KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 13): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus on Wednesday (Nov 14) may include Scientex Bhd, Daibochi Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, KLCCP Stapled Group, Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB), Lay Hong Bhd, ELK-Desa Resources Bhd, Teo Seng Capital Bhd, Tiger Synergy Bhd, Sterling Progress Bhd and Sunway Construction Group Bhd.

Both Scientex Bhd and Daibochi Bhd said trading in their shares will be halted tomorrow (Nov 14), sparking expectations of a merger announcement.

Four top executives of IHH Healthcare Bhd, including managing director and chief executive officer Dr Tan See Leng, have joined the board of the group's newly-controlled Indian healthcare group Fortis Healthcare Ltd.

Fortis said that apart from Tan, IHH's group chief financial officer Low Soon Teck; group head, strategic planning and business development (merger and acquisition) Dr Chan Boon Kheng; and non-independent, non-executive director Bhagat Chintamani Aniruddha were the others appointed as additional directors.

The reconstituted board now has a total of seven members, Fortis said in a statement.

Perdana Petroleum Bhd has secured a contract worth RM16.195 million from ROC Oil (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd to provide one platform supply vessel and two anchor handling tug supply vessels. The company said the contract commenced on Sept 20.

KLCCP Stapled Group's net profit rose 2.1% to RM181.43 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 from RM177.7 million a year ago, reflecting the full occupancy in Menara ExxonMobil since April 2017.

The earnings boost was also due to higher rental rates at its retail properties, and stronger occupancy rates in its hotel operations.

Earnings per stapled security rose to 10.05 sen from 9.84 sen in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 2.6% to RM349.48 million from RM340.5 million.

The group declared a distribution of 8.7 sen, payable on Dec 28.

For the nine-month period, KLCCP’s net profit grew 1.7% year-on-year to RM541.25 million from RM532.38 million, while revenue rose 2.5% to RM1.04 billion from RM1.01 billion. Earnings per stapled security rose to 29.98 sen, from 29.49 sen.

Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB)’s net profit for the financial year ended Sept 30, 2018 rose 21.07% to RM121.96 million from RM100.74 million a year ago, mainly due to lower impairment allowances on loans and financing.

The stronger quarterly results pushed its earnings per share up to 1.97 sen from 1.7 sen, despite quarterly revenue shrinking 3.73% to RM786.41 million from RM816.87 million.

For the cumulative nine months, the group's net profit jumped 78.9% to RM524.44 million from RM293.14 million a year ago — though revenue fell slightly to RM2.4 billion from RM2.44 billion.

On prospects, MBSB said its FY18 results are expected to be "satisfactory" while the group focuses on continuing the expansion of the corporate business it undertook prior to the acquisition of AFB — now known as MBSB Bank Bhd, which was completed on Feb 7 — to reach the desired corporate retail portfolio mix.

Japanese food processing group NH Foods Ltd, and poultry and eggs firm Lay Hong Bhd, officialy opened their new food manufacturing plant today in Pulau Indah.

The plant is operated by NHF Manufacturing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, owned 51% by NH Foods and 49% by Lay Hong.

Used-car financier ELK-Desa Resources Bhd has reported a 44.6% hike in second quarter net profit mainly due to an increase in hire purchase receivables and a significantly lower impairment allowance.

Net profit for the quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 rose to RM8.62 million or 2.94 sen per share from RM5.96 million or 2.43 sen per share a year ago.

The group declared an interim dividend of 3.5 sen per share, payable on Jan 30, with the ex-date on Jan 16.

ELK-Desa, which is also involved in the furniture business, said quarterly revenue grew 24.2% to RM31 million from RM24.96 million previously.

Combined net profit for the first half of the financial year increased 51.6% to RM16.69 million from RM11.01 million in the previous year, while revenue for the same period grew 18.4% to RM59.82 million from RM50.54 million.

Moving forward, ELK-Desa said it intends to maintain its momentum in growing its hire purchase portfolio in the current financial year ending March 31, 2019 (FY19) without compromising on the quality of its assets.

Poultry farmer and egg producer Teo Seng Capital Bhd saw its net profit jump more than six times to RM7.02 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 from RM1.13 million a year ago, on improved selling price of eggs and higher sales quantities coupled with lower feed cost.

Earnings per share rose to 2.34 sen compared with 0.38 sen previously.

Quarterly revenue also grew 14.6% to RM125.26 million from RM109.29 million a year ago.

The strong quarterly results helped the group turn a net profit of RM13.1 million in the cumulative nine-month period, versus a net loss of RM11.01 million in the previous corresponding period, while revenue grew 12.1% to RM343.06 million from RM306.04 million a year ago.

Tiger Synergy Bhd has proposed to raise up to RM10.5 million via private placement to third-party investors to be identified later.

It said the proposed private placement will strengthen the group's capital position and provide it with the necessary funds for the preliminary expenses of its Alam Impian project in Shah Alam.

The group said the private placement will involve the issuance of up to 149.94 million shares, representing not more than 10% of its issued shares. As at Oct 29, the issued share capital of Tiger was RM157.75 million comprising 604.34 million shares.

The placement shares will be priced at not more than 10% discount to the five-day volume weighted average market price of Tiger shares.

ACE Market-listed Sterling Progress Bhd has proposed to raise up to RM6 million via private placement to third-party investors to be identified later.

It said proceeds from the proposed exercise will be used for the purchase of smartphones and laptops for its information, communication and technology segment.

Sterling said the proposed private placement will involve the issuance of up to 32.13 million shares assuming none of its outstanding warrants is exercised, representing not more than 10% of its issued shares. As at Nov 8, Sterling has an issued share capital of RM46.93 million comprising 321.29 million shares and 78.75 million outstanding warrants.

The placement shares will be priced at not more than 10% discount to the five-day volume weighted average market price of Sterling shares.

Sunway Construction Group Bhd’s (SunCon) order book has amounted to RM1.35 billion after accepting new related-party contract worth RM352.06 million from major shareholder Sunway Bhd.

SunCon said its wholly-owned subsidiary Sunway Construction Sdn Bhd has accepted the letter of award for the main building and associated external works for the proposed commercial development of Sunway Velocity Two.