KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies in focus tomorrow (Feb 24) may include: Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, Perak Transit Bhd, IOI Corp Bhd, Leong Hup International Bhd, Sunway Construction Group Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, ATA IMS Bhd, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd, Manulife Holdings Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Samchem Holdings Bhd, Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Genting Malaysia Bhd and AT Systematization Bhd.

Nestle (M) Bhd's (Nestle Malaysia) net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 ticked up 0.5% to RM132.47 million from RM131.82 million a year earlier.  The group said its revenue registered a 3.1% increase to RM1.37 billion from RM1.33 billion a year ago, underpinned by sales in Out-of-Home channels as restrictions eased in the second half of the year under the Recovery Movement Control Order. Earnings per share increased marginally to 56.5 sen from 56.21 sen previously. Nestle also declared a third interim dividend of 92 sen per share totalling RM215.74 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020 (FY20), to be paid on May 20, 2021. Cumulatively, this will bring total dividends for the year to RM2.32 per share. For FY20, Nestle Malaysia's net profit dipped to RM552.71 million from RM672.91 million a year ago, on the back of revenue of RM5.41 billion versus RM5.52 billion.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd's (PetChem) net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 rose 37% year-on-year to RM466 million from RM340 million on higher plant utilisation rate. Earnings per share rose to six sen from four sen previously. PetChem said revenue for the quarter slipped to RM3.85 billion from RM4.23 billion previously, largely due to lower sales volume and product prices. The group declared a second interim single tier dividend of seven sen per share amounting to RM560 million. For the financial year ended Dec 31, PetChem recorded a lower net profit of RM1.63 billion versus RM2.81 billion in the prior year, on the back of revenue of RM14.36 billion against RM16.37 billion.

Perak Transit Bhd reported a net profit of RM13.19 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 (4QFY20), up 12% from RM11.83 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter, amid contributions from a newly commenced terminal. Revenue for the quarter rose 7.6% to RM35.26 million from RM32.76 million a year earlier. Earnings per share dipped to 0.69 sen from 0.83 sen. It declared a dividend of 0.8 sen per share for the financial year. For the cumulative four quarters, its net profit grew 5.2% to RM41.82 million from RM39.76 million while revenue fell 4.1% to RM119.39 million from RM124.59 million.

IOI Corp Bhd posted a 66% increase in its net profit to RM355.7 million for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 from RM213.5 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter, benefiting from high crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) prices. Quarterly revenue grew 25% to RM2.45 billion from RM1.96 billion a year earlier. The group announced an interim single tier dividend of 4.5 sen per share. For the cumulative six-month period, IOI Corp said its net profit jumped 75% to RM633.6 million from RM362.5 million in the previous year, while revenue increased 32% to RM4.93 billion from RM3.73 billion.

Leong Hup International Bhd’s net profit was up by 78% to RM52.56 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 from RM29.53 million a year earlier, primarily due to better margins from its livestock and other poultry-related products as a result of higher average selling prices of day-old-chicks in Indonesia. Earnings per share increased to 1.44 sen from 0.81 sen. Quarterly revenue grew 4.1% to RM1.61 billion from RM1.54 billion a year ago. For the full year, however, the integrated poultry producer’s net profit slipped by 24.9% to RM113.15 million from RM150.58 million in the previous year, while revenue declined marginally by 0.2% to RM6.04 billion from RM6.05 billion.

Sunway Construction Group Bhd (SunCon)’s net profit came in marginally lower by 4.5% to RM30.2 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020, against RM31.6 million in the previous corresponding quarter, amid a provision for a debtor and the temporary ceasing of operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Quarterly revenue, however, jumped 29% to RM627.24 million from RM485.94 million a year earlier. The group declared a second interim dividend of 2.75 sen per share for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020. For the full financial year ended Dec 31 2020, its net profit shrank 44% to RM72.79 million from RM129.32 million in the preceding year, while revenue declined 12% to RM1.55 billion from RM1.77 billion.

Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd’s net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 rose 45.06% to RM42.02 million from RM28.97 million a year ago, mainly due to inventory holding gains and improved refining margin. Its revenue, however, fell 48.09% to RM1.51 billion from RM2.91 billion, due to lower sales volume and oil prices. For the full year ended Dec 31, 2020, the group slipped into a net loss of RM13.32 million from a net profit of RM177.13 million, as its revenue dropped by 43.6% to RM6.46 billion from RM11.46 billion.

ATA IMS Bhd’s net profit surged 165.2% to RM53.31 million for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 from RM20.1 million a year earlier, on strong order flows coupled with improved productivity and operational efficiency. The electronics manufacturing services provider said earnings per share rose to 4.43 sen from 1.67 sen. Quarterly revenue rose 35.5% to RM1.17 billion from RM865.08 million in the year-ago third quarter. For the nine months ended Dec 31, 2020, ATA IMS’ net profit grew 62.9% to RM123.36 million from RM75.72 million in the previous corresponding period. Nine-month revenue increased 24% to RM3.25 billion from RM2.63 billion a year earlier.

