August 18, 2010

BJ Retail-Can it Go Up?


Well,  BJRetail (BJR) has been listed at long last.

In spite of the oversubscription, it failed to get good premium values on listing.

Right now, it is trading at 48 sen, 2 sen below par. So for those who wanted to buy excess rights issue, this is your chance. Do not expect this share to go up anytime in price soon because the market is full of sellers. Until such time when the dgestion has complete and the supply and demand forces are equally matched, then there is hope of a uptick in prices. If not, just wait it out.

BJR was listed on 16 August and the peak price was 53 sen. Then it gravitated to about 49 sen before ending at 50.5 sen. Subsequently, a tsunami of sellers came out on 17 August to drive to price down to 47 sen. Today it even went to a  low 46.5 sen. I think Vincent is cashing out some of his dividend in specie.

Let us look at some information on this counter.

Currently there are about 1150 7-Eleven stores nationwide, of which 615 stores are in the Klang Valley and 116 in Johor. Its target is to have 2000 stores within five years. So, an increase in the number of stores should mean an increase in sales revenue.

For FY2009,ending December 31st, 7-Eleven achieved a sales revenue of RM1.185 billion and profit after tax of  RM25.4 million.

Besides opening new stores, 7-Eleven is looking forward to providing charged services as well as another revenue stream.

The retail business is generally perceived to be highly competitive. However, 7-Eleven has the  lion’ share of the convenience store market in Malaysia as to the government’ has banned the entry of foreign convenience stores.

Apparently, about 60% of the sales in 7-Eleven stores is generated from 7pm-7am. This means that these stores do not  compete head-on with hypermarkets and traditional sundry shops.

In short, BJR’s convenience stores business is in the high growth market where competition is minimal, at least for now.

Nonetheless, 7-Eleven is no the only growth story in BJR, in which Tan Sri Vincent owns a 51.8% stake after its listing exercise. BJR also sells sewing machines, home appliances and furniture under Singer brand and distributes motorcycles.

Singer has been providing micro consumer credit to customers who purchase its home appliances for a long time. Barely 15% if its sales are in cash. The bulk of sales is on credit and paid off in installments.So, you can see a steady income flow from here.

The provision of credit facilities is yet another income stream for BJRetail.  In future consumer could become a major income avenue for BJRetail should the company manage to raise more working capital to expand such business.

The company’s non performing loans represent only 4% of Singer’s total sales revenue.

Let us look at the valuation.

BJR's IPO price is at 50 sen per share. This implies a PER of nearly 22 times based on proforma EPS of 2.3 sen for FY2009 ended Dec 31.Convenience stores contributed nearly 75% to BJR’s revenue and 64% gross profit of RM490 million.

Many think that this valuation is steep in terms of PER, which is close to that of Parkson Holdings. Also they feel, the profit margin that BJRetail is slim.

Based on such unimpressive figure, RHB has rated the share to be worth  51 sen; Kenanga: at  0.49 and TA at 53 sen.

Furthermore, there is the potential shareholding and earnings dilution as a result of the conversion of a chunk of ICPS. There are 962 million ICPS for BJRetail. Through Vincent Tan's investment vehicle Premier Merchandise Sdm Bhd, there is approximately 92% of the ICPS while Cosway owns 7.7% of it. The ICPS were issued when BJRetail acquired 7-Eleven and Singer from Tan and Cosway Corp respectively.

PS:

In a posting to Bursa KL, it was reported that Vincent Tan through Berjaya Sampo Insurance was in the market mopping up the BJR shares. The shares closed a sen up at the final bell.

This is a good sign as  the excess supply will eventually be kept as long term  investments by this insurance company.

With that, let us see now whether BJR share can do magic on the Bursa or will it be another dumdum.

KLK's has 33% more profit

Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK)'s third quarter results ending 30 June, 2010 is out.

It has registered a net profit of RM243.5mil, 28% higher than RM190.2mil posted in the same period last year. It attributed this profit to improvement in its plantation, manufacturing and retailing sectors.

Revenue grew 18.8% to RM1.83bil  from RM1.54bil previously it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia. As such, KLK said the group’s third-quarter pre-tax profit climbed 34% to RM320.6mil.

“The plantation sector profit improved 42.6% to RM262.7mil, benefiting from higher commodity prices with ex-mill price of crude palm oil at RM2,562 per tonne compared with RM2,330 in the previous third quarter,” it said.

It said the sector also benefited from higher price of all grades of rubber (net of cess) at RM10.97 per kg, compared with RM6.57 in the previous corresponding period.

“The manufacturing sector posted a profit of RM56.8mil, from a loss of RM18mil in the previous third quarter, boosted by the improved performance from the oleo-chemical division,” it said.

Its retailing sector achieved a profit of RM4.5mil, compared with a loss of RM28.6mil before.

For the first nine months, the company posted a net profit of RM701.3mil, 90.2% higher than RM368.8mil in the previous corresponding period. Its revenue rose 12.7% to RM5.48bil, compared with RM4.86bil previously.

For the current financial year, KLK expects its profit to be substantially higher in view of the continuing satisfactory performance from the plantation sector, the expected better returns from the oleo-chemical division and positive results from the retailing sector.

So,it looks like this Ipoh-based company is another juggernaut worth observing.

Metronic Abandons BOT Water Project in China


Metronic Global Berhad (Metronic) has got itself out of the  Anhui Water Project and will be duly compensated.

However, the termination of this project has some adverse effect on its  earnings per share and net assets per share for the current financial year ending 31 December 2010.

Accordingly, earnings per share will fall by 0.26 sen from loss per share of 0.33 sen per share to loss per share of 0.59 sen while net assets per share will decrease accordingly by 0.26 sen from 11.67 sen to 11.41 sen for the current fiscal year.

On balance, Metronic will be compensated by the termination of the agreement, receiving RMB3,904,303 or in equivalent, RM 1,819,405. This will be useful in replenishing the company's coffers as much needed working capital.

So, how is the market going to respond or react to this development.?

Let us wait and see.

Another Flaming 9% Growth

Reuters has just reported today (Aug 18) that the Malaysian economy  expanded by a flaming 8.9 per cent in the second quarter from a year ago, more than forecast as it registered the third consecutive quarter of growth.


This is higher than the 8.1 per cent growth as revealed in a  Reuters poll, though as expected, the economy has marginally slowed from the first quarter’s annual growth of 10.1 per cent.

The Malaysian economy emerged from recession in the fourth quarter of 2009 when it grew by 4.5 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2008. It contracted by 1.7 per cent in 2009 overall from the previous year.

PM Najib said an improved economic growth could also be seen based on the position of the ringgit which had shown stability compared to other currencies in Southeast Asia.

So will BNM increase the BLR by another 25 basis points come this Thursday, 19th August?