KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, stocks in focus for Wednesday (Nov 21) may include the following: Pharmaniaga Bhd, Paramount Corp Bhd, AirAsia Group Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, MISC Bhd, Deleum Bhd, Sunway Construction Group Bhd, Dagang Nexchange Bhd, Ni Hsin Resources Bhd and MMAG Holdings Bhd.

Pharmaniaga Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) jumped fourfold to RM15.05 million from RM3.58 million a year ago, due mainly to recognition of corporate tax.

It recorded a slight 2.3% increase in quarterly revenue to RM587.66 million from RM574.5 million in 3QFY17, on the back of higher demand from government hospitals and lower operating expenses.

Pharmaniaga declared a third interim dividend of 5 sen to be paid on Jan 3, 2019.

For its nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2018 (9MFY18), the group's net profit rose to RM38.03 million from RM32.02 million a year ago, while revenue was higher at RM1.8 billion compared with RM1.71 billion in 9MFY17.

Paramount Corp Bhd is expecting to gain about RM20 million in profit from its partnership with University of Wollongong (UOW), an Australian public university, to enhance its tertiary education business.

Through this partnership, UOW's wholly-owned subsidiary UOW Global Enterprises will take up 65% stake in the business and operations of KDU University College and KDU Penang University College respectively, and a 70% stake of that in KDU College for RM38.5 million.

AirAsia Group Bhd is tapping into RHB Bank Bhd's expertise and reach to improve the services of its e-wallet, BigPay.

Treasury services, foreign exchange services which offer better rates, and remittances are some of the areas the two parties are considering, said AirAsia group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.

Today, the bank and the airline operator had entered into a strategic partnership to offer RHB customers the opportunity to accumulate AirAsia BIG Loyalty points across selected retail banking products.

Targeted for launch in the first quarter of 2019, the loyalty programme will later be extended to regional and international transactions as well.

Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) expects to introduce a retail shopping mall at Penang Sentral, an integrated northern region transportation hub project, by 2020.

MRCB Properties chief operating officer Shireen Iqbal Mohamed Iqbal said the total gross development value (GDV) of the whole Penang Sentral project is RM2.9 billion and Phase 2 of the shopping mall project has begun.

She said work on the mall is currently on-going and the first part of the pilling work on phase two has just completed.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd group chief financial officer (CFO) Shahnaz Jammal will take on the role of the group's chief executive officer (CEO) of group wholesale banking come Jan 1, 2019.

Khairulanwar Rifaie, currently the CFO of CIMB Malaysia and CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd, will replace Shahnaz as group CFO.

Effendy Shahul Hamid, currently the CEO of group asset management and investments, will focus on various digital partnerships and ecosystems as the CEO of group ventures and partnerships, a new division.

CIMB said the changes and new appointments in its top management is part of its long-term strategy to ensure that its franchise as a leading universal bank in Asean will continue to remain strong against a fast-evolving operational landscape.

MISC Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) halved to RM341 million from RM680.5 million a year ago, mainly because the previous year had recorded a one-time gain from a favourable adjudication decision, and construction profit from a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel.

A 38% decline in operating profit from its liquefied natural gas (LNG) division, and the operating loss recorded in its heavy engineering division — versus an operating profit in the year-ago quarter — also contributed to the weaker 3QFY18 earnings.  

The group's 3QFY18 revenue slipped 4% to RM2.23 billion from RM2.32 billion a year ago as its LNG division and offshore divisions contributed less, though these were mostly offset by stronger contributions from its heavy engineering and petroleum divisions. The group announced a third interim dividend of 7 sen per share for FY18, which amounts to RM312.5 million, payable on Dec 18.

For the cumulative nine months period (9MFY18), the group's net profit shrank 49% y-o-y to RM972.8 million from RM1.91 billion, while revenue retreated 16% to RM6.39 billion from RM7.6 billion.

Deleum Bhd’s third quarter net profit fell 15.6% to RM9.12 million, from RM10.8 million a year earlier, despite the rise in oil prices during the period.

The group attributed this to lower operating results from all business segments and the unfavourable foreign exchange movements during the quarter.  

Quarterly revenue, however, was up 4.6% to RM175.44 million, from RM167.79 million, the group said in a statement.

For the nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2018, Deleum recorded a net profit of RM19.69 million compared with RM18.82 million in the previos corresponding period.

Revenue saw an increase of 16.2% to RM423.24 million from RM364.21 million, thanks to the maintenance, construction and modification contracts secured in late 2017.

Sunway Construction Group Bhd (SunCon)'s net profit grew 8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM36.41 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) from RM33.72 million on higher revenue.

Revenue rose 13% y-o-y to RM557.3 million from RM491.3 million, contributed by the better performance in both its construction and precast segments, the group's stock exchange filing today showed.

For the cumulative nine months of the year (9MFY18), SunCon's net profit rose 5% y-o-y to RM108.12 million from RM103.41 million, as revenue grew 23% to RM1.63 billion from RM1.33 billion in 9MFY17.

Dagang Nexchange Bhd has posted a 55.4% fall in net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 to RM6.65 million from RM14.91 million a year ago.

DNex said this comes from lower profit before tax margin of 18% (38% in 2017), mainly due to increasing manpower cost and expenses incurred for business development activities and one- off goodwill impairment of RM3.6 million.

Quarterly revenue, however, was up 27.9% to RM63.31 million, from RM49.5 million previously, the group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

For the cumulative nine-month period, the group recorded net profit of RM35.04 million, up 16.4% from RM41.92 million in the previous corresponding period.

Revenue for the Jan-Sept period jumped 30.3% to RM185.6 million, from RM142.44 million in the previous corresponding period.

Ni Hsin Resources Bhd today sold off its 10% stake in undergarments manufacturer Caely Holdings Bhd to Penang-based businessman Datuk Seri Goh Choon Kim for RM9.6 million.

Ni Hsin said the expected gain from the disposal of the stake comprising eight million shares is RM1.5 million.

Ni Hsin said it decided to hive off the stake because efforts to leverage on the customer bases of both companies had not been fruitful, as the profiles of the customers are not compatible for the intended products.

Besides that, the offer price for the Caely shares were higher than the current open market price traded in the stock market.

MMAG Holdings Bhd is buying Active Trio Deluxe Sdn Bhd which owns a 18,381 sq m parcel of industrial land in Seri Alam Industrial Park, Klang, Selangor for RM12.67 million cash.

MMAG said the proposed acquisition will facilitate its wholly-owned subsidiary Line Clear & Logistics Sdn Bhd's future courier and logistics storage and warehousing needs in the area of Kapar. Line Clear may also use part of this land to carry out its sea freight business in future, it added.

The market value of the freehold land is RM13 million, according to a valuation carried out by independent valuer IPC Island Property Consultants Sdn Bhd on July 23.

With the proposed acquisition, the group's warehouse/storage land area will increase to 601,000 sq ft, from 403,000 sq ft.