Maxis, BCorp, Westports, TNB, CIMB, KNM, Muar Ban Lee and Green Packet

Maxis, BCorp, Westports, TNB, CIMB, KNM, Muar Ban Lee and Green Packet

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 20): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made the news on Friday (Jan 20) involving Maxis Bhd, Berjaya Corp Bhd, Westports Holdings Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, Muar Ban Lee Group Bhd and Green Packet Bhd.

Maxis Bhd, the only major mobile network operator (MNO) which has yet to execute the access agreement (AA) for 5G service, will postpone seeking its shareholders' approval on the entry into a 5G AA with Digital Nasional Bhd until the government finalises the 5G implementation policy. The government on Jan 13 announced that it would be reviewing the rollout of the national 5G network, and expected the 5G network implementation policy to be tabled before the Cabinet by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) founder and major shareholder Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun has pared his stake in the group to 21.317%, inching closer to his target of 19.6% by end-January. Earlier this month, BCorp confirmed that it is in the midst of negotiations for the proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in MCIS Insurance Bhd (MCIS Life). The shareholding pare down is towards complying with Section 92 of the Financial Services Act 2013, which states that individuals shall hold no more than a 10% stake in a financial institution.

Westports Holdings Bhd’s net profit rose 5.46% to RM235.04 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (4QFY2022) from RM222.88 million a year earlier, due to investment tax allowance. Quarterly revenue inched up 3.42% to RM521.14 million from RM503.9 million. The port operator declared a dividend of 7.46 sen per share totalling RM254.39 million to be paid on Feb 17. For the full year, Westports’ net profit was RM699.58 million, a decrease of 13.44% from RM808.22 million in FY2021 amid higher fuel costs, lower sundry income, and the one-off prosperity tax. Full-year revenue advanced 2.33% to RM2.07 billion from RM2.02 billion, amid higher operational revenue attributed to the growth in container and conventional revenue.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB)’s wholly-owned subsidiary Vantage RE Ltd has secured a £72 million refinance package from Mizuho Bank Ltd and National Westminster Bank Plc for offshore wind investment by the unit's 49%-owned Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Ltd (BODL). The financing facility will have a 15-year tenure. BODL is the entity that currently owns an operating 41.5MW offshore wind farm located off the northeast coast of England, in partnership with EDF Renewables — the renewable energy arm of French state-owned utility company, Électricité de France.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s 94.83%-owned subsidiary CIMB Thai pcl registered a 24.3% increase in net profit for FY2022 to 3.03 billion baht (RM400 million) from 2.44 billion baht in FY2021, driven by better cost control. The better performance was also attributed to a significant drop of 39.4% in expected credit losses due to lower impairment of assets, despite a marginal decrease in operating income to 13.75 billion baht from 14.16 billion baht a year earlier amid a contraction in net interest income of 346 million baht due to higher interest expenses, coupled with lower interest income on loans, as well as hire purchase business.

KNM Group Bhd has proposed a private placement to raise as much as RM18.38 million for working capital requirements and expenses related to the restructuring and formulation of its regularisation plan. The placement will entail the issuance of up to 367.64 million new shares — 10% of its total share base of 3.68 billion shares — to third-party investors to be identified later, at an issue price to be determined later.

Muar Ban Lee Group Bhd has proposed to undertake a bonus issue of 113.77 million warrants on the basis of one warrant for every two existing ordinary shares. These warrants will carry a five-year tenure with an exercise price of 50 sen each — equivalent to 2.89% of the five-day volume weighted average market price of Muar Ban Lee as at Jan 17. Assuming all 113.77 million warrants are exercised, the group is expected to raise gross proceeds of RM56.88 million, which will be utilised for Muar Ban Lee’s working capital.

Loss-making digital solutions company Green Packet Bhd is selling its entire 100% stake in software development company Xendity Sdn Bhd to Innov8tif Holdings Sdn Bhd, for RM17.5 million in cash. The estimated gain on the disposal is RM3.6 million, based on the carrying value of Xendity of RM13.9 million. Xendity is a loss-making unit that incurred a net loss of RM1.22 million for the 11-month period ended Nov 30, 2022, versus a net loss of RM2.35 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022.

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