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd’s fourth quarter net profit rose 37.34% to RM103.15 million from RM75.11 million a year earlier, mainly due to savings from management expenses and release of expense reserve. Earnings per share for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 increased to 12.42 sen from 9.08 sen previously, according to the group’s filing with Bursa Malaysia. Quarterly revenue slipped slightly to RM774.94 million from RM779.91 million a year ago. For the full financial year, net profit decreased to RM362.42 million from RM364.84 million in FY19. Revenue, meanwhile, fell to RM2.93 billion from RM3.12 billion due to lower sales generated from the family takaful business.

Manulife Holdings Bhd’s net profit jumped 71.4% to RM23.41 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 from RM13.66 million a year ago, boosted by gains from its equity investments. Earnings per share soared 67.8% to 11.31 sen from 6.74 sen, the group said in an exchange filing today. The group said quarterly revenue rose 19.02% to RM531.38 million from RM446.48 million a year earlier. The board recommended a first and final dividend of seven sen per share and shareholders may elect to reinvest their dividend in new shares. For the full year ended Dec 31, 2020, Manulife registered a net profit of RM38.81 million, compared with RM26.13 billion in the previous year, while revenue rose to RM1.38 billion from RM1.37 billion.

Frontken Corp Bhd has registered a record net profit of RM23.29 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020, 28% higher than RM18.2 million a year ago due to improved revenue and better profit margins resulting from continual efforts to improve efficiency across the group. Earnings per share accordingly rose to 2.22 sen from 1.74 sen. Quarterly revenue also leapt by 13.7% to RM101.04 million from RM88.89 million a year ago on the back of the pick-up in volume in the semiconductor space from its Taiwan unit due to higher demand and strong orders from one of its customers’ advanced nodes’ chips. The group has also declared an interim dividend of 2.8 sen per share versus 1.5 sen a year earlier.

To further reward its shareholders, Frontken has also proposed a bonus issue of shares and warrants on the basis of one bonus share and one bonus warrant for every two shares held by the shareholders. For the full year of FY20, Frontken posted a record net profit of RM81.97 million, up 18.5% compared with RM69.17 million a year ago while revenue increased by 8.4% to RM368.32 million from RM339.91 million.

Integrated chemicals and lubricants distributor Samchem Holdings Bhd's net profit rose to RM40.61 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020 from RM23.76 million in the preceding year due to the higher gross profit margin and lower finance costs. Revenue, however, eased to RM1.052 billion from RM1.057 billion previously due to dampened demand regionally in the current financial year, the group said.

Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd’s net profit for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 rose 5.04% to RM65.06 million from RM61.94 million a year ago, underpinned by lower prize payout and operating expenses. Revenue, however, fell 12.36% to RM1.23 billion from RM1.41 billion previously, following a drop in revenue reported by its principal subsidiary Sports Toto Malaysia, the group said. The group proposed a second interim dividend of 2.5 sen to be paid on April 23. For the half year ended Dec 31, 2020, the group’s net profit increased 3.12% to RM132.92 million from RM128.89 million a year earlier. Its half year revenue, however, slipped 9.32% to RM2.58 billion from RM2.84 billion.

Rubber glove manufacturer Supermax Corp Bhd founder Datuk Seri Stanley Thai Kim Sim and his wife Datin Seri Cheryl Tan Bee Geok have acquired a 3,438-sq ft luxury condominium in Sunny Isles Beach in  the US state of Florida, The Real Deal reported, citing property records. The project, which was completed in late 2019, is a joint venture between Related Group and Dezer Development. The report did not specify how much money Thai and Tan paid for the condominium.

Genting Malaysia Bhd's Resorts World Genting (RWG), which today officially unveiled the logo of its outdoor theme park Genting SkyWorlds, said it has spent over US$800 million on the long-awaited theme park. Genting SkyWorld, which is targeted to be ready and open to the public by the middle of this year, is now in the final stages of completion. Spanning across 26 acres, the theme park will have 26 rides and attractions. It will be able to accommodate some 20,000 tourists.

While there is a growing concern that demand for rubber gloves will normalise sooner than later as vaccination continues globally, AT Systematization Bhd today inked an agreement with Kenteam Sdn Bhd  (KSB) to manufacture and supply nitrile examination gloves. The group said its wholly-owned subsidiary, AT Glove Engineering Sdn Bhd, has reached an agreement to supply 30 million boxes of nitrile examination gloves for a period of 12 months and allocate 10 production lines to KSB. Meanwhile, AT Systematization also has agreed to deliver original equipment manufacturing services to KSB at KSB brand name, KENTeam