apanese stocks rose, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average paring its biggest monthly loss since August, as shipping companies and steelmakers rebounded.
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (9107) and other shipping lines advanced, rising for a third day after the sector plunged by as much as 25 percent this month. JFE Holdings Inc. (5411) and Kobe Steel Ltd. (5406) both rebounded for a third day. Nikon Corp., a camera maker that depends on Europe for about a quarter of its sales, gained 1.5 percent on optimism the leaders in the region will boost efforts to end the debt crisis.
“Investors are likely to buy shares even on small news because stocks (TPX) have been sold too much globally on lingering debt issues in European countries,” said Seiichiro Iwamoto, who helps oversee about $35 billion in Tokyo at Mizuho Asset Management Co. “People in the market are swinging between joy and sorrow on even the smallest news from the region.”
The Nikkei 225 (NKY) gained 1.1 percent to 8,377.74 as of 12:36 a.m. in Tokyo. For the month, the gauge has lost 6.8 percent amid signs Europe’s crisis is spreading to the region’s major economies. The broader Topix gained 0.8 percent to 721.72 today.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPXL1) gained 2.9 percent yesterday in New York after Thanksgiving retail sales climbed to a record amid speculation European leaders will do more to tame the debt crisis. U.S. retail sales during the holiday weekend increased 16 percent to $52.4 billion, the National Retail Federation said on Nov. 27, citing a BIGresearch survey.
Shippers, Steelmakers
Shipping lines and steelmakers gained the most among the 33 Topix industries groups today, rebounding after the sectors plunged by at least 35 percent this year.
Kawasaki Kisen, which sank by more than 60 percent this year, gained 4.6 percent to 136 yen. Shares gained even after the Nikkei newspaper reported the shipping line will likely post a net loss of 32 billion yen ($409 million) this fiscal year on sluggish demand from the U.S. and Europe.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., the nation’s No. 2 shipping line by revenue, rose 2.9 percent to 247 yen. The shares have fallen by about half this year.
JFE Holdings advanced 4.2 percent to 1,381 yen. Kobe Steel climbed 1.8 percent to 116 yen. The companies have dropped more than 40 percent this year.
Japanese stocks gained even after the jobless rate rose for the first time in three months, adding to evidence that the nation’s post-earthquake rebound is fading. The unemployment rate increased to 4.5 percent in October.
Exporters to Europe
Japanese exporters to Europe advanced today. Nikon gained 1.5 percent to 1,770 yen. Ricoh Co., a maker of cameras and office-equipment that depends on the region for more than 20 percent of its sales, rose 2 percent to 680 yen.
In Europe, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are discussing an agreement under which member states will commit to tighter budget discipline without waiting for treaty changes. The newspaper did not say where it got the information.
“There are increasing expectations that some additional support for the European debt crisis will come out at the European summit meeting next month,” said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, a strategist at Tokyo-based SMBC Friend Securities Co. “The expectations won’t last long and the markets will likely react nervously to European news.” (Bloomberg)
TIME (FV RM0.70- BUY) 9MFY11 Results Review: Almost on The Dot
Time dotCom’s (TDC) operating revenue was below expectations at 67% and 66% of
our and consensus full-year estimates, owing to the absence of global bandwidth sales.
However, higher private leased line and domestic bandwidth sales drove core EBITDA
margins to a record 34% in 3QFY11. With its minority shareholders recently approving
management’s corporate proposals, TDC is poised to become a regional wholesale
service provider in 1QFY12, which is a future catalyst for the stock. We are maintaining our BUY, at a revised FV of RM0.70 (excluding contributions from the entities to be acquired), which effectively provides an 8.5% upside from the current price level.
KFC (FV RM4.08-BUY) 9MFY11 Results Review: Not Much to Crow About
MEDIAC (FV RM1.47– BUY) 1HFY12 Results Review: Staying on Course
KIMLUN (FV RM2.15-BUY) 9MFY11 Results Review: Intact on All Fronts
PERWAJA (FV RM1.54-BUY) 9MFY11 Results Review: Awaiting Upstream Makeover
MRCB (FV RM2.50- TRADING BUY) 9MFY11 Results Review: Progressing a Tad
Slower
IJMPLNT (FV RM3.42-BUY) 6MFY12 Results Review: Stage Set For Double-Digit
Growth
SIME (FV RM9.64-NEUTRAL) 1QFY12 Results Review: Upping Fair Value to RM9.64
IJM (FV RM5.74-NEUTRAL) 1HFY12 Results Review: A Rather Surprising Letdown
SOP (FV RM6.51-BUY) 9MFY11 Results Review: More Blowout Results
KULIM (FV RM4.80-BUY) 9MFY11 Results Review: Maintains Winning Streak
Market Review
Still skittish. The FBM KLCI closed over 16 points lower ahead of the long weekend asinvestors took profit on blue chips after the recent gains. The headlines over the weekend are: (i) Khazanah highlighted that non-Bumiputra firms can acquire non-core assets divested by GLCs and (ii) ROC Oil is keen on more oil projects in Malaysia with its local partner, Dialog Group. On the results front, Sime Darby reported a 64% y-o-y jump in net profit, Kulim posted a 40% fall in 3Q earnings, MRCB's 3Q numbers surged 191% while KFCH's earnings fell 12%. We expect sentiment to remain skittish albeit the stronger close across Asian markets yesterday coupled with gains overnight in the US and Europe over better Thanksgiving weekend sales and hopes of a recovery in the Eurozone respectively should pare down the earlier losses today.(OSK Wealth Management Trading)
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 29): Shares of PROTON HOLDINGS BHD [] rose to an intra-morning high of RM3.23 on Tuesday as UOB Kay Hian Malaysia Research raised the target price to RM3.05 on a possible takeover.
