June 19th - Stocks To Watch Astro, Glomac, Eversendai, Coastal Contracts, Sunsuria, YTL, YTL Power

by **Cals** Thu 19 Jun 2014, 03:19

Stocks To Watch Astro, Glomac, Eversendai, Coastal Contracts, Sunsuria, YTL, YTL Power

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com

Wednesday, 18 June 2014 18:56

KUALA LUMPUR (June 18): Based on news flow and corporate announcements up to 6.30 pm today, the stocks that may be in focus tomorrow include the following:

Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd's net profit rose 12% to RM128.3 million for the first quarter ended April 30, 2014, from RM114.1 million a year earlier.

Revenue rose to RM 1.25 billion from RM1.13 billion, the pay-television operator told the stock exchange.

"The increase in net profit is mainly due to the increase in EBITDA of RM60.3m and decrease in tax expenses of RM4.7m, which was offset by an increase in depreciation of set-top boxes of RM29.3m, amortisation of software of RM8.1m and an increase in net finance costs of RM9.7m," Astro said.

Astro said revenue rose on the increase in subscription and advertising income.

The increase in subscription revenue was due to higher average revenue per user for pay-TV residential subscribers as the pay-tv residential subscribers rose.

Astro plans to pay a dividend of 2.25 sen a share for the quarter in review.

On prospects, the group said it has scheduled a line-up of key sporting events which attract a good following, including the Brazil World Cup and BPL.

Glomac Bhd’s net profit fell 31% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM22.1 million in the fourth quarter ended Apr 30, 2014, from RM31.9 million.

Revenue also fell 26% y-o-y to RM174.3 million from RM235.6 million.

Glomac proposed a single-tier final dividend of 2.65 sen per ordinary share in respect of the financial year ended Apr 30, 2014.

For the full-year period, net profit stood at RM108.1 million versus RM102.3 million in the previous year, while revenue recorded RM676.1 million from RM680.9 million a year ago.

“The group’s performance for the financial year ending Apr 30, 2015 is expected to improve based on the on-going development projects and the level of work targeted to be completed,” said Glomac.

Eversendai Corporation Bhd announced it has secured new projects worth over RM152 million through its subsidiaries in Qatar and India.

“This brings the total new contracts that have been secured to date in 2014 to RM903.5 million, and our current order book to RM1.7 billion,” said Tan Sri AK Nathan, executive chairman and group managing director of Eversendai.

The group said it has secured the Gabbro Terminal Expansion project in Qatar worth RM78.7 million and also the Skylight Steel Package 2 of the Mall of Qatar in Doha worth RM16.3 million.

The group has also been awarded a contract worth RM57.1 million by Reliance Industries Ltd for the supply of fabricated structural steel works for its J3 Project in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.

Coastal Contracts Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiaries have collectively secured contracts for the sale of three units of offshore support vessels (OSV) and three units of tugboats for an aggregate value of approximately RM180 million.

“We are pleased to announce that the group has secured a major win of vessel sales orders worth RM180 million,” said Ng Chin Heng, the executive chairman of Coastal.

The new contracts clinched will boost the shipbuilder’s order book to RM2.4 billion, said Coastal in a filing with the stock exchange.

According to the filing, all of the vessels are expected to be delivered this year and next year. Consequently, the revenue from these vessels is expected to contribute positively to the top and bottom line performance of the group in 2014 and 2015.

Sunsuria Bhd is not going ahead with the proposed purchase of real estate development assets in Selangor and Johor worth some RM10 billion from companies linked to its new chairman and major shareholder, Datuk Ter Leong Yap.

Sunsuria said it had decided to allow the heads of agreement (HOA) for the acquisitions to lapse.

The company said its decision took into consideration the "intention of the company to deliver the performance of its existing property development business and the scale of the potential acquisitions, and following consultations and discussions with the advisers and relevant parties."

"The decision will enable the company to have more time and flexibility to assess the various options available in respect of the proposed acquisitions and/or other potential land bank acquisitions," Sunsuria said.

YTL Corporation Bhd and YTL Power International Bhd saw a decline in their share prices after being hit by a series of negative news today and yesterday.

At market close, YTL Corporation was traded at RM1.56, falling 3 sen or 2%. YTL Power declined 1 sen or 0.7% to end at RM1.47.

YTL Power had announced earlier today its decision to withdraw from the Johor’s RM3 billion power project, recently awarded via direct negotiations with the Energy Commission (EC).

The power-generating company said it is withdrawing from participating in the project in Johor (Project 4A) to “dispel any misgivings over the government’s commitment to transparency and good governance”.

In response, RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd lowered the fair value (FV) of YTL Power’s stock to RM1.54, from RM1.71. The research house said this may spark negative reactions to its share price in the near-term.

Meanwhile, the YTL Group may come under fire again as the Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM) holds a special press conference on YTL tomorrow.

The press conference entitled: “The failure of YTL in Strengthening the National Economic Agenda”, will be held tomorrow afternoon at House MTEM.

Yesterday, YTL also suffered an attack from an opposition Member of Parliament.

DAP’s Member of Parliament Steven Sim called for the Public Accounts Committee and the Auditor General to “investigate and re-assess” the express rail link project (ERL) linking klia to klia2.

“The Transport Minister must answer why ERL Sdn Bhd was given such preferential treatment: first by being paid RM100 million as contractor to build the rail, and then allowed to use the rail to make an additional profit of RM89 million per annum after that,” Sim said.

ERL Sdn Bhd is 50% owned by YTL Corporation Bhd.