JobStreet Corp Bhd is set to widen its portfolio in Southeast Asia with Vietnam as its latest addition. JobStreet said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Vietnamese entrepreneur to set up an 80:20 joint-venture company in Singapore, which in turn will hold a 100% stake in the proposed venture in Vietnam. The initial contribution from JobStreet for the Vietnam venture will amount to US$800,000 (RM2.48m), to be funded by internal sources, while the partner will be contributing US$200,000. (Financial Daily)
Malaysia needs to reform the industry’s tax structure to counter new rates in Indonesia that improved the competitiveness of refiners there, according to a trade group. Without changes to create a so-called level playing field, there will be “a slow death of the refining industry when the independent refiners move away,” said Mohammad Jaaffar Ahmad, chief executive of the Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia. (Bloomberg)
VADS, a wholly-owned unit of Telekom Malaysia, expects data centre business to emerge the biggest contributor to the company's ICT operations. CEO Ahmad Azhar Yahya said the demand for data centres is driven by rising number of businesses adopting cloud computing. VADS currently has 14 data centres nationwide with total space of 150,000 sq ft. Ahmad Azhar said the company was looking at the possibility of building up to five large data centres over the next three years. (Bernama)
The HSBB network being built by Telekom Malaysia has outpaced other similar national initiatives in the region, according to Informa Telecoms and Media (ITM). ITM said HSBB deployment has done so well that there is now talk of extending the network beyond its original target of 20% of the total homes in the country. There are also plans to go outside the Klang Valley, with strong interest from several state governments. “The HSBB’s progress is way in front of Singapore’s next generation national broadband network, which has only around 130,000 subscribers so far and, although deployed to nearly 90% of buildings in the city-state, is still not available to the majority of households because of delays in completing the in-building wiring,” it said in a report. “There is no doubt that Malaysia’s decision to stick with the incumbent, TM, in deploying its next-generation broadband networks is definitely bearing fruit at the moment,” senior analyst Tony Brown said in the statement. (BT)
U Mobile Sdn Bhd has reached 2m paying subscribers, nine months after the 3G service provider announced it had 1m registered users. U Mobile CEO Dr Kaizad Heerjee attributed the achievement to the introduction of its 42 Mbps mobile broadband service last September 2011. (SunBiz)
SapuraKencana shares closed 14 sen lower at RM2.10 in a higher broader market after the stock opened six sen higher over its reference price of RM2.24. Earlier, it had touched an intra-day high of RM2.30. “The (opening) price was what we had projected it to be, more importantly today marks the start of our journey as a entity offering a full suite of oil and gas services,” said president and group CEO Dato’ Seri Shahril Shamsuddin. (Star)
AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank Group) is planning to spend RM600m over the next three years, about double the amount spent in the last four years, to boost its core financial services. Out of the amount, some RM300m will be channelled into changing its core banking platform, said AmBank Group managing director Ashok Ramamurthy. The remainder will be invested in expanding and upgrading infrastructure, increasing manpower, improving efficiency and productivity, as well as increasing the number of branches in its network. (Malaysian Reserve)
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is joining Johor Corporation (JCorp) as shareholders of Massive Equity Sdn Bhd (MESB). MESB is a special purpose vehicle formed to buy QSR Brands Bhd and KFC Holdings (M) Bhd. In a statement, JCorp said with the signing of the shareholders' agreement, JCorp maintains its 51% stake in MESB, while the EPF-led consortium makes up the remaining 49% via Melati Asia Holdings Limited (MAHL). It said MAHL is 51% owned by EPF, while Britain-based CVC Capital Partners holds the rest. Consequently, 76% of MESB is in Malaysian hands, it added. Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Johor Corporation said, "We are heartened by EPF's confidence and are honoured to have them as our partner at this juncture in JCorp's journey." Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, EPF deputy CEO for Investment said the EPF is confident that this investment in a highly cash generative business will meet its long term goals of providing sustainable financial growth coupled with accretive yields. "The KFC and Pizza Hut brands have been a market leader in Malaysia for decades and we look forward to enhancing the brands and their market share even further in future," he said. (Bernama)
Gas Malaysia Bhd said it expects a double digit growth in gas volume supplied for 2013 to drive the company’s revenue going forward. In Feb 2012, Gas Malaysia signed a supply agreement with Petronas for 492 mmscfd, a 29% increase from its previous supply of 382 mmscfd. The new agreement will last for 10 years with an option to renew for another five years. For FY11, Gas Malaysia’s revenue hit RM2bn (FY10: RM1.8bn) but net profit was 23% lower yoy to RM229m (FY10: RM298m) due to a 49% decline in gross spreads to RM2.20/mmbtu. The company intends to pay out 100% of its net profit for FY12 and subsequently targets a payout ratio of 75% moving forward. (Star Biz)
