Gospel 08 april 2018

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 16, 2020 . - A + A Solid Automotive Bhd (-ve) TRADING of shares in Solid Automotive Bhd (fundamental: 0.75/3, valuation: 0.9/3) triggered our momentum algorithm yesterday for the seventh time this year. The last time the counter triggered our momentum algorithm was last Friday. Solid Automotive shares closed 6.56% or two sen lower at 28.5 sen. Some 6.06 million shares were traded, more than four times the counter’s 200-day average trading volume of 1.36 million shares. Solid Automotive’s net profit for the second quarter ended Oct 31, 2019 fell to RM112,000 from RM715,000 a year earlier, due to higher operating expenses, though revenue doubled to RM72.03 million from RM35.86 million. For the cumulative six months ended Oct 31, 2019, the group’s net profit rose 28% to RM1.09 million from RM851,000, while revenue more than doubled to RM137.08 million from RM65.36 million. Solid … [Read more...] about Stock With Momentum: Solid Automotive

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 21, 2020 . - A + A SOLID Automotive Bhd (-ve) Solid Automotive shares closed unchanged at 31.5 sen. Some 6.17 million shares were traded, over four times the counter’s 200-day average volume of 1.45 million shares. Solid Automotive’s net profit for the second quarter ended Oct 31, 2019 fell to RM112,000, from RM715,000 a year earlier, no thanks to higher operating expenses, though revenue doubled to RM72.03 million from RM35.86 million. For the cumulative six months ended Oct 31, 2019, the group’s net profit rose 28% to RM1.09 million from RM851,000, while revenue more than doubled to RM137.08 million from RM65.36 million. Solid Automotive is involved in the trading of automotive electrical parts and components. It is the sole distributor of automotive electrical parts under the Lucas brand. … [Read more...] about Stock With Momentum: SOLID Automotive

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): Financially troubled Sapura Energy Bhd returned to the black in the first quarter ended April 30, 2022 (1QFY23) with a net profit of RM91.93 million, on the back of foreign exchange gains arising from the appreciation of the US dollar against the ringgit. In the preceding quarter, it had posted its biggest ever net loss of RM6.78 billion. In the same period last year, Sapura Enery had posted a net loss of RM97.08 million. In a Bursa Malaysia filing on Monday (June 27), the oil and gas service provider said its quarterly revenue, however, declined by 39.75% to RM886.08 million against RM1.47 billion in the year-ago corresponding period, due to lower project activities from its engineering and procurement (E&C) segment. Earnings per share for the quarter amounted to 0.58 sen, from losses per share of 0.61 sen. On a quarterly basis, revenue more than doubled from RM426.60 million in 4QFY22. Sapura Energy said that it continues … [Read more...] about Sapura Energy returns to black in 1Q with net profit of RM91.93 mil on forex gains

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): MyNews Holdings Bhd posted its ninth consecutive quarter in the red, with a net loss of RM10.22 million in the second quarter ended April 30, 2022 (2QFY22), from RM10.32 million a year ago. The results came amid higher revenue, offset by higher cost of sales and expenses amid an increase in the number of outlets which also contributed to higher footfall. Quarterly revenue rose 35.74% to RM141.10 million, from RM103.94 million, the group said. Losses per share stood at 1.51 sen, from 1.5 sen. On a quarterly basis, the group’s net loss widened in 2QFY22, from a net loss of RM7.86 million in 1QFY22, while revenue improved by 1.2% from RM139.44 million. The weaker quarter-on-quarter performance was due to additional costs incurred in establishing and promoting the launch of 26 new CU stores in the quarter, it said. For the six-month period ended April 30 (1HFY22), the group’s net loss narrowed to RM18.08 million from a net loss of … [Read more...] about MyNews maintains expansion mode as it continues to bleed in 2QFY22

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A IF Bank Negara Malaysia’s eight-member monetary policy committee (MPC) raises the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points (bps) at its next scheduled meeting on July 6, it will mark its first back-to-back increase since mid-2010, when interest rates were normalised following the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis. It will not be the first central bank to do so. Compared with just a month ago, more economists now (at the time of writing) reckon that a 25bps hike will happen in July, but many still think a pause is possible in July ahead of the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebrations. In any case, at least one more rate increase (if not two) is expected to take place by the conclusion of the Sept 8 meeting to bring the OPR to at least 2.25% (if not 2.5%), consensus data show. “Our house has also shifted expectations for Bank Negara to frontload … [Read more...] about The State Of The Nation: What the Fed’s 75bps hike and near 4% terminal rate mean for the OPR

