AirAsia
AIRASIA is expected to maintain its 49% stake in Thai AirAsia following the sale of Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings of Singapore. Shin Corp had a 50% stake in Thai AirAsia and the balance 1% is owned by Thai national Tassapon Bijleveld. AirAsia recently said it would not sell down its stake and continue to maintain management control. An analyst said AirAsia's share price remained steady last Friday, despite a change of partners for a substantial stake in the airline, which reflects investors' confidence.- 13-Feb-06
Maxis
RHB Research has an outperform recommendation on Maxis. The research house believes investors would look beyond Maxis’ unexciting near-term earnings growth prospect, but start to focus on its potential as a regional player, especially once the local cellular market reaches saturation point. An analyst with RHB Research said Maxis could provide investors with a rare investment opportunity, which includes strong
longer-term growth prospects, coupled with attractive dividend yield of 6% to 7% per annum. The brokerage has a discounted cash flow-derived fair value of RM10.15 for Maxis. - 13-Feb-06
Scomi Engineering
SCOMI Engineering, a 71% subsidiary of Scomi Group Bhd, is growing its machine shop operations, transportation, manufacturing and fleet management in specific niche areas, said an analyst. It is expanding its machine shop facilities in Labuan, in anticipation of a two-fold increase in demand for threaded pipes needed for oil and gas exploration, while looking for new markets to supply, particularly to Sakhalin Island in far east Russia, Turkmenistan and Tenggu in Irian Jaya. For the nine months ended Sept 31, 2005, the company posted RM144.6mil revenue and RM15mil in net profit. - 13-Feb-06
Kulim
KULIM has entered into a joint venture with German-based Peter Cremer (S) GmbH group to set up two biodiesel plants in Tanjung Langsat, Johor, and Jurong Island, Singapore. An analyst said the biodiesel venture could generate RM600mil turnover by 2008 and was likely to overtake its plantation division as a major earnings contributor. An AmResearch analyst said structural policy changes in the oil palm industry, potential abolition of the edible oil tariff quota by China and inclusion of trans-fatty acids into nutritional labelling of food products in the US this year could boost crude palm oil prices.- 13-Feb-06
UMW
ANALYSTS are optimistic over UMW's future earnings as its auto and oil and gas divisions are poised to expand. The company plans to bring in three new car models - Wish, Yaris, and a replacement model for the Toyota Camry as well as three variants of the Lexus this year. Significant contributions could also come from its 38% share in Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd, which successfully launched its new car model, MyVi. The oil and gas division also looks promising with UMW's investments in Australia, China and possibly, the Middle East and India in the near future. - 13-Feb-06
JAKS Resources Berhad
Jaks: ANALYSTS said the interest in JAKS could be due to the impending announcement on a deal related to Laksana Wibawa Sdn Bhd. Late last year, JAKS signed a MoU to start talks with vendors of Laksana Wibawa for a 70% or higher stake in the company, which supplies pipes to Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas). SBB Securities, however, expects challenges in the near term for JAKS, given fluctuating world steel prices, uncertainty in domestic construction activities and potential roll-out of government projects, particularly in the water sector.- 6-Feb-06