fbpx

Top Glove, Karex, Salcon, IHH, Oversea Enterprise, MQREIT, MHB, EA Tech, Bintai Kinden, Carlsberg, Berjaya Food, Duopharma Biotech, Gas Malaysia and Star Media

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 12): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies in focus tomorrow (Nov 13) may include: Top Glove Corp Bhd, Karex Bhd, Salcon Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, Oversea Enterprise Bhd, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd, EA Technique (M) Bhd, MRCB-Quill REIT, Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Berjaya Food Bhd, Duopharma Biotech Bhd, Gas Malaysia Bhd and Star Media Group Bhd.

Top Glove Corp Bhd has continued buying back more shares on the open market as its share price drifted nearly 20% down from a recent peak of RM9.60. It bought back an additional 8.96 million shares today, representing a 0.83% stake, for RM69.72 million. This is the third consecutive day this week that Top Glove mopped up its own shares. The group has spent roughly RM209.52 million over the last three days for the exercise, which is close to the net profit of RM227.1 million that it earned in the first half of the financial year ended Aug 31, 2020 (FY20).

Karex Bhd is acquiring the remaining 30% stake in US-based Global Protection Corp (GP) for RM42.26 million, to be satisfied via the issuance of new shares. Under the deal, Karex will issue 82.93 million new shares — at a price to be decided — to GP president and director Davin Wedel for the stake. Post-acquisition, Wedel will own a 7.64% stake in Karex, while Karex will wholly own GP.

Water and wastewater engineering firm Salcon Bhd, whose share price has more than doubled within a month, plans to diversify into the glove manufacturing business by buying a 51% stake in glove manufacturing company, JR Engineering and Medical Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd (JR), for RM28.56 million. The proposed acquisition comes with a profit guarantee of RM10 million a year for the next three financial years, from the one ending Dec 31, 2021 (FY21) until FY23.

IHH Healthcare Bhd is selling its 50% stake in an Indian joint venture (JV) to its partner Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd for RM227.08 million cash or 4.1 billion Indian rupees. Apollo Hospitals will be acquiring the stake in Apollo Gleneagles Hospital Ltd (AGHL) held by IHH’s Singaporean unit Gleneagles Development Pte Ltd. AGHL, currently a 50:50 JV between Apollo Hospitals and IHH, runs a 750-bed multi-speciality hospital in Kolkata. Following the acquisition, AGHL will become a 100%-owned subsidiary of Apollo

Oversea Enterprise Bhd (OEB) plans to raise up to RM27.65 million via a private placement to fund its business expansion and working capital requirements. The Chinese restaurant chain operator said it will be placing out 48.5 million shares — representing 20% of its share capital — to selected third-party investors to be identified later.

An arbitral tribune has ordered EA Technique (M) Bhd (EATech) to pay Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MHB) a sum of US$29.52 million (RM121.93 million), after hearing a dispute between the two companies over a contract.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, MHB said EATech has also been ordered to pay MHB costs of RM4.69 million and interest at 5% per annum from date of award to the date of full payment. MHB, on the other hand, is not liable to pay any sum to EATech.

MRCB-Quill REIT (MQREIT) has disposed of its Quill Building 5 in Cyberjaya for RM45 million, cash. The REIT has inked a sale and purchase agreement with Deriv Services Sdn Bhd to dispose of the building, which is not tenanted at present. The expected net gain from the proposed disposal is RM3.73 million.

Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd‘s majority-owned subsidiary Bintai Healthcare Sdn Bhd (BHSB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australia-listed International Equities Corp Ltd’s (IEC) wholly-owned subsidiary IEC Properties Pty Ltd, under a planned arrangement for which IEC will have the sole distribution rights for a COVID-19 vaccine in Australia and New Zealand. Bintai Kinden has partnered US-based Generex Biotechnology Corp to advance the commercialisation of the vaccine in Malaysia. Under a distribution and licensing agreement entered into with BHSB, Generex and NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology Inc, BHSB has the first right of refusal to market and distribute the vaccine in Australia and New Zealand.

Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd reported a net profit of RM40.63 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2020 (3QFY20), about three times the RM10.65 million it made in 2QFY20, as the brewer’s sales rebound following the easing of movement restrictions in Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka, where it operates. Revenue for 3QFY20 grew 51.5% quarter-on-quarter to RM435.3 million from RM287.27 million.

Berjaya Food Bhd’s net profit for the first quarter ended September 30, 2020 (1QFY21) more than doubled to RM10.37 million from RM4.61 million a year ago, as its revenue returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. The stronger earnings, which came amid improved performance from its Kenny Rogers Roasters (KRR) restaurants after closing certain non-performing stores in the previous financial year, was also bolstered by more effective cost management initiatives implemented to mitigate the impact of the prolonged pandemic.

Revenue growth was flat on a yearly basis, with topline coming in at RM180.72 million — which is comparable to 1QFY20’s RM180.44 million — but showed a significant 62% improvement from the immediate preceding quarter’s RM111.57 million. It declared a first interim dividend of 0.5 sen per share.

Duopharma Biotech Bhd‘s third-quarter (3Q) net profit fell 4.93% to RM14.13 million from RM14.86 million a year earlier, due to a drop in revenue on lower demand from the private sector. Quarterly revenue was down 6.36% to RM133.77 million from RM142.86 million.

Gas Malaysia Bhd posted a 21% jump in its net profit to RM50.91 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2020 from RM42 million a year earlier, despite revenue dipping 2% to RM1.72 billion from RM1.76 billion on lower average natural gas tariff. The profit growth came due to higher volume sold, higher finance income and share of profits from joint venture companies.

Compensation income of RM50.54 million gave a strong boost to Star Media Group Bhd’s earnings in the third financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2020 (3QFY20). The compensation was for the late delivery of vacant possession of the investment property under construction (IPUC) from Jaks Island Circle Sdn Bhd (JIC). Consequently, the media company’s net profit soared to RM26.92 million in 3QFY20 from RM250,000 a year ago. Quarterly revenue, however, fell 39.4% to RM48.21 million from RM79.58 million previously.

Source: TheEdgeMarkets