FBMKLCI 1556.19 DJ-178.84 CRUDE OIL 95.80 RM 2.9970

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has bought more than 200,000 tonnes of fuel oil, for delivery between April and August, in addition to buying electricity from Singapore utility PowerSeraya, industry sources said yesterday. The fuel oil volumes were the largest TNB has purchased in at least five years, traders said, and were linked to natural gas supply disruptions that resulted from the maintenance shutdown of gas production platforms owned by state oil company Petronas. The first 15,000 tonnes is for Aug 1–3 delivery to the Sultan Iskandar Power Station in Pasir Gudang. Two more lots of 20,000 and 30,000 tonnes are for delivery to Kapar in Selangor in August

Integrated steel contractor Eversendai Corp Bhd plans to double its order book this year to RM3bil, on expectations of new projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and India.  Group managing director Datuk A.K. Nathan said the group was already in serious negotiations for some of the jobs related to infrastucture, power plants and high rise buildings. “We are pursuing quite a fair amount of jobs this year and I think we should not have any problem to secure about RM1bil to RM1.5bil worth of new jobs based on our good track record all this while,” he told reporters yesterday at a media briefing after the official launch of the group's initial public offering (IPO) prospectus.

Alam Maritim Resources Bhd is bidding for RM400mil to RM500mil worth of contracts in offshore installation and construction (OIC) as well as offshore support vessel (OSV) services sector, said managing director and chief executive officer Azmi Ahmad. However, Azmi said the success rate was quite difficult to predict under the prevailing market environment although the company's historical success rate was at 10% to 22%.

Gamuda Bhd and MMC Corp Bhd have entered into a joint venture (JV) for the pre-qualifying and tendering works in relation to the underground work package for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit project. In separate announcements to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, both companies said they would each have a 50% stake in the JV. “The breakdown of the total capital, investment outlay and the eventual issued and paid-up capital of the JV will be according to the proportion of interest of each party and could only be determined when the JV is successfully awarded the underground work package of the project,” they said.

Both companies said they planned to finance their respective portions of investments via their own funds and/or borrowings.

HPI Resources Bhd has received a takeover offer from Japan's Oji Paper Co Ltd to acquire all of the former's 58.528 million shares for RM257.52mil or RM4.40 per share. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the corrugated packaging manufacturer said it had received the notice of the conditional take-over offer from RHB Investment Bank on behalf of Oji Paper's wholly-owned subsidiary, Oji Paper Asia Sdn Bhd. “The board has deliberated on the offer and does not intend to seek an alternate person to make a take-over for the offer shares,” the company said. The offer price of RM4.40 represents a premium of 47 sen or 12% over its last traded price of RM3.93.

Trading of shares in ACE Market-listed Ecofuture Bhd will be suspended from June 23 as it failed to appoint a replacement sponsor by designated June 10 deadline. The Guidance Note 3 company could also potentially be delisted on June 27 unless an appeal is submitted to Bursa Malaysia by June 22. Ecofuture was unable to appoint a replacement sponsor within three months after its then sponsor ECM Libra Investment Bank Bhd tendered its resignation on March 10.

Equine Capital, which had fallen from the radar screen in recent years, is trying to make a company through its property venture. It is launching a mixed commercial and residential freehold development project -- da:mén -- or “Great Door) in USJ, Subang Jaya which is near the Summit shopping mall and hotel. It promises to offer a distinctively unique retail and dining experience with lifestyle pleasures for the urbanites. The company has also returned to the black in the financial year ended March 31, 2011. In the fourth quarter ended March 31, it reported net profit of RM2.25 million compared with net loss of RM25.57 million a year ago. For the 12-months, its net profit was RM6.37 million compared with net loss of RM36.43 million a year ago. However, its cashflow was enhanced following proceeds from disposal of investment property totaling for RM28 million. Its cash and cash equivalents at end of the financial year was only RM6.4 million

Unisem expects the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2011 to be lacklustre due to tough economic environment in major markets. Group managing director John Chia said Unisem’s financial results in FY 2011 was unlikely to be better than the previous year's numbers due to a tougher economic environment in the US, Europe, Japan and China, apart from the weakening of the US dollar. "Our capital expenditure this year will be less than FY10 capex of some RM380 million" Chia said at Unisem's shareholders meeting.

FBMKLCI 1536.03 DJ-130.33 CRUDE OIL 99.04 RM 2.9460

Oil and gas (O&G) stocks rose yesterday on the local bourse as several O&G service providers are expected to benefit from a multi-billion ringgit downstream project to be announced on Friday by the Government, and the gains in these stocks were also in line with the rise seen on the broader market.

Trading in ACE Market-listed Ecofuture Bhd’s shares will be suspended from May 10 until further notice due to the company’s failure to submit its audited accounts for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2010.

Soon-to-be listed property developer UOA Development Bhd signed a retail underwriting agreement with its underwriters, ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia next month.

