•* AMMB Holdings Bhd’s* net profit for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 (3QFY21) fell 30.96% to RM263.83 million from RM382.15 million a year ago, due to higher allowance for impairment on loans, advances and financing. The banking group’s quarterly revenue also slipped 11.81% to RM2.09 billion, from RM2.37 billion a year ago, its filing to Bursa Malaysia showed. AMMB did not declare any dividend for the latest quarter.
•* HeiTech Padu Bhd* has won a RM33.92 million contract to provide maintenance services for the Malaysian Immigration System (myIMMs). The technology services provider said it signed the three-year contract with the Immigration Department on March 1. The contract period started on Feb 18.
•* Pharmaniaga Bhd* has appointed Datuk Seri Mohamed Shazalli Ramly as the non-independent non-executive chairman of Pharmaniaga Bhd effective March 1, 2021. Meanwhile, Boustead's executive director of group business development Izaddeen Daud has also joined the board of Pharmaniaga as a non-independent and non-executive director.
•* Top Glove Corp Bhd’s* executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai has purchased more shares of the group, as the counter fell to an eight-month low. Lim has raised his direct shareholding in the group to 26.419% or 2.11 billion shares, after he acquired 4.04 million shares at RM4.9287 each, Top Glove’s filing with Bursa Malaysia today showed. Lim also has an indirect stake of 8.651% or 692.19 million shares in Top Glove, the group said.
•* Advancecon Holdings Bhd* said its 30%-owned Advancecon Sarawak Sdn Bhd had bagged its single-largest contract worth RM153.5 million to undertake earthworks in the Samalaju Industrial Park, Bintulu, Sarawak. The contract was awarded by Wenan Steel (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd to Advancecon Sarawak. Wenan is building an iron and steel production complex there. Advancecon said the contract is in addition to the group’s ongoing works in Sarawak, namely two packages for Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak and two roadwork contracts from the Upper Rajang Development Agency (URDA).
•* Sime Darby Plantation Bhd* has established an Expert Stakeholder Human Rights Assessment Commission, and appointed Impactt Ltd as a third-party assessor to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the group’s labour practices across its Malaysian operations. For the stakeholder panel, the group said its members include Shift (the leading centre of expertise on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights), migrant worker rights activist and human rights researcher Andy Hall, and a representative of the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW).
•* Uzma Bhd* is acquiring stakes in two renewable energy (RE) companies for RM5.39 million, in a bid to enter the RE sector with a primary focus on solar energy. Uzma said it has entered into a conditional share sale agreement with Mohd Syahrul Nizar Abdul Ghani to acquire a 49% stake in Suria Infiniti Sdn Bhd and a 100% stake in Mahendran Surya Innovations Sdn Bhd. The oil and gas services group has mulled entering the RE space since late 2019, eyeing projects under Large Scale Solar 4 (LSS4) that were opened for bidding late last year, as well as opportunities amid the high portion of NEM quota that was not utilised.
