KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 10): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus on Monday (Feb 13) could include the following: AirAsia X, Westports, Kia Lim, Paramount, MAHB, MWE, OldTown, Excel Force MSC, MISC, 7-Eleven, WZ Satu, TSH Resources and IRIS
AirAsia X Bhd will start flying to Hawaii from June 28. The Kuala Lumpur-Hawaii route marks the budget airline’s maiden service to the US.
AirAsia X CEO Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said the airline would operate four flights a week from Kuala Lumpur to Honolulu via Osaka, Japan.
"This is the game-changing destination we have all been waiting for. By connecting Asean and North Asia to the US with our world-class low fares offering, we will make it possible for those who could only dream of a vacation across the Pacific to take that trip,” Kamarudin said.
Westports Holdings Bhd's net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2016 (4QFY16) rose to a record RM155 million or 4.55 sen per share, up 16.9% from RM132.55 million a year ago, on the back of an increase in container throughput.
Revenue increased 20.2% to RM573.26 million from RM477.01 million.
Westports declared a second interim dividend of 6.7 sen per share, payable on March 8.
Westports said container throughput rose 9% to 2.55 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) in 4QFY16 from 2.34 million TEUs in 4QFY15.
Kia Lim Bhd said a fire broke out at a factory belonging to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Kia Lim Kilang Batu Bata Sdn Bhd.
No staff was injured, the clay brick and roofing tiles manufacturer said in filing to Bursa Malaysia today.
It said the affected buildings housed machinery for firing materials preparation and storage as well as the firing materials transportation and feeding system together with a tunnel kiln.
“At this juncture, (we are) unable to ascertain the financial loss, but believe that all the affected building and machinery are adequately insured,” said Kia Lim, adding that the group is looking into determining the actual extent of damage caused together with its insurers and other relevant parties.
“It is also to note that the loss of production will likely be mitigated gradually by another factory located within the same district as the affected factory,” Kia Lim said.
Paramount Corp Bhd ended its financial year 2016 (FY16) with a strong fourth quarter, with net profit doubling on stronger sales momentum across most of its property developments.
In its quarterly earnings update for the three months ended Dec 31, 2016 (4QFY16), the developer said net profit was up 103% year-on-year at RM30.26 million or 7.15 sen per share compared with RM14.9 million or 3.53 per share previously.
Quarterly revenue climbed 21% y-o-y to RM179.73 million from RM148.06 million.
The group has proposed a final single-tier dividend of six sen per share for FY16, up 4% from the 5.75 sen per share it paid in the previous year.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) passenger traffic kicked off to a good start this year, with 7.83 million passengers passing through the 39 airports it manages in the country in January up 13.3% from 6.92 million a year ago.
This was driven by double digit growth in both international and domestic passenger traffic, as people travelled during the Chinese New Year holiday period.
International traffic for the month saw a 14% increase to 4.05 million compared with 3.55 million a year ago, while domestic traffic grew 12.5% to 3.78 million from 3.36 million.
Taking into account total number of passengers handled at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SGIA), which fell 4.5% to 2.15 million from 2.25 million, MAHB said systemwide, it handled 8.9% more passengers in January this year amounting to 9.98 million from 9.17 million in January 2016.
MWE Holdings Bhd today sold off its entire stake in US-based medical mobile monitoring company, Integrity Tracking, for approximately US$10.26 million (RM44.83 million), which the cash proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce the group’s debt and as future working capital, company filing states.
The shares constitute a 10.09% interest or two million shares in Integrity Tracking, and they were sold at US$5.1291 apiece. In 2012, MWE originally invested in Integrity Tracking for US$4 million.
The company’s board “views this disposal as a good opportunity to unlock and maximize its investments in the US.”
According to MWE Holdings’ Bursa filing today, the company looks to pocket an estimated US$9.87 million within 45 days from the date of merger, while the remaining US$389,000 is held by a third party to pay for possible expenses after Integrity Tracking’s merger with MobileHelp.
OldTown Bhd is expanding to Yangon, Myanmar as part of its plan to venture into other territories in Southeast Asia.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, OldTown said its wholly-owned subsidiary Kopitiam Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd has executed a licence agreement for five years with Nikmat Mujur Sdn Bhd and its director and majority shareholder Low See Nam to operate OldTown White Coffee café outlets in Yangon within nine months.
Under the agreement, Nikmat Mujur will hold an exclusive licence to operate three outlets in Yangon for 24 months and it will also have a non-exclusive right to use the OldTown White Coffee trade name and trade mark, to operate the system, to sell the approved products and to provide specialised services within Yangon.
