Business & Markets 2013
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Tuesday, 02 July 2013 21:03
KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): Based on news flow and company announcements today, stocks that may attract interest tomorrow could include Ho Hup, Icapital.biz, Hexagon, Multi-Usage, Sime Darby and Pantech.
Ho Hup Group announced that it has entered into an agreement with a Chinese company to dispose of its shares held in associate company Shanghai San Ho Hup Pile Co. Ltd for RMB39.2 million (RM20.12 million).
The company's share of proceeds for its 45% shareholding in the associate company amounted to RMB17.64 million (RM9.05 million).
“The disposal is part of an application made by Ho Hup to regularise its group structure and to dispose its loss making and dormant associates and clean up its balance sheet,” said the PN17 company in its filing with Bursa Malaysia.
The disposal of the 45% equity stake will result in an extraordinary gain of about RM8.6 million, said Ho Hup which had earlier said it was working to uplift itself from the PN17 status next year.
ICAPITAL.BIZ BHD []’s net profit for its fourth quarter to end-May 2013 jumped more than 26 folds to RM47.12 million, from RM1.71 million in the fourth quarter of the previous financial year, due to profit from the sale of securities.
Revenue rose more than 10 folds to RM49.68 million, from RM4.58 million in similar quarter a year ago, due to disposal of securities.
For the full financial year, net profit totalled RM56.81 million, up from RM15.73 million in the previous year. Revenue rose to RM65.95 million from RM24.82 million.
Icapital said since it is a close-end fund, a better indication of its performance would be its net asset value (NAV), which rose to RM2.99 at end-May 2013 from RM2.86 a year ago.
On outlook, it said with cash of RM200 million or about RM1.43 per share, the fund is “like a haven amidst conditions that can be hazy” given the recent market panic and plunge in gold price.
The share of Icapital.biz closed at RM2.39 today.
HEXAGON HOLDINGS BHD [] (HHB) announced that a letter of demand dated 01.07.2013 has been served on the company by Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd demanding debt payment of RM18.33 million due under its banking facilities.
The facilities were granted to Hexagon Tower Sdn Bhd, which was a wholly owned subsidiary company of HHB prior to its liquidation.
HHB is given seven (7) days from the receipt of the demand to pay the aforesaid sum.
HHB said the potential liabilities would have financial and operational impact on the company.
Multi-Usage Holding Bhd (MUH) announced that its unit TF Land Sdn Bhd had entered into an agreement yesterday to sell a piece of property to a related party.
In a separate filing, it also said it has been given extension of three months to make debt payment to a SPV.
On the related party transaction, the buyer is Ang Hwei Keong, the son of Ang Kim Cheng @ Ang Teng Kok, the managing director of the company.
The related party had on 1 July 2013 purchased a three storey shop office in Seberang Perai Tengah in Pinang for RM580,000.
“The sale of the property is in the ordinary course of business of TF Land. There is no liability to be assumed arising from the transaction,” MUH said in its filing with Bursa Malaysia.
The deal is not expected to have any impact on MUH’s net assets and earnings per share and gearing, the filing said. And the transaction is expected to be completed within 36 months.
In a separate filing on its debt settlement arrangement, MUH informed Bursa that Wealthy Achievers Sdn Bhd (SPV) has extended its deadline for repayment of its indebtedness by MUH for another 3 months to Sept 30, 2013.
SIME DARBY BHD []’s PLANTATION [] division aims for growth of between five to eight per cent in palm oil production annually, its executive vice president Datuk Franki Anthony Dass said.
He said the company will implement best agriculture practices and agro management to increase yields in all its fields, Bernama reported.
"Backed by more than 100 years of experience, we will continuously try out new things to increase our output," he told reporters after a company function today.
Sime Darby’s palm oil production rose six per cent to 2.94 million metric tonnes for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2012, from 2.78 million metric tonnes in the same period last year.
Franki also said that Sime Darby plans to increase refinery capacity for its downstream business to between four and five million metric tonnes from 3.5 million metric tonnes currently.
PANTECH GROUP HOLDINGS BHD [] said it will be minimally impacted by the United States International Trade Commission’s decision to continue with its anti-dumping suit on welded stainless steel pipes.
The steel pipe maker said that last Friday (June 28), the US International Trade Commission voted to continue with the anti-dumping suit on welded stainless steel pipes from Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
“Pantech group’s wholly owned subsidiary, Pantech Stainless & Alloy Industries Sdn Bhd, is one of the companies that may be affected should the suit follows through,” Pantech said, but added the anti-dumping suit will affect less than 3% of its revenue for the financial year ending February 28, 2014.
It also said shipping of stainless steel pipes to the US can continue until October. It exports 300 tonnes, or 30% of its capacity, of stainless steel pipes to the country.
“The group has also begun mitigation activities by increasing production of stainless steel fittings by threefold by the second half of FY14. We are already actively exploring into potential export markets for stainless steel pipes and fittings such as South America and European countries,” said Pantech.