FBMKLCI 1509.79 DJ+18.24 CRUDE OIL 89.06 RM 3.10

KYM Holdings has been awarded a contract valued at RM585,911 by Vale International SA for the provision of consultancy services for the acquisition of land and development order approval. KYM said in an announcement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday that Vale had instructed it to acquire the land for the construction of a 2.5km-long jetty and for the construction of temporary site office facilities for their proposed iron ore distribution centre and pellet plant in Teluk Rubiah, Perak.

Johor Corp (JCorp) will not be selling any of its assets to repay bondholders’ RM3.6bil when the papers are due on July 31, 2012. JCorp’s newly-appointed chief executive officer Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim said the plan was to refinance the debt.

The board of Olympia Industries Bhd has clarified that the company has expressed interest to acquire all the equity shares in Pan Malaysian Pools Sdn Bhd from Tanjong plc, a company which has been taken private by T. Ananda Krishnan.

Proton will spend £480m on Group Lotus plc to turnaround the company and the financing will be secured via internally generated and externally secured funding during the turnaround period. Proton also confirmed its unit Group Lotus plc is teaming up with Renault F1 Team Ltd for the title sponsorship of the Renault F1 Team which will take part in the Formula One World Racing Championship season beginning 2011 onwards.

Kencana Petroleum posted net profit of RM52.35 million in the first quarter ended Oct 31, 2010, up 70% from RM30.82 million a year ago and was upbeat for the current financial year on rising demand for its engineering and fabrication of oil and gas production facilities. Revenue rose 20% to RM336.96 million from RM281 million a year ago while pretax profit increased by 63% to RM68.10 million from RM41.80 million. Earnings per share were 3.16 sen compared with 3.41 sen.

The Naza brothers Sheikh Mohd Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin and Sheikh Mohd Faliq SM Nasimuddin have resigned as directors of Kumpulan Jetson. The group told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that the resignations of Nasarudin, 27, and Faliq, 25, came into effect the same day. The brothers were deemed interested by virtue of their interest in Superior Pavillion, which owns 13.12 million Jetson shares. Jetson also announced yesterday that the brothers had disposed of 4.37 million Jetson shares, or 7.22% stake, for RM1.05 each on 8 Dec. They were believed to initially have big plans for the company but lost interest after disagreements with other shareholders, stemming from unsettled financial issues within Jetson.

KFC Holdings (M) Bhd, which holds the franchise to operate KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in Malaysia, Singapore and two cities in India from Yum! Brands Inc, has acquired Kernel Foods Pte Ltd, a Mumbai-based restaurant operator for RM83,565.