KUALA LUMPUR (May 6): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus tomorrow (May 7) include: Inari Amertron Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, AirAsia Group Bhd, MISC Bhd, Berjaya Food Bhd, Sentral REIT, Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, My EG Services Bhd, Genting Malaysia Bhd, Seni Jaya Corp Bhd and Velesto Energy Bhd.
Inari Amertron Bhd plans to raise up to RM1.07 billion via a private placement to be used for capital expenditure, acquisitions and investments. The outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) company proposed to issue up to 333 million new shares — which accounts for 10% of its share capital — to third party investors at an indicative price of RM3.20 a share.
Inari will be using the raised funds to accelerate plans to acquire and invest in “good value, high quality and complementary semiconductor and OSAT related companies and assets” that can generate sustainable revenue and earnings growth, good profit margins and good returns on invested capital.
Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) chief investment officer for private and strategic investments Rizal Rickman Ramli will succeed Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz as the chairman of Sime Darby Property Bhd. Zeti, who was appointed as the group’s non-independent non-executive chairman in July 2018, is retiring from her position effective today.
Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) unveiled its five-year strategic plan, M25, that aims to accelerate growth in the "next normal".
Maybank has set its desired long-term outcomes by 2025, including a return on equity (ROE) of between 13% and 15%, a cost-to-income ratio of below 45%, earnings per share of more than 100 sen and delivering a dividend payout ratio of between 40% and 60% on a net cash basis.
While the imposition of the latest Movement Control Order (MCO 3.0) will impact both the loan growth as well as asset quality of the bank, Maybank says it has already “factored in” the impact as the banking group is anticipating an uneven recovery during the pandemic. Additionally, Maybank will also stop financing new coal activities as part of its sustainable agenda, which currently only makes up 0.2% of the bank’s total portfolio.
Mitsui & Co is exploring a deal to take Malaysian hospital group IHH Healthcare Bhd private, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some private equity firms have approached the Japanese trading house to team up on the potential transaction to buy out IHH’s other shareholders, said one of the people, who asked not to be named as the information is private. Mitsui has reached out to Khazanah Nasional Bhd, IHH’s second largest shareholder, to pick up its stake, another person said.
Discussions are still in the early stages and there is no certainty that Mitsui will proceed with an offer.
AirAsia Group Bhd said all of its entities performed better in March, in terms of total number of passengers carried, compared with February.
AirAsia Malaysia recorded an increase of 84% in passengers carried month-on-month, while AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia Indonesia reported growth of 57% and 29% respectively. AirAsia Thailand managed to more than double its number of passengers carried in March, compared with February. For the first quarter of the year, however, the group recorded a 90% across-the-board decline in total passengers carried to 976,968, from 9.85 million in January-March, 2020.
MISC Bhd swung back into profitability in the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 (1QFY21) with a net profit of RM429.8 million from a net loss of RM1.12 billion in 1QFY20 as the shipping company did not record any litigation claims. Quarterly revenue rose marginally by 1.1% to RM2.54 billion against RM2.51 billion a year ago, largely underpinned by higher contributions from its offshore business. The group also has declared an interim dividend of seven sen to its shareholders, to be paid on June 9, 2021. The entitlement date falls on May 25.
Berjaya Food Bhd reported a net profit of RM11.61 million for its third quarter ended March 31, 2021 (3QFY21), against a net loss of RM1.39 million a year earlier, while quarterly revenue rose 14.6% to RM181.73 million from RM158.6 million. Noting that the second Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) was implemented during the quarter, Berjaya Food said the group's operations were not as adversely impacted as in 3QFY20. Contributing to the higher revenue was Starbucks Malaysia, which achieved higher than budgeted same-store-sales growth. Its net profit for the first nine months of FY21 grew 195% to RM33.1 million, from RM11.24 million a year ago, while revenue increased 2.6% to RM536.55 million from RM523.15 million.
Sentral REIT’s first quarter net property income (NPI) fell 4.2% to RM31.41 million from a year earlier on lower revenue and higher property operating expenses amid Covid-19 pandemic-driven uncertainties which affected the Malaysian real estate market. The REIT’s NPI however increased 6.7% q-o-q during the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 (1QFY21). 1QFY21 revenue fell to RM41.02 million from RM42.22 million a year earlier although net profit rose to RM20.7 million from RM19.79 million.
Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) announced that its deputy group chairman Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib has accepted a request from the board for him not to take the leave of absence as announced in April. CMS said the board’s request for Bekir to stay on was made after it concluded that the allegation of possible conflict of interest involving Bekir and former chief information officer Karl Vink @ Khalid Abdullah was “without basis”.
My EG Services Bhd (MyEG) has won a contract from MIMOS Bhd to provide service desk and its related services for a vaccine traceability system. The one-year project will be effective June 1, with an option for a further one-year extension. It is valued at RM400,000 for the first year and RM250,000 for the optional one-year extension.
Genting Malaysia Bhd's subsidiary GENM Capital Bhd will redeem bonds under the latter’s medium term notes programme of up to RM5 billion next Tuesday (May 11) ahead of the RM5 billion MTN scheme's maturity date on March 31, 2022, according to facility agent Maybank Investment Bank Bhd.
GENM Capital’s notice dated April 27, 2021 indicated the early redemption of the MTN under stock code number UI170047 next Tuesday ahead of the securities' maturity date.
Outdoor advertising services provider Seni Jaya Corp Bhd has announced the appointment of Cheah See Heong, also known as Jeff Cheah, as its new CEO with immediate effect. The group also announced the appointment of Julian Koh Lu Ern, a chartered accountant, as its new independent non-executive director.
Offshore drilling company Velesto Energy Bhd will focus on recovery efforts of its rig, Velesto Naga 7, which submerged off the coast of Sarawak on Tuesday. All 101 personnel on board have been transferred safely to Miri. Currently, Velesto is unable to estimate the overall financial impact on the group from the incident but expects it to be mitigated as the rig is adequately insured.