Business & Markets 2013
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Wednesday, 23 October 2013 19:54
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23): Based on corporate announcements today, the stocks that may lure investor attention tomorrow could include Bursa Malaysia, Maica, Heitech, Hua Yang and Westports.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd’s net profit rose 27% to RM46.2 million in the third quarter ended September 30, 2013, from RM36.5 million a year ago due to a buoyant securities market.
The stock exchange operator said revenue for the quarter stood at RM120.28 million, or 14.4% higher than RM105.11 million a year ago.
The third quarter saw higher trades following the conclusion of the Malaysian General Elections in May 2013 and volatilily caused by uncertainty in global environment in 3Q13, it said.
For the nine months to September 30, the operator’s revenue increased 12.7% to RM361.07 million compared with RM320.25 million a year ago while net profit rose 21.2% to RM139.23 million from RM114.84 million.
Moving forward, the group expects the global economic conditions and events to remain challenging in the fourth quarter of the year.
“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we expect our financial performance this year to improve compared to the previous year,” it stated.
Malaysia Aica Bhd (Maica) announced that it has signed two agreements with Cangkat Nusantara Sdn Bhd (CNSB), a company related to Sunsuria Development Sdn Bhd (Sunsuria), for a total consideration of RM56 million.
The consideration involves a RM42 million cash and the issuance of 28 million new MAICA shares.
The agreements are a for the acquisition of the rights
and interest of a commercial development project being carried out on a parcel of development land in Bukit Jelutong, comprising 30 units of double-storey shop offices together with infrastructures to be constructed, and the acquisition of the adjacent land measuring 14,370 square metres.
The project and land are ready for development and have an open market value of RM56 million.
HeiTech Padu Bhd announced that it has secured an IT project worth RM15.888 million from the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (National Registration Department).
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, HeiTech said it had today accepted a Letter of Award for the supply, delivery installation testing, commissioning and maintenance of mainframe hardware and software tape subsystem for JPN.
“The proposed transaction is expected to contribute positively to the future earnings of the group,” said HeiTech.
The IT firm said the contract period lasts for two years commencing from yesterday to Oct 21, 2015.
Hua Yang Berhad announced that for the second quarter ended 30 September 2013, its net profit fell to RM12.3 million, from RM17.1 million a year ago.
It also achieved a lower revenue of RM101.2 million, compared to RM103.7 million a year ago.
Revenue for the first half of FY2014 was RM181.7 million, a decrease of 9.9% from RM201.7 million in the previous comparable period. The fall was attributed to the completion of Phase 1 of the One South project earlier this year.
Net profit for the first half was also lower at RM24.6 million, down from RM33.5 million.
But the consolation is that unbilled sales amount to RM558.9 million, reaching an all-time high for the company.
“Our unbilled sales allow us to maintain our course for a profitable FY2014. This improvement was driven by sales in our current projects, mainly our townships in Johor and Perak. Hua Yang’s sales momentum is on track to deliver its targeted RM600 million sales for FY14,” said Ho Wen Yan, Hua Yang’s Chief Executive Officer.
Westports Holdings Bhd, which jumped as much as 8% to RM2.70 when it debuted on Bursa last Friday, saw its share price hit following a trade report that said its business may be affected by a new shipping alliance.
A report by Seatrade Global yesterday said the unveiling of the P3 alliance’s planned port rotations would see Port Klang receiving a reduced number of calls from liners that ply the Asia-North Europe trade and the Asia-Mediterranean trade.
In a statement at noon today, Westports confirmed the negative impact of P3 alliance on its business. It said a route revision of shipping firms under the P3 Alliance will see less port calls at its port terminal.
But the firm does not foresee a material impact from P3's route revision in the near-to-medium term.
According to Seatrade Global, Port of Tanjung Pelapas (PTP) in southern Johor stands to be the big gainer from the rotations move by P3 alliance, whose three members are Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and CMA CGM.
CMA CGM is using Westports in Port Klang as its hub.
At market close, its share fell three sen to RM2.53 on trades of some 24.7 million shares. Yesterday, its share price was hit the hardest – falling by 13 sen or 5% to end at RM2.56, on heavy trades of 54 million shares.