KUALA LUMPUR (July 24): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made the news on Monday (July 24) involving Betamek Bhd, IJM Corp Bhd, JAG Bhd, Minda Global Bhd, Catcha Digital Bhd, EA Technique (M) Bhd (EATech), SMTrack Bhd, British American Tobacco Malaysia Bhd (BAT), United Plantations Bhd, UOA Real Estate Investment Trust (UOA REIT) and KIP Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).
Electronics manufacturing service provider Betamek Bhd has bagged a RM436.5 million contract to supply various electronic parts for Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd’s (Perodua) new car model. ACE Market-listed Betamek said its wholly-owned subsidiary Betamek Electronics (M) Sdn Bhd had received a letter of intent (LOI) from Perodua. Pursuant to the LOI, the supply of the electronics parts is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of the financial year ending March 31, 2025. The contract, which is for a duration of six years.
IJM Corp Bhd is taking up a 44.83% stake in Pestech International Bhd for RM124 million via a restricted issue, marking the construction group’s entry into the energy transmission sector. This confirms a report in the July 17-23 issue of The Edge Malaysia, which quoted sources as saying that a large construction company was believed to be in talks to take up a strategic stake in Pestech to strengthen its presence in the railway construction segment of the construction industry. IJM has inked an agreement with Pestech for the subscription of 800 million shares in Pestech at 15.5 sen per share, which represents a discount of 47.46% over Pestech’s last traded price of 29.5 sen, and a discount of 48.98% over the five-day volume weighted average market price of 30.38 sen up to July 21.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of JAG Bhd has signed an agreement to provide total waste management services for a period of three years valued at RM150 million. The company said its unit Jaring Metal Industries Sdn Bhd (JMI) signed the agreement with Infineon Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. JMI will manage all types of waste or by-products generated from Infineon’s production activities, including scheduled waste (such as electrical and electronic waste, process-related waste and maintenance-related waste), non-scheduled waste and critical scrap.
Minda Global Bhd shares will be traded under the new name of Cyberjaya Education Group Bhd, from Tuesday (July 25). The counter’s new short name will be “CEG”, replacing the old stock short name “Minda”. Listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia, Minda Global is an investment holdings company involved in the private education landscape in Malaysia and the region.
Catcha Digital Bhd said its Guidance Note 2 (GN2) status is expected to be lifted after the group raised RM29.7 million via a rights issue for growth and expansion. The rights issue also marked the completion of the digital media and advertising group’s regularisation plan. At the close of acceptance on July 14, Catcha had received valid acceptances and excess applications for 126.43 million rights shares, which accounted for 72.4% of the 174.64 million rights shares available for subscription.
Practice Note 17 (PN17) company EA Technique (M) Bhd (EATech) said it has withdrawn the regularisation plan it had submitted to the stock exchange in April. This came after the oil tankers and port marine services provider agreed to mutually terminate the share subscription agreement it entered in March with Eco Offshore Services Sdn Bhd (EOSSB) and two individuals, namely Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali and Khiruddin Ibrahim Said. EATech said it will engage in discussions with potential investors and submit a new regularisation plan application to Bursa Securities in due course.
SMTrack Bhd announced that Datuk Wira Justin Lim Hwa Tat has been redesignated from executive director to non-executive director effective Monday (July 24). Justin Lim, 47, was appointed as the executive director of SMTrack on Jan 7, 2022. He also sits on the board of several public listed companies, including chemical manufacturer Sersol Bhd as chief executive officer. Justin Lim was in the spotlight recently after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) sought the public's help to locate him to assist in an investigation over his instructions and approval of five payments totalling RM2.5 million to a private company named HGC Legacy Enterprise. On Sunday, he issued a statement that the MACC had neither attempted to serve the notice requiring his attendance for any statement recording nor contacted him to seek his help in the investigations.
British American Tobacco Malaysia Bhd (BAT) posted a lower net profit of RM47.53 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 (2QFY2023), down 35.11% from the RM73.25 million it made in 2QFY2022, despite higher revenue, as the group increased its investments towards launching vapour products, which hiked up its operating expenses to RM100.8 million from RM60.58 million previously. Quarterly revenue was at RM678.12 million, up 6.38% from RM637.46 million. The tobacco group declared a second interim dividend of 16 sen per share — down from 25 sen offered in the same period last year — that amounted to RM45.7 million, payable on Aug 22, 2023.
United Plantations Bhd’s net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 (2QFY2023) fell 13.87% to RM159.02 million from RM184.63 million a year ago on lower revenue. Quarterly revenue declined 32.96% to RM470.07 million from RM701.26 million due to the lower revenues for the plantation and refinery segments, arising from lower crude palm oil and palm kernel production and lower average prices.
KIP Real Estate Investment Trust's (REIT) net property income for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2023 (4QFY2023) grew 14.32% to RM16.23 million, from RM14.2 million a year earlier, on the back of higher revenue. Revenue for the quarter rose 16.5% to RM22.39 million, from RM19.22 million in 4QFY2022, driven by higher gross revenue from its retail and industrial segments. Net profit, however, declined 31.91% to RM33.34 million from RM48.96 million. KIP REIT has proposed a final income distribution of 1.75 sen per unit, bringing the cumulative dividend for FY2023 to 6.2 sen, compared with 6.8 sen for the previous year.
UOA Real Estate Investment Trust's (UOA REIT) second-quarter net profit fell 7.24%, on higher borrowing costs and property operating expenses, the latter driven by increased electricity costs and repair and maintenance expenses. It posted a net profit of RM13.98 million or 2.16 sen for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023, versus RM15.07 million or 2.37 sen a year ago. The rise in operating expenses offset marginal gains in quarterly revenue, which rose 0.39% to RM28.67 million from RM28.56 million for the same period last year. It announced an interim income distribution of 3.96 sen per share for FY2023.