Malaysia Market: Maybulk dips on poorer earnings

MALAYSIAN BULK CARRIERS BHD (Maybulk) shares retreated on Thursday after its net profit fell 99% to RM371,000 for 3QFY11 ended Sept 30, from RM87.75 million a year earlier.

At 10.25am, Maybulk lost seven sen to RM1.59 with 309,600 shares done.

Maybulk’s revenue declined 60% to RM44.4 million compared with RM109 million a year earlier. Basic earnings per share for the quarter fell to 0.04 sen versus 8.77 sen a year earlier.

CIMB Research cut its target price for the stock to RM1.65 from RM1.81 previously, and maintained its Underperform call on the stock while cutting earnings numbers since the contribution from the expired Tenaga contract was more substantial than earlier thought.

“We continue to apply a 20% discount to our SOP-based target price, similar to other bulk shipping stocks.

“As forewarned, the expiry of the lucrative Tenaga contract in June sent bulk earnings tumbling this quarter. 9M core profit came in slightly below our estimates at 70% but was only 51% of consensus numbers. Brace for sizeable consensus downgrades,” the research house said on Thursday. (theedgemalaysia.com)