Digistar to expand into Singapore, eyes regional broadcasting industry

KUALA LUMPUR (March 22): DIGISTAR CORPORATION BHD [] will set up office in Singapore by July to take advantage of the growing broadcasting sector in the region.

Its managing director Datuk Lee Wah Chung said on Thursday Asia is a booming market for the broadcasting sector and the company wants a piece of the pie.

Digistar would participate in any tendering process to upgrade the RTM broadcast system from analogue to digital, Lee told reporters after the company's AGM.



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

CIMB Research has technical buy on Digistar at 52 sen

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): CIMB Equities Research has a technical buy on Digistar Corporation at 52 sen at which it is trading at a price-to-book value of 2.1 times.

It said on Wednesday that Digistar broke out of its consolidation triangle pattern few days ago and the stock looks set to charge towards its previous high of 53.5 sen again.

“If this level is also taken out, the following targets to beat are 56 sen and 60 sen,” it said.

CIMB Research said the MACD signal line has staged a positive crossover while RSI is also rising. Hence, the bulls seem to have the upper hand here.

“Any pullback towards 49.5 senis an opportunity to accumulate. Always put a stop at below the resistance-turned-support channel (now at 48.5 sen),” said the research house.



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

KL shares remain weak at midmorning

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia remained weak at midmorning today amid bearish sentiment in the global market on renewed worries over the euro zone debt crisis, dealers said.

At 10.45am, the underlying FBM KLCI declined 9.79 points or 0.64 per cent to 1,513.28 after opening 2.68 points lower at 1,520.39.

Trading was bearish with 399 losers and 115 losers while 219 counters traded unchanged.

Volume was 459.44 million shares valued at RM243.59 million.

A dealer said investors turned wary of risk after credit rating downgrades for nine euro zone economies including France, Italy and Spain.

On Bursa Malaysia, the Finance Index fell 83.22 points to 13,368.45, the Plantation Index dropped 56.14 points to 8,449.84 and the Industrial Index slid 14.85 points to 2,783.17.

The FBM Emas Index declined 70.04 points to 10,442.36, the FBM Mid 70 Index dwindled 91.53 points to 11,746.99 and the FBM ACE Index decreased 36.19 points to 4,264.28.

Among volume leaders, Compugates wsa up one sen to eight sen, Asia Media rose 5.5 sen to 35 sen and Digistar gained two sen to 48.5 sen.

Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped six sen to RM8.20, Sime Darby dipped five sen to RM9.10 and CIMB fell seven sen to RM7.20. -- BERNAMA



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

HDBSVR: KLCI could test support of 1,515 on eurozone downgrade

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 16): Hwang DBS Vickers Research said the Euro Zone effects are expected to spread across Asia on Monday.

It expected the negative vibes from last Friday’s downgrade by Standard & Poor’s on the sovereign credit ratings for nine countries, including France, Italy and Spain, to weigh on the markets.

“The negative vibes will likely be felt on our local bourse too. From a technical perspective, the benchmark FBM KLCI could make its way to test the immediate support line of 1,515 ahead,” it said.

HDBSVR said hoping to buck the bearish sentiment are Proton and DRB-Hicom, after two local dailies said an announcement to sell Khazanah Nasional’s 42.7% stake – most probably to DRB-Hicom – may be made as early as Monday. The speculated takeover price is between RM5.50 and RM6.00 per Proton share;

Also in focus would be Digistar Corp, following a financial weekly report which wrote that the company is poised to clinch a RM500 million contract for the digitalisation of RTM; and MNC Wireless, amid a news article saying that it is set to break into the wireless broadband market in Sweden.



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

CIMB Research has technical buy on Digistar at 45.5c

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 13): CIMB Equities Research has a technical buy on Digistar Corporation at 45.5 sen at which it is trading at a price-to-book value of 1.8 times.

It said on Friday that Digistar is still consolidating in a huge triangle pattern but it thinks the stock is ripe for a breakout soon.

“If we are right, prices should take out the 50 sen level soon. Once this level is taken out, we think prices could move to new highs above the 53.5 sen high set in June 2011,” it said.

