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New Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Muhibbah still boasts active construction pipeline amid Petronas-Petros issue
KUALA LUMPUR: Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd has maintained an active construction pipeline despite short-term uncertainties linked to the ongoing Petronas-Petroleum Sarawak (Petros) dispute, CIMB Securities said. The company's current bid book stands at RM2.6 billion, with 62 per cent of projects located overseas. Its infrastructure jobs account for 50 per cent of the bids, followed by waste-heat energy projects at 38 per cent, and oil and gas-related works making up the remaining 12 per cent. "Muhibbah's 65 per cent-owned subsidiary Favelle Favc is bidding for RM3 billion worth of jobs, with the Middle East region accounting for over RM100 million as massive infrastructure projects such as the New Murabba mixed-use development and the NEOM 2029 Asian Winter Games are fuelling new orders for cranes," it said. According to CIMB Securities, Muhibbah's first quarter of 2025 (1Q25) performance was in line with expectations, with core earnings making up 26 per cent of both its and market consensus estimates. The company posted a 14 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in net profit to RM16.17 million, up from RM14.19 million previously, driven by stronger contributions from its concession segment. "As with previous financial years, Muhibbah's 21 per cent-owned Cambodia Airports continues to be the key 1Q earnings driver for the group in financial year 2025 (FY25). "This is underpinned by a 22 per cent YoY surge in Cambodian air traffic as the kingdom continues to benefit from a resurgence in the number of tourist arrivals," it said. CIMB Securities expects Muhibbah to declare a total dividend per share of 2.3 sen for FY25, offering a fairly attractive yield of 3.8 per cent. The research house remains positive on Muhibbah due to its involvement in marine and oil and gas-related infrastructure projects. It maintained a 'Buy' rating on the stock with an unchanged target price of RM1.10.
New Straits Times
a day ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Fama Fest aims RM6mil sales, pushes for youth participation
GOPENG: The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry is targeting RM6 million in total sales through the Fama Fest programme organised by the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) in six states. Its deputy minister, Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup, said the programme will be held in Sarawak, Johor, Perak, Selangor, Sabah and conclude in Negri Sembilan in September. "The Perak government remains one of the key contributors to the Fama Fest series, which is now in its seventh year. "Last year, the sales target for Perak was RM2 million, but due to overwhelming response, we surpassed that with RM2.6 million in total sales," he said when met after the closing ceremony of Fama Fest @Perak 2025 at RTC Perak here today. He said this year's target for Fama Fest @Perak had been raised to RM3 million, with 210 booths operating over five days from May 29. "Fama Fest @Perak is usually the top contributor, accounting for 30 per cent of total nationwide sales at last year's event," he said. Arthur said the programme is one of the government's initiatives to attract youths into the agriculture sector, which is currently dominated by individuals aged 60 and above. "Events like this create more marketing avenues for local producers and demonstrate that agriculture and agri-food are lucrative industries with strong income potential," he said. He emphasised the need to move away from conventional farming methods towards more modern approaches that incorporate technology and innovation, adding that this creates a long value chain, from production to operations and maintenance. He said the ministry strongly encourages participation in agriculture-related Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses offered under the ministry. "We will cover all expenses for these programmes, including courses, accommodation and daily allowances. This is part of our effort to attract young people into agriculture," he said. On May 29, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who is also energy transition and water transformation minister, revealed that 224,147 agricultural operators aged between 15 and 45 were recorded in the 2024 Agriculture Census, making up 22.2 per cent of the sector's workforce. – Bernama
New Straits Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Saliran records RM2.6mil profit on RM95mil revenue in Q1
KUALA LUMPUR: Saliran Group Bhd reported a revenue of RM95 million and a net profit of RM2.6 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025 (1Q25). There are no comparative year-on-year figures as Saliran was only listed on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia in March this year. The company said the strong performance was mainly driven by contributions from its core supply and distribution segment, which accounted for RM93.9 million or 98.8 per cent of total revenue. The balance of RM1.1 million was generated from the manufacturing segment. Malaysia remained the largest revenue contributor, accounting for RM68.8 million or 72.5 per cent of total sales for the quarter. Profitability wise, Saliran recorded a pre-tax profit of RM4.4 million. Excluding one-off listing expenses of RM0.7 million incurred during the quarter, the normalised pre-tax profit would have amounted to RM5.1 million. Its basic earnings per share stood at 0.69 sen based on the enlarged issued share capital of 382.9 million shares. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, Saliran's revenue decreased slightly as compared to RM95.6 million in the preceding quarter (4Q24). Saliran managing director Liaw Choon Wei is pleased with the financial performance in its first reporting quarter as a listed entity. He said this was a reflection of the resilience of Saliran's business model. "With the support of our co-owned brand THF, we will continue strengthening our market positioning, improving delivery capabilities, and capturing further growth in high-potential markets like Indonesia. "Looking ahead, we remain cautiously optimistic. Saliran is executing its post-initial public offering (IPO) expansion plans, including the establishment of a sales office in Indonesia and the acquisition of new machinery and delivery trucks. As at March 31, 2025, the company utilised RM5.2 million out of the RM21.7 million raised from its IPO.
