News in brief @ 19 November 2011
Filed Under (Business News) by Webmaster on 18-11-2011
Tagged Under : Affin Holdings Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, IOI Corp, Media Prima Bhd, White Horse Bhd
(1) Allianz Malaysia Bhd‘s pre-tax profit for the 3rd quarter ended September 30 2011 fell to RM46.373 million compared to RM50.379 million in the same period last year.
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, the company said revenue rose RM687.350 million from RM607.049 million.
In a separate statement, Allianz Malaysia chief executive officer Jens Reisch said the company posted an 11 per cent increase in Gross Written Premium (GWP) to RM1.986 billion as compared to RM1.783 billion in the same period last year.
“The robust results from both our general and life sectors, signifies the trust and preference of our customers,” he said.
The group’s general insurance arm, Allianz General Insurance Company (Malaysia) Bhd (AGIC), recorded a strong combined ratio at 87.5 per cent.
AGIC posted a 9 per cent increase in GWP of RM1.153 billion as compared to RM1.054 billion in the same period in 2010.
Meanwhile, Allianz Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd (ALIM), the life insurance arm of the group, in the third quarter resulted in a 14 per cent surge in GWP to record RM832.3 million compared to RM728.9 billion previously, supported by the growth of new business from agency distribution channel and good persistency
(2) Affin Holdings Bhd‘s pre-tax profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2011 rose by 44.9 per cent to RM216.2 million from RM149.2 million in the same period last year.
Revenue increased to RM680.1 million from RM597.8 million, the company said in a statement today.
For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2011, its pre-tax profit increased to RM534.5 million from RM480.8 million in the same period last year. Revenue rose to RM2 billion from RM1.7 billion previously.
Affin said the impressive gain was attributed to higher net interest income and Islamic banking income as well as a write-back of allowance for loan impairment.
The board has proposed a gross interim dividend of 12.0 sen per share (less tax) for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2011.
Affin is a major home-grown financial services conglomerate with activities focusing on commercial, Islamic and investment banking services, money broking, fund management and underwriting of life and general insurance business
(3) Media Prima Bhd’s net revenue grew by 5.0 per cent to RM1.19 billion for the nine months ended September 30 2011 compared to
RM1.13 billion in the same period last year.
Chairman Datuk Johan Jaaffar said in a statement today that the group would continue to harmonise its platforms to pursue positive results for the group through resources sharing and cross-platform promotions.
Media Prima’s Television Networks, comprising of TV3, ntv7, 8TV and TV9, recorded a profit after tax increase of 30 per cent and revenue growth of 6.0 per cent and will remain as one of the main revenue contributors for the group.
Group managing director Datuk Amrin Awaluddin said advertisers were cautious in their spending in order to optimise their value of advertising expenditure.
“With this in mind, the group has set in place several strategies to meet the demands of the advertisers.
“One such strategy is the recently launched I.M (Integrated Marketing) division that provides cross-platform integrated solutions to clients and advertisers through the incorporation of our various media outlets,” Amrin said.
This synergy of platforms has the potential of reaching a wider target group. Amrin also said that the group had completed the divestment exercise of its 90 per cent stake in TV3 Network Limited (TV3N) in Ghana on September 5 2011.
(4) IOI Corp, Malaysia’s second-biggest palm oil planter by market value, said first-quarter profit dropped 48 per cent on foreign exchange charges and lower earnings from property and manufacturing.
Net income declined to RM258.1 million (US$82 million), or 4 sen a share, in the three months ended September 30, from RM498.13 million, or 7.8 sen, a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Sales increased 18 per cent to RM4.1 billion on high contributions from the group’s core palm oil business.
“Global economic growth has recently shown signs of slowing down, which will make the current financial year a challenging period for corporations,” IOI said in the statement.
“Nevertheless, the group is optimistic that it will perform satisfactorily.”
IOI fetched an average RM3,149 a metric tonne for its crude palm oil in the quarter, compared with RM2,598 a year ago, it said. Palm futures have since dropped after hitting a 35-month high of RM3,967 a tonne on February 10 amid concern over expected higher output from top producers Indonesia and Malaysia and on global economic woes.
Palm oil may climb to RM4,000 by the end of the first half, the highest level since 2008, amid sustained demand and as production slows, Dorab Mistry, director of Godrej International Ltd said on November 13. Mistry cut his estimate for this year’s palm oil production in Malaysia to 18.8 million tonnes from 19 million tonnes and for Indonesia to 25.2 million tonnes from 25.5 million tonnes.
The group booked a RM271.7 million charge on an unrealised loss for the quarter on foreign currency-denominated borrowings, the Putrajaya-based company said.
IOI’s resource-based manufacturing segment reported a 29 per cent decrease in operating profit to RM33.2 million on lower sales of oleochemicals and reduced margins, the statement said.
Property earnings fell 31 per cent to RM168.2 million, it said. The group generates around 6.6 per cent of its revenue from real estate.
(5) White Horse Bhd’s pre-tax profit for the third quarter ended September 30 2011, dropped to RM15.528 million from RM24.845
million recorded in the same period last year.
Revenue declined to RM131.118 million from RM139.337 million previously.
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, White Horse said the drop in pre-tax profit was mainly due to the higher production cost coupled with the reduced revenue for the current quarter.
For the nine-month period, the company’s pre-tax profit slipped to RM50.701 million from RM63.477 million last year on revenues of RM389.215 million and RM394.076 million respectively.
The company anticipates more encouraging results for the next quarter in view of the additional production capacity rolled out in the second half of this year, coupled with the continuous market demand.
