Stocks to watch: IJM, EPIC, Media Prima, RHB Cap

KUALA LUMPUR: Investors’ sentiment is expected to stay cautious on Thursday, Aug 25, especially after the sell-off in the late afternoon on Wednesday ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting.

Stocks which could see trading interest are IJM CORPORATION BHD [], Eastern Pacific Industrial Corp Bhd (EPIC), MEDIA PRIMA BHD [] and RHB CAPITAL BHD [].

Major infrastructure player IJM Corp kicked of its financial year with earnings at more than RM115 million in the first quarter ended June 30 for FY2012, up 34% from RM85.74 million a year ago, underpinned by earnings growth in the CONSTRUCTION [] and industry divisions. Revenue increased 4.8% to RM1.033 billion from RM986.08 million.

IJM Corp managing director and CEO Datuk Teh Kean Ming said IJM Corp had an order book of RM3.7 billion and expected it to increase substantially with its West Coast Expressway (WCE) and the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) expansion.

"Barring any unseen circumstances, we hope to see our order book to potentially come up to RM9 billion with the recognition of WCE and NPE extension projects," he said after the group's AGM. The WCE and NPE jobs are estimated to be valued at RM4 billion and RM1 billion respectively.

As for EPIC, the Terengganu state government, which owns a total of 67.24% stake in the company, offered to acquire the remaining 32.76% stake shares at RM3.10 each.

This is 17 sen above the last traded price of RM2.93 before it was suspended about midday on Wednesday, Aug 24. It reached a 52-week high of RM2.97 on Tuesday.

Media Prima Bhd's net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011 rose 21.25% to RM44.44 million from RM36.65 million a year ago, driven by its core platforms of television networks, print media, outdoor media and radio networks.

Its revenue increased by 6.7% to RM421.67 million from RM394.95 million in 2010. Earnings per share were 4.25 sen compared with 3.75 sen a year ago while net assets per share was RM1.32. It declared an interim single-tier dividend of three sen per share.

RHB Capital Bhd’s net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011 rose 16.4% to RM394.62 million from RM339.03 million a year ago.

The impressive performance was due mainly to higher other operating income and net interest income, partially offset by higher allowance for loan impairment and higher other operating expenses.

Revenue for the quarter rose 23.5% to RM1.77 billion from RM1.44 billion in 2010. Earnings per share increased to 18.20 sen from 15.70 sen in 2010, while net assets per share was RM4.88.

It declared a gross interim dividend of eight sen per share, totaling RM131.5 million.

TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD []’s earnings rose 2.3% to RM127.24 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2011 from RM124.38 million a year ago, underpinned by its Internet, multimedia, data services.

Rrevenue increased by 3.8% to RM2.23 billion from RM2.15 billion while its earnings per share were 3.60 sen versus 3.50 sen. It declared dividend of 9.80 sen compared with 13 sen a year ago.

In the six-months period ended June 30, net profit fell 20.9% to RM290.54 million from RM367.33 million a year ago. Revenue was however, 2.5% higher at RM4.38 billion compared with RM4.27 billion mainly due to higher revenue from Internet and multimedia and data services.

IOI CORPORATION BHD []'s net profit for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2011 was almost flat at RM547.82 million compared with RM547.05 million a year ago, following higher taxes paid, despite that its revenue increased by 41.3%.

It paid RM177.99 million in taxes, a 130.7% increase compared with RM77.12 million a year ago. Its operating profit was RM698.95 million, an increase of 12.3% from RM622.37 million.

The profit was due mainly to higher profit contribution from the PLANTATION [] segment and increased contribution from associates. Its revenue for the quarter rose 41.3% to RM4.32 billion from RM3.06 billion a year ago.

Nadayu PROPERTIES [] Bhd will launch three major property development projects with a combined gross development value of RM1.3 billion in the Klang Valley and Penang.

Group executive chairman Hamidon Abdullah said on Wednesday, Aug 24 the first project in Bandar Sunway would be launched in September.

For the current year, Nadayu (formerly MUTIARA GOODYEAR DEVELOPMENT [] Bhd) has several notable property development projects which are in several stages of construction.

KFC Holdings Bhd’s earnings rose at a slower pace of 1.7% to RM36.35 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2011 from RM35.73 million a year ago due to better cost efficiencies from its KFC Restaurant business. Revenue increased by 13.8% to RM690.09 million from RM606.21 million a year ago.

For the first half, its earnings increased by 3.6% to RM72.48 million from RM69.97 million while revenue recorded a 10.6% increase to RM1.334 billion from RM1.206 billion.

TIME DOTCOM BHD [] posted net profit of RM28.59 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2011, which was 18.3% higher than the RM22.98 million a year ago, mainly due to a reduction in fee payments and higher dividend income.

Its revenue was a marginal 0.56% higher at RM83.65 million compared with RM83.18 million primarily due to higher revenue from data services offset by lower voice and global bandwidth sales.