On The Platter
TELECOMMUNICATION
(NEUTRAL) Sector Update: IPTV Battle Lines Drawn The battle for viewership and
eyeballs is heating up within Malaysia’s nascent IPTV space. TM recently added
fresh content to HyppTV, its IPTV service offered together with Unifi. Asian
Broadcasting Network (ABN), a cable pay-tv operator is slated to roll out its
service in 2Q2012, taking on Astro which is reportedly seeking to re-list. We expect
the IPTV theme to pick-up in support of the triple-play propositions offered by
TM and Maxis as broadband becomes increasingly commoditized. TM is well placed
to benefit from the shift as it has crafted a good strategy to build up its
internet and data businesses, and is executing well on Unifi. We think Astro’s
homecoming IPO will spice up the convergent theme in the telco industry and
incite talks of a merger with Maxis again. TM presents one of the best ways to
play the convergent theme in our opinion and is a beneficiary of the rekindled
interest in the fixed line business. We keep our BUY call on TM based on higher
FV of RM5.90 (previously RM5.70) following the 2-4% upgrade to our FY12/13
forecasts. We maintain our NEUTRAL call on Maxis based on FV of RM5.50.
CENSOF (FV RM0.570 – BUY) Corporate News Flash: Nets Contracts
Worth RM33.5m
LPI (FV RM15.40 – BUY) 1QFY12 Results Review: a
Slow Start
UEMLAND (FV RM3.17– TRADING BUY) Corporate News
Flash: Buying Back Land
Market Review
Correction
sets in. The FBM KLCI gave up 7.59 pts to 1591.28 at the close, taking the cue
from the sell-down across the regional bourses on weak jobs data out of the US.
Today’s headlines include the government mulling raising the minimum floor
prices of houses foreigners are allowed to buy to RM1m from RM500,000 to stem
the rise in property prices, LPI’s 1QFY12 net profit falling 18% y-o-y on
higher claims incurred and lower investment income and UEM Land to acquire 49.9
hectares of freehold land in Johor Bahru.
Overnight, US investors reacted
negatively, albeit late due to the long weekend,
to the weaker non-farm payrolls data by selling down and taking profit on their
investments, pulling down the Dow to below the 13,000 level. We expect
sentiment on the local bourse to remain relatively muted with further downside
pressure.
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
US stocks
decline as employment report misses estimates US stocks fell, dragging the
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower following its worst week of 2012, after
employers added fewer jobs than forecast in March. The S&P 500 slumped 1.1%
to 1,382.20 after losing 0.7% last week.
The Dow
Jones Industrial Average dropped 130.55pts, or 1%, to 12,929.59. Equity markets
were shut for Good Friday on 6 April, when the employment report was released.
Equities slumped last week after the Federal Reserve signaled it will refrain
from further monetary stimulus and concern about Europe intensified. The US Labor
Department said 6 April that employers added 120,000 jobs, the fewest in five
months and less than the median economist forecast of 205,000 in a Bloomberg
survey. (Bloomberg)
RM1m floor price?
The
Government is considering raising the
minimum floor prices of houses foreigners are allowed to buy to RM1m
from the current RM500,000 in an effort to control the rise in property prices,
sources said. They said such a decision was “in the pipeline” and the
implementation would be made by the economic planning unit (EPU) under the
Prime Minister's Department currently headed by Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed
Yakcop. Another source said the revised guidelines would also consider a
slightly lower base price threshold of RM800,000 for residential properties in
selected economic corridors such as Johor's Iskandar Malaysia to ensure the
development and success of these corridor hotspots. (StarBiz)
Century Software secures RM33m contracts
Century
Software Holdings secured two contracts valued at RM33.5m from the Pertubuhan
Keselamatan Sosial for the social security information management systems. It
said on Monday the first contract was for the social security information
management system valued at RM24.5m while second contract was for the Perkeso
social security information management system valued at RM9.0m. "The scope
of work for the projects are to design, develop, supply, deliver, install,
integrate, testing, deployment, commissioning, training and to maintain the Perkeso
social security information management systems," it said. (StarBiz) Please
see accompanying report
UEM Land unit to buy Johor land for RM93m
UEM Land
Holding's wholly-owned subsidiary Nusajaya Premier SB (NPSB) has proposed to
acquire 49.5ha of freehold land in Johor Bahru from Tanjung Bidara Ventures SB
for RM93.2m cash. "The land is adjacent to Kota Iskandar and the company's
existing prime development in Nusajaya, Puteri Harbour," UEM Land said. It
said the proposed acquisition would allow the group to realize its original
development vision for Puteri Harbour, where high density urban waterfront
precincts at heart of public and private marinas are balanced with landed and
high-rise residential precincts on both sides. (Malaysian Reserve) Please see
accompanying report
I&P eyes repeat of RM1.4bn revenue
I&P
Group SB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), aims to repeat the RM1.4bn revenue it chalked up
