Business & Markets 2013
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:11
KUALA LUMPUR (June 12): Based on corporate developments today, stocks that may capture interest tomorrow could include Genting M’sia, Genting, Astro, Sarawak Cable, UEM land, MSM and HwangDBS.
Genting Malaysia Bhd is planning a RM3 billion facelift for Genting Highlands casino resort as part of its plans to double earnings from the flagship 42-year-old resort that is facing increasing competition from the opening of more regional casinos.
"The RM3 billion is just a ballpark figure. Plans are still being finalised but we want to share our thoughts with shareholders," Genting Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay told theedgemalaysia.com on the sidelines of Genting Malaysia's annual general meeting here today.
"The idea is to double our profits," Lim said.
"Plans are still being finalised and the board still needs to approve the plans. We've been investing substantial amount overseas and it is now a good time to also invest here, back home.
“We've received some feedback on how other people would like things to be improved and we will do our best," he said, saying the plans should be finalised within this year.
Genting Malaysia share closed down 9 sen or 2.3% at RM3.89 on trades of 4.09 million shares after the news.
GENTING BHD [] saw its share price jump by 52 sen or 5% in heavy trades of 9.12 million shares today ahead of its annual general meeting to be held tomorrow.
At press time, there was no corporate announcement.
Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd recorded a net profit of RM114.1 million for its first quarter ended April 30 (1QFY14), a 6.7% decrease from the RM122.3 million posted in the previous corresponding quarter.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the group said this was mainly due to "higher depreciation of RM57.8 million compared with the corresponding quarter, which was offset by increased in group EBITDA of RM39.2 million."
However, the group saw an increase in its revenue to RM1.1 billion, a 14.2% higher than the RM986 million recorded in 1QFY13, due to the increase in subscription revenue and advertising revenues of RM102.4 million and RM19.5 million respectively.
Astro declared a first interim dividend of 2 sen per share.
Looking forward, Astro said it would continue to execute its strategic imperatives of achieving growth in customers, ARPU and advertising expenditure.
Sarawak Cable Bhd has clinched a RM32.87 million project to establish electricity transmission line in Miri, Sarawak.
Sarawak Cable, which produces power cables, said it has received the letter of acceptance from Sarawak Energy Bhd for the Tudan-Miri Airport 132kV transmission line project.
"The project is expected to contribute positively to the earnings and net assets of Sarawak Cable group for the financial years ending December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2014,” said the company.
The 15-month project which will start on June 17, 2013 is due for completion on September 16, 2014.
UEM LAND HOLDINGS BHD [] expects to launch residential and commercial projects with a total gross development value (GDV) of RM4 billion this year.
Its managing director/chief executive officer, Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim, said the projects include several major ones in Puteri Harbour, Nusajaya.
He said the company is also looking into launching a high-rise mixed development in Mont' Kiara with a GDV of RM816 million, as well as a mid-market mixed residential development in Bangi.
"We are also going to introduce new phases in our existing projects namely, East Ledang, Nusa Bayu and Nusa Idaman in Nusajaya as well as Symphony Hills and Arcoris Mont' Kiara in the central region.
"These new phases are expected to contribute significantly towards our 2013 sales target of RM3 billion," he told reporters after the company's annual general meeting here today.
UEM Land will be renamed UEM SUNRISE BHD [].
Wan Abdullah said the company is confident on its prospects and fiscal performance as its projects in Nusajaya are churning out high earnings yields.
He said unbilled sales, which stood at RM3.55 billion as of end-March this year, were also expected to contribute immensely to the company's financial performance this year.
Besides Nusajaya and the Klang Valley, Wan Abdullah said UEM Land is exploring opportunities in Penang, Kota Kinabalu, India, Indonesia and Australia.
MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd is looking at increasing its sugar production by 36% to 1.5 million tonnes from 1.1 million tonnes of refined sugar by 2016.
The company's chief executive officer Chua Say Sin said RM85 million has been located for capacity and warehouse expansion.
The group is expecting its capacity expansion would increase its production operations to 4, 600 tonnes of raw sugar melt per day from 3, 600 tonnes per day.
“On top of this, we intend to increase the raw sugar storage capacity too,” said Chua after the company's annual general meeting today.
Additionally, the group is also looking to increase its exports up to 20% in volume this year from 15%.
MSM Malaysia sold 751, 668 tonnes of refined sugar in the domestic market while its export sales increased marginally by 3.5% to 159, 409 tonnes last year.
Hwang-DBS Malaysia Bhd posted a net profit of RM11.4 million in its third financial quarter ended April 30, 2013, a decrease of 38% from RM18.32 million a year ago.
However, its revenue increased 1% to RM111.03 million from last year’s RM109.96 million.
Earnings per share was 4.45 sen, down from 7.18 sen a year earlier.
For nine months ended April 30, the group’s net profit stood at RM30.04 million, down 37.36% year-on-year from RM47.95 million. Its revenue however increased to RM335.33 million from RM284.93 million a year ago.
The financial services group told Bursa Malaysia that the reduction in profitability for the current financial period was due to higher loan loss provisioning, corresponding increase in commission expense, lower gain for its securities and derivatives portfolio and increased promotion/marketing expenses.
The lower profit for the current quarter was due to unfavourable effect of foreign exchange, lower brokerage income and reduction in net gain on securities held-for-trading.
Moving forward, the group expects the Malaysian economic fundamentals to remain resilient on the back of sound fiscal policy, strong domestic activities and spinoffs from the government’s economic transformation programmes.
“However, there are still signs of uncertainties in the external front and threats of continued recession in the euro zone could weigh down on the growth momentum in the country,” it said.