Maxis, BAT, ViTrox, Pavilion REIT, MHB, Ranhill Utilities, Prestariang, MTouche, Opcom, TM, Willowglen, Rubberex, Bertam Alliance, Vivocom and Top Glove

KUALA LUMPUR (July 23): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus tomorrow (July 24) may include: Maxis Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd, Ranhill Utilities Bhd, Prestariang Bhd, MTouche Technology Bhd, Opcom Holdings Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Willowglen Msc Bhd, Rubberex Corp (M) Bhd, Bertam Alliance Bhd, Vivocom International Holdings Bhd and Top Glove Corp Bhd.

Maxis Bhdposted a net profit of RM343 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020, on the back of steady core mobile business and consistent growth in convergence and digitalisation, compared with RM397 million a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter was RM2.15 billion, driven by strong growth in postpaid and fibre segments, versus RM2.21 billion previously. It also declared a second interim dividend of 4 sen per share to be paid on Sept 24.

British American Tobacco (M) Bhd(BAT) reported a 28.39% fall in second quarter net profit to RM54.61 million from RM76.27 million a year earlier, due to lower sales. Revenue stood at RM546.59 million down 14.7% from RM640.81 million previously. BAT said the decline in profit was mainly due to legal market contraction as a result of illegal cigarette volume and illegal nicotine vaping growth, market downtrading and lower duty-free sales as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

ViTrox Corp Bhdposted a 6% decline in net profit to RM22.92 million in the second quarter from RM24.38 million a year earlier, mainly due to unfavourable sales mix. Quarterly revenue rose 8.4% to RM96.54 million from RM89.03 million a year ago, mainly due to higher sales volume from its machine vision system product, which offset the decline in revenue from its automated board inspection product.

Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust(REIT)’s net property income (NPI) for the April-June quarter declined 57.23% to RM39.07 million from RM91.35 million a year earlier, as revenue was impacted by rental rebates offered for tenant retention in the Movement Control Order (MCO) period. Gross revenue fell 39.82% to RM86.73 million from RM144.12 million. It declared a distribution per unit of 0.4 sen for the quarter, bringing cumulative DPU for the first half of the year to 1.61 sen.

Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd's (MHB) second quarter net loss widened to RM397.02 million from RM9.48 million a year earlier on lower revenue and after the company registered an RM300 million impairment loss as oil and gas companies deferred their upstream projects amid a COVID-19 pandemic-driven oil demand collapse. Revenue slipped to RM155.31 million from RM276.45 million.

Ranhill Utilities Bhdis forming a consortium to partake in the bidding of a development project relating to the drinking water allocation system of the Jatiluhur dam in Jakarta. Its subsidiary Ranhill Capital Sdn Bhd signed a deal today with two Indonesian firms and two Philippine firms to conduct feasibility studies and take part in the bidding process.

Two days after proposing a private placement of 15% of its shares to its founder Dr Abu Hasan Ismail,Prestariang Bhdtoday announced another cash call. Together with the RM27.85 million injection agreed by Abu Hasan, Prestariang is aiming to raise a total of RM63.22 million through the two corporate exercises.

It is planning to raise a further RM35.37 million via a renounceable rights issue of ordinary shares with free detachable warrants. The rights issue will involve up to 176.84 million new shares at an issue price of 20 sen per rights share, on the basis of one rights share for every three Prestariang shares held. The rights issue will come with free detachable warrants, on the basis of one warrant for every one rights share subscribed.

MTouche Technology Bhdhas proposed a private placement to raise up to RM18.06 million for the development of a new over the top media platform. Up to 777.6 million shares or 30% of the group's issued share capital will be issued to independent third-party investors to be identified later.

Opcom Holdings Bhdhas accepted a contract worth RM21.37 million fromTelekom Malaysia Bhdto supply optical fibre cables. It is a supplementary agreement accepted by its subsidiary Opcom Cables Sdn Bhd, and covers the Aug 1, 2020 to May 20, 2022 period.

Willowglen Msc Bhdhas been awarded a contract worth RM8.5 million from Tenaga Nasional Bhd for the supply, installation and testing of field terminal units for its distribution automation project. The contract commenced on July 22 and is expected to be completed by Jan 20, 2024.

Minority shareholders ofRubberex Corp (M) Bhdhave been advised to reject the takeover offer from chemical firm Hextar Global Bhd's executive director Datuk Ong Choo Meng and his 90%-held Hextar Rubber Sdn Bhd for the remaining Rubberex shares at RM1.80 apiece. Its independent adviser MainStreet Advisers Sdn Bhd said the offer was “not fair and not reasonable”. Ong and Hextar had acquired an additional 20.63% stake in Rubberex, raising their collective interest to 50.18% — above the 33% threshold that triggers the mandatory general offer for the remaining shares they do not own in the company. The stake, comprising 57.25 million shares, was bought at RM1.80 per share, or RM103.05 million in total, via direct business transactions in June.

Bertam Alliance Bhd’s acting managing director Liu Shenghui was ousted from his position in a tussle between shareholders that saw a majority of shareholders voting against Liu’s re-election as the company’s director. At today’s annual general meeting, a total of 77.15% voted shares were against Liu’s re-election. Liu is the second-largest shareholder of the company holding some 28.92 million shares or a 13.99% equity stake in the PN17 Sabah-based property developer. The Edge reported on July 20 of a fallout between Liu and Bertam Alliance’s largest shareholder Andrew Lim Nyuk Foh who has an 18.23% stake.

Vivocom International Holdings Bhdis planning to consolidate every 10 shares in the ACE Market-listed construction firm into one new share.

Top Glove Corp Bhdis now the second largest Malaysian company with market capitalisation of RM70.47 billion, second only to Malayan Banking Bhd which sits at a market cap of RM88.58 billion. Despite logging a 455% year-to-date price gain, bullish sentiments among analysts covering Top Glove remain unfettered.