KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 22): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept 23) could include the following: DRB-Hicom, EcoWorld, APFT, Westport, JAKS Resources, MMC Corp, KESM and Advance Synergy.
DRB-Hicom Bhd’s wholly-owned unit DRB-Hicom Commercial Vehicle Sdn Bhd (DHCV) is targeting to expand its truck and prime mover vehicle business by selling at least 300 units of Tata vehicles in the financial year ending March 31, 2016.
DHCV is the exclusive distributor of India’s Tata commercial vehicles in Malaysia.
The company plans to sell Tata vehicles which will be assembled at DRB-Hicom’s plant in Pahang after FY 2016. For now, it will be selling imported Tata vehicles such as Tata Xenon, Tata Prime Mover and Tata Ultra.
Eco World Development Group Bhd plans to acquire 26 pieces of leasehold land in Kuala Selangor, measuring 2,198.4 acres for RM1.181 billion in cash for the development of a self-contained township with a potential gross development value of RM15 billion over a 15-year period.
The acquisition is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2016.
The property developer said in a filing today that its wholly-owned subsidiary Paragon Pinnacle Sdn Bhd has signed five separate conditional sale and purchase agreements with four vendors for the proposed acquisition.
Henry Butcher Malaysia Sdn Bhd said in its valuation letter that the indicative market value of the land amounts to RM1.1896 billion, making the purchase price a 0.7% discount of the market value of the land, said EcoWorld.
APFT Bhd sealed an equipment installation job from Flexsys Chemicals (M) Sdn Bhd valued at RM32.79 million yesterday.
The flight academy operator announced that its unit, PT Technic (M) Sdn Bhd, entered into the agreement with Flexsys on Sept 12.
APFT will be required to furnish all labour, supervision, equipment, materials, services and all other things necessary to supply, fabricate and erect structural steel and mechanical equipment installation works and related works.
The company added that the job is part of the project Kuantan 2nd Cystex (K2C), which is to be constructed on the land where Flexsys’ plant is located in Kuantan.
Westport Holdings Bhd is facing a second delay on the container tariff hike at Port Klang. According to the company, the tariff hike has been pushed to Nov 1, 2015 instead of Oct 1.
Port Klang Authority who issued the letter to Westport informing the company of the delay did not reveal the reason for it.
The transport ministry had on Aug 5 approved a container tariff revision to be implemented in two phases, with an average increase of 15% in each phase.
The revised tariff encompasses container terminal handling charges for import, export, transhipment, shifting and storage charges for container, as well as handling charges for heavy lift or uncontainerised cargo.
JAKS Resources Bhd’s joint venture partner China Power Engineering Consulting Group Co Ltd (CPECC) has on Sept 19 secured US$1.402 billion financing for the proposed construction of the power plant (IPP) in Vietnam.
JAKS said in a statement today that the principal financiers for the US$1.4 billion borrowing are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank Corporation and Export-Import Bank of China.
Subsequent to this financing agreement between CPECC and its principal financiers, JAKS’ wholly-owned subsidiary JAKS Hai Duong Power Company Ltd, which will be undertaking the IPP project, entered into a shareholders’ loan facility agreement with CPECC’s subsidiary China Power Engineering Consulting Group (HK) Investment Co., Ltd, to accept a term loan facility in an amount not exceeding US$1.4 billion, representing 75% of the total project cost.
The US$1.87 billion power plant project will be executed in two separate contracts. The first engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract valued at US$1.06 billion was awarded to CPECC-led consortium, while JAKS’ wholly-owned subsidiary Golden Keen Holdings Ltd was awarded with the second EPC contract worth US$454.5 million for civil and M&E engineering works.
This contract helps to boost JAKS’ construction order book up to RM2.52 billion from RM632.4 million as at end-June 2015.
MMC Corp Bhd plans to issue up to RM1.5 billion in the Sukuk Murabahah Programme, which will be mainly used to refinance the group’s existing borrowings.
Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd said in a statement today that it has assigned a rating of AA-IS with a stable outlook on MMC’s proposed sukuk.
KESM Industries Bhd’s net profit for the fourth quarter ended July 31, 2015 rose 56.4% to RM10.45 million or 24.3 sen per share compared to RM6.68 million or 15.5 sen per share a year ago. The company attributed the rise to foreign currency translation income.
Foreign currency translation income totalled to RM3.11 million this quarter compared to a loss of RM7,000 a year ago.
However, the revenue was flat at RM68.94 million compared with RM68.65 million in the previous year, with the slight increase attributable to the appreciation of US dollar against the ringgit on US-dollar denominated receivables.
The semiconductor device testing firm proposed a dividend payout of 3 sen per share.
On a full year basis, net profit surged 56.5% to RM17.03 million or 39.6 sen per share from RM10.88 million or 25.3 sen per share in the previous year.
Advance Synergy Bhd has terminated its land lease agreement with the Municipality of Phnom Penh Cambodia (MPP) and will exit the hotel market as competition among three-star hoteliers heats up.
In a filing with the exchange today, Advance Synergy disclosed that its unit AHP has entered into an agreement with Monoratanak Construction Co Ltd and Canadia Bank PLC to terminate the lease agreement, dated Jan 31, 1996, for US$1.25 million.
The lease agreement was entered into with MPP, whereby the municipal leased AHP a piece of land located on Preah Monivong Boulevard in Phnom Penh, including Hotel Monorom and the land adjacent to the rear.
The lease agreement allowed AHP to operate the hotel for 70 years for a rental of US$60,000 to US$192,000 per year.
AHP was informed through a letter from the director of Phnom Penh Municipality Department of Economy and Finance that MPP has sold the land to Monorantanak, subject to the lease agreement.
(Note: The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)