Hot Stock Brahim's gains 4.76% after aiming to return to black in FY16

by **Cals** Tue 12 Jan 2016, 00:35

Hot Stock

[size=28]Brahim's gains 4.76% after aiming to return to black in FY16

By Gho Chee Yuan / theedgemarkets.com | January 11, 2016 : 11:39 AM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): Shares in Brahim's Holdings Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Valuation: 0.30, Fundamental: 0.35) rose as much as five sen or 4.76% in the early trades after the in-flight caterer aims to return to black in the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 (FY16).

At 11.26am, the stock narrowed down its gain to trade at RM1.07, still up two sen or 1.9%, after 417,300 shares traded. It has earlier risen to a high of RM1.10, shortly after the opening bell.

The current price values the company at RM248.1 million.

In a press conference last Friday, Brahim's executive chairman Datuk Seri Ibrahim Ahmad Badawi said the company, which aimed to report "substantial" profit in FY16, was also expanding its army rations production abroad.

"We are eyeing to turn our operations around in FY16, over time. It won't be a complete turnaround because we made massive losses, but it will still be quite substantial," he told reporters today.

Brahim's is currently serving 37 airlines, including British Airways, Malaysia Airlines Bhd and AirAsia Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Valuation: 0.60, Fundamental: 0.20).

Ibrahim said new airlines entering the Malaysian market would usually approach Brahim's.

Meanwhile, Brahim's is reducing its dependence on the airline-catering business. Ibrahim said the company had commenced the manufacturing of army rations two months ago via its factory in Jordan.

"Now is the time to look out for opportunities, not just locally but overseas as well. All the while, about 80% or 90% of our operations were concentrated on the airline business. We will work to reduce it to 50% or 60% in the future," he said.

For the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15), Brahim's net loss of RM8.63 million or 3.65 sen per share as compared to a net profit of RM1.01 million or 0.43 sen per share in 3QFY14.

This was due to continued concessions given to Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) under the settlement agreement dated Feb 26, 2015.

Brahim's first sunk into the red in 2QFY15, when it posted a net loss of RM6.91 million.

Its revenue for 3QFY15 also fell 27.7% to RM64.88 million from RM89.69 million due to lower turnover registered across all its business segments.

For the cumulative nine-month period (9MFY15), it posted a net loss of RM12.61 million or 5.33 sen per share compared with a net profit of RM6.73 million or 2.88 sen per share in 9MFY14.

Revenue for the period came in 20.7% lower at RM217.69 million from RM274.5 million a year ago.

(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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