Tuesday, November 23, 2010

#Stocks to watch:* CIMB, Dialog, PPB, UMW

KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets including Bursa Malaysia are expected to start on a softer note on Tuesday, Nov 23, weighed down by the weaker overnight close on Wall Street due to the debt crisis in Europe and the FBI's probe into insider trading.

Reuters reported risk aversion kicked in as stocks followed the euro's fall against the U.S. dollar after turmoil in Ireland's fragile coalition government overshadowed an agreed-on bailout of the country. Investors fear the crisis will spread throughout Europe, raising the spectre of losses by exposed U.S. banks.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24.97 points, or 0.22%, to 11,178.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 1.89 points, or 0.16%, to 1,197.84. But the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 13.90 points, or 0.55%, to 2,532.02.

Stocks to watch on Bursa Malaysia include CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, DIALOG GROUP BHD [], PPB GROUP BHD [] and UMW HOLDINGS BHD []. Also in focus would be Masterskill Education Group Bhd (MEGB) and BERJAYA SPORTS TOTO BHD [].

Another GLC-private sector property merger appears to be on the cards, this time between MALAYSIAN RESOURCES CORP []oration Bhd (MRCB) and IJM Land Bhd, as has been speculated since last week.

KUALA LUMPUR: The jury is still out on the preliminary offer made by Tan Sri Halim Saad to acquire the entire business and undertakings of QSR BRANDS BHD [], with analysts saying details are still too scant to judge whether the offer is fair. Shares of QSR, Kulim and KFC Holdings fell on Monday.

CIMB Group reported a 26% increase in earnings at RM916 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2010.'' It declared a special dividend of 13.45 sen (single tier) amounting to a net payment of RM1 billion for the 3Q.

Group revenue was RM2.91 billion, down 4.1% on-year. For the nine-months ended, net profit was RM2.643 billion, up 31.9% on-year and equivalent to net earnings per share of 37.2 sen.

Dialog reported a 22.8% increase in net profit to RM33.09 million for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2010 from RM26.94 million a year ago.'' The improvement in earnings were underpinned by its plant maintenance division which saw significant work performed and completed in current quarter both in Malaysia and Singapore.'' Revenue dipped 15% to RM263.8 million from RM308.85 million a year ago mainly due to completion of major engineering & CONSTRUCTION [] projects in the last financial year.

PPB's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2010 fell by 51.6% to RM287.99 million from RM595.07 million a year ago mainly due to lower profit contribution from its associate Wilmar International Ltd.

Revenue rose 12.4% to RM574.53 million from RM511.18 million a year earlier. For the nine months ended Sept 30, PPB's net profit was RM1.73 billion on the back of revenue RM1.66 billion.

UMW Holdings' net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2010 rose 18.6% to RM149.39 million from RM125.94 million a year earlier due to higher sales of its products and services by most of its business segments and favourable foreign exchange rates.

Revenue for the quarter rose by 10.4% to RM3.09 billion from RM2.79 billion in 2009.'' UMW declared a second interim single-tier dividend of 27% or 13.5 sen per share of 50 sen each, amounting to a net dividend payout of RM156.6 million for the year ending Dec 31, 2010, to be paid on Feb 11, 2011.

Masterskill's profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2010 fell 21.9% to RM26.19 million from RM33.52 million a year earlier, due to higher operational overheads in line with its expansion. However, revenue was 10.9% higher at RM80.68.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, ''will replace BToto'' in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI following its expected initial public offering (IPO) on Friday. Petronas Chemicals' initial public offer of RM41.6 billion is the largest in Malaysia and Southeast Asia based on the institutional price of RM5.20 per share.

Petronas Chemicals Group will be included as a constituent of the 30-stock index on Nov 29 Monday after its public listing rather than at the regular December semi-annual review, as its market capitalisation is significantly large.

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