April 6th-Companies in the news GW Plastics/MCT, Barakah Offshore, Dialog, Yokohama, Astral Asia, Ingenco, Cocoaland, Protasco, Iskandar Waterfront an

by **Cals** Sat 04 Apr 2015, 01:48

Companies in the news
GW Plastics/MCT, Barakah Offshore, Dialog, Yokohama, Astral Asia, Ingenco, Cocoaland, Protasco, Iskandar Waterfront and UEM Sunrise

By Yimie Yong / theedgemarkets.com | April 3, 2015 : 9:42 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 3): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, the companies that may be in focus next Monday (Apr 6) could include the following: MCT Bhd, [size=14]Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard), Dialog Group Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard), Yokohama Industries Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard),Astral Asia Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard), Ingenuity Consolidated Bhd, Cocoaland Holdings Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard), Protasco Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard), Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard) andUEM Sunrise Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard).

MCT Bhd (formerly GW Plastics Holdings Bhd) will be lifted from its Practice Note 17 (PN17) status on Monday (April 6), following the completion of its regularisation plan.

Trading of the company's shares will resume on the same day.

MCT (fundamental: 1.65; valuation: 0.3) slipped into PN17 status after it sold its core business to Scientex Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Financial Dashboard) for RM283.2 million in January 2013.

Its regularisation plan included a reverse takeover (RTO) exercise by MCT Consortium Bhd.

On the resumption of trade in its shares on Monday, it will be quoted under the "properties" sector. The share's reference price is RM1.28 apiece, with an upper and lower limits of 400% and 30% respectively.

Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd has bagged the job of providing Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Company Sdn Bhd (KPOC)'s topside maintenance services.

Barakah (fundamental: 1.65; valuation: 0.6), an integrated pipeline services provider, told Bursa Malaysia that its wholly owned subsidiary PBJV Group Sdn Bhd had received the letter of award from KPOC today.

According to Barakah, the contract comprises the provision of topside maintenance services in Sabah, with a duration of one year from Apr 2, with an option to extend for another year. The group expects the mobilisation date of the work to be on May 1.

The value of the contract is not known yet as it will depend on the actual work orders to be issued by KPOC from time to time during the contracted period, it added.

Dialog Group Bhd's shareholders had today approved the company's plan to raise funds for investments in two projects with a collective value of RM9 billion in Pengerang, Johor.

Dialog (fundamental: 2.1; valuation: 0.3) owns a 25% stake each in the proposed RM6.3 billion Pengerang Terminal phase two and RM2.7 billion Pengerang liquified natural gas (LNG) projects.

Based on Dialog's stakes and financing obligations for both projects, the company had earlier sought shareholders' approval at the company's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to raise some RM2.65 billion for investments in the projects.

The amount comprises RM1.9 bllion and RM750 million respectively for investments in the Pengerang Terminal phase two and Pengerang LNG projects.

The fundraising exercise is expected to raise the company's gearing ratio to 0.6 time in four years from the current 0.2 time.

Yokohama Industries Bhd, whose controlling shareholder HSG Investments Pte Ltd is disposing of its entire 62.3% stake in the automobile battery manufacturer to another Singapore-based counterpart, Fordington Pte Ltd, for RM90 million, has announced the resignation of its chief executive officer Dr Patrick Yong Mian Thong, citing personal reason.

Yong was appointed to his current post on Jan 1, 2010. Prior to that, he was the chief operating officer of the company since July 2008.

Fordington does not intend to maintain the listing status of Yokohama (fundamental: 0.8;valuation: 0.6) on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia and does not intend to address any shortfall to meet the public shareholding spread requirement.

Astral Asia Bhd has proposed to undertake a capital reduction which will give rise to a credit of RM96 million to offset its accumulated losses, with the balance to be transferred to its capital reserve account.

