Affin Group recorded a profit before tax (PBT) after zakat of RM449.7 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2023 (9M2023), a decrease of 9.2 per cent compared with the same period last year (9M2022) of RM495.3 million on a business-as-usual basis, excluding the Affin Hwang Asset Management Bhd gain on disposal last year. Affin made a gain of RM1.058 billion from the sale of its asset management business in 2022. Affin Group's profit has been impacted by net interest margin (NIM) compression from elevated cost of funds. (NST)

MAA Group Bhd yesterday announced that its audited losses for the financial year ended June 30, 2023 was 100.3 per cent more, at RM1.42 million, compared with the unaudited losses of RM0.71 million announced on August 28, 2023. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd, the group said the difference was due to an adjustment made on a subsidiary's right-of-use (ROU) asset. (NST)

YTL Power International Bhd's acquisition of 18.87 per cent of Ranhill Utilities Bhd is right up Tan Sri (Sir) Francis Yeoh's alley, who has consistently shown a keen eye for regulated assets. Industry observers said the acquisition is just the tip of the iceberg. The source said Yeoh is keen as Ranhill Utilities owns the exclusive rights to Johor's water supply and has a stake in the Sabah power sector. (NST)

Nextgreen Global Bhd has inked a memorandum of agreement with Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation Sdn Bhd to collaborate on the potential of enhancing biomass into higher value products, utilising biotechnology applications for the biomaterial and agricultural farm sector. In a statement today, the pulp and paper manufacturer said that under this agreement, the two companies would collaborate to support the National Biotechnology Policy 2.0 Flagship Programme and the National Biomass Action Plan 2022-2030. (TheStar)

Crescendo Corp Bhd said its wholly-owned subsidiary Panoramic Industrial Development Sdn Bhd (PID) has inked a deal with Microsoft Payments (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd to dispose of 2.63mil sq ft of vacant freehold land in Pulai, Johor, for RM315.17mil cash. The properties are located within a prime and mature industrial estate in Pulai and surrounded by a mix of residential, commercial and industrial developments, the company said in a stock exchange filing. (TheStar)

The trading stock of United Plantations Bhd picked up in morning trade following the release of strong quarterly earnings. The share rose 52 sen or 3.09% to RM17.34 at the start of Friday trading as the company announced another quarter of year-on-year earnings growth. For the third quarter, the plantations firm said net profit rose to RM235.68mil from RM196.72mil in the year-ago quarter. This represented an earnings per share of 56.82 sen, up from 47.43 sen. (TheStar)

Axiata Group Bhd is expected to deliver stronger third quarter (3Q) 2023 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (ebitda), supported by higher revenue and stronger regional currencies. RHB Research said a meaningful re-rating could come from better clarity on Axiata's asset delayering and monetisation exercise and earnings tailwinds in the financial year 2024 (FY24). (NST)

CelcomDigi Bhd is expecting to accelerate capex investments in the final quarter of 2023 as it continues to deliver on its merger integration efforts. The telco said it is on track with overall merger integration efforts with its network integration and modernisation reaching more than 4,400 sites as at end October 2023. (TheStar)

UEM Sunrise Bhd is expected to see its earnings recover in the final quarter of 2023 (4Q23), thanks to the completion of several land disposals. The property developer revealed that it expected to recognise land sale from Durban in South Africa as well as Iskandar Puteri Johor locally by the end of this year. (TheStar)

Analysts are upbeat on Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust's (Sunway REIT) earnings outlook, after its quarterly results came in within expectations. Core net profit reached RM86.9 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023), marking a quarter-on-quarter increase of 29.4%. This performance contributed to total core earnings of RM245.6 million for the cumulative nine months (9MFY2023), reflecting a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 2.6%. (TheEdge)

Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB) research has raised its full year 2023 (FY23) net profit forecast for Bumi Armada Bhd by 21 per cent fuelled by the higher-than-anticipated uptime of the Kraken Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for the year, while leaving FY24-25E estimates relatively unchanged. "With its Kraken FPSO now fully up and running at pre-shutdown levels, we believe that the worst is now behind the group."We should see full quarterly earnings recovery in the fourth quarter (4Q23) and we are expecting full status quo in FY24E," said the research firm in a note today. (NST)

Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) research has reaffirmed its "neutral" call on the automotive sector with original equipment manufacturers, DRB-Hicom Bhd (DRB) and MBM Resources Bhd (MBMR), as its top picks for the sector. The research house said its neutral stance despite the expected strong total industry volume (TIV) for the year, is due to expectations of a drop in TIV after high backlog orders of 200,000 units are fulfilled. (NST)

Source: New Straits Times, The Edge Markets The Star 17 November 2023

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