April 30th - Stocks To Watch CIMB, Public Bank, Maybank, MPI, Eversendai, VisDynamics, Globetronics, Atlan, IRIS

by **Cals** Tue 29 Apr 2014, 22:27

Stocks To Watch CIMB, Public Bank, Maybank, MPI, Eversendai, VisDynamics, Globetronics, Atlan, IRIS

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com

Tuesday, 29 April 2014 19:55

KUALA LUMPUR (April 29): Based on corporate announcements today, the companies that may be in focus tomorrow include the following.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's Indonesian unit PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk's net profit rose 5% to Rp1.1 trillion in the first quarter ended March 31, 2014, from Rp1.05 trillion a year earlier.

CIMB Group said CIMB Niaga's interest income climbed to Rp4.5 trillion from Rp3.89 trillion. Non-interest income was higher at Rp1.16 trillion versus Rp1.12 trillion.

CIMB Niaga president director Arwin Rasyid said : "The year ahead will remain a challenging one for Indonesia's banking industry, with expectations of a better second half compared to the first.”

As at March 31, CIMB Niaga's loan book rose 9.5% to Rp160.96 trillion from a year earlier. Gross non-performing loans ratio rose to 2.57% from 2.41%.

Public Bank Bhd has proposed a rights issue of new shares to raise up to RM5 billion.

Public Bank said the proceeds would finance the group's working capital needs.

"The proposed rights issue is undertaken as part of the company’s capital-management strategy to further strengthen its capital position to support the continuous business growth of Public Bank and its subsidiaries.

"The proposed rights issue will also facilitate the building up of an adequate level of capital buffer in preparation for the forthcoming regulatory capital requirements," Public Bank said.

Public Bank said it had not determined the entitlement and issue price for the rights shares. The group has an issued base of 3.5 billion shares.

Public Bank shares closed flat at RM20.16 today.

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) announced that its banking unit in Indonesia, PT Bank International Indonesia Tbk (BII), recorded a net profit plunge of 39% to Rp189 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014.

BII attributed this to tight net interest margins (NIM) and provisions for selected corporate debtors.

In a statement, BII said the increasing cost of funds and challenging market conditions impacted the bank’s NIM, which declined to 4.03% from 4.58%.

But the bank’s loans portfolio grew 27% to Rp101.3 trillion, while assets increased 18% to Rp140.1 trillion.

The bank said its customer deposits increased 16.5% to Rp104.0 trillion, contributed by a significant increase in savings deposits of 24.7%.

It added the loan to deposit ratio remains healthy at 88.91% in the first quarter this year.

BII said its total capital increased to Rp15.0 trillion in March this year from Rp12.4 trillion in the previous year. Its capital adequacy ratio with credit, operational and market risk hit 13.29%.

Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd’s (MPI) net profit for its third quarter soared about five times to RM10.5 million from RM1.8 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

Revenue was also up at RM323.0 million in 3QFY14 from RM286.3 million in 3QFY13.

MPI announced a second interim dividend payment of 10 sen per share for its shareholders for the year ending June 30, 2014. The dividend will go ex on May 15, 2014, payable on June 6, 2014.

For the nine months to March 31, 2014, net profit skyrocketed to RM36.4 million from RM173,000 in the year before, while revenue rose to RM970.0 million from RM900 million.

“The significant improvement in profit before tax for the quarter and financial year-to-date was mainly due to higher revenue, higher margin products and appreciation of the US dollar against the ringgit.”

Looking ahead, MPI anticipates its performance will improve further in the final quarter of the financial year.

Eversendai Corporation Bhd said it recently secured several contracts for structural steel projects worth RM172.2 million via its subsidiaries in the Middle East and India.

The first project is to construct a complex on Dana Island in Doha, Qatar. The construction of the complex is scheduled to be completed by December 2014. The second is a sub-structure contract in Qatar to provide vital connection into Doha’s Lusail City Development. This new state-of-the-art facility is expected to be completed by January 2015.

Eversendai has also secured a contract for a grand mosque located in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi. This project expected to be completed by February 2015.

In India, the group has also won a contract for the design and erection of steel for a sky bridge in Kolkata, India.

VisDynamics Holdings Bhd’s executive director and CEO Choy Ngee Hoe, a major shareholder of the firm, did not sell his stake today or yesterday to cause a plunge in share price, said a company executive today.

“Choy did not trade at all. It is the doing of a third party (outside the company),” the spokesperson for VisDynamics told theedgemalaysia.com over the telephone.

The semiconductor specialist firm's price was in focus yesterday after it hit limit down and the firm was subsequently slapped with an unusual market activity (UMA) query by Bursa Malaysia.

Today, the stock continued its plunge to hit another limit down in morning trades. At market close, the stock fell 19.5 sen or 41.5% to 27.5 sen.

Globetronics Technology Bhd’s net profit for the first financial quarter ended January 31, 2014, rose 38% to RM14.10 million from RM10.20 million in similar quarter a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter had risen to RM83.42 million from RM77.48 million from similar quarter a year ago.

The company announced a final single tier ordinary dividend of 4% per RM0.50 share and a single tier special dividend of 4% per share.

Atlan Holdings Bhd reported net profit of RM19.3 million for its fourth quarter ended February 28, 2014, up 27% from RM15.1 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

However, revenue for the quarter was slightly lower at RM210.8 million from RM213.6 million a year ago.

The group had attributed the higher profit for the quarter to the disposal of a parcel of land and also a reversal of impairment of assets.

For the year, net profit improved significantly to RM206.4 million from RM76.0 million in the previous year, while revenue was lower at RM765.6 million compared with RM791.6 million.

Going forward, the group expects a challenging year ahead due to the current economic outlook.

IRIS Corporation Bhd had entered into a project agreement through its subsidiary, Regal Energy Ltd, for the supply of waste treatment technology and equipment to foreign markets with a total investment cost of RM26.1 million (RMB50.0 million).

According to IRIS, Regal Energy will be collaborating with Xi’an Dezhao Environmental Protection Technology Co Ltd and its subsidiary Weinan Iris-Envirowerkz-Zhouji Renewable Resources Co Ltd in the setting up several facilities in Weinan, China.

Both parties will jointly set up a waste treatment equipment manufacturing centre, a renewable energy scientific research, development and training centre and an additives/enzyme manufacturing centre, factories for waste treatment, and renewable technology and products.

Any party that secures the sales contract will receive a 5% sales commission.

Regal Energy will provide a shareholder loan of RM7.8 million for the project, in which it had already provided RM5.0 million (RMB9.5 million).

The company said it will finance the project from internally generated funds and bank borrowing.