment and balance floats of the E-FX platform will be split on a 50-50 basis between E-FX and Finexia Securities.
Unisem (M) Bhd continues to be loss making in the first quarter of this year, no thanks to lower revenue, higher interest expenses, and as tax provisions more than tripled.
It posted a net loss of RM2.82 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020, compared to a net profit of RM6.05 million in the corresponding quarter last year, as revenue declined 10% to RM273.35 million from RM303.13 million.
The semiconductor assembly and testing services company said the decline in revenue was attributable to lower sales volume recorded at its PT Unisem plant in Indonesia due to its planned closure on March 31, 2020, compared to full production a year prior. In addition, the Movement Control Order had also resulted in lower production volume at its Ipoh plant during the quarter.
Also impacting the group's profitability was the 40% increase in interest expense to RM1.56 million from RM1.11 million and the 275.6% jump in taxation to RM3.99 million from RM1.06 million.
Sapura Energy Bhd's fourth quarter net loss from continuing operations widened to RM4.23 billion from RM2.23 billion a year earlier, as revenue fell and the oil and gas (O&G) support services firm made asset impairment provisions. The industry is bracing for the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
Sapura Energy said revenue fell to RM1.11 billion in the fourth quarter ended Jan 31, 2020 from RM1.49 billion in the previous year, mainly due to lower revenue from its engineering and construction segment.
"In the current quarter, the group has made a provision for impairment on goodwill on consolidation of RM3.04 billion (4QFY19: RM108.4 million) and a provision for impairment on property, plant and equipment of RM240.9 million (4QFY19: RM1.41 billion),” said the group.
Low-cost carrier AirAsia Group Bhd resumes its scheduled domestic flights in Malaysia from today, which will be followed by Thailand tomorrow, Indonesia on May 7 and the Philippines on May 16, subject to approval from the authorities.
It said the resumption of services will initially be for key selected domestic routes, which will be increased gradually to include international destinations around the region once the situation improves and governments lift borders and travel restrictions.
AirAsia and its long-haul arm AirAsia X Bhd grounded most of their fleet and suspended flights on March 28 as travel demand dropped because of the COVID-19 outbreak and cross-border travel restrictions.
A profitable heavy engineering segment helped Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MHB) post a net profit of RM6.13 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 (1QFY20), from a loss of RM29.37 million last year.
However, even as it posted its second consecutive profitable quarter, the oil and gas services company warned of significant risks ahead in the form of potential impairment of assets on the back of oil market uncertainties and the COVID-19 outbreak.
Quarterly earnings per share stood at 0.4 sen compared to 1.8 sen of losses per share for 1QYFY19.
The heavy engineering segment reported an operating profit of RM1.2 million for the quarter, compared to an operating loss of RM23.9 million for the corresponding quarter a year ago, mainly due to reversal of cost provisions.
Eversendai Corp Bhd has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd as global strategic partners in modular construction work for the construction and energy industries.
The group said its unit Eversendai Offshore RMC FZE had signed the MoU, which will see Eversendai and Hyundai collaborating to explore business opportunities in the international market, including delivering competitive proposals based on both companies’ joint expertise and experience.
It said the projects secured from this alliance will be carried out in Eversendai's state-of-the-art 200,000 sq m waterfront fabrication yard in RAK Maritime City, Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
The group said the facility would be able to serve both Western and Eastern hemispheres and is capable of delivering large modular fabricated and constructed structures.
https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/bina-puri-key-alliance-pensonic-netx-unisem-sapura-energy-airasia-mhb-and-eversendai
