June 17 th - Stocks To Watch SapuraKencana, Sime, Ideal Jacobs, IRIS, Eversendai, Sarawak Cable, UMW-OG, B-Food

by **Cals** Tue 17 Jun 2014, 01:22

Stocks To Watch SapuraKencana, Sime, Ideal Jacobs, IRIS, Eversendai, Sarawak Cable, UMW-OG, B-Food

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com

Monday, 16 June 2014 19:45

KUALA LUMPUR (June 16): Based on news flow and corporate announcements today, the following stocks may be in focus tomorrow (June 17):

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd announced that its wholly-owned drilling subsidiaries have been awarded three new contracts and a contract extension.

“In total, the contracts and contract extension are valued at circa USD700 million (RM2.3 billion),” said the company in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

“The contracts and contract extension are expected to contribute positively towards the earnings of SapuraKencana Group for the financial year ending 31 January 2015 and the financial periods thereafter during the contracts and contract extension periods,” said the filing by SapuraKencana.

Sime Darby Bhd is selling its power assets in Thailand to B.Grimm Power Ltd for US$162.9 million (RM523.9 million) cash.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia today, Sime Darby said its indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries Sime Darby Energy Pte Ltd (SDE) and Sime Darby Far East (1991) Ltd (SDFE) had signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with B.Grimm.

SDPC and SDLP produces and sell electricity and steam within the Laem Chabang Industrial Estate in Chonburi.

Ideal Jacobs (M) Corporation Bhd will become an oil & gas player following the signing of a heads of agreement (HOA) with Cekap Technical Services Sdn Bhd and MECIP Global Engineers Sdn Bhd to facilitate the listing of the firms in a reverse takeover (RTO) exercise.

Both companies are currently operating in the O&G industry in the fields of project management and engineering consultancy services, Ideal Jacobs said in a statement.

According to the statement, the RTO would see Ideal Jacobs or a special purpose vehicle (SPV) acquire the entire issued and paid-up share capital of Cekap Technical Services and MECIP.

The acquisition would be satisfied by the issuance of new shares at an issue price of 25 sen per share, but Ideal jacobs did not specify the purchase consideration.

“Ideal Jacobs’s shareholders are also expected to benefit from Cekap Technical Services’ and MECIP’s experience in the oil and gas sectors and their reliable cashflow from contracts,” it added.

IRIS Corporation Bhd (ICB) announced that IRIS Corporation Bhd Consortium has entered into contract with the government of Bangladesh, Department of Immigration & Passports, for the collection of data relating to machine readable passports (MRP).

Under the contract, the consortium will be responsible for the collection of MRP enrolment data and related services incidental to and distribution of MRP among Bangladeshi citizens in the United Arab Emirates.

The contract is valued at US$10.4 million (RM33.5 million) at the rate of US$13 (RM41.90) per MRP.The contract is for 18 months, commencing June 11, 2014.

Eversendai Corporation Bhd is confident of achieving better results for its third financial quarter and the full financial year, according to Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Jit Poh today.

Sin Chew, quoting Eversendai’s executive chairman and managing director Tan Sri A K Nathan, said income realised from two to three projects at hand will help lift the company’s bottom line in the third quarter and fourth quarter this year.

Nathan, who holds 70.52% stake in Eversendai, told Sin Chew in an interview that he has confidence “the current year will perform better than last year, and next year will also be better than this year”.

“He also hinted that he may be making announcements on new contracts in coming months,” reported the Chinese paper.

It added the company aims to achieve total revenue of RM2 billion by 2017, doubling the revenue last year.

Eversendai rose 6 sen to RM1.03 per share at market close.

Sarawak Cable Bhd (SCB) plans to buy from a director of the firm two industrial cable producers for RM210 million.

SCB said it had accepted a conditional offer from HNG Capital Sdn Bhd for SCB to buy 100% stakes in Universal Cable (M) Bhd and Leader Cable Industry Bhd.

SCB intends to finance the acquisition via a combination of cash, assumption of liabilities and issuance of new SCB shares.

SCB, which rose sharply in afternoon trades to a high of RM1.58 after the announcement, ended the day at RM1.54 per share after rising 10 sen or 7%.

UMW Oil and Gas Corporation Bhd (UMW-OG) announced today it has an order book of RM1.7 billion.

At a press conference today following the company’s first annual general (AGM), company president Rohaizad Darus told reporters that the current order book for the company is RM1.7 billion.

Rohaizad expressed his optimism about the outlook of the oil & gas (O&G) industry, stating he expected the trend to continue for the next three to four years.

“Our expansion plans are focused on this outlook because regional oil companies are aggressively looking for additional reserves in the region”

Responding to reporters’ questions on the company’s capital expenditure(capex), Rohaizad said the company’s capex is at RM2 billion for this year.

He added the company will be adding more rigs as part of its existing growth plan.

Berjaya Food Berhad (B-Food) reported an increase in revenue to RM148.19 million for the financial year to end-April 2014, from RM121.92 million in the previous year, mainly due to the consolidation of Jollibean Foods Pte Ltd and the opening of Kenny Rogers Roasters outlets.

Pre-tax profit increased to RM25.02 million from RM21.40 million in the previous year mainly due to the share of better results from Berjaya Starbucks Coffee Company Sdn Bhd.

For the fourth quarter to end-April, the group registered an increase in revenue of RM36.55 million as compared to revenue of RM35.35 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

But pre-tax profit decreased to RM5.00 million in the fourth quarter from RM6.49 million reported in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

The company has recommended a second interim dividend of 2.5 sen or 5.0% single-tier exempt dividend per share, which will be payable on 25 July 2014. The entitlement date has been fixed on 11 July 2014.