KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 25): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made news on Wednesday involving Gamuda Bhd, Southern Steel Bhd, EcoFirst Consolidated Bhd, AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd, MyNews Holdings Bhd, Annum Bhd, Careplus Group Bhd, Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), UMW Holdings Bhd, DXN Holdings Bhd, Gadang Holdings Bhd, CapitaLand Malaysia Trust’s (CLMT), Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and Capital A Bhd.
Gamuda Bhd, together with its joint venture partner in Taiwan, has bagged a design and build contract for the construction of Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) metropolitan line from Kaohsiung City government for RM3.45 billion. This latest project marks its third railway project in Taiwan and second project in Kaohsiung. Gamuda built the Kaohsiung MRT Orange Line back in 2008. In 2022, Gamuda also secured the RM2.13 billion TaoYuan City underground railway project (Package CJ18 PingZhen Commuter Station) in Taipei.
Hong Leong Group, a conglomerate controlled by billionaire Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan, is considering selling its majority stake in Southern Steel Bhd and seeking a valuation of as much as US$200 million (RM944 million) for the unit, people familiar with the matter said. The company is working with advisers on the planned divestment of its 70% stake in the Kuala Lumpur-listed arm, the people said. A deal could value Southern Steel Bhd between US$100 million to US$200 million, the people said. At the top of the range, it would be more than double the firm’s current market capitalisation of about US$76 million.
EcoFirst Consolidated Bhd has clarified that the group still has a net gain despite disposing of eight out of 15 retail units at lower than market price in a recent related party transaction. The property developer said the total gain from the disposal of the 15 units is higher than the total original investment cost by approximately RM9.2 million.
AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd said it has obtained financial regulators’ approval for the initial shareholding structure of its Islamic digital bank venture. AEON Credit, together with parent AEON Financial Service Co Ltd (AFS) and US-based fintech firm MoneyLion Inc, originally led a consortium to win one of the five digital banking licences from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). However, MoneyLion pulled out of the consortium after the licence was awarded, leaving AEON Credit and AFS to form the Islamic digital bank entity — ACS Digital Bhd — with equal shareholdings of 50% each.
JAG Capital Holdings Sdn Bhd, the investment vehicle for businessman and Umno politician Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, has increased its stake in MyNews Holdings Bhd to 13.85% from 10.02% in mid-July. MyNews showed that JAG Capital acquired 240,000 MyNews shares in the open market on Oct 23, and an additional 28.5 million shares the following day, through off-market transactions. JAG Capital emerged as the second largest shareholder of MyNews in mid-July.
Annum Bhd said it is unable to release its annual report for the financial year ended June 30, 2023 (FY2023) by the Oct 31 deadline as required under the listing rules, as the group has been unable to find a suitable auditor since the resignation of the previous auditor. The plywood product manufacturer said it had approached 31 potential auditors, but their responses were negative with a majority of them citing resource constraints.
Careplus Group Bhd said its subsidiary has secured a licence from the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) to manufacture and assemble energy efficient vehicles. The licence granted to Nexv Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (NMSB), a 51:49 joint venture (JV) between Careplus and GoAuto Group Sdn Bhd, applies to passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and electric motorcycles. The glove maker and GoAuto intend to build an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and assembly hub on a 74-acre (29.95-hectare) piece of land in Chembong, Negeri Sembilan owned by Careplus. Both companies signed a term sheet in June to look into selling and manufacturing EVs as JV partners.
Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is acquiring industrial premises in Negeri Sembilan for a cash consideration of RM48 million. The vendors of this transaction are BSS Development Sdn Bhd and Matrix IBS Sdn Bhd. Both companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Matrix Concepts Holdings Bhd. The property is situated within an established industrial development known as the Sendayan Techvalley Industrial Park.
UMW Holdings Bhd president and group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Ahmad Fuaad Mohd Kenali will be stepping down from his positions next Tuesday (Oct 31) upon tenure expiry. Ahmad Fuaad was appointed to helm UMW in November 2020 following the demise of his predecessor, Badrul Feisal Abdul Rahim, in June that year. The group, which is in the midst of being merged with Sime Darby Bhd, told Bursa Malaysia that Ahmad Fuaad will also cease to be an executive director of UMW.
DXN Holdings Bhd's net profit for the second quarter ended Aug 31, 2023 (2QFY2024) rose by a marginal 0.3% to RM76.02 million from RM75.79 million a year ago. However, revenue increased 15.7% to RM458.31 million from RM396.21 million a year ago, mainly due to continuing sales growth in Latin America, India and the Middle East, attributed to the return of members' activities and positive market sentiment post Covid-19, as well as a larger product range in the regions. DXN declared a second interim dividend of 0.9 sen per share payable on Nov 30.
Gadang Holdings Bhd nearly doubled its net profit for the first quarter ended Aug 31, 2023 (1QFY2024) from a year ago, thanks to stronger property sales coupled with the commencement of commercial operations of its nine-megawatt (MW) mini hydropower plant in Lintau, Indonesia. Net profit grew to RM6.21 million or 0.85 sen per share for 1QFY2024 from RM3.24 million or 0.45 sen for 1QFY2023 while revenue rose 1.6% to RM129.48 million from RM127.42 million. Apart from the full commissioning of the mini hydropower plant in Indonesia, Gadang said the utility business also benefited from favourable foreign exchange translation effect.
CapitaLand Malaysia Trust’s (CLMT) net property income (NPI) climbed 52.6% to RM58.32 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 from RM38.21 million a year earlier on higher revenue, boosted by income contributions from Queensbay Mall and more revenue contributions from its retail properties. Distributable income for the quarter under review grew 29% to RM28.7 million from RM22.25 million while distribution per unit improved to 1.05 sen from 1.01 sen. CLMT’s NPI for the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2023 increased by 38.2% to RM154.39 million from RM111.71 million in the same period a year ago, as nine-month revenue expanded 38.6% to RM286.88 million from RM206.92 million.
Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s wholly-owned unit Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd (MBNS) has secured a term loan facility of up to RM160 million from AmBank (M) Bhd. The pay-TV provider said the facility will be used to finance and reimburse MBNS’ costs relating to the production, purchase and licensing of content, programmes or channels as well as its capital expenditure, including asset acquisition for broadcast and transmission and acquisition of software and platforms.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has disposed of its 11% equity interest in GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) for US$100 million (RM478.85 million) cash. The airport operator told Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary MAHB (Mauritius) Private Ltd had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with GMR Airports (Singapore) Private Ltd for the disposal of its entire 41.58 million shares in GHIAL. MAHB is expected to net a gain of US$23.7 million from the disposal. At present, GHIAL manages the operations of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India, and the Bidar Airport in Karnataka, India.
Capital A Berhad, the parent of AirAsia, is planning to raise more than US$1 billion (RM4.7 billion) in debt and equity, and will list some of its businesses through a blank-cheque company, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Capital A CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has agreed to a deal with Aetherium Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company and plans to list several businesses through it next year, the FT reported, citing two people familiar with the deal. This includes a new business extending the AirAsia brand to companies hoping to start airline franchises in developing countries, the report said.