Wednesday, May 11, 2011

#Stocks to watch:* Banks, oil and gas, Shell, Dialog, Hartalega, HL Bank

KUALA LUMPUR: Stocks which could attract trading interest on Wednesday, May 11 following fresh corporate news and developments include banks, oil and gas counters, HARTALEGA HOLDINGS BHD [], Shell Refining Company (Federation of Malaya) Bhd and DIALOG GROUP BHD [].

Maybank is raising its deposit and base lending rates effective Wednesday. Its deposit rates will be revised upwards by up to 30 basis points, while its base lending rate (BLR) will be increased by 30 basis points from 6.30% per annum to 6.60% per annum.

RHB Bank Bhd is also raising the BLR from 6.30% per annum to 6.60% per annum, effective Wednesday.

Oil and gas related counters will continue to be in focus, with the latest news that Petroliam Nasional Bhd plans to invest about RM50 billion in an integrated downstream oil and gas complex in Pengarang.

Shell Refining posted net profit of RM135.54 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2011, up 131% from RM58.61 million a year ago. Revenue increased by 29% to RM3.20 billion from RM2.48 billion while earnings per share were 45.18c versus 19.54 sen a year ago. Shell Refining reported after tax stockholding gains of RM153 million for 1Q11.

Dialog and its business partner Roc Oil Company Limited, Australia are presently tendering for upstream oil & gas prospects in Malaysia. Dialog said that they would look into a possible joint venture if the tender was successful.

Meanwhile, Dialog will report its earnings after market close on Wednesday.

Hartalega's net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2011 rose 12.9% to RM52.39 million from RM46.41 million a year ago, driven by continuous expansion in production capacity, increase in demand, effective cost control and improvement in production processes.

Revenue for the quarter was up 17.8% to RM192.52 million from RM163.39 million. Earnings per share were 14.41 sen while net assets per share was RM1.36.

HONG LEONG BANK BHD [] has proposed to increase the size of the renounceable rights issue by RM1 billion from RM1.6 billion to RM2.6 billion to further strengthen its capital base and for working capital purposes.

HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP BHD [] is providing a RM2.3 billion loan Hong Leong Bank to assist it with its risk weighted capital adequacy ratio (RWCAR).

No comments:

Post a Comment