Bursa highlights for Mon, May 23

Bursa Highlights logo for Star Online (Business).

Bursa highlights for Mon, May 23

* Hwang Capital (M) Bhd chairman and controlling shareholder Hwang Lip Teik, along with Hwang Enterprises Sdn Bhd, has made a RM2.65-per-share cash offer to take the financial services company private. The offer price is about 20% higher than the stock’s last traded price of RM2.21. Read more 

* Special purpose acquisition company Reach Energy Bhd, which plans to buy a 60% stake in four oil and gas producing fields spanning 45.5 sq km and an exploration area measuring 804.8 sq km in Kazakhstan, has proposed to undertake a private placement to raise up to RM180mil. Read more

* Malakoff Corp Bhd recorded earnings of RM84.1mil for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, down 19.1% from RM103.91mil achieved in the corresponding period last year, while revenue was marginally lower at RM1.34bil. The independent water and power producer said the lower profit was mainly due to higher maintenance costs plus share of losses from its associates and joint venture, offset by lower forex losses and lower finance costs following the redemption of the unrated junior sukuk Musharakah.

* Electronics manufacturing services firm EG Industries Bhd has clinched a US$36mil (RM146mil) contract to be the sole manufacturer for Flic, the world’s first wireless smart button that creates a shortcut to favourite actions on mobile devices. Read more

* Multi-Usage Holdings Bhd (MUH) has lodged a police report against one of its directors, Tan Chew Hua, for possible breaches of the penal code in respect of the purchase of properties from MUH’s unit TF Land Sdn Bhd. Read more 

* Pos Malaysia Bhd’s annual revenue continued to grow while net profit continued to fall for the second consecutive year. For the financial year ended March 31, 2016 (FY16), its profit was halved to RM63.09mil despite revenue increasing 15% to RM1.72bil. The mail and courier segments made RM58.1mil and RM55.5mil in profit, respectively, but the retail segment (including over-the-counter services for payment of bills and certain financial products/services) posted a loss of RM68.5mil. The lower FY16 profit was attributed to lower profits from mail and retail segments due mainly to higher staff and transportation costs.

* Paramjit Singh Gill, a major shareholder of Multi Sports Holdings Ltd (a China-based shoe manufacturer whose share trading on Bursa Malaysia has been suspended since two weeks ago), has requested for an EGM seeking to appoint five new directors. Read more

* Genting Plantations Bhd’s first-quarter earnings fell 48.7% to RM26.99mil while revenue slid 19.6% to RM260.87mil. Its plantation (Malaysia) segment contributed 28.4% lower pre-tax profit of RM49.1mil. In contrast, the plantation (Indonesia) segment recorded a 17.6% rise to RM54.0mil driven by higher fresh fruit bunches yield (output increased due to the sizeable addition of newly-mature areas and the progress of young mature areas into higher yielding brackets). Meanwhile, the property segment’s contribution dropped by more than half (62.3%) to RM11.4mil due to a one-off gain recognition from land sales in the previous year’s corresponding period.

* Ajinomoto (M) Bhd says its directors and major shareholders are not aware of the reason behind the sharp rise in its share price, which has shot up about 40% over the last one month. The counter closed 44-sen higher at RM13.38 on Monday, with 74,900 shares traded. This marked the second time in half a year that Bursa Malaysia Securities issued an unusual market activity query to the company over the rise in its share price. Read more

* British American Tobacco (M) Bhd has appointed Hendrik Stoel as managing director effective June 1, succeeding Stefano Clini who tendered his resignation on May 3. Read more

* Property developer Sunsuria Bhd has appointed Koong Wai Seng as chief executive officer, succeeding Ho Hon Sang who will take up an advisory role to the executive chairman. Read more

* Lafarge Malaysia Bhd’s earnings sank 72% to RM20.65mil in the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, against RM73.69mil a year earlier. Revenue dipped 3.8% to RM668.78mil. The cement, concrete and construction aggregates company said the profit erosion was mainly due to the lower contribution from the cement segment following continued price competition (RM39.67mil versus RM97.01mil previously) as well as one-off Holcim integration costs (the group acquired a 100% stake in Holcim (M) Sdn Bhd and 70% in Geocycle Malaysia Sdn Bhd in the previous quarter).

* Oil & gas service provider Tanjung Offshore Bhd’s net loss widened to RM4.685mil in the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, compared with RM1.965mil a year earlier although revenue grew by 47.3% to RM11.99mil. Both its products and services segment and engineered packages segment were in the red this time (the latter made a RM920,000 profit a year before).

* UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd swung to a net loss of RM65.08mil in the first quarter to March 31, 2016, from earnings of RM32.15mil in the same quarter of last year. Revenue plunged 71.9% to RM87.70mil. Weak demand for the group’s drilling and oilfield services segments during the quarter due to low oil prices caused these segments to incur losses of RM93.4mil and RM1.4mil respectively, the company told Bursa Malaysia.