May 15th -Stocks To Watch IOI, BHIC, PPB Group, GAB, Patimas and Instacom

Stocks To Watch IOI, BHIC, PPB Group, GAB, Patimas and Instacom
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Tuesday, 14 May 2013 20:10


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KUALA LUMPUR (May 14): Based on news flow and corporate results today, the stocks that may attract investor interest tomorrow (May 15) include IOI, BHIC, PPB Group, GAB, Patimas and Instacom.

IOI CORPORATION BHD [] announced today it will list its property business in a RM1.9 billion IPO (initial public offering) by September, according to Reuters.

IOI Corp will inject its property business, worth RM12.9 billion, into IOI Property Group Bhd, in exchange for 3.2 billion shares in the new entity.

IOI Corp will distribute up to 2.2 billion shares -- two-thirds of the new company's outstanding stock - to its own shareholders.

It will offer one share in the new company for every three shares in IOI Corp, and additional shares will be available at a 30% discount, it said.

Following the announcement, shares of IOI Corp rose as much as 6.9% to a two-year high of 5.70 ringgit.

The remaining third of IOI Property Group will be sold to selected shareholders, raising RM1.8 billion towards paring down the company's debts.

The exercise will result in IOI Corp's property and PLANTATION [] businesses being listed as two separate companies.

"For the next three years, we project an operating profit of at least 1 billion ringgit a year, not only from Malaysia but Singapore and China too," IOI Corp chairman Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng told a news conference.

IOI Property will manage projects with a total gross development value of RM16 billion over the next three years, Lee added. It will hold RN17.9 billion worth of property assets.

BOUSTEAD HEAVY INDUSTRIES CORP []oration Bhd (BHIC) announced that its first quarter to end-March 2013 saw a turnaround in its financial results.

For the three months to March 2013, it posted a net profit of RM5.11 million, compared to a net loss of RM14.51 million in the first quarter of 2012. Earnings per share stood at 2.06 sen, from loss per share of 5.84 sen.

Revenue for the quarter increased to RM64.41 million, from RM56.48 million.

Analysing its performance, BHIC said the increase in revenue came from chartering income with improved utilization of the tankers and better charter rates.

On its profit, it said the heavy engineering segment registered a profit as its performance was no longer impacted by costs and the share of profit in associate companies was relatively better.

The manufacturing segment’s result was also favourable owing to a defence related project it is undertaking.

PPB GROUP BHD [] said apart from planning to increase the number of flour mills in the region, it intends to grow property development business to fill the void left after selling off its sugar refinery business.

Speaking to the media after the group’s AGM, PPB chairman Datuk Oh Siew Nam said the group's recent venture into the property development project in Iskandar Malaysia was to diversify its business.

For this year, PPB Group has allocated RM536 million for capital expenditure (capex), of which RM307 million will be for capacity expansion for its profitable flour division, said Oh.

Some RM307 million will be used for building new flour mills in the region, including nine mills in China and one new mill in Hanoi, Vietnam.

GUINNESS ANCHOR BHD [] (GAB) posted a higher net profit of RM61.15 million in the third quarter ended March 31, 2013, up 18.6% from RM51.53 million in the third quarter a year ago.

Revenue rose to RM442.52 million from RM364.71 million a year ago.

Earnings per share rose to 20.24 sen from 17.06 sen.

The company said it was able to grow profit largely due to “favourable product and channel mix and efficient cost management”.

The performance was also supported by its Chinese New Year promotional activities that resulted in increased sales in all channels.

PATIMAS COMPUTERS BHD [] announced that the court has ordered that any winding-up proceedings and related actions against the company and its units will be stayed for six months from May 9.

In a late filing to Bursa Malaysia, Patimas said on 9 May 2013, the court has ordered that all winding up proceedings against Patimas and three of its subsidiaries be restrained and stayed.

“The restraining order will allow Patimas to focus on formalizing the proposed schemes of arrangements unhindered without having to divert its attention and resources to defending and dealing with any proceeding from the group’s creditors,” said the PN17 company.

Patimas said the details of its proposed schemes of arrangement will be announced in due course.

Instacom Group Bhd saw its first quarter results returning to the black, recording a net profit of RM6.8 million compared to a net loss of RM2.9 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Instacom said the substantial improvement is attributable to the consolidation of the newly-acquired companies’ results.

The company’s revenue also jumped to RM30.2 million in the first quarter compared to previous RM860,000 for the same quarter last year.

Earnings per share stood at 0.97 sen compared to the previous loss per share of 0.73 sen.

morning cals~