last year, despite the more challenging time this year. Its managing director
Datuk Jamaludin Osman said properties with gross development value of about
RM3bn were expected to be put into the market this year. I&P has
successfully developed several major and well-known projects, such as Bukit Damansara,
Bandar Kinrara, Alam Damai,Alam Impian, Alam Sari, Temasya-Glenmarie, Bandar
Baru Seri Petaling, Taman Pelangi and Taman Perling. It is learnt that the
group has 3,622ha of land in the Klang
Valley and Johor Baru, with 1,195ha still undeveloped. (BT)
SILK bags RM10.8m contract
SILK
Holdings' subsidiary Jasa Merin (M) SB has clinched a contract extension worth
RM10.8m from Petrofac Ltd. The contract, which commenced in July 2009, had a
primary period of two years with the extension options of 1+1+1 year, is to be
given the second extension from 23 July 2012 to 22 July 2013. The contract
extension is expected to contribute positively to SILK's earnings and assets for
the financial year ending 31 July 2012 and 31 July 2013, the company said in a
filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday. (Financial Daily)
Dijaya gets 8% yield boost from new assets
Dijaya Corp
is poised to get an income boost after an amalgamation exercise where its major
shareholder Tan Sri Danny Tan would inject assets with long-term lease
arrangements and rental yield of at least 8% yearly. Dijaya said in a statement
yesterday, as part of the deal, Tan has irrevocably agreed and covenanted with Dijaya,
via a letter of undertaking, to procure the relevant parties to be identified,
on or before the completion of the proposed acquisitions, to enter into the
long-term lease. Dijaya last month proposed an amalgamation exercise whereTan
will inject 73 of his privately held assets worth RM1.1bn into Dijaya, making
it one of the largest property firms in the country by market capitalization.
(Financial Daily)
Syed Zainal resigns from Proton
Proton
Holdings managing director Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir has
resigned, raising concerns over the future of the national car maker which was
recently being taken over by conglomerate DRBHicom. His departure, which could
presage resignations from other senior management staff in coming weeks, is due
to differences with the new owners over Proton's future direction, close
associates of the Proton chief and industry executives said. (Financial Daily)
Guan Chong seeks secondary listing on Main
Board of SGX
Guan Chong,
one of the largest cocoa processors in the region, is seeking a secondary
listing on the Main Board of Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd (SGX).
In a statement yesterday, its managing director/ chief executive officer
Brandon Tay Hoe Lian said the dual listing is to facilitate the company's
access to the capital market of Singapore, giving the group the flexibility to
tap into additional sources of equity funding for its expansion. (Malaysian
Reserve)
ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
Japan:
Current account moving to surplus adds support for Yen
Japan swung
to a current-account surplus in February after a record deficit in January,
lending support to a currency that officials have sought to weaken to aid
exporters and economic growth. The excess in the widest measure of trade was
JPY1.18trn (USD14.5bn) the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo yesterday. The
median estimate of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a surplus
of JPY1.12trn. The yen is rebounding even after interventions by the finance
ministry and monetary easing by the Bank of Japan helped to bring the currency
down from October’s post World War II high against the dollar.. (Bloomberg)
Russia: Holds interest rates as inflation
pressures increase
Russia’s
central bank refrained from cutting interest rates for a fourth month after
signaling that “medium-term” inflation risks are increasing. Bank Rossii left
the refinancing rate at 8%, as predicted by 21 of 22 economists in a Bloomberg
News survey. The overnight auction-based repurchase rate was kept at 5.25% and
the overnight deposit rate will remain at 4%. The world’s largest energy
exporter is keeping borrowing costs unchanged even after the inflation rate
fell to the lowest in two decades. Current market interest rates are
“acceptable for the coming months,” Bank Rossii said. China may ease policy to
boost faltering growth and Brazil has cut its benchmark rate five times since
August. (Bloomberg)
China: Cautious on easing after inflation
pickup
China’s
inflation accelerated more than forecast in March on a pickup in food prices,
signaling that policy makers may exercise caution in adding stimulus to boost
growth. Consumer prices rose 3.6% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of
Statistics said yesterday. That was more than the median 3.4% estimate in a
Bloomberg News survey of 33 economists. Food-related costs gained 7.5%. Premier
Wen Jiabao’s officials may need to remain alert to the risk of inflation
bouncing back even after price increases
stayed below the government’s 4% target for a second month. China’s
economy may have expanded last quarter at the slowest pace in almost three
years, showing the limits of the nation’s contribution to global growth as US
job growth weakens and concern mounts about Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.
