Hope the BBC transaction is not a case of MMC bailing out Boustead Holdings. Let's see what analysts say on Monday. Don't know enough to express an opinion...
BCC located between westport and nortport.. in order to further their expansion for westport and nortport, the land at BCC is very strategic for their expansion..
The news have been talking for long time that westport want to takeover this land.. mana tau now both northport and westport join together to takeover this company.. which is positive news for both westport and northport
Another thing to take note, the acquisition is free of all the existing liabilities as per explained by Ruben of Westport. Opportunistic acquisition by both MMC and Westport.
Now MMC is more aggressively grow its cruise business, that means more business diversification. More facilities and land available for usage by the port. All these is actually good news for MMC and Westport Holdings shareholders and that is why Westport Holdings share surged 3.5% at last minutes trading.
He noted that while BCC had suffered losses before taxation in recent years, and Westports and Northport will acquire the company without assuming its existing liabilities.
Cruise line stocks have rallied sharply since early November, as the markets saw the positive vaccine efficacy data from Pfizer as a sign of the beginning of the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) stock is up by 40% since November 9th, when Pfizer published efficacy numbers on its vaccine, while Carnival (NYSE: CCL) stock is up a whopping 70% over the same period.
However, the industry could recover beginning from late Spring to early Summer.
It’s possible that the entire U.S. population could be immunized as early as mid-2021, increasing consumer confidence in taking cruises.
Moreover, Cruise passengers typically skew towards older age groups (median age of 60 to 69 years) - and they could be among the first in line for the vaccines. [2] There is also likely to be much pent-up demand for cruises after close to a year of shutdowns. Cruise liner bookings are often made several months ahead and companies had been seeing a growing interest in bookings for the second half of 2021 and this has actually picked-up post the vaccine announcements.
With the vast majority of its elderly population already inoculated, and millions more already under the protection of their first jab, the country has made an educated bet to trust in the vaccine.
New infections are down to 3 per cent of those tested, hospitals are emptying and epidemiologists are cautiously optimistic.
If new vaccine-defying variants can be kept at bay, Israel may be the first nation to tame the pandemic and open up its economy for good.
THE PROMISE OF TRAVEL ....................
The most tempting carrot being dangled by the government is the promise of travel without quarantine. Even Israeli citizens have found it nearly impossible to return home in recent months.
Starting this week, up to 3,000 people a day will be allowed in – up from just 200 a week – if they are approved by the health ministry.
Plans being debated would replicate the success of Australia and some Southeast Asian nations in keeping foreign infections at bay with forced quarantine at a hotel or at home while fitted with an electronic tracking bracelet.
The government plans to eventually let those vaccinated in Israel travel freely – perhaps even without quarantine upon returning home.
I think northport and westport acquire BCC for mainly for future expansion of their port.. Dint think they will continue the loss making cruise business
Diversified conglomerate MMC Corp owns several ports, including the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Penang Port and Johor Port. There had been talk of a flotation exercise for its port assets, which could be a significant initial public offering, but market conditions and economic uncertainties have put these plans on hold. MMC Corp also has interests in power generation, engineering, construction and airports, among other businesses.
Next thing we try to compare to the same industry. Lets check with our biggest port in the Malaysia, Westport.
Westport
PE24.34 Dividend yield 2.82% Profit after taxation margin 38.45%
Net assets RM0.78
MMC
PE10.72 Dividend yield 6.42% Profit after taxation margin 5.36%
Net assets RM3.08
From the facts shown above, cannot deny that Westport have a far superior profit after taxation margin. However, the valuation for Westport have already received PE24.34 and dividend yield at 2.82%. However for MMC, the PE ration still at 10.72 and dividend yield are high at 6.42% The huge difference in profit after taxation for Westport and MMC are due to finance cost. If the group listed their port business, I might help the group to payback the loan and reduce the finance cost for the group.
Westports has better financials .............................
To put things in perspective, MMC’s ports collectively handled 15.6 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) while Westports handled 9.95 million TEUs last year.
Nevertheless, Westports registered a net profit of RM636.98 million on revenue of RM2.03 billion for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY2016). In contrast, MMC’s port and logistics division saw a profit before tax of RM456.7 million on revenue of RM2.73 billion for FY2016.
Thus, despite handling 64% more TEUs and having more ports, MMC’s earnings do not reflect its larger port operations.
While certain quarters say PTP, MMC’s port division’s main revenue generator, is largely a transshipment port, with 95% of its throughput being transfer cargo, it has to be noted that as much as 70% of Westports throughput comes from transshipment too.
PTP handled 8.03 million TEUs in 2016, according to the Ministry of Transport’s website. Of this almost 94%, or 7.54 million boxes, were transshipment. Northport handled around 3.26 million TEUs, Johor port 827,013 and Penang handled 1.44 million TEUs.
PTP’s transshipment rates are generally confidential. At Port Klang, Westport and Northport charge about RM160 for transshipment of a TEU and RM245 to RM260 per import or export TEU, depending on whether it is empty or a full container load, and about RM240 per transshipment of a 40-foot equivalent unit and RM360 to RM400 per import or export FEU.
In FY2015, PTP registered a net profit of RM177.4 million from RM1.2 billion in revenue from a throughput of 9.1 million TEUs. PTP’s financials for FY2016 are not available.
