Petronas, Capital A, Proton, Axiata, Comintel, CN Asia, MN, DNeX, Jiankun, LB Aluminium and Scientex Ayer Keroh

Petronas, Capital A, Proton, Axiata, Comintel, CN Asia, MN, DNeX, Jiankun, LB Aluminium and Scientex Ayer Keroh

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 6): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made news on Tuesday (Dec 6): Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), Capital A Bhd, Proton Holdings Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, Comintel Corp Bhd, CN Asia Corp Bhd, MN Holdings Bhd, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX), Jiankun International Bhd, LB Aluminium Bhd and Scientex Packaging (Ayer Keroh).

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) on Monday (Dec 5) signed a deal with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), awarding the first concession in the Middle East for unconventional oil resources. Petronas will retain a 100% stake in the operating rights of the concession to explore and appraise resources in “Unconventional Onshore Block 1”. The agreement comes after Adnoc conducted preliminary operations in the concession area and parties can enter a production concession of 30 years after a successful appraisal phase. The six-year agreement is the first investment by a Malaysian company in an Abu Dhabi concession.

Capital A Bhd has issued a clarification that the proposed plan announced recently is not a merger of AirAsia Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd, but a potential disposal of Capital A’s aviation assets to AirAsia X. The group said the exercise is aimed at forming a separate publicly-quoted aviation group, comprising six airlines — four short-haul Asean airlines and two medium-haul airlines, namely AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Philippines, AirAsia X and Thai AirAsia X. The company made the clarification after local news outlets reported that Capital A chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes had said there would be no merger of AirAsia’s aviation arm businesses into one new entity but instead, all aviation operations would be injected under one existing structure.

National automaker Proton Holdings Bhd said that the company was on track with its sales reaching 126,682 units from January to November. In a statement, Proton said the year-to-date (YTD) sales have eclipsed its full-year sales in 2021 by 10.4%, with YTD export sales climbing 66.6% to 5,028 units, from 3,018. This comes on the back of 11,316 units delivered in November, despite the company having to grapple with temporary supply issues that led to a month-on-month decrease of 13.1% from October 2022.

Axiata Group Bhd has announced a special tax-exempt dividend of four sen per share, following the completion of the Celcom-Digi merger on Nov 30. The company has received a cash consideration of RM2.5 billion from Digi.Com Bhd and RM300 million from Digi’s parent company Telenor Asia Pte Ltd, as part of the transaction.

The upper limit price of Comintel Corp Bhd’s shares has been frozen at 69 sen by Bursa Malaysia, after the stock hit limit up for two consecutive trading days. Comintel surged as much as 30 sen or 333.33% to 39 sen on Monday (Dec 5), after Bursa lifted the trading suspension of the stock, following the completion of its regularisation plan. The counter continued its rally on Tuesday (Dec 6) to close another 30 sen or 76.92% higher at 69 sen, with some 6.41 million shares exchanging hands.

CN Asia Corp Bhd has trimmed its stake in Zen Tech International Bhd (formerly known as INIX Technologies Holdings Bhd) to 1.05%, from 6.69% previously. This came about after the company disposed of 19.02 million Zen Tech shares on Dec 2 and another 26.55 million shares on Dec 5, according to CN Asia’s Bursa Malaysia filing. Following the disposals, CN Asia’s shareholding in the glove maker and e-commerce specialist dropped to 8.85 million shares, or a 1.05% stake. CN Asia said the disposal consideration was based on the market price of 3.5 sen per share at the points of disposal on Dec 2 and Dec 5.

MN Holdings Bhd had secured a RM43.5 million contract from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to replace parts of a substation in Penang. Its wholly-owned subsidiary MN Power Transmission Sdn Bhd, and joint venture (JV) partner Zafas Sdn Bhd has been appointed by TNB as the main contractors of the gas-insulated substation in situ replacement project, and the contract entails the completion in 790 days from the commencement date (Dec 5). The JV company — owned 90% by MN Power and 10% by Zafas — will undertake the dismantling, replacement and commissioning of primary and secondary equipment, and power cables of the gas-insulated substation in Bayan Baru.

Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) announced the resignation of its independent and non-executive chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Mamat, citing “to be in line with good corporate governance practices and to pursue other corporate interests” as the reason for his resignation, according to Bursa Malaysia. The company was embroiled in legal disputes over its 60% investment in semiconductor water foundry SilTerra Malaysia Sdn Bhd. On Nov 17, DNeX announced that its wholly-owned unit, DNeX Semiconductor Sdn Bhd, had issued and served a notice of arbitration to commence arbitration proceedings against Mimastronics Technologies Co Ltd (Mimas), with the issue being that one of the conditions for DNeX’s acquisition of SilTerra was that SilTerra had to be 55%-owned by a Malaysian entity or its manufacturing licence would be revoked.

Jiankun International Bhd’s unit has been slapped with a notice of demand from Fivestar Development (Puchong) Sdn Bhd for RM12.98 million linked to a joint venture agreement for the development of a residential property in Petaling, Selangor. Jiankun said FiveStar is seeking the payment of RM12.98 million in unpaid sums owed by Jiankun’s unit JKI Development Sdn Bhd pursuant to the joint venture agreement dated July 28, 2015, and a supplementary agreement dated Oct 5, 2016.

LB Aluminium Bhd has reported its net profit to have increased 81% year-on-year for the second quarter ended Oct 31, 2022, thanks to higher average selling prices and improved margin in its aluminium products segment. Net profit rose to RM12.35 million from RM6.83 million a year earlier, on the back of RM206.09 million revenue — a 30% increase from RM158.84 million previously.

Scientex Packaging (Ayer Keroh) has also reported a higher net profit, with an increase by 25% for the first quarter ended Oct 31, 2022, as revenue grew amid higher demand in both domestic and export sales, while lower raw material prices boosted margin. Net profit rose to RM12.28 million from RM9.8 million previously, while revenue grew 19% to RM213.92 million from RM180.31 million.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/petronas-capital-proton-axiata-comintel-cn-asia-mn-dnex-jiankun-lb-aluminium-and-scientex