At 11.32am, it was up 11 sen to RM3.19. There were 1.10 million shares done at prices ranging from RM3.16 to RM3.23.
UOB Kay Hian Research upgrade Proton to a Hold from Sell previously raised its target price to RM3.05, after imputing a 15% discount (vs 30% previously) to RNAV.
“Should Proton be able to dispose the loss-making Lotus Group, every RM100 million raised from this potential disposal could add 20 sen/share to Proton’s RNAV,” it said.
The research house said there was some truth to the constant speculation of Proton’s impending takeover, after seeing Proton’s somewhat bullish share price action (uptrend but with high volatility) over the past two weeks, recent consolidation in the auto industry (MBM Resources buying Hirotako), ongoing reforms by ailing GLCs (eg Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC) has just announced its decision to cease its liner operations, once thought to be a “sacred cow”).(theedgemalaysia.com)
SAN FRANCISCO (Nov 28): Facebook, the world's largest Internet social network, is preparing for a initial public stock offering next year, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Facebook is exploring raising $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday. It hopes the offering will value the company at more than $100 billion, according to WSJ, which first reported the story.
Facebook's Chief Financial Officer, David Ebersman, had discussed a public float with Silicon Valley bankers but founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg had not decided on any terms and his plans could change, the Journal said.
The social network, which now claims more than 800 million members after seven years of explosive growth, has not selected bankers to manage what would be a very closely watched IPO. But it had drafted an internal prospectus and was ready at any moment to pull the IPO trigger, the Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying.
At $100 billion valuation, the company started by Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room would have double the valuation of Hewlett-Packard, the Journal said.
A formal S-1 filing could come before the end of the year, though nothing was decided, the newspaper added.
A Facebook representative declined to comment.
Silicon Valley start-ups have this year begun to test investor appetite for a new wave of dotcoms. If it does debut in 2012, Facebook's IPO would dwarf that of any other dotcom waiting to go public.
"Farmville" creator Zynga has filed for an IPO of up to $1 billion. In November, daily deals service Groupon debuted with much fanfare, only to plunge below its IPO price within weeks.
LinkedIn and Pandora are now also trading significantly below the levels their stocks reached during their public debuts earlier this year.
Facebook has become one of the world's most popular Web destinations, challenging established companies such as Google Inc and Yahoo Inc for consumers' online time and for advertising dollars.
Facebook does not disclose its financial results, but a source familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier this year that the company's revenue in the first six months of 2011 doubled year-on-year to $1.6 billion.
Eric Feng, a former partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who now runs social-networking site Erly.com, said that the cash Facebook will get in an IPO would allow them to make more acquisitions and refine or work on new projects, such as a rumored-Facebook phone or a netbook.
Having tradeable stock will also allow Facebook to attract more engineering talent who might have been more attracted to the company in earlier days when it was growing faster but now perhaps might be attracted to other companies. "It'll be a powerful bullet for them," said Feng.
Investors have been increasingly eager to buy shares of Facebook and other fast-growing but privately-held Internet social networking companies on special, secondary-market exchanges.
Facebook said in January that it will exceed 500 shareholders this year, and that in accordance with SEC regulations, it will file public financial reports no later than April 30, 2012.(Reuters)
SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd executive vice-chairman and president Datuk Seri Shahril Shamsuddin will be group president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the new merged entity between the company and Kencana Petroleum Bhd.
Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir, who is Kencana CEO, will be the enlarged group’s executive vice-chairman, according to letters sent by the former and Shahril to their respective staff.
The letters, obtained by Business Times yesterday, also noted that the Securities Commission (SC) had approved the merger proposal a few days ago.
Datuk Hamzah Bakar, currently chairman of SapuraCrest, will be nominated group chairman, Shahril said in his letter.
“It is critical that we put in place a strong and dynamic organisational structure that would ensure business continuity and realisation of the synergies we hope to derive as a merged entity.
“I would like to assure each and everyone of you that you will continue to be an important part of the new organisation.
“As founding members of this new organisation, it is incumbent upon all of us to ensure that the organisation continues to grow and chart new territories as a global oil and gas player,” he said.
Mokhzani said he and Shahril had come up with a “winning management” formula.
“We have decided that we both can lean on each other to strengthen the prospects of two already successful companies. Neither will take a back seat to the other. We will both helm the company and chart its way forward.
“With the approval from SC now obtained, the journey towards merging the two companies will really begin in earnest,” Mokhzani added.
The RM11.85 billion merger will create the largest oil and gas (O&G) service provider by asset in the country.
Once completed, the SapuraCrest-Kencana group will be the world’s fifth largest oil and gas service provider.
Under their cash and share swap deal, special purpose vehicle Integral Key Sdn Bhd will buy all the assets and liabilities of SapuraCrest for RM5.87 billion and Kencana for RM5.98 billion.
Following the SC approval, the next hurdle will be for both companies to secure 75 per cent of shareholders' approval each before the deal can go through.
Shahril said SapuraCrest will call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to vote on the deal on December 14.
Kencana, meanwhile, has set December 15 for its EGM.
Shahril, via Sapura Technology Bhd, owns a 40.1 per cent stake in SapuraCrest, while Mokhzani's investment firm, Khasera Baru Sdn Bhd, owns a 32.4 per cent stake in Kencana.
Other key shareholders of Sapura is Norway-based Seadrill Ltd with a 23.6 per cent stake, while Kencana has Kumpulan Persaraan Wang with a 6.8 per cent stake in it.
Both Sapura and Kencana have a common shareholder in the Employees Provident Fund with a 10.1 per cent stake and 7.8 per cent stake respectively in the companies.
(Business Times)
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