Aug 16th - Stocks To Watch Notion, DRB, MAHB, AmCorp, Uzma, Astral, Khind, Handal

Stocks To Watch Notion, DRB, MAHB, AmCorp, Uzma, Astral, Khind, Handal
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 15 August 2013 19:55

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): Based on corporate announcements, the stocks that may attract interest tomorrow could include Notion, DRB, MAHB, AmCorp, Uzma, Astral, Khind and Handal.

NOTION VTEC BHD [] said it posted RM40.1 million for the third quarter ended June 2013, registering an increase of more than 100% over RM19.8 million earned in previous year similar quarter.

Consequently, net earnings per share rose to 14.9 sen from 7.35 sen.

The company said one of the key reasons for the vast improvement in profit is the inclusion of insurance claims resulting from a major fire last December. The other is an increase in revenue.

The fire incident on Dec 31, 2013, at a section of its main factory in Klang had resulted in asset loss and the fire insurance claim has been finalised at RM 35.8 million. Part of this has been accrued in the current quarter results, giving rise to exceptional gain of RM 8.2 million.

For the quarter, the company recorded reduced revenue of RM 62.2 million, compared to RM95.8 million a year ago.

Notion said the claim on loss is in progress and is estimated to be completed by end of 2013.

Looking ahead, Notion said its camera segment had recovered significantly and the spill over will continue into the fourth quarter. It also expects its HDD and auto/industrial segments to post reasonable growth.

DRB-HICOM BHD [] and United Overseas Bank (M) Bhd plan to sell jointly-owned insurer Uni.Asia Life Assurance Bhd (UAL) for RM518 million cash to The Prudential Insurance Co of America and Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN).

DRB-Hicom said Uni.Asia Capital Sdn Bhd (UAC), a jointly-owned unit of DRB-Hicom and United Overseas, has submitted an application to Bank Negara Malaysia to have the proposed sale of Uni.Asia Life reviewed by policy makers.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd plans to sell 1 billion ringgit ($305 million) of Islamic bonds to finance the CONSTRUCTION [] of a budget terminal that’s costing more than initial estimates.

It is considering selling sukuk without a set maturity to ensure its debt doesn’t exceed shareholders’ funds, Chief Financial Officer Faizal Mansor said in an interview with Bloomberg. The perpetual notes are treated as equity rather than debt on a company’s balance sheet.

Completion of the terminal is lagging behind the March 2012 deadline after work began in 2010. It has been delayed several times as plans became more ambitious.

“Originally, the cost for the budget terminal was 3.1 billion ringgit and now it’s estimated at about 4 billion ringgit,” Faizal said.

The sale is part of a 2.5 billion ringgit Islamic bond program, said two people familiar with the matter.

Amcorp PROPERTIES [] Bhd and Singapore-listed Hotel Properties Ltd will jointly develop high-rise residential units in the UK under a project valued at over £560 million (RM2.83 billion). This will also involve UK-based developers Native Land and Grosvenor.

Amcorp said the proposed project will be undertaken within a 0.8ha (two acre) site in the northern portion of Kensington High Street in London.

"It is still preliminary to estimate total development cost or expected profits to be derived," Amcorp said.

Amcorp said: "The JV provides Amcorp group with a valuable opportunity to build on the strong momentum of its successes in London property investments to further enhance its presence in the London property.”

UZMA BHD [] saw a 70.6% jump in its net profit for the second quarter ended June 30 to RM9.1 million compared with RM5.3 million posted in the previous corresponding quarter.

Uzma said the rise in earnings was due to long term contracts from Petronas and Exxon Mobil that continued to contribute to the group's performance.

Revenue for the quarter was RM97.9 million, against RM69.9 million at the same time last year.

For its half yearly cumulative results, Uzma posted a net profit of RM17.9 million, 79.2% higher than 1HFY12's profit of RM10 million. Revenue was RM186.8 million, compared with RM125.2 million.

Looking ahead, Uzma said it remained "positive on the group's performance for the next financial year."

ASTRAL SUPREME BHD [] (Astral) announced that its wholly-owned unit has entered into a joint venture agreement (JVA) with Zenith PMC Sdn Bhd (ZP) today to jointly manage, perform and carry out a feasibility study and detailed design for a Penang government project.

The contract sum of the JVA is worth RM275 million.

The company said the JVA was entered into by its unit Astral Supreme Construction Sdn. Bhd.

The Penang project comprises road construction in Penang and an undersea tunnel between Penang island and Seberang Perai, it said.

Astral said this JVA will be positive to its future earnings.

One of the salient terms in the JVA is that “ZP will pay us a 25% share of the JV profit while the remainder 75% ZP will retain”.

KHIND HOLDINGS BHD [] more than doubled its second quarter net profit from a year earlier on higher revenue and property-sale gains.

The electrical-appliances manufacturer said net profit jumped 110% to RM6.43 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2013 from RM3.06 million.

Revenue rose to RM96.21 million from RM80.78 million mainly on "improvement in both local and Middle East markets", Khind said.

The company’s cumulative 1HFY13 net profit climbed to RM8.24 million from RM4.43 million a year earlier. Revenue increased to RM157.54 million from RM135.69 million.

Khind said it is "optimistic" of its business performance for FY13.

Handal Resources Bhd saw its net profit for the second quarter ended June 30 more than halved to RM789,000 from RM1.8 million in the previous corresponding quarter - due to higher administrative overheads and lower margin on sales.

Revenue was RM21.5 million, compared with RM23.8 million.

Looking ahead, Handal said market conditions are expected to be challenging for the current financial year.