KUALA LUMPUR (May 31): Here is a brief recap of some business news and corporate announcements that made the headlines on Thursday:

Genting Bhd’s (KL:GENTING) net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024 (1QFY2024) surged several folds, mainly contributed by its leisure and hospitality segment in Malaysia and Singapore. The diversified conglomerate’s net profit leapt to RM588.87 million from RM98.04 million, while quarterly revenue jumped 27.6% to RM7.43 billion from RM5.82 billion. Genting did not declare any dividend for the quarter under review. — Strong recovery on hospitality segment brings Genting’s 4QFY2024 net profit back to pre-pandemic level of RM558 mil

Meanwhile, Genting Bhd's 49%-owned Genting Malaysia Bhd (KL:GENM) posted a first quarter net profit of RM57.78 million, compared to a net loss of RM27.38 million a year earlier, on the back of higher revenue from its leisure and hospitality business. Quarterly revenue rose 21.08% to RM2.76 billion from RM2.28 billion. It did not declare any dividend for the quarter under review.  — Genting Malaysia posts RM58m net profit in 1Q on improved leisure and hospitality business

Hong Leong Bank Bhd (KL:HLBANK), the banking arm of tycoon Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan, saw its net profit rise 12% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the third quarter, thanks to higher interest income and provision writeback. Net profit for the three months ended March 31, 2024 (3QFY2024) was RM1.04 billion compared to RM929.96 million over the same period a year earlier. Net interest income rose 15% y-o-y to RM1.22 billion while non-interest income fell 38% to RM212.1 million. In 3QFY2024, Hong Leong Bank booked writeback of impairment losses on loans, advances and financing totalling RM26.3 million. Operating expenses, meanwhile, were marginally higher at RM576.85 million. No dividend was declared for the quarter. Net interest margin — a measure of profitability from interests charged on loans after deducting returns paid to depositors — came in at 1.85% at the end of March, thanks to strong lending growth. Current-account-savings-account growth stood at 7.6%, while gross loans and financing grew 7.8%. — Hong Leong Bank's 3Q net profit rises 12% on higher interest income, writeback

MISC Bhd’s (KL:MISC) net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024 (1QFY2024) rose 24% to RM759.90 million, from RM612.90 million a year earlier, on the back of higher earnings from most of its divisions. The shipping group said revenue for the quarter rose to RM3.64 billion, from RM3.08 billion a year ago, mainly due to the weaker ringgit. It declared a dividend of eight sen per share, to be paid on June 27. — MISC's 1Q net profit rises 24% to RM760m, declares dividend of eight sen

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (KL:TM), Malaysia’s state-owned fixed-line operator, said on Thursday its net profit rose 29% in the first quarter from a year earlier, mainly due to lower operating costs. Net profit for the three months ended March 31, 2024 (1QFY2024) was RM424.81 million compared with RM330.1 million over the same period last year, TM said in an exchange filing. Revenue for the quarter edged up 1.8% year-on-year to RM2.84 billion from RM2.79 billion. The company did not declare any dividend for the quarter. — Telekom Malaysia 1Q net profit rises 29% on lower costs

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (KL:AIRPORT) reported a more than threefold rise in its first quarter net profit from a year earlier, fuelled by higher passenger volumes. Net profit for the three months ended March 31, 2024 (1QFY2024) soared to RM189.99 million or 10.53 sen per share, compared with RM58.19 million or 2.65 sen per share in the same period last year. Quarterly revenue increased 30.64% year-on-year to RM1.35 billion from RM1.03 billion, thanks to higher passenger numbers resulting from new airline operations, school holiday travel, the Chinese New Year festive season, and the implementation of a 30-day visa-free waiver for China and India travellers to Malaysia. The airports operator did not declare any dividend for the quarter. — MAHB's 1Q net profit triples to RM190 mil

Datasonic Group Bhd (KL:DSONIC) posted a 70.02% year-on-year jump in its latest quarterly net profit, driven by strong demand for passports, identity cards and financial card personalisation services. Net profit for its fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024 (4QFY2024) was RM38.6 million against RM22.7 million a year earlier, while revenue rose 10.34% to RM115.74 million from RM104.9 million. For the full financial year (FY2024), net profit increased 20.8% to RM92.26 million from RM76.37 million in FY2023, while full-year revenue grew 6.85% to RM368.3 million from RM344.7 million. This marks the group's highest quarterly and annual earnings to date. Datasonic announced a fourth interim dividend of 1.3 sen per share, bringing total dividends for FY2024 to three sen, compared to two sen in FY2022. Datasonic in a statement said that it has secured its first overseas project in a West African country this month. The details of the contract, however, could not be disclosed due to a non-disclosure agreement, a spokesperson told The Edge. — Datasonic posts record 4Q and full-year earnings, secures first overseas project in West Africa

QL Resources Bhd’s (KL:QL) net profit surged almost 35% in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024 (4QFY2024) on the back of improved sales from most business segments, which helped offset flat sales for palm oil and clean energy. Net profit climbed to RM98.72 million or 4.06 sen per share for 4QFY2024, from RM73.32 million or 3.01 sen per share a year ago. Quarterly revenue increased 13.7% year-on-year to RM1.68 billion compared to RM1.47 billion. It has proposed a final dividend of 3.5 sen per share, bringing total dividend payout to 6.5 sen per share for FY2024, compared to seven sen for FY2023. — QL Resources closes FY2024 with 35% growth in 4Q profit, record high annual profit