What makes A24 a cultural powerhouse is not that it released a film last spring in which an inter-dimensional assassin impales himself on an Auditor of the Month trophy, inexplicably shaped like a certain sex toy, although it most certainly did. It’s not that most cinephiles would immediately guess A24 as the company who put out that film, Everything Everywhere All at Once , even if its logo didn’t appear before the credits, although they probably would. No, what makes A24 a steady, sturdy phenomenon is that it started selling $60 designer candle replicas of that unlikely trophy just after the movie’s early-June digital release. advertisement advertisement Whether enough fans purchase the item—a collaboration with Brooklyn-based design studio, Joya —to justify its overhead cost is incidental. Everything Everywhere is now A24’s biggest hit ever , its $89 million box-office haul rendering the digital release a victory lap. The very existence … [Read more...] about I spent six weeks living in A24-world. Here’s what happened

- A + A BANGKOK (June 27): A tightening of Thai monetary policy will be conducted so it does not disrupt the recovery of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, central bank officials said on Monday, reinforcing market expectations of interest rate hikes later this year. Thailand's economy will continue growing this year and next, driven by domestic demand and tourism, and could beat forecasts despite a risk that inflation will be higher than expected, Bank of Thailand (BOT) officials told an analysts' meeting. The BOT will try to prevent the economy from overheating, which would cause demand-driven inflation, by gradually shifting from the current very accommodative policy, assistant governor Piti Disyatat told the meeting. The BOT's task was to help the economy take off smoothly, he said. "It's a challenge for monetary policy to release the accelerator pedal appropriately and timely so that the recovery has good momentum," Piti said, referring to the current … [Read more...] about Thai central bank says policy tightening will not disrupt economy recovery

A flood-affected man carrying a luggage wades through a flooded road as he moves to a safer place after heavy rains in Nagaon district, Assam, India, June 21, 2022. - A + A (June 27): India’s flood-hit areas are forecast to receive heavy rains this week, with 532 people losing their lives so far across the nation during the monsoon season and hundreds of thousands staying in temporary relief camps. The northeastern state of Assam has been among the worst-hit regions, with rains affecting 2.5 million people, destroying homes and infrastructure, and delaying sowing of crops such as rice. Drowning and landslides have killed 121 people in the state alone since April 6, according to a home ministry bulletin. Monsoon rains cause the death of hundreds of people in India every year, but the rainy season has been particularly devastating for the hilly states of Assam and Himachal Pradesh this year. About 233,000 people are still in relief camps, with over two dozen teams … [Read more...] about Flood-hit Indian states brace for more monsoon rains, 532 killed

- A + A (June 27): Hong Kong’s exports surprisingly declined in May as trade with China continued to face disruptions from Covid and other global headwinds stalled momentum. Overall exports slid 1.4% last month from a year earlier, reversing April’s 1.1% gain, the Census and Statistics Department said Monday. Economists had expected an improvement of 4.3%. Imports rose 1.3% in May from a year earlier, also worse than economists’ forecast of a 4.8% expansion. The trade deficit was HK$36.7 billion (US$4.7 billion), worse than estimates and the fourth straight month the city has recorded a deficit. May’s decline in exports comes after an unexpected uptick improvement in April, when exports to China were still falling but not as severely as in March. This time around, trade with China fell 10.1%, worse than April’s 9.4% drop, the statistics bureau said. The decline in the value of exports was attributed to “increasing headwinds” faced by the global economy, the … [Read more...] about Hong Kong exports post surprise fall on China curbs, global woes

- A + A HONG KONG/JOHANNESBURG (June 27): Prosus NV is planning to sell more of its US$134 billion stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd to finance a buyback programme, reversing a pledge to hold onto the full shareholding. Tencent declined in Hong Kong on Monday as investors pondered the extent to which Prosus, the Chinese company’s biggest shareholder, will unload its stock. The shares fell as much as 2.5% and traded 1.6% lower at the close. “We will keep selling Tencent shares to buy back our own, it’s open-ended and an unlimited programme,” Prosus Chief Executive Officer Bob Van Dijk said in an interview. “It’s actually a small part of Tencent daily traded volumes — it should be maximum between 3% to 5%.” The move represents a change of heart by Dutch e-commerce giant Prosus — majority owned by South Africa’s Naspers Ltd — which said after its last sale in April 2021 it wouldn’t offload more shares for three years. The company, spun off from … [Read more...] about Tencent backer Prosus to cut US$134 bil stake to buy stock