CIMB Research said the technical landscape remains compelling. MACD signal line is hovering just above its zero line while its RSI has hooked upwards from the neutral levels.

“As long as prices stay above the 42 sen levels, we will continue to stick with the bull’s camp. Keep a stop below 42 sen just in case,” it said.



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

Digistar hopes to join digital TV ‘revolution'

Kuala Lumpur: The migration from analogue to digital television transmission has everyone excited over who will be given the coveted government contract, estimated to be worth RM2 billion.


ACE market-listed Digistar Corp Bhd is one of those companies that are looking to be involved in the project once the government announced the contract.

Digistar director Tan Sri Zaman Khan expressed hope that the government would give preference to local and homegrown companies with the experience, expertise and know-how.

“The government needs to do more to nurture local companies to become world-class companies. For example, TATA Group of India, which started off as a truck company, has expanded to become the country’s top IT company with the support of the Indian government,” he said in an interview with Business Times, recently.

Currently, the market talk is that tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, through his privately held entity Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd, had been promised the job by the government.

It is also learnt that Puncak Semangat had gone on a recruitment drive to hire engineers by teaming up with local universities to train talent.

Digistar managing director Datuk Lee Wah Chong said the company was preparing for the conversion project, in the event that it was able to land a part of the contract.

“We very much would like to supply for that job and we are talking with several companies. It would also help Digistar’s future earnings if it was involved in the project.”

Lee said the company was also in the midst of starting a subsidiary in Singapore early next year to bid for similar jobs in the region.

"All TV stations will have to switch to the digital system by 2015 as no equipment for the analogue system will be produced any more," he added.

Digistar is involved in, among others, the design, supply, installation and integration of IT infrastructure; teleconferencing; interactive media management systems; radio and television news automation; telecommunications systems; and other related electronic systems.

Lee also spoke on the problem of brain drain in Malaysia, saying it was slowing eating into the productivity of local companies, including Digistar.

"The government should provide more support to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The growth of SMEs will help reduce and reverse the brain drain.

"In Japan and Taiwan for example, local SMEs get more projects and contracts compared with foreign companies," he said.



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

Digistar banks on digital broadcast, IPTV for growth

KUALA LUMPUR: Digistar Corp Bhd is banking on a portion of projects expected to arise from the switch by television stations from analogue to digital broadcasting for its future growth. The company not only plans to look within Malaysia for such projects, but it is also considering a foray into the Asia-Pacific region.

“The government has said that under the 10th Malaysia Plan, it has tasked RTM to spearhead the digital conversion. This is expected to result in a potential RM2 to RM3 billion worth of jobs,” Digistar managing director Datuk Lee Wah Chong told a press briefing yesterday.

Aside from the free-to-air channels under RTM, Media Prima Bhd also has four FTA channels in its stable. All television service providers have until 2015 to make the swap, a deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union.

Lee says Digistar is in talks with a group that owns 22 hospitals.

“So it is not only Malaysia that has to make a change, but other countries in the region as well. There is definitely potential as all will have to make the digital migration eventually,” said Lee.

Earlier in the year it was reported that private company Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd, which is said to be connected to businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, was also in talks with the government to develop digital TV. It was also reported that Puncak Semangat is in preliminary talks with Media Prima on the conversion.

According to Lee, Digistar will most likely not be direct competitors with Puncak Semangat or its ilk, but could possibly benefit by being a subcontractor.

While the ICT and telecommunication divisions are the company’s biggest revenue generators, Digistar also has big plans for its Internet protocol television (IPTV) segment. In September, Digistar secured two contracts to implement the IPTV service in two hospitals in the Klang Valley. According to Lee, Digistar currently serves 15 hospitals and is in talks with a group that owns 22 hospitals nationwide.

“We also put in a bid to provide our service to two hospitals in Singapore. We are excited about that and are just waiting for the results to be announced,” said Lee. He added that the benefit of focusing on providing services to healthcare is that the segment is fairly resilient and gives a buffer against any potential downturn.

“We are also looking to upgrade the IPTV service to include more services,” said Lee.

