A joint venture (JV) between Bina Puri Holdings Bhd and Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd has accepted a letter of award from Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd for the proposed development and upgrading of Pan Borneo Highway in Sarawak for a contract sum of RM1.36 billion.
The award is for Phase 1 of the highway, for the construction of roads and bridges from Sg Awik to Bintangor Junction in Sarawak.
According to Bina Puri's announcement today, the contract is for a period of 47 months.
The 70:30 JV is between PPES Works (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd (PPESW) and Bina Puri Sdn Bhd (BPSB).
PPESW is the main construction arm of Cahya Mata Sarawak while BPSB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bina Puri.
The suit filed by Scomi Engineering Bhd's (SEB) unit Scomi Transit Projects Sdn Bhd (STP) against Prasarana Malaysia Bhd over Prasarana's termination of a contract between the two parties has been dismissed by the High Court.
In a bourse filing today, SEB said the court, however, granted an injunction preventing termination of the contract by Prasarana until tomorrow (July 26), when the court will hear arguments as to whether the injunction should be further extended, pending appeal.
The dispute between the two parties arose in relation to a notice of termination dated June 9 issued by Prasarana, which gave STP 14 days to renew a performance bond connected with the contract, failing which the contract, dated June 3, 2011, would be terminated.
Prasarana claimed that only six out of 12 agreed sets of new four-car trains by SEB had been delivered to date — five sets of which are currently in revenue service. Both parties are in dispute over the delay of the train delivery.
Public Bank Bhd will reduce its base rate (BR) and base lending rate (BLR) or base financing rate by 23 basis points (bps) from July 27 onwards, following Bank Negara Malaysia's move to cut the overnight policy rate by 25bps to 3%.
In a statement, Public Bank said the BR will be lowered to 3.52% while the BLR will be at 6.72%.
Other banks that have also lowered their BLRs include Affin Holdings Bhd, AMMB Holdings Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, RHB Bank and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd.
TH Heavy Engineering Bhd (THHE), which was reported to be close to securing a contract over RM700 million, has received an unusual market activity query from Bursa Malaysia over the recent spike in its share price and volume.
In a bourse filing today, the exchange ordered the group to disclose any corporate development, rumour, report or any other possible reason to explain the unusual trading.
In its July 25–31 issue, The Edge, citing sources, reported that THHE was close to securing a deal in excess of the sum mentioned, to build at least two boats for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
THHE's filing with Bursa Malaysia later today said it is in preliminary discussions with the relevant government agency to secure a contract for the supply of offshore patrol vessels. THHE added that it will make appropriate announcement if or when it materialises.
VS Industry Bhd (VSI) has bought a 20% stake in the maker of Diamond water filter NEP Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd's for RM60 million cash.
The electronics manufacturing services company said it today signed a conditional subscription agreement with NEP and its major shareholder Lim Chang Huat to subscribe for shares in NEP representing a 20% stake.
The RM60 million cash consideration is split into two tranches of equal value, with the first tranche's payment already completed. The second tranche will be issued within six months after completion of the first tranche, subject to fulfilment of conditions in the subscription agreement, said VSI in a statement today.
NEP's unaudited net profit for the financial year ending June 30, 2016 (FY16) is RM29.1 million compared to RM21.4 million in FY15. Revenue rose to RM185.4 million from RM153.2 million.
The acquisition comes with a profit guarantee by Lim of at least RM40 million for FY17. He will reimburse VSI in the event of any shortfall in the profit guarantee.
Based on the guarantee, the acquisition is pegged at a reasonable price-to-earnings ratio of 7.5 times.
Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd, the local distributor of Mercedes-Benz marquee, posted a 9.9% drop in its net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016 (2QFY16) to RM19.67 million from a year ago, in line with the 10.5% drop in sales to RM422.75 million.
For the cumulative six months (1HFY16), Cycle & Carriage's net profit rose 2.5% to RM29.18 million. Revenue inched up by 0.3% to RM737.88 million, which the company attributed to higher unit sales. However, it was offset by a higher composition of lower-priced models.
Its chairman Haslam Preeston said in a statement today that the group is banking on the new E-Class to bring "a beneficial effect on the group's results" going forward, although trading conditions are currently challenging.
ACE Market-listed ManagePay Systems Bhd said it received today the licence to conduct domestic fund transfer activities among its e-Money users via its MPay Portal and MPay Wallet from the central bank.
In bourse filing today, ManagePay said it had received from Bank Negara the Class B Licence to carry out money services business for a one-year period — from July 13 this year to July 12, 2017 — for issuance of electronic money pursuant to the Money Services Business Act 2011.
The licence is renewable yearly, said the company in the filing.
ManagePay first received the letter of award from Bank Negara in February 2015 to issue e-money via its proposed online wallet called MPAY Balance and prepaid card MPAY Mastercard.
SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, SapuraKencana Mexicana SAPI de CV, has been awarded a contract worth US$113 million (about RM461 million).
The company said the contract is for the procurement and construction of a 36" × 18 km sour gas pipeline in Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, Mexico.
The scope of work comprises transportation and installation of pipelines, crossings, top side modifications and subsea works, including procurement and project management.
Work is scheduled to be carried out from this month until March 2017.
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