News - Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings : Bidding for RM4bil jobs, sees steady cashflow

Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (RM5.01/share)

Bidding for RM4bil jobs, sees steady cashflow

Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MMHE) chairman Datuk Nasarudin Md Idris said it is bidding for projects totalling at least RM4.0bil and expects cashflow to be “steady” until next year. He said MMHE’s orderbook as at March 31 is RM2.4bil, which does not include the Kebabangan project that we are still finalising with Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Co. MMHE, which is a subsidiary of MISC Bhd, planned to spend RM1.9bil in capital expenditure (capex), mainly for its yard optimisation programme, over the next four years. Its capex allocation for this year was about RM304.0mil. MMHE will also get an “investment tax allowance” from the Government for capex spent on projects from 2006-2016. – StarBiz

MISC Bhd (RM3.96/share)

‘Not exiting’ NCB holdings

MISC Bhd president and CEO Datuk Nasarudin Md Idris said the national carrier is not looking to sell its 15.7% stake in port operator NCB Holdings Bhd. Speculation of MISC selling its block has been rife, especially after the shipping giant announced its intention to exit the liner business in late November last year. MISC had also pulled out of the Grand Alliance in January 2010, backing off from its partners in the box sharing pact. Other members of the Grand Alliance are Happag Lloyd of Germany, Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and Hong Kong’s Orient Overseas Container Lines (OOCL), which still call at Northport, a wholly-owned unit of NCB.

There has been widespread speculation that Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-bukhary is looking at taking control of NCB Holdings, but this remains unsubstantiated. Many were speculating that he could gain an entry into the port operator by MISC cashing out. – The Edge

Plantation Sector

Palm oil stockpiles at record low

Palm-oil inventories in Malaysia probably dropped to the lowest level in more than a year in May, potentially curbing a 17.0% slump in prices of the commodity used in candy bars and biofuels. Stockpiles fell 3.8% to 1.78 million metric tons, the lowest since April 2011, from 1.85 million tons a month earlier, according to the median in a Bloomberg survey of three plantation companies and two analysts. While production increased 6.3% to 1.35 million tons from 1.27 million tons, it was 22% below last year’s 1.74 million tons. Exports rose 4.5% to 1.39 million tons. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board will release the data on June 11. The price has plunged 18% from a 13-month high in April as growth slowed in China, the biggest cooking-oils user, and the debt crisis worsened in Europe. Exports from the top producer Indonesia climbed in May and stockpiles were little changed, as importers increased purchases before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan starts in July, a separate survey showed last week. – Business Times

Source: AmeSecurities