TA Research made no changes to its financial year 2025 (FY25) and FY27 earnings projections.
PETALING JAYA: TA Research is mildly positive on Perak Transit Bhd
’s proposed collaboration to manage the Tanjong Malim bus terminal as the new terminal is expected to contribute additional revenue to the group, albeit small.
Perak Transit received a letter from Majlis Daerah Tanjong Malim to manage the terminal at a specified monthly rental payment for a period of 30 years.
TA Research believes this collaboration with the council will involve Perak Transit incurring some capital expenditure to refurbish or expand the terminal, operating expenditure for the day-to-day operations and collection of fees from express bus operators and income from rental of shops and kiosks.
Meanwhile, the research house is “neutral” on the establishment of a new RM1.5bil nominal value sukuk wakalah (sukuk) programme.
“However, this, in our opinion, is a strong testament to the company’s sound long-term fundamentals, despite the recent sell-down of its shares,” it said.
The sukuk proceeds will be mainly used to refinance existing borrowings/existing syariah-compliant financings and/or future syariah-compliant financing.
It will also go to funding capital expenditure and working capital requirements.Prior to this, Perak Transit has launched RM500mil nominal value sukuk murabahah in 2019 and RM1.5bil nominal value sukuk wakalah in 2024.
As of Sept 30, the company’s outstanding sukuk stood at RM685mil, where only RM84.5mil is repayable over the next 12-month period.
The research house said these existing Islamic bonds carry an average profit rate of 5.14%, which is benchmarked against the one-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate
TA Research made no changes to its financial year 2025 (FY25) and FY27 earnings projections.
It maintains a “buy” call on Perak Transit with a target price of 46 sen a share, which is based on one time distressed net tangible assets valuation.
Perak Transit reported a 12.1% year-on-year increase in net profit to RM19.86mil for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2025 (3Q25) mainly due to the absence of private placement fees and related expenses tied to the sukuk wakalah programme.
The stronger performance was also boosted by a sharp reduction in general and administrative expenses, which fell to RM2.22mil in 3Q25 from RM6.09mil a year ago.
Revenue, however, declined 5.7% to RM49.09mil from RM52.08mil, dragged down by lower contributions from integrated public transportation terminal operations.
In a Bursa Malaysia filing on its latest financial performance, the group said it is also actively seeking new third-party terminal management opportunities to expand its asset-light business model, as demonstrated by its collaboration to operate Terminal Sentral Kuantan in Pahang.
“On May 9, 2025, the group entered into a memorandum of understanding with Majlis Perbandaran Kangar for the purpose of working together and cooperating in the concession to manage the Terminal Perlis Sentra on March 24, 2025.
“Currently, 27 express bus operators are operating at the terminal.
“Terminal Perlis Sentral is a single-storey building with a land area of approximately 5.31 acres, a gross built-up area of approximately 19,448 sq ft and a net leasable area of approximately 2,729 sq ft for shops and kiosks,” it added.