Digistar also plans to set up an office in Singapore as part of its bid to expand to the Asia-Pacific. Presently, the majority of revenue comes from Malaysia.

As at end-September, Digistar’s order book stood at RM130 million, and the company is tendering for jobs worth more than RM200 million. The contracts are split equally between government projects and those from the private sector, Lee said.

Another segment that Digistar invests in is central monitoring systems (CMS) via a partnership with Fullimage MSC Sdn Bhd. Lee said Digistar would make a further announcement on the service over the next two to three months.

“This partnership will entail the sharing of revenue. We are still waiting for the licence to be awarded before we can proceed but we are expecting to see some small contribution from CMS by the end of 2012,” Lee said.

Digistar announced its full-year results for FY11 ended Sept 30, with net profit up by 345.5% year-on-year to RM19.1 million from RM4.3 million. Top line for FY11 grew by 33.5% to RM97.8 million from RM73.3 million. According to Digistar, the improvement was due to better performance across the board from the company’s various segments.

Asked if the performance is sustainable, Lee said, “We do expect to see some good years ahead as more broadcasters move from analogue to digital and there are still some three years to go.”

On a quarterly basis, while Digistar’s 4Q net profit grew to RM4.1 million from RM2.2 million a year ago, its top line declined slightly from RM24.2 million to RM21.8 million. This was due to the different times when the company booked in certain jobs and was a normal occurrence, said Digistar.

The company is working on its transfer from the ACE Market to the Main Market. Lee said, “We will be submitting the paperwork to the authorities next month and expect to know the results by February next year.”


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, November 30, 2011.



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

CIMB Research has technical buy on Digistar at 46.5 sen

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30): CIMB Equities Research has a technical buy on Digistar Corporation at 46.5 sen at which it is trading at a price-to-book value of 1.1 times.

It said on Wednesday Digistar is still consolidating in a huge triangle pattern but it thinks the stock is ripe for a stronger rebound.

“If we are right, prices should take out the 50 sen level soon. Once this level is taken out, the following resistance targets are 53.5 sen and 56.5 sen,” it said.

CIMB Research said the technical landscape remains compelling. MACD signal line is hovering in the positive territory while RSI is above the 50pts mark.

“As long as prices stay above the 45.5 sen level, we will continue to stick with the bull’s camp. Always put a stop at below 50 sen to limit downside risk,” it said.



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

Digistar secures RM24m orders for broadcast systems

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): DIGISTAR CORPORATION BHD []’s unit has secured about RM24 million in new orders for base band broadcast system, security system and other electronic and electrical systems.

It said on Wednesday its unit, Digistar Holdings Sdn Bhd had secured new orders from its existing and new clients and the delivery period of these orders ranged from one month to 18 months.

“These orders will have a positive effect on Digistar group's net asset for the financial year ending Sept 30, 2012 and Sept 30, 2013. They are also expected to contribute positively to the future earnings of Digistar Group for the financial year ending Sept 30, 2012 and Sept 30, 2013,” it said.

Digistar said these orders would be funded by its own funds and banks borrowings. As for its gearing, it would hinge on the amount of financing required over the tenure of these orders and is temporary in nature, which would reduce accordingly upon their completion.



Get your T+10 interest FREE margin trading account NOW. Attractive brokerage for online trading. Contact Mr Ho at +603-5192 0808 or hoxian@sjsec.com.my for more details.

CIMB Research has technical buy on Digistar at 42.5 sen

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 9): CIMB Equities Research has a technical buy on Digistar Corporation at 42.5 sen at which it is trading at a price-to-book value of 1.9 times.

It said on Wednesday Digistar broke out of its consolidation triangle on Tuesday on rising volume.

“There is a good chance that prices may re-rate higher and retest the 47.5 sen to 48.5 sen resistance next. The following resistance is 53.5 sen,” it said.

CIMB Research said the technical landscape is improving with its MACD histogram turning positive again while RSI has also hooked upwards.

“However, to prevent a bull’s trap, traders should place a stop below 40 sen just in case. This breakout run should be quick and strong,” it said.