KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of KNM advanced in very active trade on Thursday, Nov 25, after the company announced its nine-month financial results which were above consensus.

At 9.14am, KNM was up three sen to 46.5 sen with 10.12 million shares done.

The FBM KLCI rose 6.34 points to 1,494.88. Turnover was 95.62 million shares valued at RM142.27 million. There were 202 gainers, 48 losers and 96 stocks unchanged.

OSK Research said KNM results were above consensus but within its expectations, making up 83% and 78% of the FY10 forecasts respectively.

The improvement in the 3QFY10 numbers showed that PBT soared 393% to RM41.0m q-o-q, mainly contributed by higher utilization of its plants as well as a better product mix.

"However, on a YTD comparison, the 9MFY10 PBT was still lower by 77.4% due to lower selling prices and higher cost of operation," it said.

OSK Research said its target price for KNM remained unchanged at 56 sen, based on a PER of 9 times FY11 EPS.