Business & Markets 2013
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 19:48
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 23): Based on announcements to the stock exchange on Wednesday, stocks to watch on Friday could include TENAGA NASIONAL BHD [], HUA YANG BHD [], Sunway REIT Bhd, MICROLINK SOLUTIONS BHD [], POS MALAYSIA BHD [] and Unico-Desa PLANTATION []s Bhd.
Tenaga is expected to see a jump in its share price due to its exceptionally strong performance in the first quarter of its current financial year, brought about by higher operating profit, lower fuel cost and a big forex translation gain.
The national utility company reported that its net profit for the first quarter of the current financial year was RM1.415 billion, compared with a loss of RM74.1 million in the previous corresponding quarter. Revenue was RM9.13 billion, up from RM8.69 billion.
Its basic earnings per share was 25.71 sen compared with a loss per share of 1.36 sen previously. But the group said it remained cautious on its outlook for the current financial year as "the prevailing operating environment has yet to indicate any sustained improvement".
Main Market-listed property developer Hua Yang Bhd posted a net profit of RM19.93 million for the third quarter ended Dec 31, up 36.78% year-on-year from RM14.58 million. The quarter saw revenue rise 24% y-o-y to RM104.6 million, compared with RM84.3 million in the previous corresponding quarter.
"The strong performance was driven by steady CONSTRUCTION [] progress as well as new sales from products launched in 2012. The group registered total sales of RM312.18 million as at end-2012," the company said in a statement.
Its board of directors has declared an interim dividend of five sen per share for the quarter under review. The company said it was positive for the rest of the financial year.
Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) has declared a distribution per unit of 2.19 sen for its second quarter ended December 2012, bringing year-to-date distribution to 4.22 sen for the current financial year. This translates into an annualised distribution yield of 5.4%.
It said net income (realised) rose 10.6% y-o-y to RM56.11 million in 2Q2013, driven by growth in the retail sector and substantial interest savings from capital management initiatives. However, revenue for the quarter was RM105.82 million, lower than RM110.74 million recorded in the previous corresponding quarter.
Microlink Solutions may attract some trading interest following announcements to the stock exchange that several individuals and firms had acquired shares on the open market in the past several days. For example, its 22.65% shareholder Monteiro Gerard Clair bought 60,000 shares at 56.6 sen apiece on Jan 22. It was not immediately known whether the other purchases were made by friendly parties or hostile groups.
Similarly, Post Malaysia Bhd may also attract some interest as it announced that local and foreign institutional funds had acquired its shares before the sell-down on Jan 21.
Unico-Desa Plantations has informed the stock exchange that a suit against the company dating back to July 2009 has been discontinued. The company also said it had been conducting share buy-backs for the past few days.