Business & Markets 2014
Written by Levina Lim of theedgemalaysia.com
Tuesday, 12 August 2014 20:47
KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 12): Based on today’s corporate announcements and newsflows, stocks in focus tomorrow could include: AirAsia, MAHB, Nestle, Time dotCom and Grand-Flo.
Aviation-related stocks like AirAsia Bhd and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) may be closely watched, in anticipation that the Ebola outbreak will curb travel.
Reuters, quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), reported that the death toll from the worst ever outbreak of Ebola has reached 1,013, after another 52 people died in the three days to Aug 09 in three West African countries.
The largest number of reported new deaths were in Liberia — where 29 people died, followed by 17 in Sierra Leone and six in Guinea, the WHO said in a statement on its website. The total number of cases rose to 1,848, it said.
Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd reported a 15.5% drop in net profit to RM118.48 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2014, from RM140.24 million a year ago.
According to Nestle, lower operating and net profit was attributable to unfavourable input costs and higher marketing investment. As a result of higher commodities prices, the group increased the prices of affected products, resulting in lower gross profit.
However, revenue was 4.6% higher at RM1.27 billion during the quarter, from RM1.21 billion in 2QFY13, due to encouraging response from its “Lebih Kebaikan, Lebih Nilai” campaign and new product launches.
Nestle closed 30 sen higher at RM67.70.
Time dotcom Bhd, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Global Transit, will be part of a consortium of international telecommunication companies for a new undersea trans-Pacific cable network, with a total cost of US$300 million (RM958 million).
Companies involved in the consortium include: search engine Google Inc, China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Japanese mobile operator KDDI and Singapore’s SingTel, with Japan-based NEC Corp as the system supplier for the project.
A representative from TIME told theedgemalaysia.com that TIME would be investing a total of US$56 million (RM179 million), equivalent to a stake of 18.67% in the project, out of the total cost of the submarine cable system.
TIME expects the FASTER cable system to be completed by the second quarter of 2016.
Grand-Flo Bhd could be a closely-watched stock, as it plans to diversify into property development, expanding its real estate gross development value (GDV) to at least RM500 million by next year, compared to RM283 million currently.
Grand-Flo president and managing director Derrick Tan Bak Hong said that the tracking solutions provider is exploring joint-venture opportunities in Batu Kawan, Penang, to undertake its third property development project.
At an extraordinary general meeting today, shareholders gave the go-ahead for it to issue 29.41 million new shares at 34 sen each, to acquire 50% plus one share in Innoceria Sdn Bhd for RM15 million.
Innoceria holds the rights and interests in a mixed development at Batu Kawan, known as the Vortex Business Park. It has a GDV of RM220 million.