UOA has received approval from the Securities Commission for the proposed listing of its entire enlarged issued and paid-up share capital of up to 1.2 billion 5 sen shares. The IPO consists of an institutional offering of up to of 337 million shares to Malaysian and foreign institutional and selected investors (including bumiputra investors approved by the International Trade and Industry Ministry) and a retail offering of 70 million shares to the Malaysian public, eligible directors and employees of UOA Development, its subsidiaries and persons who have contributed to the success of UOA and its subsidiaries.

Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) posted net profit of RM68.28 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2011 compared with RM43.19 million a year ago. Revenue was RM311.63 million compared with RM169.12 million. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, MBSB group achieved a pre-tax profit of RM91.0 million, up 111% from RM43.2 million a year ago.

Petronas Gas Bhd posted a 11.09% increase in revenue to RM891.19mil on the back of a 32.41% increase in net profit to RM266.66mil for the fourth quarter to March 31, 2011. Earnings per share increased to 13.48 sen from 10.18 sen. The better results were due to higher gas transportation revenue and utilities sales, Petronas Gas said in a statement.

Wah Seong Corp Bhd (WSC) has proposed to demerge the oil and gas businesses currently held under its wholly-owned Wasco Energy Ltd (WEL). In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, Wah Seong said that the proposed demerger was to enable WEL and its subsidiaries to operate as a separate and fast-growing public-listed entity. It added that a proposed listing of WEL on the Main Market of Bursa Securities would be sought in conjunction with the proposed demerger. “The proposed demerger will provide a platform for the respective entities to pursue a different and more tailored business strategy for each division. This in return will allow the respective entities to accelerate its growth through explicit management directions and accountability for each individual entity,” Wah Seong explained in its statement.

Petra Perdana Bhd has secured a total of RM73mil worth of new charter contracts for three mid-size anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels. The company said in a statement that in the first contract, a 12,000 brake horse power (bhp) AHTS was on a six-month charter from May 1 for deployment in Labuan.

MISC posted net loss of RM307.88 million in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2011 after it made impairment provisions totaling RM456.65 million. The poor financial performance was a sharp contrast from the net profit of RM196.43 million a year ago when the provisions for impairments were sharply lower at RM49.58 million. MISC said its revenue was lower at RM2.924 billion compared with RM3.31 billion a year ago. Loss per share was 6.9 sen compared with earnings per share of 5.10 sen.

Dialog Group’s net profit for the third quarter ended March 31, 2011 rose 20.4% to RM38.34 million from RM31.84 million a year earlier, due mainly to higher contribution from its engineering and CONSTRUCTION [], and plant maintenance activities in Malaysia and Singapore. Revenue rose to RM301.16 million from RM282.77 million. Earnings per share were 1.95 sen while net asset per share was 28.46 sen. Dialog declared a interim single-tier cash dividend  of 1.3 sen per share in respect of the financial year ending June 30, 2011.

Wah Seong’s net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011 surged to RM43.37 million from RM17.02 million a year ago, due to increasing activities recorded in all divisions of the group, especially in the pipeline services division. Its revenue for the quarter increased  by 19.8% to 490.89 million from RM409.62 million. Earnings per share were 5.83 sen while net asset per share was RM1.31.

FBMKLCI 1531.47 DJ+0.15 CRUDE OIL110.78 RM2.9380

Five companies yesterday announced that trading in their securities will be suspended on May 10 until further notice due to failure to submit their annual audited financial statements on time. The companies are Atis Corp Bhd, Fitters Diversified Bhd, Mobif Bhd, Ecofuture Bhd, and H-Displays (MSC) Bhd.

Sumatec Resources Bhd has triggered the criteria pursuant to Practice Note No. 17 (PN17) of the Main Market Listing Requirements while biotechnology-based Equator Life Sciences Bhd has triggered the criteria pursuant to Guidance Note 3 (GN3) of the ACE Market Listing Requirements, Bursa Malaysia Securities announced yesterday.

Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (SunREIT) posted a net profit of RM43.7mil for the third quarter ended March 31. SunREIT has declared a third interim income distribution of 1.70 sen per unit for the third quarter ended 31 March. For the first nine months, SunREIT's income before taxation was RM399.6mil comprising realised net income of RM126.2mil and unrealised income of RM273.4mil .

MClean Technologies Bhd’s initial public offering of 2.7 million new shares has been oversubscribed 100.49 times. In a statement yesterday, the Malaysian Issuing House Sdn Bhd (MIH) said a total of 8,947 applications for 274.02 million shares were received from the public. In addition, 75,000 new shares, initially set aside for business associates of the group, were made available to the public.

Ramunia has proposed a capital reCONSTRUCTION [] and rights issue to uplift from the Practice Note 17 status. The proposed share premium reduction will give rise to a credit of between RM98.31 million and RM100.69 million whilst the reduction of 25 sen in par value from each existing share of 50 sen each will give rise to a credit between RM185.32 million and RM244.65 million.

Commerce TECHNOLOGY [] Ventures Sdn. Bhd has ceased to be a substantial shareholder of Tricubes Bhd after it disposed of 14.5 million shares from April 24 to 27. Filings to Bursa Malaysia showed it sold 1.165 million shares on April 25 and 5.0 million shares on April 26. It sold 8.335 million shares on April 27.

The recent transactions reduced its stake to 6.20 million shares.