KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 15): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made news on Wednesday (Feb 15) involving Farm Fresh Bhd, Nexgram Holdings Bhd, Infomina Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, MISC Bhd, Hume Cement Industries Bhd, RCE Capital Bhd and Revenue Group Bhd.

Farm Fresh Bhd has proposed to take up a 65% stake in ice cream chain The Inside Scoop Sdn Bhd (TISSB) for RM83.9 million. The dairy producer said it will first acquire a 53% stake from the chain's existing shareholders for RM68.4 million. The shareholders are TISSB co-founder Edmund Tan Jun Hua, Derrick Wu  and Harsh Rajpal. Of this purchase price, RM48.4 million will be paid in cash, while the remaining RM20 million will be satisfied via the issuance of new shares in Farm Fresh. Subsequently, Farm Fresh will acquire 12% of the enlarged issued TISSB shares for RM15.5 million.

ACE Market-listed Nexgram Holdings Bhd has terminated a deal with Melaka Corporation (MCorp) pertaining to the acquisition of a 10.031-hectare piece of land in the state for RM61.53 million. This was because the pair were unable to fulfil certain conditions required under the agreement after numerous extensions of time. Nexgram and MCorp (then known as Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Melaka) had inked the agreement  on July 1, 2021.

Infomina Bhd's unit, PT Infomina Solution Indonesia has secured a maintenance and support contract worth US$3.3 million (RM14.5 million) from PT Bank Maybank Indonesia TBK, boosting its ambitions of expanding into the country. The duration of the contract is five years till Nov 29, 2027.

Perdana Petroleum Bhd posted a net profit of RM20.51 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 against a net loss of RM264.77 million a year ago. This was mainly due to a reversal of impairment loss on property, plant and equipment of RM11.4 million, as well as lower depreciation charges of RM17.2 million. A higher utilisation rate also resulted in the turnaround. Revenue rose 25.76% to RM55.21 million from RM43.9 million previously, lifted by higher vessel utilisation rate of 60% (versus 51% in 4QFY2021), on account of improved charter rates as a result of favourable oil price.

MISC Bhd’s net profit improved 39.7% to RM645 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022, from RM461.7 million a year ago on higher revenue contributions. Revenue jumped 35% to RM4.17 billion from RM3.09 billion previously owing to higher contributions from a number of segments. MISC declared a fourth dividend of 12 sen per share.
 
Hume Cement Industries Bhd’s net profit declined 41.04% to RM4.47 million for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2022, from RM7.58 million a year earlier, dragged down by higher input costs from coal and electricity. This is despite quarterly revenue rising 31.97% to RM255.27 million, from RM193.44 million previously, following a revision in cement’s retail selling price and higher sales volume.

Consumer financing firm RCE Capital Bhd saw its net profit rise a marginal 1.37% to RM35.18 million for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2022, from RM34.7 million a year earlier on higher revenue. Quarterly revenue climbed 6.08% to RM81.57 million, from RM76.9 million a year ago, mainly driven by an ongoing sales campaign and higher early settlement income arising from increased refinancing activities by customers.

Two extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) of Revenue Group Bhd fixed for Friday (Feb 17) pertaining to the removal of directors, will not be held pending further direction from the High Court. The court had on Monday (Feb 13) granted an ad interim order to restrain the e-payment solution provider from proceeding with either of the EGMs, pending the determination of an interim injunction application filed by its co-founders Brian Ng Shih Chiow and Dino Ng Shih Fang. The Ng brothers were suspended from their director positions last month, after several complaints were lodged against them.