Nikmat Mujur will pay Kopitiam Asia Pacific an area licence fee for three outlets of US$120,000 and another US$60,000 for renewal fee for the area licence for the three outlets. It is also required to pay a royalty fee of US$1,500 per outlet per month.
OldTown said it wishes to expand into the Myanmar market as part of the group's international expansion and it is likely to lead to an increase in its earnings in the future.
Financial services provider Excel Force MSC Bhd’s co-founder, Wang Kuen-Chung @ Jeff Wang, who was previously the group's executive chairman as well as the managing director, has given up his chairmanship to Datuk Norraesah Mohamad, 69.
Wang, however, remains the managing director of the company, according to Excel Force's bourse filing today. The change is immediate.
"Presently, Jeff Wang is responsible for the overall planning and management of the business and operations of the company," said Excel Force.
MISC Bhd’s net profit fell 29.61% to RM529.83 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2016 (4QFY16), from RM752.72 million a year earlier, as it recorded lower revenue in nearly all of its operating segments.
Revenue shrank 24% to RM2.52 billion from RM3.31 billion, led by lower revenue in its heavy engineering and liquefied natural gas (LNG) business segments, the group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
The heavy engineering segment recorded the largest drop in revenue of 57.9% to RM303.6 million, from RM721.2 million, mainly from fewer and lower backlog and order intake from its sub-segment.
A change in the estimated useful life of LNG and petroleum vessels beginning January 2016 had also contributed to a drop in the group’s operating profit to RM666.6 million from RM1.03 billion, MISC said.
7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd has appointed Hishammudin Hasan as its new deputy chief executive officer (CEO), the group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
Hishamuddin, who is a Singaporean national, had been the director of business development at Berjaya Corp Bhd since 2015 and he also held directorships in Danone Indonesia and Kraft Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
7-Eleven has also appointed Puan Sri Rohani Parkash Abduallah as an independent non-executive director, the group announced in a separate filing.
Rohani also holds directorships in Nylex (Malaysia) Bhd and CCM Duopharma Biotech Bhd.
WZ Satu Bhd is acquiring a PR1MA housing project’s construction company from funeral service provider Nirvana Asia Ltd’s founder-cum-executive chairman Tan Sri Kong Hon Kong and deputy chief executive officer Kong Yew Foong for RM30 million, to be satisfied via issuance of shares.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, WZ Satu said it entered into a conditional share sale agreement with Hon Kong and Yew Foong to acquire 500,000 shares or the entire equity interest in the abovementioned company, called Cekap Semenanjung Sdn Bhd.
Hon Kong owns 499,999 shares in Cekap Semenanjung while the remaining one share is owned by Yew Foong.
After the acquisition, Hon Kong is expected to hold 7.8% direct interest in WZ Satu.
Cekap Semenanjung is the beneficial owner of entire equity interest in Sinergi Dayang Sdn Bhd, which is principally involved in carrying out construction works.
TSH Resources Bhd’s proposed privatisation offer for its unit Ekowood International Bhd is not fair but reasonable, said Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd, the independent adviser for the proposal.
It recommended that the shareholders vote in favour of the resolution pertaining to the proposed privatisation to continue participation in the future growth of Ekowood through TSH as Ekowood would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of TSH upon the completion of the proposed privatisation.
For the valuation of Ekowood shares, the adviser said the offer price of 40 sen represents a discount of 24 sen or 37.5% to the revalued net asset value (RNAV) per Ekowood share of 64 sen.
The total consideration for the proposed privatisation is RM21.9 million which would be satisfied via the issuance of up to 11.4 million new TSH shares.
TSH shall pay the offer price of 40 sen for each scheme share which shall be satisfied entirely via the issuance of new TSH shares at the TSH share issue price of RM1.92.
IRIS Corp Bhd confirms that its CEO and group managing director (MD), Datuk Tan Say Jim, has been on leave of absence since Nov 7 last year, due to personal reasons.
This confirms a previous report by The Edge Financial Daily on Dec 27, 2016, that Tan, who has ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the group amid plans for a major overhaul of its operations, has been on leave since November.
Tan, who had a 4.99% direct stake in the company, with an indirect 1.46% stake, as at June 20, 2016, was last noted paring down his stake in IRIS to 2.7% on Jan 24 by disposing of four million shares at 13 sen apiece,
A new operations advisory committee (OAC) with a tenure of three months, was formed today to oversee operations in the group, IRIS said in a Bursa Malaysia filing today.
The group added that Choong Choo Hock will continue to hold the position of acting CEO.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/my/article/airasia-x-westports-kia-lim-paramount-mahb-mwe-oldtown-excel-force-msc-misc-7-eleven-wz-satu