(Bloomberg)
EU: ECB financing for Portuguese banks rose to
record in March
The
European Central Bank’s financing for Portuguese lenders rose to a record in
March, the Bank of Portugal said. ECB financing climbed to EUR56.3bn (USD74bn)
from EUR47.6bn in February, the Bank of Portugal said yesterday on its website.
ECB financing previously peaked at EUR49.1bn in August 2010. In April last
year, Portugal became the third euro-area country after Greece and Ireland to
require aid and will receive EUR78bn under its agreement with the International
Monetary Fund and the European Union. The aid plan earmarks EUR12bn for
Portugal’s lenders, if needed. As part of the plan, those lenders were required
to raise core Tier 1 capital ratios to 9% by the end of 2011 and 10% by the end
of 2012. (Bloomberg)
ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
Japan:
Current account moving to surplus adds support for Yen
Japan swung
to a current-account surplus in February after a record deficit in January,
lending support to a currency that officials have sought to weaken to aid
exporters and economic growth. The excess in the widest measure of trade was
JPY1.18trn (USD14.5bn) the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo yesterday. The
median estimate of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a surplus
of JPY1.12trn. The yen is rebounding even after interventions by the finance
ministry and monetary easing by the Bank of Japan helped to bring the currency
down from October’s post World War II high against the dollar. (Bloomberg)
Russia: Holds interest rates as inflation
pressures increase
Russia’s
central bank refrained from cutting interest rates for a fourth month after
signaling that “medium-term” inflation risks are increasing. Bank Rossii left
the refinancing rate at 8%, as predicted by 21 of 22 economists in a Bloomberg
News survey. The overnight auction-based repurchase rate was kept at 5.25% and the
overnight deposit rate will remain at 4%. The world’s largest energy exporter
is keeping borrowing costs unchanged even after the inflation rate fell to the
lowest in two decades. Current market interest rates are “acceptable for the coming
months,” Bank Rossii said. China may ease policy to boost faltering growth and
Brazil has cut its benchmark rate five times since August. (Bloomberg)
China: Cautious on easing after inflation
pickup
China’s
inflation accelerated more than forecast in March on a pickup in food prices,
signaling that policy makers may exercise caution in adding stimulus to boost
growth. Consumer prices rose 3.6% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of
Statistics said yesterday. That was more than the median 3.4% estimate in a Bloomberg
News survey
of 33 economists. Food-related costs gained 7.5%. Premier Wen Jiabao’s
officials may need to remain alert to the risk of inflation bouncing back even
after price increases stayed below the
government’s 4% target for a second month. China’s economy may have expanded
last quarter at the slowest pace in almost three years, showing the limits of
the nation’s contribution to global growth as US job growth weakens and concern
mounts about Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis. (Bloomberg)
EU: ECB financing for Portuguese banks rose to
record in March
The
European Central Bank’s financing for Portuguese lenders rose to a record in
March, the Bank of Portugal said. ECB financing climbed to EUR56.3bn (USD74bn)
from EUR47.6bn in February, the Bank of Portugal said yesterday on its website.
ECB financing previously peaked at EUR49.1bn in August 2010. In April last
year, Portugal became the third euro-area country after Greece and Ireland to
require aid and will receive EUR78bn under its agreement with the International
Monetary Fund and the European Union. The aid plan earmarks EUR12bn for
Portugal’s lenders, if needed. As part of the plan, those lenders were required
to raise core Tier 1 capital ratios to 9% by the end of 2011 and 10% by the end
of 2012. (Bloomberg)
Source: OSK188
No comments:
Post a Comment