Malaysian Airlines System (MAS) will sponsor Queen Park Rangers (QPR) Football Club jerseys for RM10.3m to achieve greater brand visibility. The sponsorship provides strong exposure of the brand globally as its logo has been featured in QPR's home jersey, which they used in more than 75% of all their matches throughout the season. (Malaysian Reserve)
Zelan Bhd is expected to make a sizeable write back in its fourth quarter (4Q) ended March 31, 2012, for provisions in previous projects such as power plant in Indonesia. The company has already written back some RM85.2m in the 3Q ended Dec 31, 2011, from provisions made for the coal fired steam power plant in Rembang, Central Java. "The company has decided on the size of write back on provisions it will make in the coming final quarter numbers ended March 31, 2012, but the company is set to return to the black for the year," a source said. (Malaysian Reserve)
Scomi Group has sold its last machine shop assets for US$39.77m. Its entire stake in Scomi Nigeria Pte Ltd and 2% stake in Oiltools Africa Ltd were sold to AOS Orwell Ltd. The sale officially completes its exit from machine shop business. (BT)
Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd's wholly owned unit has won a RM13.65m contract from Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd in relation to works at KLIA2. The 11-month contract will start on May 30, and is expected to contribute to the company's earnings in FY2013 ending June 30. (Financial Daily)
State government-owned company TDM Bhd remains positive on its plantation division's performance this year despite the lower forecast for crude palm oil (CPO) production and CPO prices compared to last year, said chief executive officer Badrul Hisham Mahari. "In line with overall market expectation also, we forecast CPO prices for this year to be lower compared to 2011, but the impact on earnings would be cushioned by our transformation programme initiated in 2004", he said. (Bernama)
Crest Builder: Proposes share placement, bonus issue of new warrants
Crest Builder has proposed a corporate exercise involving a share placement of up 10% of its paid-up share capital and a bonus issue of new warrants. It said on Thursday the proposed placement would involve issuing up to 12.38m new shares which would see it raising RM12.38m. The proceeds would be used for working capital. The five-day volume weighted average price (VWAP) of the shares up to and including May 16 was 99.8 sen. If the indicative issue price of the placement shares is RM1, this would be a premium of 0.2% or 0.2 sen to the five-day VWAP of the shares. Crest Builder said the proposed bonus issue of warrants would be implemented after the completion of the proposed placement. The exercise would involve an issuance of up to 53.64m warrants (warrants B) on the basis of three warrants for every 10 existing shares. It said if the indicative exercise price of the warrants B was RM1, this was a premium of 0.2% or 0.2 sen to the five-day VWAP of the shares. (StarBiz)
JCY: Profit soars on better deals
JCY International has posted a 1,209% spike in its 2QFY13 net profit to RM163.09m, compared with RM12.46m a year earlier, fueled by better average selling price of its products, favourable exchange rates and higher volume shipped. Its revenue rose from RM19.97m in the previous corresponding quarter to RM325.544m. The average selling price of hard disk-drive (HDD) mechanical components, which JCY produces, rose as a result of supply shortage after manufacturing facilities were destroyed during the October floods in Thailand. While many other companies in the same line were negatively impacted by the floods last year, JCY was not, giving it an advantage over its competitors. Finance director James Wong said that the industry supply chain is recovering and it would need another two quarters for the total addressable market to catch up to its pre-flood demand of 180m units. The company has spent RM37.7m on capital expenditure year-to-date, with RM29.2m more to be invested in equipment. JCY aimed to increase its global market share of HDD components to 40% from 25% currently, Wong said. On its dividend policy of 50% net earnings, he said the company would consider dishing out higher yields for shareholders if it did well. For the reporting quarter, JCY has announced a 3 sen per share interim dividend, slightly more than the 2 sen interim dividend distributed in the first quarter. (StarBiz)
KHSB: Ties up with HK’s Lohas Group
Kumpulan Hartanah Selangor (KHSB) and Hong Kong-incorporated Sun Lohas Group Ltd yesterday signed a MoU to explore an eco-development concept on 2,013ha in Bestari Jaya, Kuala Selangor. The MoU is to allow due diligence as well as a feasibility study on the proposed Sun Lohas City Development. The gross development value of the 10-year project is estimated at some RM8bn, Bernama quoted Sun Lohas chairman Chen Ping as saying. (Bernama)
AsiaEP: Becomes GN3 firm
AsiaEP Resources said it has been classified as a Guidance Note 3 (GN3) company by Bursa Malaysia. Bursa said that the company has triggered the criteria pursuant to GN3 of the ACE Market listing requirements of Bursa Securities. Bursa Securities would like to emphasise that (it) will continue to monitor the progress of AsiaEP in respect of its compliance with the listing requirements. It triggered Bursa Malaysia’s Guidance Note 3 2.1 (j) which states that the listed corporation has an insignificant business or operations. Currently, there are a seven companies under Guidance Note 3, or about 0.75% of the total 931 companies listed on Bursa. The companies are AsiaEP, BCT Technology, Fotronics Corp, HDM-Carlaw Corp, Ideal Sun City Holdings, Intelligent Edge Technologies and Tricubes. (StarBiz)
No comments:
Post a Comment