March 11th - Stocks To Watch MAS, KianJoo, CanOne, BoxPack, Golsta, BAuto, plantation stocks, Maybank

by **Cals** Tue 11 Mar 2014, 08:06

Stocks To Watch MAS, KianJoo, CanOne, BoxPack, Golsta, BAuto, plantation stocks, Maybank

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com

Monday, 10 March 2014 20:07

KUALA LUMPUR (March 10): Based on news flow and corporate announcements today, companies that may be in focus tomorrow include the following:

Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) shares, which ended 4% lower today after falling to 18% at one point to a record low of 0.205 ringgit on heavy trades, will continue to be in the limelight as its shares will continue to be clouded by the missing plane MH370.

Apart from incurring high expenditure on current crisis management which could be long-drawn if the aircraft and the 239 crew members and passengers could not be located, MAS might have to face a long string of legal suits from family members of passengers.

The MH370 since Saturday has caused some analysts to either lower the earnings forecast of the national airline or put the stock under review.

Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd, which along with associated companies Can-One Bhd and Box-Pak (M) Bhd have suspended their share trading since 2.30pm today, announced it has received a non-binding letter of interest from Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) to purchase 51% of the issued and outstanding stocks of Kian Joo Can Factory.

“Kian Joo has on 10 March 2014 received the letter which does not tantamount to an offer as the letter stated it is non-binding and is merely an expression of TTC's preliminary intention,” said Kian Joo in a filing to Bursa Malaysia.

Kian Joo is seeking further details from TTC.

Prior to the suspension, Kian Joo shares rose three sen or 0.94% to RM3.21 while Can-One added two sen or 0.62% to RM3.22. Box-Pak traded flat at RM2.22.

Golsta Synergy Bhd was slapped with an unusual market activity (UMA) query by Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd over the sharp rise in the price in its shares recently.

The regulator today directed the company to make enquiries with its directors and major shareholders for the cause of the movements in the company’s shares and make public these findings.

Golsta jumped 56 sen or 16.6% to end at RM3.94 with 636,200 shares done. In the past one month, its share price had shot up by nearly 100% from RM2.00 per unit.

In reply to the UMA, Golsta said there were no new developments with regards to the company.

But it added, it had earlier made an announcement that the company had received a notice of conditional mandatory take-over offer from GS Capital Sdn Bhd (or Tan Sri Clement Hii) to acquire all of the remaining ordinary shares of Golsta not already held by the offeror and persons acting in concert, at the offer price of RM2.10 per unit.

Berjaya Auto Bhd’s net profit rose 376% on-year to RM30.6 million in the third quarter ended Jan 31, 2014, from RM6.4 million.

Revenue also leapt 53% on-year to RM343.0 million from RM224.6 million.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, the firm said the higher profit mainly arose from the weakened yen against the ringgit. It added higher revenue and improvement in profit margin also helped.

For the nine-month period, net profit recorded RM84.3 million versus RM27.5 million in the previous corresponding period, while revenue registered RM1.05 billion from RM656.1 million a year earlier.

“Outlook for the short and medium terms will be challenging as the Malaysian automotive industry is getting crowded with distributors of Korean and European cars,” said Berjaya Auto going forward.

Plantation stocks may be in focus again after palm oil advanced to the highest level in almost 18 months today, following the release of official data.

Palm oil production in Malaysia dropped to the lowest since April 2012, depleting stockpiles in the world’s second biggest supplier to an eight-month low, according to Bloomberg.

The contract for May delivery gained as much as 0.7 per cent to RM2,907 ($885) a metric ton on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, the highest level since September 2012, and was at RM2,893 at 4:46 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur. Price rose 3.1 per cent last week after bullish projections on prices by international experts.

Inventories fell 14 per cent to 1.66 million tons from a month earlier, the lowest level since June, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said today. This was the biggest drop since February 2009.

Malayan Banking Bhd's (Maybank) proposed establishment of its Singapore-based insurance unit Etiqa Pte Ltd has received conditional approval from regulators there.

In a statement to the Bursa Malaysia today, Maybank said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had approved the establishment of Etiqa which planned to offer life and general insurance in Singapore.

MAS is the Singapore relevant authority or central bank responsible for issuing approval for any party wishing to carry on insurance business in Singapore.