Business Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Maybank Q1 net profit rises 4% to RM2.6 billion
[SINGAPORE] Maybank's net profit for the quarter ended Mar 31, 2025, increased 4 per cent to RM2.6 billion (S$790 million), up from RM 2.5 billion in the previous corresponding period. Earnings per share increased to 21.45 sen, from 20.63 sen in the year-ago period. Return on equity was 11.3 per cent, up from 10.8 per cent in Q1 FY2024. In a business update on Monday (May 26), the lender attributed the improved performance to increases in both its net fund-based income and non-interest income, which brought net operating income up 1.8 per cent year on year at RM7.7 billion. Net fund-based income increased 2.3 per cent to RM5 billion. The group noted a stable net interest margin of 2.04 per cent, which was fuelled by a 3.2 per cent increase year on year in loans across all home markets and key segments. For the quarter, group loans increased in all markets, with Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia up 8, 5.9 and 0.8 per cent year on year, respectively. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up However, the group added that annualised loans growth was lower at 2.2 per cent, which was 'reflective of the current operating environment which continued to be impacted by cautious business sentiment and moderated credit demands'. Non-interest income ticked up 0.8 per cent to RM2.8 billion, supported by a 28 per cent increase in wealth fees to RM300 million. However, the global markets segment dipped 4 per cent to RM700 million on reduced capital gains for bonds arising from economic uncertainties. Overhead costs increased to RM3.74 billion from RM3.66 billion on inflationary pressures, higher personnel expenses, marketing costs and software maintenance expenses. Maybank's president and group CEO, Khairussaleh Ramli, said that it continued to deliver commendable earnings growth for the first quarter, underpinned by stable net interest margins and better asset quality as well as disciplined cost management, despite ongoing global macroeconomic headwinds. Looking forward, the group notes a backdrop of uncertainty and volatility on the possibility of US reciprocal tariffs, which would slow global gross domestic product growth. Maybank added that it will continue to 'double down on penetration of its extensive customer base through focus on segments, cross-selling endeavours and leveraging ecosystem partnerships regionally' and focus on its 'super growth' areas of wealth management, mid-market cap, non-retail and bancassurance segments while tapping on global market flows. The group's FY2025 guidance sees loans growth at 5 to 6 per cent, return on equity of more than or equal to 11.3 per cent and net credit charge off rate of less than or equal to 30 basis points.
Malaysian Reserve
19-05-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Foreign funds inflow reach daily high on May 13, MSCI drops six stocks
DAILY foreign fund inflows surged to a record-high RM796.1 million on 13 May, a day after the US and China agreed to lower tariffs on each other's products for the next 90 days, marking a de-escalation in the ongoing trade war between the world's two largest economies. Since the reciprocal tariff de-escalation on April 10, CIMB Securities said it has observed a net inflow of foreign funds. To put things in perspective, it said foreign funds' net buy of RM2.6 billion from April 10 to May 14, representing only 21% of the total net sell from Jan 1 to April 9 of RM12.4 billion. 'This suggests there is room for foreign funds to return to the Malaysian equity market, especially in light of the low foreign shareholding of 19.4% and improving market sentiment,' it said in an equity strategy report released today. It said potential sectors that could benefit include those with the largest net foreign outflows year-to-date (YTD) in financial services (with its top picks being Public Bank Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd and Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd), utilities (its top pick: Tenaga Nasional Bhd) and consumers (its top picks: 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings Bhd and Farm Fresh Bhd). In the same report, CIMB Securities said MSCI's move to remove six stocks from its Malaysia Small Cap Index but keeping the main index constituents unchanged, is expected to have minimal market impact. 'We estimate the affected stocks accounted for 4.4% of the small-cap index's free float-adjusted market cap, with low non-strategic foreign shareholdings. We estimate potential passive fund outflows from these stocks at around RM146 million,' it said. The MSCI Malaysia Index is designed to measure the performance of the large and mid cap segments of the Malaysian market. The index covers about 85% of the Malaysian equity universe. It is tracked by fund managers and foreign investors, with some funds pulling out investments from counters that are no longer featured in the index. The six stocks impacted are British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd, D&O Green Technologies Bhd, Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd, Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd and UWC Bhd. The development is negative for the excluded stocks, as it could trigger selling by passive funds that closely track the index, the report added. — TMR
