TM, Maybank, Astro, Hextar Healthcare, MISC, KLK, Poh Huat, Cypark and Crest Builder

TM, Maybank, Astro, Hextar Healthcare, MISC, KLK, Poh Huat, Cypark and Crest Builder

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 30): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made news on Friday (Dec 30) involving Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Hextar Healthcare Bhd, MISC Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Poh Huat Resources Bhd, Cypark Resources Bhd and Crest Builder Holdings Bhd.

Confirming that it was hit by a data breach on Wednesday (Dec 28), Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) said the contact information of 250,248 Unifi Mobile customers were affected. The affected customers, comprising both individuals and small and medium enterprises, have been notified, said TM. “The type of data that was breached involved customer names, phone numbers and emails. No other information was breached,” it said.

Meanwhile, Malayan Banking Bhd and Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd have denied claims that they were hit by a data leak.

The Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that the ministry, through the Personal Data Protection Department and Cybersecurity Malaysia, was obtaining feedback from Malayan Banking and Astro to verify the claims.

Hextar Healthcare Bhd's largest shareholder Datuk Eddie Ong Choo Meng is leaving his post as a non-independent non-executive director on Saturday (Dec 31). Ong, who has an indirect stake of 29.2% in the company via Hextar Rubber Sdn Bhd, is exiting the board "to pursue other interests". Besides Ong, Hextar deputy chairman Datuk Mohamed Hamzah is also slated to resign on Saturday to likewise "pursue other personal interests". Meanwhile, the company has appointed Lim Siew Eng and Doris Cheng Chin Ching as independent non-executive directors, effective Jan 1, 2023.

The High Court has dismissed an application by MISC Bhd to set aside US$330.17 million (RM1.45 billion) representing parts of an arbitration award against its subsidiary involved in the Gumusut-Kakap semi-floating production system (semi-FPS) project in 2014. The 2020 arbitration award, totalling US$352.44 million excluding costs, was to be claimed by Sabah Shell Petroleum Co Ltd (SSPC) from MISC's subsidiary, Gumusut-Kakap Semi-Floating Production System (L) Ltd (GKL). In the 2020 arbitration, the Asian International Arbitration Centre ruled that GKL was liable for defects in the Gumusut-Kakap semi-FPS it provided SSPC in 2014. GKL subsequently made the High Court application in July 2020 to set aside parts of the arbitration award, which was dismissed on Thursday (Dec 29), MISC said.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) foresees challenges to its cash flow going into 2023 as its committed major oleochemicals expansion in Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Europe are currently on schedule. "A cash outflow of RM1.5 billion will be required over the coming two years," said chairman R M Alias in the group's annual report for the year ended Sept 30, 2022 (FY2022). "The plantation sector also has capital expenditure requirements to upgrade and renew some existing palm oil mills and infrastructure. However, our net debt at 40.7% is still able to cushion any impact from a shortfall in cash generation," he added.

Poh Huat Resources Bhd posted a net profit of RM23.58 million for the fourth quarter ended Oct 31, 2022 versus a net loss of RM3.54 million a year ago, as revenue strengthened following the recovery of production activities to pre-pandemic levels, helped by forex gains due to the strong US dollar. Revenue increased by more than three folds to RM167.32 million from RM53.05 million previously. The group said the better topline was partly due to the low base effect as last year’s performance was affected by the pandemic, which paused operations in Malaysia and Vietnam for 2½ months.

Cypark Resources Bhd's net profit for the fourth quarter ended Oct 31, 2022 plunged 79% to RM5.4 million from RM25.7 million a year earlier, dragged down by lower revenue. Earnings per share declined to 0.29 sen from 4.55 sen. Quarterly revenue dropped 44.4% to RM48.38 million from RM86.95 million on lower contributions from the renewable energy division and waste management and waste-to-energy (WTE) division. For the full financial year, Cypark's profit fell 35.4% to RM48.7 million, from RM75.4 million in FY2021, as revenue dropped 21.7% to RM246.89 million from RM315.32 million.

Crest Builder Holdings Bhd's unit has secured a RM478.89 million contract from Perdana Parkcity Sdn Bhd to build two condominium blocks with a car park podium and retail units in Desa Parkcity, Kuala Lumpur. The contract will span 39 months from May 5, 2023 to Aug 4, 2026. The group, which has been incurring losses since the pandemic in early 2020, expects the contract to contribute positively to its earnings from the financial year ending Dec 31, 2023 onwards.

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