Astral Asia (fundamental: 2.25; valuation: 1.2) said the proposed par value reduction entails cancelling 80 sen off the par value of every existing share of the company from RM1 to 20 sen.

As at March 25, 2015, the issued share capital of the company before the proposed par value reduction was RM120 million comprising of 120 million shares of RM1 each.

"The issued share capital after the proposed par value reduction will be reduced by RM96 million to RM24 million comprising 120 million shares of Astral Asia of 20 sen each," said Astral Asia.

The proposals are expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2015.

Ingenuity Consolidated Bhd (Ingenco) today announced that Wong Eng Su, former GD Express Carrier Bhd (GDEX)([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard) executive director cum chief operating officer (COO), is its new managing director (MD), effective today.

The position was left vacant after previous MD Chin Boon Long resigned on Feb 13, 2015, due to "health reason and other personal commitments".

Cocoaland Holdings Bhd today confirmed a report that it is in discussions with Swedish private equity group EQT Partners for potential investments in the confectionery manufacturer.

The group's board of directors said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia that its major shareholder Leverage Success Sdn Bhd is in preliminary discussions with EQT for various investment possibilities in Cocoaland (fundamental: 2.5; valuation: 1.2).

These investment possibilities include but are not limited to the acquisition of a majority or controlling interest, takeover or acquisition of the entire part of the group's business operation.

Leverage Success and F&N have 38.04% and 27.19% stakes respectively, in Cocoaland.

Protasco Bhd has bagged a RM58 million contract for main civil and infrastructure works to connect the road between Jalan Klang Lama and the New Pantai Expressway (NPE).

The project was awarded by Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard) 's unit Gelanggang Harapan Construction Sdn Bhd.

Protasco (fundamental: 1.15; valuation: 1.2) said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today that the works are to be completed by Sept 30, 2016 and are expected to contribute positively to the earnings of group for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2015.

Protasco was awarded a road maintenance project yesterday for federal roads worth RM77 million by the Sarawak Public Works Department on April 2, 2015.

Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd said it is disposing of three contiguous pieces of freehold land in Plentong, Johor, which collectively measures some 127.92 acres (51.77ha), for RM2.37 billion or approximately RM426 per sq ft.

Upon completion of the proposed land disposal, Iskandar Waterfront expects to recognise a gain of approximately RM1.2 billion (after taxation) or approximately RM1.80 sen per share. The group's current gearing of 0.13 times is expected to decrease to 0.06 times.

Iskandar Waterfront estimates the deal to be completed by the first quarter of 2018.

UEM Sunrise Bhd has proposed an issuance and allotment of 524.39 million shares, the equivalent of an 11.6% stake in the existing issued and paid up share capital of the company, to its major shareholder UEM Group Bhd, to raise RM770.9 million to maintain its stake in subsidiary Bandar Nusajaya Development Sdn Bhd.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia this evening, UEM Sunrise said the new shares will be issued at RM1.47 and that it has entered into a share subscription agreement today with UEM Group to effect the proposed issuance and allotment, which will see UEM Group's stake in UEM Sunrise rise to 69.6% from 66.1%.

The gross proceeds raised from the proposed share issuance will be utilised to redeem, in part, the 450,000,000 redeemable convertible preference shares (RCPS) of RM1.00 each issued by Bandar Nusajaya to UEM Group on Nov 28, 2005.

Bandar Nusajaya is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UEM Land Berhad, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UEM Sunrise. If the RCPS are not redeemed, they will be automatically converted into Bandar Nusajaya shares upon its maturity on Nov 27, 2015, resulting in UEM Group having a direct stake in Bandar Nusajaya of approximately 21.8%.

UEM Sunrise said it is in its best interest to redeem the RCPS as it expects Bandar Nusajaya to significantly contribute to its future earnings.

The total redemption amount is approximately RM901 million. Any shortfall will be settled via a property disposal by Bandar Nusajaya to UEM Group, sometime in the second quarter of 2015.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)
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