FBMKLCI 1502.24 DJ- 168.32 CRUDE OIL 100.28 RM 3.083

Guan Chong Bhd is allocating about RM120 million to build its cocoa-grinding plant in Batam, Indonesia. The plant, with an annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes, will more than double the company's grinding capacity to 200,000 tonnes from 80,000 tonnes.

Alam Maritim Resources Bhd has been awarded an extension of contract to provide one accommodation work barge for about RM70.52 million. The contract extension is for 21 months from April 12, 2011 to January 2013, with a further option to extend for an additional year. Alam Maritim said the contract sum of about RM70.52 million included costs of catering, lodging and crane hire.

Mulpha International Bhd, which reported a 10-fold increase in its net profits for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2010 (FY10), will likely be paring down its debts by at least RM300mil this year, according to executive chairman Lee Seng Huang. He says Mulpha will also be continuing with share buybacks. Its latest financial results show that Mulpha has a cash and bank balance of some RM372.6mil. In addition, Mulpha will be receiving RM327mil by end-March from the sale of its Hilton Melbourne Airport Hotel, potentially raising the company's cash levels to around RM700mil or 56% of its total debt levels of RM1.24bil.

Cypark Resources Bhd, whose shares rallied on Tuesday, could see continued trading interest as investors ride on its solid waste management prospects. Cypark, had in its fourth quarter ended Oct 30, 2010 reported net profit of RM5.38 million while for the financial year, its earnings were RM20.42 million. The company had said in December, 2010 that it expected its revenue to increase as the government emphasised on solid waste management under the National Strategic Plan for Waste Management and related regulations/ initiatives.

Proton Holdings Bhd shares have fallen over the past two trading days after reporting losses due to its involvement to restructure Lotus Group International and higher branding costs. Proton adviser and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says the national car maker has enough funds to inject into Lotus if necessary.mon Tuesday, Proton had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nissan Motor Co. Ltd to pave the way for feasibility studies to be conducted on specific areas of cooperation between the Parties including the potential use of Nissan's platform and powertrain.

FBMKLCI 1520.00 DJ+8.25 CRUDE OIL 87.55 RM3.02

Kencana Petroleum Bhd's private placement of 166.7 million shares of 10 sen each via its book-building exercise has been completed. The issue price that has been fixed at RM2.38 each would result in gross proceeds of about RM397.6mil. The issue price represented about 1.65% discount to the closing price of Kencana shares on Jan 25 of RM2.42. It is believed that the shares were oversubscribed by 3.5 times.

Infrastructure builders Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd in consortium with Perunding Ranhill Worley Sdn Bhd has been awarded a RM1.07bil contract by Petronas Gas Bhd for works under its LNG regasification project. Muhibbah told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that the consortium received the contract for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning alliance for the LNG regasification unit, island berth and subsea pipeline of the LNG regasification project.

SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd, an integrated oil and gas service provider, said its wholly-owned unit received a letter of award for works valued at US$31.5mil from Petronas' subsidiary PC Myanmar (Hong Kong) Ltd.

The company told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that its unit TL Offshore Sdn Bhd received an award letter dated Jan 19 for the provision of transportation and installation of offshore facilities for PC Myanmar's Yetagun Phase 4 development at the Andaman Sea.

C.I. Holdings Bhd net profit for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2010 rose 43% to RM11.27mil from a year ago mainly due to further economies of scale and prudent cost management.

Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd's (F&N) foray into property development paid off well when it recently sold the second phase of Fraser Business Park in Pudu for RM63 million, which netted the group a gain of RM29.6 million.

The Edge FinancialDaily also reports the recent sharp rise in cocoa prices has brought a windfall for GUAN CHONG BHD [], which had earlier stocked up on the soft commodity at substantially lower prices. The company's profit margin has already widened substantially to 6.7 pct for the nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2010, from 1.8 pct in the previous corresponding period.

FBMKLCI 1572.21 DJ-22.55 CRUDE OIL 89.47 RM 3.04

Hap Seng plans to raise up to RM1.46 billion from a corporate exercise which includes RM808.21 million from a private placement and another RM654.54 million from a rights issue. The move would also build its war chest to undertake acquisitions. It had proposed to place out up to 124.53 million new shares at an issue price of RM6.49 per placement share which would raise RM808.21 million. It would also undertake a renounceable rights issue of up to 448.31 million new shares together with up to 448.31 million new free detachable warrants to raise RM654.54 million.

The locations of the 35 stations of the first mass rapid transit (MRT) line from Sg Buloh to Kajang are expected to be finalised between April and May, says Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) CEO, Mohd Nur Ismal Kamal. The line, with about 9.5km underground, will run through Sg Buloh, Kota Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, Cheras to Kajang. However, it was previously reported the alignment of the MRT may differ from what it was first proposed by MMC-Gamuda JV SB, the project delivery partner, as some highly busy hubs like Klang, Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam were not included in the initial MRT alignment.  

Guan Chong plans to raise up to RM120 million from the expected exercise price of RM2 for the 60 million free warrants. It had fixed the exercise price for the warrants at RM2, which was 9.29% or 17 sen over the theoretical ex-price after the proposed bonus issue of RM1.83 per share, based on the five-day volume weighted average price of RM2.44. Of the RM120 million, the proceeds would be used  for the day-to-day working capital requirements of the group.

KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd (KFCH) plans to invest RM25 million to open 25 new outlets nationwide this year. Managing director Jamaludin Md Ali said out of the 15 of the KFC fast food restaurants will be drive-through outlets to provide more convenience to customers, he said. Currently, there were 520 KFC outlets including 40 drive-through outlets.

Johor Corp is considering selling various assets including some landbank, properties and plantation assets to partly repay its current RM3.6bn debt which is due for repayment in July next year. The state investment arm first plans to bring down the debt level of RM3.6bn to a “sustainable level” of between RM1bn and RM1.5bn following a debt restructuring exercise, its newly appointed president and chief executive Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim said. That would mean that it needs to raise at least RM2.1bn by 2012. “About 70% (source of funding) for the RM2.1bn needed has already been identified and this includes selling some of our assets,” he said at a meeting with the media last Friday