UEM, EPF to waive PLUS' compensation

UEM Group Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) have agreed to waive PLUS Expressways Bhd's current outstanding compensation balance totalling RM2.9 billion from the government.

In a statement today, UEM said there will also be no compensation for the toll rate freeze until 2015 which will otherwise cost the government RM3.6 billion.

EPF and UEM Group have concluded the negotiation with the government on the proposed acquisition of assets and liabilities of PLUS Expressways and Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd.

They expect to complete the proposed acquisition and payment to shareholders of PLUS Expressways by December this year.

Under the negotiation term, there will be no toll increase for the North-South Expressway (NSE), North-South Expressway Central Link (NSECL), Malaysia-Singapore Second Crossing (Linkedua) and Butterworth-Kulim Expressway (BKE).

Starting 2016, the toll rate on the four expressways will increase at five per cent every three years while that for Penang Bridge will remain as per current charges until end of concession period.

There will be no extension for concession period for NSE and Linkedua which will end in December 2038.

Meanwhile, the concession period for NSECL, BKE and Penang Bridge will be extended to December 2038.

The current expiry for NSECL is May 31 2030; BKE (June 27 2026); and, Penang Bridge (December 31 2021). -- Bernama



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KL shares continue to fall

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia continued its downtrend mid-afternoon, pressured by persistent selling of heavyweights like Petronas Chemicals and Tenaga, dealers said.

As at 3.12 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia (FBM KLCI) was 4.02 points lower at 1,473.2, with the benchmark index moving between 1,470.09 and 1,487.37, thus far.

However, gains in Maybank managed to prevent further losses on the local bourse.

The Finance Index increased 13.59 points to 13,153.03 but the Plantation Index slipped 1.33 points to 7,633.51 and the Industrial Index decreased 7.81 points to 2,707.51.

The FBM Emas Index slid 28.149 points to 10,092.16, the FBM Mid 70 Index eased 7.569 points to 11,013.82 and the FBM ACE Index lost 59.62 points to 4,211.81.

Decliners led advancers 529 to 221 while 253 counters were unchanged, 478 untraded and 23 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.494 billion shares worth RM936.656 million.

For the actives, both Compugates and AsiaEP eased 0.5 sen each to 8.0 sen and 10 sen, respectively, while Tiger Synergy was unchanged at 13.5 sen.

For heavyweights, Maybank rose 12 sen to RM8.39 but Sime Darby was unchanged at RM8.91. CIMB dropped 7 sen to RM7.03, Petronas Chemicals lost 20 sen to RM6.22 and Tenaga was 10 sen lower at RM5.75. -- Bernama



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Tricubes jump 48.5% on police nod for summons contract

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Shares of TRICUBES BHD [] jumped 48.5% to 24.5 sen on Wednesday after it confirmed getting government approval as a collection agent for the police for traffic summons.

At 3.02pm, it was up eight sen to 24.5 sen. It was actively traded with 40.91 million shares transacted.

At the midday break, Tricubes announced it had secured a contract from the Malaysian police to handle the traffic summons and enquiries.

It had received a letter of award from the police appointing it as the collection agent of traffic summons via the automated teller machines and also enquiry of traffic summons through the short messaging services.



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Tricubes appointed summons collection agent

Tricubes Bhd said today it received a letter of award on Tuesday from the Royal Malaysia Police appointing it as the collection agent for traffic summonses via Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and enquiries about traffic summonses through short message service (SMS).

Tricube made the announcement to Bursa Malaysia today. -- Bernama



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Al-Hadharah Boustead posts higher Q3 pre-tax profit

Al-Hadharah Boustead Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) posted an unaudited pre-tax profit of RM22.90 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2011, a 33 per cent increase from RM17.17 million in the same quarter in 2010. Revenue was at RM27.30 million, up from RM18.86 million previously.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, the Fund said it recorded a higher revenue of RM77.16 million for the nine-month period, up from RM55.17 million in the same period in 2010.

"Additional rental from the newly acquired Taiping Rubber Plantation and Sutera Estates contributed to the increase in fixed rental income to RM49.1 million from RM43.6 million in 2010.

"Performance-based profit sharing meanwhile was more than double at RM28.1 million from last year's RM11.6 million," it said.

As a result, profit after tax grew 34 per cent to RM66.9 million from last year's RM49.8 million, it added. -- Bernama



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AMMB posts higher Q2 pre-tax profit

AMMB Holdings Bhd posted a higher pre-tax profit of RM498.34 million for the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2011 from RM465.19 million.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, it said its revenue increased to RM2.138 billion compared to RM1.773 billion previously.

The company also recorded 16 per cent growth in profit after tax and minority interest to RM811.0 million for the first half of financial year 2012, supported by higher non-interest income and lower allowances.

AMMB Group managing director Cheah Tek Kuang said the net interest margin was stable while loans growth remained targeted.

"We had good deposit growth, with current account savings account increasing 21 per cent, as a result of expanded product and service offerings, and footprints," he added. -- Bernama



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Ramunia JV declines participating in project due to long delay

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): RAMUNIA HOLDINGS BHD [] and its joint venture partner had declined to take part in the re-tender of the well head platforms project due to the long protracted delay in the issuance of the notice of award.

Ramunia said on Wednesday this was despite that Ramunia’s unit Ramunia Fabricators Sdn Bhd and SEW Infrastructure Ltd (India) joint venture was declared the lowest compliant bidder on Aug 30, 2011, beating five other international consortia and one disqualified bidder.

It was explaining the reason why it declined to take part in the re-tender exercise of the development of the WO-16 cluster and SB-14 well head platforms project.

Ramunia said there was a “long protracted delay in the issuance of the notice of award by the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) from Sept 2, 2011 up to Nov 11, 2011”.



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Harvest tumbles after declared designated stock

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): HARVEST COURT INDUSTRIES BHD [] shares and warrants fell sharply on Wednesday after they resumed trading after Bursa Malaysia Securities imposed trading sanctions on Monday.

At midday, it was down 63 sen to RM1.50 but the sanctions saw trading volume curbed to 698,000 shares done.

The warrants fell 54 sen to RM1.27 with 182,300 units done.

Under the trading curbs, buyers have to pay upfront for the shares or warrants, hence effectively curbing speculative buying.

The trading sanctions were the sternest warning to speculators who had chased up the stock in recent weeks despite that the regulator also issued unusual market activity queries to other penny stocks.

Bursa Securities had then said its decision to designate the securities of Harvest and the warrants due to excessive speculation were in the interest of ensuring a fair and orderly market.



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