Just-In-Time News - Ramunia,GPacket,Merge Energy,Zeland ... 17/2/2011

Ramunia: Its major shareholder Datuk Azizul Rahman has pared down its stake significantly recently, raising expectations that he may exit the group soon. His indirect shareholding fell to 11.06% from 14.28% as at Dec 30, 2010. Sources say he did not make as much profits as he could from the selldown. His move also indicated that he was paving the way for LTH to chart the company’s direction. LTH has 25.17% stake in Ramunia.


GPacket: It has deferred its target of breaking even at the Ebitda level to the end of 2011 as opposed to the 1Q2011. The deferment was due to the more competitive environment and lower price point in the portable broadband segment planed to grow forward. It posted net loss of RM77.68 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2010, which was lower compared with the RM100.71 million a year ago. Revenue rose 58% to RM116.25 million from RM73.54 million, loss per share was 11.8 sen compared with 15.3 sen. However, the loss from continuing operations were RM100.11 million compared with RM103.82 million a year ago. For FY10, it managed to reduce its net loss to RM134.97 million from RM182.64 million in FY09, while revenue increased 80.8% to RM393.97 million from RM217.81 million. Loss from continuing operations increased to RM209.67 million from RM187.41 million in FY09. Total group accumulated losses increased to RM274.67 million as at Dec 31, 2010 from RM196.53 million as at Sept 30, 2010.

GPacket: 0.800 (HDBS), 0.78 (OSK)


Merge Energy: Several interesting changes have been observed lately at civil engineering outfit Merge Energy Bhd. Its CEO Yusof Badawi, who has led the company since May 2003, stepped down, paving the way for Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Karim to take over the helm of the company. Merge Energy also stated that Abdul Jalil had surfaced as a substantial shareholder after acquiring 50% of the paid-up capital of private company Desa Binapuri Sdn Bhd which has 19.4% equity interest in Merge Energy. Then in October 2010, Maseri Basirah hived off his 10 million shares or 14.93% in Merge Energy to Datuk Mohd Said Mat Saman. Maseri had been a substantial shareholder in Merge Energy since September 2002.

It remained unclear at this juncture what Abdul Jalil and Mohd Said’s plans are for Merge Energy. Abdul Jalil also controls MPRI Pipes Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Musa & Rahman Plastic Industries Sdn Bhd). MPRI Pipes posted a net loss of RM1.03 million from RM16.67 million in revenue for its financial year ended December 2009. MPRI has its mainstay in the manufacturing of plastic products and pipes. Mohd Said meanwhile controls Sri Sekamat Enterprise Sdn Bhd, a company involved in general construction and which in FY08 suffered a loss of RM2.07 million from RM20.79 million revenue. Several of Sri Sekamat Enterprise’s jobs have involved the water sector as well such as rehabilitating reservoirs.


Zeland: Loss-making Zeland recorded negative revenue from its continuing operations in Indonesia totaling RM39.2 million in the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2010 and warned of more losses in the current fourth quarter. This was due to a reversal made on the revenue recognised earlier as a result of additional foreseeable losses for the Indonesian project. Net losses for the 3Q were RM41.29 million compared with RM60.38 million. Loss per share was 7.33 sen versus 10.72 sen.