24th November 2011
Top Story: Genting Plantations: Beating expectations Outperform
3QFY11 Results / Briefing Note
'' 9MFY11 net profit was above expectations, coming in at 77-79% of our and consensus FY11 forecasts. The main variance was the higher-than-expected FFB production growth of 15% yoy, bringing 9MFY11 production growth to 13.4% yoy, higher than our projected 8.5% for FY11. Management was also surprised by the strong growth numbers, given that it had earlier cautioned of a potential impact of the wet weather beginning of the year on pollenation. We have thus adjusted our production forecasts accordingly.
Macro View
Inflation: Held up at 3.4% in Cctober, as food prices accelerated
Economic Highlights (published 23 Nov 2011)
'' The headline inflation rate held up at 3.4% yoy in Oct, the same pace as in Sep, and near the 26-month high of +3.5% in Jun.
'' Going forward, inflation will likely moderate but stay elevated at around 2.8% in 2012, compared with +3.3% estimated for 2011. This is on account of a reduction in subsidies for fuel and power tariff as well as industrial gas once every six months by the Government that will lead to higher input costs and part of it will likely be passed on to consumers.
Corporate Highlights
Petronas Chemicals: Improved 2QFY12/11 results, but slower operations ahead? Market Perform
Briefing Note
'' Management guided that there will be significant upstream (gas fields offshore) maintenance by Petronas in the 4QCY11. As such, gas supply will be 70% of the usual level. Whilst the earlier gas limitation (seen for the 6MFY12/11) was in regards to the methane gas supply, the upcoming upstream maintenance will also impact ethane gas supply, which is the one of the main feedstocks for the olefins and polyolefin division.
Wah Seong: Missed out on Ichthys as well Underperform (down from MP)
Company Update
'' We understand that Bredero-Shaw has received a LOI from Mitsui & Co for the pipe-coating contract, estimated to be worth US$400m (RM1.2bn), on the Ichthys Gas Field Development project.
'' We understand that the main reason Wah Seong lost out on this project was that its plant is currently too busy to facilitate the pipe-coating schedule that was required.