KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies in focus tomorrow may include Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust, MMC Corp Bhd, FSBM Holdings Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, AirAsia X Bhd, AirAsia Group Bhd, DiGi.Com Bhd and Eupe Corp Bhd.

Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust's (REIT) net property income (NPI) for its third quarter of financial year 2020 (3QFY20) ended Sept 30, 2020 rose by 55.82% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) to RM60.88 million from RM39.07 million in the immediate preceding quarter (2QFY20), thanks to a higher gross revenue.

The REIT announced that its gross revenue was up by 34% q-o-q at RM116.23 million, from RM86.73 million in 2QFY20.

Pavilion REIT declared a distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.13 sen, from the 2.4 sen achieved in the corresponding quarter last financial year (3QFY19).

However, on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, the retail REIT saw its NPI decline by 33.16% from RM91.08 million in 3QFY19, while quarterly revenue declined by 19.48% y-o-y from RM144.35 million.

It noted the y-o-y decreases were due to the non-renewal of some expired tenancies and the deferment of rent commencement dates for some tenants due to movement restrictions imposed to combat Covid-19.

MMC Corp Bhd is reviving an initial public offering plan for its port assets, which could be the biggest listing in Malaysia since 2012, Bloomberg report, quoting people familiar with the matter.

The company, controlled by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, is seeking to raise about US$1 billion from the first-time share sale, the people said, who asked not to be identified as the process is private. The firm is in talks with potential advisers and a listing could take place as early as the end of next year, the people said.

Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has publicly reprimanded FSBM Holdings Bhd and six of its directors for failing to issue the company's annual report for the financial year ended June 30, 2018 within the stipulated time frame.

The six directors of the information technology service and system provider have also been slapped with a collective fine of RM375,600.

Bursa Malaysia said it views the contravention seriously as the timely submission of financial statements is one of the fundamental obligations of listed companies.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has gone ahead to initiate a lawsuit against AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) to demand the payment of an owed sum, saying the action is necessary to "best protect its interest".

The airport operator said its wholly-owned subsidiary Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd filed the suit at the High Court today over outstanding aeronautical charges of RM78.16 million.

The Edge reported earlier today that MAHB had sent a legal letter to AAX, demanding the RM78.16 million sum and also challenging the airline's classification of the airport operator as an unsecured creditor to be included in AAX's proposed debt restructuring scheme.  

However, MAHB made no mention of the unsecured creditor classification in its announcement today.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Group Bhd has secured a loan as part of its ongoing capital raising plans, an executive said today.

Riad Asmat, chief executive officer (CEO) of the group's Malaysian unit, AirAsia Bhd, said "a loan has been approved and disbursed", in response to a Reuters query about a report from New Straits Times that said the airline had secured a RM300 million loan to keep it afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The report, citing sources, said the airline took the loan from Sabah Development Bank Bhd and that it would tide the airline over for two months, financing local operations.

"We would not be able to disclose the specifics including the lender(s) and amount involved. This loan is part of the capital raising exercise by AirAsia Group, which is moving in the right direction and we are pleased with the progress," Riad said.

DiGi.Com Bhd's largest shareholder, Norway-based Telenor Group, said its Malaysian business had witnessed increasing macroeconomic pressure that impacted customer intake and monetisation opportunities, and also resulted in downselling of subscriptions with smaller packages in the post-paid segment.

In Telenor's third-quarter interim report, its president and CEO Sigve Brekke noted that in addition to challenging macroeconomic developments, competition — especially for data revenue — had also intensified.

"This resulted in increased downselling pressure and lower customer intake, particularly in the entry-level post-paid segment [of DiGi]," he said.

In addition, continued border closures and travel restrictions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic continued to impact DiGi's roaming revenue. Its subscription and traffic revenue decreased by 1%.

Eupe Corp Bhd's net profit jumped 56.85% to RM16.21 million for 2QFY21 ended Aug 31, 2020 from RM10.33 million a year ago, underpinned by strong contributions from its property division. Revenue also surged 53.37% to RM121.46 million from RM79.2 million.

"2QFY21's financial performance reflectd the consistently strong contributions from its property development division, with high sales take-up rate and solid momentum in the construction progress of Parc3 @ KL South (Parc3), with Novum @ South Bangsar (Novum) handed over to its purchasers in June 2020," it said.

However, for the cumulative six months ended Aug 31, 2020, the group's net profit slipped 6.49% to RM16.59 million from RM17.74 million a year ago. Its revenue also fell 7.34% to RM151.87 million from RM163.9 million in the previous financial year.