SMRT, SapuraKencana, Pavilion REIT, Knusford, Ekovest, Benalec, Scomi, MISC, CSL and GW Plastics


By Chester Tay / theedgemarkets.com   | January 15, 2015 : 8:39 PM MYT   

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 14): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, the companies that may be in focus tomorrow (Friday, Jan 16) could be the following: SMRT Holdings Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust (Pavilion REIT), Knusford Bhd, Ekovest Bhd, Benalec Holdings Bhd, Scomi Energy Services Bhd, MISC Bhd, China Stationery Ltd, GW Plastics Holdings Bhd.

SMRT Holdings Bhd (fundamental: 1.5; valuation: 1.8) today announced that Brahmal Vasudevan has ceased to be a substantial shareholder.
Brahmal, who is chief executive officer and founder of private equity firm Creador Capital Group, had disposed of 1.8 million and 300,000 shares on Jan 8 and 9 respectively, trimming his stake in SMRT to 4.95%, from 5.08%.

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (fundamental: 1.3; valuation: 1.8) has converted US$2.3 billion (RM8.18 billion) of its existing conventional borrowings into an Islamic facility, paving way to return to the Securities Commission's list of syariah-compliant securities.

The oil and gas (O&G) conglomerate today said it has signed an Islamic Facility Agreement to convert a portion of its existing conventional Multi-Currency Facility (MCF) borrowings into a facility based on the syariah principle of Murabahah with 11 local, regional and international banks.

Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust's (Pavilion REIT) (fundamental score: 2.8) annual distribution per unit for the full year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14) improved by 0.6 sen or 8.2% to 7.96 sen, versus 7.36 sen in FY13. This translates into a distribution yield of 5.5%.

In a statement today, Pavilion REIT said the distributable income of 4.12 sen for the second half of 2014 is expected to be payable on Feb 27.

The REIT also mentioned that its gross revenue increased by 7.1% to RM402.1 million in FY14, compared with FY13. This resulted in net property income of RM282.7 million, or 70.3% of gross revenue.

Heavy machinery and building materials trader Knusford Bhd (fundamental: 1.25; valuation: 1.8) today appointed Johor crown prince’s special officer Mohamad Jaifuddin Bujang Mohidin into board of director.

Mohamad Jaifuddin will be an alternate director to Knusford’s non-independent non-executive chairman Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim, who is also the incumbent crown prince for Johor.

According to announcement made to Bursa Malaysia this evening, Mohamad Jaifuddin is attached with the Johor Royal House as special officer to Tunku Ismail since 2008.

Knusford is 30.11% owned by Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim, via Aman Setegap Sdn Bhd.

Prime Minister's Department's Public Private Partnership Unit (PPPU) today issued a letter to Ekovest Bhd (fundamental: 2.4; valuation: 0.9), approving in-principle for the latter’s proposal to privatise Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway Phase-3 (DUKE Phase-3).

Project cost of DUKE Phase-3 is estimated to be RM3.57 billion.

In a Bursa Malaysia filing today, the civil engineering firm said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur (KL) Sdn Bhd (Kesturi), received the letter from PPPU on Jan 14.

Marine construction services provider Benalec Holdings Bhd (fundamental: 1.65; valuation: 1.8) today saw its share price rallied 2.5 sen or 3.91% to 66.5 sen after news of the controversial Forest City project in Johor receiving approval from the Department of Environment.

Benalec has a reclamation project near Forest City, covering 1,410ha at Tanjung Piai, for the purpose of an industrial oil and gas hub. The approval granted on Forest City sparked optimism on Benalec’s reclamation project at Tanjung Piai.

Oilfield marine services provider Scomi Energy Services Bhd (fundamental score: 1; valuation score: 0.6) secured RM300 million worth of oilfield contracts in the last three months.

In a statement today, Scomi said these contracts serve the purpose of providing drilling fluids and waste management services across Asia Pacific countries.

This brings total secured contracts to RM475 million.

O&G shipping services provider MISC Bhd (fundamental: 1.6; valuation: 1.8) called off a RM250 million deal to dispose of its wholly-owned subsidiary MISC Integrated Logistics Sdn Bhd (MILS) to Golden Age Logistics Sdn Bhd (GAL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Utusan Printcorp Sdn Bhd.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, MISC said the main cause of termination was because the buyer did not fulfil its obligations stipulated in the agreement for sale and purchase of shares (SPA).

Practice Note 17 (PN17) company China Stationery Ltd (CSL) (fundamental: 1.2; valuation: 1.2) will be making a RMB66.12 million (RM35.08 million) adjustment to its financial statements for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2014 (9MFY14), thus reducing its net loss figure for the period to RMB330.59 million (RM175.34 million), instead of RMB396.72 million (RM210.42 million) as stated earlier.

CSL said via a filing to the exchange today, that the deviation was mainly due to the recognition of deferred tax assets from losses of RMB128.29 million (RM68.04 million) from the company’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, namely Sakura (Fujian) Plastics Enterprise Co Ltd and Sakura (Fujian) Packaging & Stationery Co Ltd.

The adjustment represented 16.67% variance between its unaudited 9MFY14 results filed earlier and its latest audited 9MFY14 report, following a special audit conducted by external auditors RT LLP.

GW Plastics Holdings Bhd's (fundamental: 1.2; valuation: 0.3) chief executive officer Lim Kok Boon said the group is expected to have its Practice Note 17 (PN17) status lifted by the second quarter of this year.

Its extraordinary general meeting today saw shareholder approved a reverse takeover exercise to carry out upon GW Plastics by Subang Jaya’s “One-City” developer MCT Consortium Bhd.

Lim told reporters after the meeting that barriers before the deal have practically been cleared, leaving only procedural matters now to complete the exercise.