Stocks to watch - Muhibbah, Perisai Petroleum, MRCB, HELP, technology-related stocks

Larger Smaller Reset KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 22): Trading on Bursa Malaysia on Friday ahead of the extended weekend is likely to be cautious, given the muted reaction of regional markets on Thursday following the take-up of nearly 490 billion euros from the European Central Bank at its first-ever offer of three-year loans on Wednesday.

Although the FBM KLCI closed higher on Thursday, the broader market remained weaker with losers edging gainers, a trend that will likely be repeated on Friday.

Among the stocks that could be in focus today are Muhibbah Engineering Bhd, PERISAI PETROLEUM TEKNOLOGI [] Bhd, MALAYSIAN RESOURCES CORP []oration Bhd, HELP INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION [] Bhd and TECHNOLOGY []-related stocks.

Muhibbah Engineering Bhd and its Australian joint venture partner Monadelphous Group Limited have landed a RM1.05 billion (AUD330 million) job to build an approach jetty and ship berth in Queensland.

Muhibbah said on Thursday that Monadelphous Muhibbah Marine JV (MMM) had secured the contract to build the jetty and ship berth associated with the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal Pty Ltd's (WICET) Project at Gladstone in Queensland.

MMM is a 50:50 joint venture between Muhibbah CONSTRUCTION [] Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Muhibbah in Australia and Monadelphous Engineering Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monadelphous Group Ltd.

Perisai expects contribution from its mobile offshore production unit (MOPU), which it acquired through Garuda Energy (L) Ltd to be realised by FY12.

Its managing director Zainol Izzet Ishak said on Thursday that the acquisition would be finalised by the end of this year and will start contributing to the group's bottom line from the first day of its operation as the group's asset.

MRCB's unit MRCB Engineering Sdn Bhd was awarded a RM13.93 million contract to upgrade the Sabah Employees Provident Fund (EPF) building in Kota Kinabalu.

HELP's net profit for the fourth quarter ended Oct 31, 2011 fell 44.6% to RM3.59 million from RM6.47 million a year earlier, due to new student recruitment affected by delays in obtaining licences and approvals for operations.

Revenue for the quarter rose to RM28.44 million from RM27.33 million in 2010.

HELP proposed a final gross dividend of two sen per share of 50 sen each, amounting to RM2.13 million for the financial year ending Oct 31, 2011.

For the financial year ended Oct 31, HELP's net profit fell 31.6% to RM13.06 million from RM19.1 million in 2010, on the back of increased revenue of RM108.06 million from RM105.2 million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, OSK Investment Research on Thursday upgraded the technology sector to Neutral and said that better HDD pricing could help mitigate losses from the Thailand flood.

It said that against the backdrop of the massive works in progress to restore operations following Thailand's crippling floods, the worst could well be over.

The research said it had become less bearish on the hard-hit HDD components sector given the ongoing accelerated restoration as well as potential price hike over the immediate term, which could mitigate the earnings pressure from forgone capacity in the short term.

The research house upgraded Eng Teknologi and Notion Vtec from Sell to Neutral, and upped its recommendation on JCY International to Trading Buy from Sell.