Leong Hup International Bhd’s (KL:LHI) net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024 (1QFY2024) more than doubled to RM56.58 million as compared to RM22.14 million a year earlier, mainly due to a turnaround in its Indonesian operations on better margins for chicks and chickens. Quarterly revenue increased 9.8% to RM2.41 billion from RM2.2 billion a year ago. It did not declare a dividend for 1QFY2024. — Leong Hup’s 1Q net profit doubles on Indonesian ops turnaround

Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd (KL:PANAMY) declared a final dividend of RM1.21 per share for the financial year ended March 31, 2024 (FY2024), payable on Sept 20, 2024. This brings its annual dividend per share to RM1.36, about 11.5% higher than RM1.22 per share in FY2023. However, the payout ratio dropped marginally to 89% in FY2024 versus 92% in FY2023. The home appliance maker’s net profit more than doubled to RM17.58 million in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024 (4QFY2024), from RM7.35 million a year ago, on the back of higher revenue achieved, lower material costs and higher share of profit from the associated company. Quarterly revenue increased 6.11% to RM207.48 million, from RM195.53 million a year before, on higher export sales. For FY2024, the group’s net profit grew 15.62% to RM92.65 million, from RM80.13 million in FY2023. Annual revenue dropped 8.7% to RM905.69 million, from RM991.63 million a year before. — Panasonic declares bumper dividend of RM1.21 but payout ratio drops slightly

Axiata Group Bhd (KL:AXIATA) has maintained its mid single-digit revenue growth target in the financial year ending Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024), group chief executive officer and managing director Vivek Sood told the press conference in conjunction with its quarterly result announcement. “While the operational performance for the first quarter (1QFY2024) is encouraging, the group recognises that the challenging macroeconomic environment persists. The US interest rates are still so dynamic. The effects of the war are still not over and it is still driving inflation in a lot of markets. This has an impact on the operations we have. So that is why we said the headwinds are still there,” said Sood. The group is committed to a dividend of 10 sen per share in FY2024, similar to FY2023. It did not propose any dividend for 1QFY2024. Meanwhile, it aims to complete the merger of its Indonesian mobile unit XL Axiata with Smartfren Telecom by the end of 2024 in a bid to boost the combined entity’s competitiveness in the Indonesia market and challenge existing leaders. Boost Bank — a digital bank is a 60:40 joint venture between Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd (KL:RHBBANK) — is set to launch by June 6, 2024. Upon its launch, Boost Bank will be the third digital bank in Malaysia. GXBank, backed by Singapore-headquartered Grab Holdings Inc and the Kuok group, was launched on November 30 last year, followed by Japanese retail giant’s Aeon Bank earlier this month. — Axiata keeps revenue growth target and dividend commitment of 10 sen per share for FY2024, Axiata aims to complete Indonesian merger by year-end

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) is inviting bids to sell its remaining 5.17% stake in AMMB Holdings Bhd (KL:AMBANK) for up to RM701.16 million. The sale would mark the exit of the Australia-based banking group from Malaysia’s sixth-largest lender by assets. According to a term sheet sighted by The Edge on Thursday, ANZ's wholly owned subsidiary ANZ Fund Pty Ltd is putting up its remaining 171.02 million shares in AMMB for sale at an offer price of RM4.05 to RM4.10. The offer price range represents a 2.84% to 4.03% discount to AMMB's closing price on Thursday of RM4.22. — ANZ to sell remaining 5.17% stake in AMMB for up to RM701 mil

Property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd (KL:MAHSING) announced it is setting up a joint venture to develop a data centre in Bangi, Selangor. Under the joint venture with Bridge Data Centres Malaysia V Sdn Bhd (BDC), Mah Sing will reserve a 17.55-acre land to develop the data centre that would consume up to 100 megawatts (MW). The shareholding structure of the JV has yet to be finalised. BDC — based in Singapore and mainly operating data centres in India and Malaysia — will prepare the preliminary planning and design of the project, as well as secure hyper-scale or artificial intelligence data centre customers for the data centre facilities. — Mah Sing the latest to jump on data centre bandwagon

Electronic gaming machine maker RGB International Bhd (KL:RGB) has secured a contract worth US$81.33 million (RM382.97 million) from the Philippines’ state-owned casino regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). RGB, whose share price has climbed 54% year to date, said the contract was awarded to its unit RGB (Macau) Ltd to supply and deliver slot machine equipment for Casino Filipino Branches. RGB also announced its net profit more than doubled to RM22.18 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2024 (1QFY2024) from RM10.54 million a year earlier. Quarterly revenue also doubled to RM210.11 million from RM95.16 million. The group declared an interim dividend of 0.6 sen per share, with June 27 as the ex-date and July 12 as the payment date. — RGB International bags RM382m contract from Philippine state casino regulator; declares six sen dividend

Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd (KL:SERBADK) will be delisted from Bursa Malaysia effective June 5 after failing to obtain an extension of time to submit its regularisation plan. “The company is still able to continue its operations and businesses and proceed with its corporate restructuring and its shareholders can still be rewarded by the company’s performance. However, the shareholders will be holding shares which are no longer quoted and traded on Bursa Securities,” its filing read. — Serba Dinamik to be delisted on June 5 after failing to get more time to submit regularisation plan