May19-Companies in the news Tien Wah, IOI Corp, Padini, S P Setia, MBM Resources, Apex Healthcare, Shangri-La, Pestech and Dialog

by **Cals** Thu 19 May 2016, 00:06

Companies in the news

[size=28]Tien Wah, IOI Corp, Padini, S P Setia, MBM Resources, Apex Healthcare, Shangri-La, Pestech and Dialog

By Billy Toh / theedgemarkets.com | May 18, 2016 : 11:30 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (May 18): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus tomorrow (Thursday, May 19) could include the following: Tien Wah, IOI Corp, Padini, S P Setia, MBM Resources, Apex Healthcare, Shangri-La, Pestech and Dialog.

Tien Wah Press Holdings Bhd is confident of a contract renewal by its major customer, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd (BAT).

The group has entered into the final year of a long-term supply contract with BAT.

Tien Wah group finance director Ng Cheong Seng told reporters after the annual general meeting and extraordinary general meeting today the negotiation is for an extension of another three years.

Tien Wah's revenue from tobacco customers stood at RM312.7 million, which translated into 85.11% from its total revenue of RM367.37 million.

IOI Corp Bhd returned to the black with a net profit of RM748.4 million in its third financial quarter ended March 31, 2016 (3QFY16) compared to a net loss of RM188 million in 3QFY15, driven by higher contribution from its resource-based manufacturing segment and currency translation gain of RM432.8 million.

Revenue grew 3.9% to RM2.87 billion from RM2.76 billion.

For the cumulative nine-month period (9MFY16), IOI Corp's net profit surged 92 times to RM754.2 million from RM8.2 million in 9MFY15, while revenue grew 3.6% to RM8.92 billion from RM8.61 billion.

Moving forward, IOI Corp expects crude palm oil prices to remain firm at the prevailing level of between RM2,500 per tonne and RM2,700 per tonne during the remaining financial quarter ending June 30, 2016 in view of the increased demand for palm oil during the coming Ramadan month and festival.

Padini Holdings Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended March 31 (3QFY16) rose 32.1% to RM35.13 million from RM26.59 million a year ago, on the back of expanded revenues and smaller increase in operating expenses.

Its revenue grew 20.71% to RM342.37 million from RM283.62 million, mainly driven by strong growth from existing stores as well as revenues generated from new stores opened.

Padini declared a fourth interim dividend of 2.5 sen per share (single tier) and a special dividend of 1.5 sen per share (single tier). Both dividends will go ex on June 1 and are payable on June 29.

Meanwhile, for the nine-month period (9MFY16), Padini's net profit rose 61.22% to RM100.03 million, or 15.2 sen per share, from RM62.05 million, or 9.43 sen per share, in 9MFY15.

Revenue rose 25.97% to RM952.32 million from RM755.96 million.

S P Setia Bhd is confident of achieving its RM4 billion property sales target for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 (FY16) by being selective in the projects the company chooses to pursue.

S P Setia president and chief executive officer Datuk Khor Chap Jen said the developer plans to launch another 11 projects for FY16 in Malaysia and abroad.

Combining the 11 projects with the two entities launched earlier this year, S P Setia has RM4.7 billion worth of projects in FY16, according to him.

Land bank expansion is on the cards. Khor said S P Setia is keen to expand its land bank this year.

Automotive group MBM Resources Bhd's net profit for the first financial quarter ended March 31, 2016 (1QFY16) fell 47.6% to RM18.4 million from RM35.14 million a year ago, mainly due to recognition of a one-off property contribution in 1QFY15, and lower vehicle sales and production volumes in the current quarter.

Revenue came in 36.8% lower at RM373.94 million from RM591.74 million in 1QFY15, mainly due to lower revenues from both its motor trading and auto parts manufacturing divisions.

On its prospects, MBM said the trading environment remains challenging, as customer sentiment stays soft.

Apex Healthcare Bhd's net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 (1QFY16) rose 16.19% to RM9.81 million from RM8.45 million in 1QFY15 on the back of a higher revenue.

Revenue grew 5.29% to RM147.48 million from RM140.06 million, its bourse filing today showed.

The improved performance was also helped by profit contribution of RM1 million from associate company Straits Apex Sdn Bhd, of which RM400,000 is attributed to unrealised forex gain from the strengthening of the ringgit.

It added that prospects for its core business remain good in the markets.

"Market demand is underpinned by increasing reliance on generic drugs to reduce healthcare costs, growing affluence and, in certain countries, an ageing population," it added.

Shangri-La Hotels (M) Bhd's net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 (1QFY16) fell 25.96% to RM18.93 million from RM25.57 million a year ago, primarily due to negative impact of unrealised net foreign exchange losses due to a weaker US dollar exchange rate.

This is despite revenue growing 12.1% to RM135.27 million from RM120.66 million in 1QFY15.

Moving forward, Shangri-La said its hotel businesses as a whole are well positioned to benefit from the ongoing positive momentum in leisure travel, despite slower demand from the corporate market.

Pestech International Bhd's wholly-owned subsidiary Pestech Technology Sdn Bhd has inked a memorandum of understanding with Permodalan Darul Ta'zim Sdn Bhd for a strategic cooperation of power projects in Johor.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Pestech said the parties intend to collaborate in projects related to the generation, transmission and distribution of electric power sector utilities, industrial, data centre, as well as oil and gas and petrochemicals specifically in Pengerang, Johor.

Dialog Group Bhd's net profit for its third quarter ended March 31, 2016 (3QFY16) slipped 3.58% to RM78.92 million from RM81.85 million a year ago, due to slower upstream activities and lower sales in specialist products and services.

Revenue fell by 4.23% to RM641.40 million from RM669.76 million a year ago.

The group declared an interim dividend of one sen per share for the quarter under review, which will go ex on June 10 and be payable on June 28.

Cumulatively, the group's net profit for its nine-month period (9MFY16) grew by 2.6% to RM217 million from RM211.5 million in previous corresponding period, while revenue increased to RM1.82 billion from RM1.78 billion.

Moving forward, Dialog said it remains confident that its business model is well structured and can withstand the current oil price volatility and currency movements.

Therefore, Dialog said it is cautiously optimistic that it will continue to deliver a healthy performance for FY16.
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