•The government has decided to withdraw the approval of indirect property acquisition by Tamaco Plantation Sdn Bhd from TH Plantations Bhd on Dec 4, for further scrutiny and other factors. The government maintained that the indirect property acquisition application by Tamaco through the subscription of 100% shares from two TH Plantations subsidiaries — Bumi Suria Ventures Sdn Bhd and Maju Warisanmas Sdn Bhd — was subject to property acquisition guidelines which have been in effect since March 1, 2014. The guidelines stipulated that dilution of properties by Bumiputera interests via direct or indirect acquisition by non-Bumiputera interests is based on retention of at least 30% equity ownership for the latter.
•India-based conglomerate Tata Group will stop dues payment by AirAsia (India) Ltd to AirAsia Group Bhd, if the latter does not provide funding to their low-cost airline joint venture before Dec 31, 2020, The Economic Times reported, citing recently-added clauses in the AirAsia India shareholder agreement. According to the report, Tata will also start deducting the dues and setting them off against equity shares in AirAsia India, if its JV partner AirAsia Group is unable to bring in funds by subscribing to a rights offer of at least 300 crore rupee (about RM166 million).
•* Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB)* will be participating in the United Nations Global Compact’s CFO Taskforce. The group said its membership in the task force reinforces its commitment to pursuing the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), and it will be able to provide an Asean perspective on developing strategies to accelerate the delivery of the SDGs within the private sector. MRCB’s chief corporate officer Amarjit Chhina is the only member from Malaysia and the first in Asean to be invited to join the CFO Taskforce. There, he will be working with peers from other companies worldwide on a two-year programme to implement the CFO Principles on Integrated SDG Investments and Finance.
•* Top Glove Corp Bhd's* first-quarter (1QFY21) net profit surged to RM2.38 billion from RM111.43 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to RM4.76 billion from RM1.21 billion, underpinned by continued strong global rubber glove demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Top Glove declared an interim dividend of 16.5 sen a share to reward its approximately 100,000 public shareholders. Top Glove said it attained the highest ever quarterly sales revenue of RM4.76 billion in 1QFY21, representing an increase of 294% compared with 1QFY20. Separately, Top Glove executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai said he expects the production lines in the group's temporarily-closed 28 factories in Klang to be fully operational within the next two- to three weeks. "Seven factories have resumed their operations since yesterday under stage one. Hopefully, we can start stage two with another seven factories to resume work by this weekend," he said. The remaining 14 factories will recommence activities in the following two weeks in stages three and four, Lim added.
•* Kumpulan Powernet Bhd (KPower)* has bagged a contract worth RM296 million for a mini-hydropower plant in Perak. The group said its wholly-owned subsidiary KPower Engineering Sdn Bhd had received and accepted a letter of award yesterday from Kangsar Hidro Sdn Bhd to undertake the engineering, design, procurement, construction, commissioning and completion of a mini-hydropower plant, with a total capacity of 27.3MW in Sungai Singor, Perak.
•* My EG Services Bhd (MyEG)* is planning to raise up to RM407 million via placement to fund the development of hostels for foreign workers under an ongoing project, develop healthcare-related services, and to buy fixed assets like kiosks for the online renewal of car and motorcycle road tax under its e-government concession business. It intends to place out up to 220 million new shares that represent up to 6.29% of its total issued shares to third-party investors to be identified.
•* Public Bank Bhd* has denied any involvement in a joint venture with G Capital Bhd to set up a new full-fledged commercial bank in Cambodia. Public Bank clarified that one of the parties involved in the venture, Datuk Phan Ying Tong, was acting in his own capacity, as he had resigned from all of his positions in the bank. Yesterday, G Capital announced it has entered into a heads of agreement with Phan and Cambodian firm E S Packaging Co Ltd to jointly undertake the venture to establish the new bank named Oriental Bank Plc.
•* Cymao Holdings Bhd* has been slapped with an unusual market activity (UMA) query on the sharp rise in its share price and volume recently.
Shares of Cymao shot up 26.26% or 13 sen today and settled at 62.5 sen, with 4.78 million shares traded. The 4.78 million shares that were traded today is five times that of yesterday’s volume of 914,800. Over the past month alone, the stock's price shot up by 172% from 23 sen on Nov 12. Currently, the group has a market capitalisation of RM46.9 million.
•* AWC Bhd* has secured a hospital support services contract from the Health Ministry worth RM107.89 million. The group said the ministry had accepted its tender to provide the services for the Shah Alam Hospital. The contract period will be five years, commencing Jan 1, 2021 to Dec 31, 2025.
KPOWER (BUY↔;TP↑MYR6.46@17x FY22 P/E) won 4-year MYR296m EPCC of mini hydropower plant in Perak.
♦ Positive on the 2nd win from Kangsar Hydro- to continue secure RE jobs. This RPT (Deputy Chairman and group MD Mustakim Mat Nun and group CFO Amirul Afif Abd Aziz hold directorships and major stakes in OHP Ventures which owned 85% stake in Kangsar Hydro) is arrived on arm’s length basis.
♦ Post win, orderbook lifted to MYR1.73bn and maintain earnings as YTD win of MYR544m in FY21F is within our MYR1bn replenishment. Gross margins estimated at 15-20%.
♦ TP is lifted to MYR6.46 (from MYR5.70) pegged to higher 17x (from 15x) FY22 P/E in tandem with valuation expansion seen in renewable energy space (trading >20x P/E) in view of better prospect as evident by greener commitment made by big corps i.e. Tenaga and Petronas.
