23rd Aug- Stocks To Watch PGas, YTL, PChem, MSM, TDC, Nestle, GAB, WCT, icapital, GCB,

Stocks To Watch PGas, YTL, PChem, MSM, TDC, Nestle, GAB, WCT, icapital, GCB, Deleum, W.Seong
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 22 August 2013 19:58

KUALA LUMPUR (August 22): Based on corporate results released today, stocks in focus tomorrow could include PGas, YTL, PChem, MSM, TDC, Nestle, GAB, WCT, icapital, GCB, Deleum and Wah Seong.

PETRONAS GAS BHD [] more than doubled its second quarter net profit from a year earlier. This came mainly on the group's deferred tax assets for its liquified natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal in Melaka.

The company plans to pay a dividend of 15 sen a share.

Petronas Gas said net profit jumped 106% to RM944.94 million from RM458.87 million. Revenue climbed to RM930.77 million from RM887.36 million.

The company said net profit had increased as the group registered deferred tax assets of RM591.6 million due to investment tax allowance for the LNG regasification terminal in Melaka.

The firm said revenue had risen on "regasification revenue and higher gas transportation revenue and performance-based structure income".

YTL CORPORATION BHD [] recorded a net profit of RM1.3 billion for financial year ended June 30, 2013 (FY13), a 13% rise from RM1.2 billion a year earlier.

In a press statement today, YTL group managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh Sock Ping said the rise in profit was contributed mainly by its property development, hotels and power station operation and maintenance units.

However, YTL's revenue declined to RM19.97 billion from RM20.1 billion due to more competitive pricing in the cement industry, timing differences of new project launches and completion of residential projects in Singapore. Revenue had also fallen on lower fuel oil trading volumes under its merchant multi-utilities division.

Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad recorded a net profit rise of 12% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM958 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2013 (2QFY13), due to higher product spreads.

Meanwhile, 2Q revenue shed 1% to RM3.9 billion from a year earlier, despite higher sales volume contributed by the Fertilisers and Methanol segment.

Looking forward, Petronas Chemicals expects its operational performance to be “satisfactory” in the second half year ending Dec 31, 2013.

MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd told Bursa it posted a net profit of RM92.6 million for the second quarter to June 2013, registering a 75% rise from RM52.8 million a year ago. This translates into earnings per share of 13.17 sen, up from 7.51 sen a year ago.

The sugar refiner also recorded a 10.8%-higher revenue of RM605 million.

Net profit for the six months to June 30 increased by 29.6%, to RM154.54 million from RM119.20 million achieved for the first half of last year.

These profits were achieved on the back of slightly higher revenue of RM1.12 billion for the six months.

MSM Holdings said the higher profit was due to lower cost of sales, increase in export sales, albeit a decrease in average selling price.

TIME DOTCOM BHD [] (TDC) recorded a net profit of RM390.3 million for the second quarter ended June 30, a jump of more than 10 times from 2QFY12's net profit of RM37.2 million.

TDC said the earnings surge was mainly attributable to higher revenue recognised during the quarter. Revenue for the quarter was higher at RM134 million, against RM105.9 million in the previous corresponding time.

TDC's consolidated net profit for the first half of the year came in at RM426.4 million, compared with RM66.4 million at the same time last year.

Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd posted a net profit of RM140.2 million for the second financial quarter to end-June 2013, up 16.4% from RM120.5 recorded in the second quarter of 2012. Basic earnings per share rose to 59.8 sen from 51.4 sen.

Consequently, the milk and consumer products company announced a higher dividend of 60 sen per share, compared to 55 sen a year ago.

The higher profit for the quarter was achieved on the back of a revenue of RM1.21 billion, up 5.6% year-on-year, mainly due to domestic growth.

Looking ahead, the company said: “The group is confident that it will continue to capitalise on the steady Malaysian economy and remain active in innovating and renovating its product portfolio.”

Guiness Anchor Bhd (GAB) posted a net profit of RM33.5 million for its fourth quarter ended June 30, 2013, a dip of 4% from RM34.8 million a year earlier.

The was due to higher investment made for the brewer's brand-building activities, GAB told the exchange. Revenue for the quarter rose to RM412.1 million from RM346 million.

GAB plans to pay a final single-tier dividend of 48.5 sen per share in 4QFY13. This brings total dividends in FY13 to 68.5 sen.

GAB managing director Hans Essaadi said: “The results, in line with expectations, were driven by our major brands Tiger, Guinness and Heineken.”

For the full year, the group posted a higher net profit of RM217.6 million compared to RM207.4 million a year earlier.

WCT Holdings Bhd recorded a 43% jump in its net profit of RM56.7 million for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with RM39.5 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

The CONSTRUCTION [] group said the boost in earnings came from the higher revenues and operational profits recorded in its civil engineering and construction segment as well as the property development and investment segment.

The company proposed an interim dividend of 3.5 sen per share.

For the six months ended June 30, WCT posted a net profit of RM99.9 million, on the back of RM973.4 million in revenue.

Looking ahead, the group said it expects to achieve "satisfactory" results for the 2013 financial year ending Dec 31, on the continuous implementation of the Economic Transformation Programme.

ICAPITAL.BIZ BHD [] plans to reward shareholders of the fund-management firm with a special dividend of 9.5 sen a share less 25% income tax.

The company said the dividend is for its financial year ended May 31, 2013.

icapital.biz shares will trade ex-dividend on September 17 this year while the payment date falls on October 7.

GUAN CHONG BHD [] (GCB) posted a 79% plunge in group net profit to RM7.4 million for the second quarter ended 30 June 2013 (2Q13) on the back of a 4.4% decrease in group revenue to RM299.1 million, due mainly to declining selling prices of cocoa powder.

However, selling prices and demand for GCB’s cocoa butter, the other main by-product of cocoa beans processing, sustained and resulted in the group eking out some profits.

DELEUM BHD [], a provider of specialised products and services to the oil and gas sector, reported a net profit of RM13.8 million for the second quarter to June 2013. This was a rise of 58% year-on-year.

The company declared its highest first interim dividend of 6 sen per share since listing.

Revenue rose slightly to RM112.5 million, from RM110.2 million a year ago.

WAH SEONG CORPORATION BHD [] reported a second quarter net profit of RM8.97 million, which was 55.2% lower than RM20.04 achieved a year ago.

Revenue came to RM441.51 million, lower than RM523.56 million netted in similar quarter in 2012.

Despite this, the company proposed a dividend of 2 sen per share.