FBMKLCI 1552.14 DJ-61.30 CRUDE OIL 98.76 RM 2.9660

MBSB’s additional 506.42 million new ordinary shares of RM1 each issued pursuant to the rights issue with warrants will be listed on Tuesday. MBSB closed three sen lower at RM1.50 on Monday. MBSB’s 506.42 million warrants issued pursuant to the rights issue will also be listed on Tuesday.

Knusford is teaming up with Pembinaan Hamid Abd. Rahman Sdn Bhd to submit prequalification and/or tender for part of the multi-billion ringgit Mass Rapid Transit project in the Klang Valley, The portion would be the Sungai Buloh to Kajang stretch. Knusford will hold a 40% stake and  PHAR 60% in the joint venture company.

London Biscuits Bhd’s net profit fell sharply to RM804,000 in the third quarter ended March 31, 2011 from RM4.03 million a year ago and the company expected the year to be challenging. Revenue fell to RM65.10 million from RM50.92 million while earnings per share were 0.84 sen compared with 4.64 sen. “The group’s result is within management’s expectation in view of the impact of the strength of the ringgit and increase in raw material cost,” it said. For the nine-month period, net profit was RM6.22 million compared with RM11.65 million despite higher revenue at RM183.79 million versus RM152.14 million.

N2N Connect said it was acquiring an 11-storey office building in Bangsar South for RM36 million cash to be partly used as its office space, and to be let out to tenants.

The new Perodua Myvi, due to be launched on June 16, will boost passenger vehicle sales this year, according to automotive analysts. OSK Research said in a report yesterday that Perodua's revised sales forecast of 195,000 units (previously 171,750 units) this year was easily achievable due to the earlier-than-expected launch of the new Myvi. The research firm also upgraded its Malaysian automotive total industry volume (TIV) forecast for 2011 by 4% to 597,456 units, which was a year-on-year decline of 1.3% (TIV hit an all-time high of 605,156 units last year). OSK Research maintained its “sell” call, with a fair value of RM6.61 on UMW Holdings Bhd, which owns a 38% stake in Perodua. OSK Research also upgraded its call on MBM Resources Bhd, which has a 20% stake in Perodua, to “buy” with a fair value of RM3.80, and raised its earnings projection for the current financial year by 20.2%.

Main-board bound UOA Development Bhd posted a net profit of RM130mil for the first quarter ended March 31. Revenue for the period stood at RM145.7mil. The property developer which is expected to be listed tomorrow said its pre-tax profit of RM155.7mil for the three months period was achieved after spending RM21.9mil for administrative and general expenses and RM22.1mil for tax expense.

Time Engineering's shareholderes approved its proposal of a renounceable offer for sale of up to 626.18 million shares (or 24.74% stake) in TdC to Time Engineering shareholders. The offer price for the shares will be fixed by Time Engineering's board of directors at a later date to be announced, and will be priced with at least 20% discount of the five-day volume-weighted average price up to the day prior to the price-fixing date. It will not be less than 48 sen per offer share. The offer is on the basis of eight offer shares for every 10 shares held in Time Engineering.

In an unprecedented move, Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd (SDP) has increased the salaries of 37,000 of its estate and mill workers throughout the country, with each of them expected to earn an extra RM200 in basic salary effective July 1st. SDP has allocated between RM120 mil and RM130mil per annum for this purpose including the increase in EPF and SOCSO contribution, said Sime Darby president and group CEO Datuk Mohd Bakke Salleh.

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 1514.13 DJ-30.88 CRUDE OIL107.43 RM 2.994

CIMB Bank and CIMB Islamic Bank will maintain their base lending rate and base financing rate at 6.3%. The two banks backtracked on their decisions in less than 24 hours after having announced a rise of five basis points on lending rates on Wednesday.

TIME DOTCOM BHD [] is teaming up with Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd (MBNS) to provide IPTV and broadband services across the Klang Valley and Penang., TT dotCom Sdn Bhd (TTdC) had signed a collaboration agreement with MBNS, which takes effect from Dec 20, 2010 and continue for 10 years from April 1. The collaboration agreement supersedes and replaces the principal terms of collaboration signed by the parties on Dec 20, 2010.

Glomac’s net profit for the third quarter ended Jan 31, 2011 rose 55.2% to RM16.52 million from RM10.65 million a year earlier, mainly due to stronger contribution from higher margin projects such as Glomac Tower, Glomac Damansara and Glomac Cyberjaya. Revenue for the quarter surged 124% to RM176.53 million from RM78.76 million in 2010. Earnings per share were 5.65 sen, while net assets per share was RM2.01. Glomac proposed an interim dividend of 4.5 sen per share. For the nine months ended Jan 31, Glomac’s net profit rose to RM47.96 million from RM28.29 million a year ago, on the back of revenue RM443.74 million.

There has been no indication from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) that it will pare down its stake in MBSB, said its CEO Datuk Ahmad Zaini Othman. MBSB targets to grow its personal loans to account for 50% of its overall loan portfolio from about 30% presently and this should translate to an additional RM5 billion in fresh disbursements.

Perisai revealed that if it acquired Garuda Energy, it would assume a debt of RM120mil of the latter. Analysts had earlier said it was difficult to ascertain if Perisai was paying a fair price for Garuda Energy, considering there were no details on the latter's debt levels. Perisai also said its total borrowings would balloon from RM251.2mil as at Dec 21, 2009 to RM600.4mil post-acquisition of Garuda Energy. Aside from the RM150mil debt at Garuda Energy, Perisai said it may raise another RM150mil via external borrowings to fund the cash consideration needed for buying Garuda Energy. The projected total borrowings also include a consolidation of borrowings of RM91.4mil from its January 2011 acquisition of another company, Intan Offshore Group

SAM Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd has proposed to acquire an engine casing manufacturing division from Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing Pte Ltd for RM135mil and restricted issue of irredeemable convertible unsecured loan stocks (ICULS) of up to 33.75 million ICULS to minority shareholders of SAM.

Nam Fatt Corp Bhd, a Practice Note 17 (PN17) status company, has entered into a heads of agreement with Tan Sri Ta Kin Yan to undertake a series of proposals with the ultimate aim of regularising the financial condition of the company. “Ta will participate in the proposed regularisation of Nam Fatt subject to the terms and conditions of the heads of agreement and the terms and conditions of a definitive agreement to be agreed and executed between the company and Ta,” it said. Nam Fatt also appealed to Bursa Malaysia not to de-list its securities and to allow the company to submit its regularisation plan.

Handal Resources Bhd’s rights issue of 60 million ordinary shares together with 60 million free warrants have been oversubscribed by 76.26%. At the close of acceptance and payment of the rights issue and free warrants on March 25, applications were received for 105.76 million new rights shares together with warrants, an excess of 45.76 million shares, Handal said in a statement yesterday. The rights issue of 60 million ordinary shares priced at 52 sen per share was offered together with 60 million new free detachable warrants on the basis of two rights shares and two free warrants for every three existing Handal shares. Together with the rights issue, Handal also made a bonus issue of 10 million shares on the basis of one bonus share for every six right shares subscribed.