Business & Markets 2013
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 30 May 2013 20:20
KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): Based on corporate announcements today, stocks that may stir interest tomorrow include Genting, TM, MMC, Sunway, SHL, AZRB, Supermax, Bernas, KPSB and CHHB.
GENTING BHD [] reported a net profit of RM397.84 million for the first quarter to March 2013, down 43% from RM693.63 million posted in the first quarter of 2012.
Its revenue fell slightly to RM4.13 billion from RM4.25 billion.
According to the company’s press statement, one reason for the fall in the group’s profit was that in the first quarter of 2012, it had included a gain of RM174.3 million arising from the disposal of the company’s indirect 100% equity interests in Genting Oil Natuna Pte Ltd and Sanyen Oil & Gas Pte Ltd.
TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD []’s net profit fell 15% to RM213.24 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 from RM250.63 million a year earlier.
TM said revenue however rose 2% to RM2.42 billion from RM2.38 billion. Net profit had fallen on foreign exchange loss and higher finance cost.
TM said the quarter’s revenue had risen mainly on higher income from data, Internet and multimedia services.
Looking ahead, it said its outlook for FY13 is positive as it has more than 560,000 customers for its high-speed Internet service 'UniFi' to date.
MMC CORPORATION BHD [] said its net profit for the first quarter to end-March 2013 stood at RM8.82 million, down 70% year-on-year.
Earnings per share fell to 0.29 sen from 0.96 sen.
Its revenue also fell 33% year-on-year to RM1.55 billion.
Sunway Bhd reported that the net profit for its fourth quarter to end-March 2013 had jumped 40.5% year-on-year to RM90.56 million.
Similarly, earnings per share for the quarter surged to 7.01 sen from 4.99 sen a year ago.
Its revenue had also increased to RM1.02 billion from RM814.76 million a year ago.
The company said the higher revenue was mainly due to higher property sales and CONSTRUCTION [] revenue. As a result, the group registered a higher profit.
Sunway said in order for the government to achieve economic growth of 5%-6%, the domestic economic activities would have to be much stronger in the second half of the year. Hence, the group is expected to continue to perform satisfactorily.
SHL CONSOLIDATED BHD [] reported that the net profit for its fourth quarter to end-March 2013 had jumped 133% year-on-year to RM11.40 million and earnings per share had also risen 133% to 4.71 sen.
This was achieved on the back of a higher revenue at RM70.22 million, from RM12.20 in previous fourth quarter.
“The increase of the group’s profit is mainly due to the good response for the group’s housing projects in Bandar Sungai Long and a newly launched industrial park project in Sungai Choh,” the company said.
On prospects for the next financial year, SHL said the continued strong demand for land PROPERTIES [] in the Klang Valley will help its existing and future projects and further enhance its earnings.
AHMAD ZAKI RESOURCES BHD []’s (AZRB) net profit for its first quarter ended March 31, 2013 (1QFY13) fell by 54.94% year-on-year to RM2.46 million.
This compares to the previous corresponding period’s RM5.45 million.
The engineering firm’s revenue in the quarter dropped to RM140.25 million, which was 3.92% lower from 1QFY12’s RM145.96 million.
On its prospects for FY13, the firm said it expects its construction division to remain competitive with strong order book prospects. The O&G division is expected to maintain its performance and PLANTATION []s to improve progressively.
“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the group expects to show better performance in the coming quarter,” AZRB said.
In a separate filing to Bursa, Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd (AZRB) also said it has renewed its throughput agreement with PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD [] (PetDag) for another five years, with the former expecting to contribute positively to its earnings this year.
Supermax Corp Bhd saw a 14.5% rise in first quarter profit after tax (PAT) from the year before, boosted by added capacity that came onstream.
Its PAT for the first quarter ended March 2013 stood at RM32.09 million against RM28.03 million in the corresponding quarter 2012.
“The group’s revenue was higher by 29% or RM 72 million compared to a year ago. This was largely because of new capacity added from new and refurbished lines,” Supermax said.
“With the economic woes in the Eurozone and US continuing, we expect rubber prices to remain soft for the rest of 2013,” it said.
PADIBERAS NASIONAL BHD [] (Bernas) said its net profit fell 12% to RM33.23 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 (1QFY13), from RM37.58 million a year earlier.
The custodian of the national rice industry told the exchange today that revenue, however, rose 0.1% to RM894.71 million from RM893.79 million.
Bernas said net profit had fallen mainly on a RM52.19 million inventory loss in 1QFY13 compared to a RM347.04 gain previously. The loss came amid lower rice prices and higher global supply of the commodity.
The firm said revenue had increased on a 10% rise in paddy sales. This had mitigated the impact of a 1% decline in rice sales. Looking ahead, Bernas expects rice prices to decline on higher global
KUMPULAN PERANGSANG SELANGOR [] Bhd (KPSB) reported an 11.17% year-on-year increase in its net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 (1QFY13) to RM21.96 million from RM19.75 million a year earlier.
The Selangor state investment arm said its revenue for 1QFY13 decreased to RM61.93 million from the previous corresponding period’s RM65.1 million.
KPSB explained the lower revenue was due to its infrastructure and utilities sector’s drop in revenue.
Its income statement showed that it incurred a far lower income tax and zakat expenses in 1QFY13 from the previous corresponding period, at RM2.68 million and RM9.02 million respectively. This helped to push up the net profit for the quarter.
COUNTRY HEIGHTS HOLDINGS BHD []'s net profit jumped 14 fold to RM18.93 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 (1QFY13) from RM1.34 million a year earlier.
The property developer said revenue rose 84% to RM85.8 million from RM46.71 million.
Country Heights said 1QFY13 net profit and revenue had increased mainly on higher income from real estate development.
The firm said it has property launches in the pipeline for FY13 and FY14, especially, within the Mines Resort City area in Selangor. The developer said it is also planning to undertake projects in Cyberjaya and Cyber Heights.