The Star Online: Business

HLCap surges, new shareholder emerges
MMHE Q4 income improves 116%
Global semicon equipment sales hit US$1.09b in January

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 07:13 PM PST

Friday February 22, 2013

PETALING JAYA: Hong Leong Capital Bhd (HLCap) surged 11 sen yesterday to close at RM1.96, its highest since a privatisation proposal for the company was announced last month.

Meanwhile, a new substantial shareholder has surfaced in HLCap Datuk Dr Yu Kuan Chon, the chairman and executive director of publicly-listed and family-run YNH Property Bhd.

Yu, a low-profile former medical officer for the Government, rapidly increased his stake in HLCap to 17.24 million shares or 6.98% as at Wednesday from 14.67 million shares or 5.94% on Monday.

It is not known if Yu is a friendly party to Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan, the patriarch of the Hong Leong group, who is taking HLCap private via his flagship Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (HLFG) for RM1.71 per share.

Separate filings to the stock exchange yesterday also showed that Quek's indirect interest in HLCap, the Hong Leong group's stockbroking, investment banking and asset management arm, had risen to 195.59 million shares, or 83.37%, as his deemed interest in the company through acceptances of HLFG's take-over offer.

The said privatisation offer has become unconditional since Feb 18 as the offeror, HLFG, had already received an approval from Bank Negara in relation to this proposal.

Companies being taken private usually trade on par with or below their offer prices, but HLCap has seen its shares hit levels not seen in over a decade.

Dealers have speculated that parties friendly to the offeror could have bought HLCap shares from the open market to ensure HLFG secures a high percentage of shares from acceptances of the general offer, which would help make the case for the delisting of HLCap.

MMHE Q4 income improves 116%

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 07:10 PM PST

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Marine And Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MMHE) saw its net profit increase 116% in the final quarter of last year to RM100.36mil from RM46.36mil a year ago, with most of its segments reporting improved earnings.

The oil and gas services provider said revenue rose 19.6% to RM857.01mil against RM716.15mil in the same period in 2011. Its earnings per share (EPS) for the three months to December stood at 6.5 sen compared to 2.9 sen previously.

The company also declared a dividend of 10 sen.

Its offshore division posted a better turnover and profit for the fourth quarter due to the higher project progress achieved from existing projects, it said in the notes to its financial statements.

"Currently, some of the group's projects in hand are at the advanced stages of completion and the group is actively finalising the relevant change orders with respective clients for additional and changed scope of work to enhance value creation," it said.

MMHE's marine arm also saw its results improve due to the higher value and volume of repair works across all repair segments, particularly for liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships.

During the quarter, four LNG vessels were being repaired as opposed to three in the comparable period in 2011.

For fiscal 2012, the firm, a 66.5%-owned unit of MISC Bhd, posted a 27.6% decrease in net earnings to RM242mil from RM334.24mil year-on-year, which it attributed to lower operating profit from its offshore segment and the share of losses arising from the jointly-controlled entity's performance.

However, revenue rose 8.8% to RM3.33bil against the RM3.06bil recorded earlier. EPS dipped to 15.1 sen versus 20.9 sen in 2011.

While its offshore division saw revenue improve last year, operating profit was dented by provisions it made for higher expected expenses for some ongoing projects.

But income from its marine business improved by almost eight times to RM68.7mil, as it undertook more projects in the LNG segment.

"In addition to these activities, the engineering, procurement, construction and commisioning contract of the repair, life extension and conversion of an existing LNG vessel in floating storage unit Lekas, which was successfully completed and delivered during the current period, also contributed to the improved performance," the company said.

On its outlook, MMHE said domestic exploration and production and enhanced oil recovery activities were "still buoyant", with a number of new discoveries being announced in the past one year.

Global semicon equipment sales hit US$1.09b in January

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 06:40 PM PST

Published: Friday February 22, 2013 MYT 10:40:00 AM

KUALA LUMPUR: Semiconductor equipment orders, which are leading indicators for the industry, saw North America based manufacturers recording US$1.09bil in orders in January 2013.

The Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers Industry (SEMI) said on Friday the three-month average of worldwide bookings in January 2013 was US$1.09bil, up 17.2% from the final December 2012 level of US$927.4mil.However, it was down 8.5% from January 2012's order level of US$1.19bil.

The January Book-to-Bill Report showed the book-to-bill ratio was 1.14 times, which meant there were US$114 worth of orders for every US$100 of product billed for the month.

SEMI said the three-month average of global billings in January 2013 was US$952.1mil.

"The billings figure is 5.4% lower than the final December 2012 level of $1.01bil, and is 23.2% less than the January 2012 billings level of US$1.24bil," it said.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Khamis, 21 Februari 2013