Westports made RM504.86 million in FY2015 from RM1.68 billion in sales on the back of 9.05 million TEUs handled.
Other ports in MMC’s stable did not fare that well either.
NCB Holdings registered a net profit of RM21.6 million from RM834.61 million in revenue, while Johor Port made a net profit of RM116.48 million from RM618.25 million in revenue. Penang Port earned a net profit of RM2.22 million on RM399.48 million in turnover.
In August last year, MMC acquired a 49% stake in Penang Port from its parent Seaport Terminal for RM200 million cash, and earlier this month announced the acquisition of the remainder 51% for RM220 million, which market watchers say is a prelude to a floatation exercise of MMC’s port unit.
On Westports much better financials, a port official explains, “It’s a question of efficiency.” .....................
Westports’ average of 35 gross moves per hour (meaning 35 containers are taken off of a ship in an hour and placed on a waiting truck) is above the shipping industry’s average of 25.
Higher efficiency at the port translates into lower ship berthing and less waiting time.
Until 2004, PTP had a high efficiency level, recording average mainline productivity figures of 34.62 gross moves per hour, but how it is faring now is not known.
To make matters worse, there was an oil spill at PTP in September last year, which adversely impacted the port.
“We could be better than Singapore in terms of movement. The difference is they are quite consistent in delivering their results, ours can be quite typically Malaysian — maintenance issues, workers problems...,” Che Khalib had said, acknowledging that there is room for improvement in efficiency at PTP.
Nevertheless, he believes Malaysia can be more cost-effective with more infrastructure put in place, compared with Singapore and Indonesia, which are expanding their ports.
Lack of connectivity at PTP ...........................
PTP’s poor connectivity is well known in the industry and the problem has never really been addressed. Other than Maersk Line, which is owned by APM Terminals, PTP only has Taiwanese Evergreen Shipping Corp calling regularly.
Other vessels that call at PTP come as a result of vessel-sharing arrangements between shipping lines.
“It’s been the same two lines — Maersk and Evergreen — for so many years now. Incentives were given by the government, and there was much hope, but the numbers have been slow to gain momentum. Some of the growth in throughput has been a result of Maersk taking over other shipping lines, such as P&O Nedlloyd,” the port official highlights.
While there was talk a few years ago of closing down Johor Port’s container arm and moving it to PTP, which is located about 90km away, the idea never took off.
According to reports, the government shot down the idea of merging the two container businesses as manufacturers operating in Pasir Gudang, Tampoi and Tebrau complained of higher transport costs.
Other than the above, there are ship-to-ship operations off PTP, but whether this generates any real income for the port is not known.
Another issue is that MMC’s controlling shareholder, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary — who holds 51.76% equity interest in the conglomerate through Seaport Terminal and other private companies — is heavily geared.
In FY2016 ended Dec 31, MMC posted a net profit of RM549.66 million from RM4.63 billion in revenue. As at end-December last year, MMC had bank deposits and cash balances of RM1.22 billion. However, long-term debt commitments amounted to RM7.55 billion while short-term borrowings were RM1.49 billion.
The sheer size of the group’s borrowings has raised eyebrows.
Nonetheless, Che Khalid says the bulk of the group’s debts are project-financed. “For example, at MMC level, our total debt is RM26 billion, but RM17 billion is at Malakoff and RM2.6 billion at PTP. The rest is very small. At corporate level, it is only RM3.5 billion ... We don’t have borrowings at shareholder (MMC) level. Borrowings are all at the operating companies and they can generate enough cash as they are all making profits,” he told The Edge.
Other than his flagship MMC, Syed Mokhtar also controls 55.92% of diversified DRB-Hicom Bhd through private vehicle Etika Strategi Sdn Bhd.
For its nine months ended Dec 31, 2016, DRB-Hicom suffered a net loss of RM125.95 million from RM8.58 billion in revenue. Among its assets are Proton Holdings Bhd, the ailing carmaker, which is likely to be hived off soon.
.............
"So, it would seem that much of the appeal of MMC’s port business lies in the third port in Port Klang, to be built on Carey Island."" .............................................................
Malaysia’s port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) saw 8% growth in 2020, to a record-breaking 9.8m teu, making it an outlier among South-east Asia’s competing transhipment hubs.
PTP CEO Marco Neelsen explained the reasons: “A surge in extra transhipment volumes, due to the increased demand in Asia and Europe, and requests from customers to increase their throughput at PTP.”
He said the second-half of the year had seen the opening of more borders and the revival of the global trade economy for the China, transpacific and Europe regions.
Khalib Mohamad Noh, PTP chairman, added that the port had strengthened its position due to its investments in new equipment and efforts to improve container handling capacity.
PTP purchased eight super post-panamax quay cranes, 10 electrified rubber-tyred gantries and dredged the navigation channel to “ensure the new generation of ultra-large container vessels can safely navigate to our port”.
It is Asia’s most technologically advanced port and has broken the vessel utilization record three times in a row, the most recent being in July 2019 when the MSC Gulsun, the biggest containership ever, called.
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
Start_0f_the_bull
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Posted by Start_0f_the_bull > 2021-03-19 13:34 | Report Abuse
Frozen for one month.