KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies in focus on Friday (Feb 24) may include: S P Setia, Maybank, Axiata, Pos Malaysia, Genting Malaysia, Magnum, Unisem, IHH Healthcare, IJM, AirAsia and SunCon.
S P Setia Bhd registered a net profit of RM424.8 million for its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2016 (4QFY16), bringing its total bottomline in FY16 to RM808.03 million.
The property developer posted revenue of RM1.63 billion in 4QFY16 and recommended a final dividend of 16 sen per share for FY16.
The group has set a sales target of RM4 billion for FY17, approximately 77% of which is expected to come from local projects.
It looks set to launch two projects in Melbourne at the Prahran and Exhibition Street sites while in Malaysia, it targets to roll out more mid-priced landed properties and affordable housing.
Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) saw a 42.9% surge in its net profit for 4QFY16 to RM2.36 billion due to a decrease in its net insurance benefits and claims incurred, net fee and commission expenses, change in expense liabilities, and taxation of life and takaful fund.
Maybank declared a dividend of 32 sen per share, comprising a cash portion of 10 sen and electable portion of 22 sen per share.
For FY16, the group saw a 1.4% drop in net profit to RM6.74 billion from RM6.84 billion a year ago.
Axiata Group Bhd reported a fourth quarter loss of RM309.5 million versus a net profit of RM467.24 million a year earlier, due mainly to a significant increase in foreign exchange (forex) loss and net financing cost.
Revenue for the quarter grew to RM5.79 billion from RM5.36 billion on higher income from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia operations, the group said.
Its full-year net profit shrank to RM504.25 million from RM2.55 billion a year earlier, while revenue grew to RM21.57 billion, from RM19.88 billion.
The group proposed a final dividend of three sen per share.
Pos Malaysia Bhd saw its net profit soar 55% y-o-y to RM34.8 million in its third financial quarter ended Dec 31, 2016 (3QFY17), from RM22.5 million, thanks to the courier segment's higher contribution to the postal group's bottomline.
Quarterly revenue climbed 28.5% to RM635.7 million as it received a contribution of RM169.3 million from its logistics business pursuant to the acquisition of Pos Aviation Sdn Bhd.
For the cumulative nine months period ended Dec 31, 2016 (9MFY17), net profit surged 50.6% to RM73.4 million or 11.56 sen per share, from RM48.7 million or 9.08 sen per share in the previous corresponding period. Revenue expanded 12.7% to RM1.4 billion from RM1.3 billion a year ago.
Genting Malaysia Bhd saw its net profit grow five times to RM1.69 billion in 4QFY16 from RM338.56 million, despite revenue remaining flat at RM2.28 billion, due to a one-off gain from the disposal of shares in Genting Hong Kong Ltd, and better operational performance.
For the full-year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY16), its net profit jumped 129% to RM2.88 billion while revenue climbed 6% to RM8.93 billion.
It announced a special single-tier dividend of 7.3 sen per share for FY16.
Magnum Bhd’s 4QFY16 net profit rose 18% y-o-y to RM45.1 million from RM38.2 million as it registered lower prize payout ratios.
Revenue, however, slipped 5% y-o-y to RM634.3 million in the quarter, it said, as it continued to face competition from illegal operators and weakness in consumer spending.
The board declared a fourth interim single-tier three sen dividend for FY16 as its full-year net profit fell 16% to RM190.8 million. Revenue for FY16 slipped 4% to RM2.6 billion.
Unisem (M) Bhd saw its fourth quarter net profit fall 15% to RM51.3 million due to higher tax expense arising from reversal of deferred tax assets.
The semiconductor device maker’s quarterly revenue grew 2.9% to RM362.1 million, with full-year revenue rising 5% to RM1.32 billion due to an improvement in all segments.
The company proposed a final dividend of four sen after it recorded a 4.3% increase in its net profit of RM162.3 million in FY16 from RM155.5 million a year earlier.
IHH Healthcare Bhd fell into the red with a fourth quarter net loss of RM42.51 million — compared with a net profit of RM415.83 million a year ago — dragged down by a massive exchange loss of RM224.5 million.
The group also recognised higher doubtful debts expenses of RM49 million compared with RM9.9 million in 4QFY15.
For the full year, IHH’s net profit declined 34.4% to RM612.35 million while revenue rose 18.5% to RM10.02 billion.
It proposed a first and final single tier dividend of three sen per share.
IJM Corp Bhd witnessed a 46% drop in net profit for 3QFY17 due to the absence of a one-off gain of RM133.3 million from the disposal of a 70% equity interest in Swarna Tollway Private Ltd, which was included in its results last year.
Meanwhile, its quarterly revenue rose 11% to RM1.6 billion from RM1.44 billion in 3QFY15 due to better contribution by its construction, property development, manufacturing & quarrying and plantation divisions.
Separately, the group said it had accepted a letter of award worth RM1.16 billion from MFBBCC Retail Mall Sdn Bhd for works on the first phase of Bukit Bintang City Centre Development.
AirAsia Bhd posted a 16% slide in its fourth quarter net profit to RM465.32 million due to a 48% decline in aircraft operating lease income but witnessed a surge of 3.7 times in net profit for FY16 to RM2.04 billion.
Meanwhile, full year revenue was up 9.9% at RM6.92 billion.
The group announced it would ramp up its fleet size to over 200 aircraft as well as boost its flight frequency on “trunk” routes.
Sunway Construction Bhd saw a 9.23% uptick in its 4QFY17 net profit to RM32.05 million and increase of 17.62% in revenue to RM553.15 million across both its construction and precast segments.
However, its FY16 net profit and revenue were down by 3.21% to RM123.51 million and 6.68% to RM1.79 billion respectively led by lower revenue in its construction segment.
The group posted an outstanding order book of RM4.8 billion.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/my/article/s-p-setia-maybank-axiata-pos-malaysia-genting-malaysia-magnum-unisem-ihh-healthcare-ijm
