wow. no one on i3 with any ideas. has no one noticed this counter? unbelievable.

takeover is it? very unusual....

i'm sorry but the management is fundamentally incompetent. its clearly reflected in its financials. year after year.

please refer to http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Tearsheets/Financials?s=UNISEM:KLS

you sound like you bought the stock @ RM10. if so, my sympathies.

there might be some chance it heads back to 1.40 etc if results improve, but what took so long???

-since when did road maintenance suddenly give you o & g expertise? this is not packaging, plantation, logistics or property. o & g is a whole different ball-game.

-why is the indo co. so keen to sell if the well's are so flush with oil?

too many questions for now. at least they are still paying a divvy.

stock up the wine cellar & whisky before GST and weak ringgit cause prices to rise ...

buy a new bmw and some nights @ GRO place. cost $$$ bro.

Protasco's Puzzling Purchase (2) - M.A. Wind
Sunday, 2 February 2014

I wrote before about Protasco's proposed deal to buy into an Indonesian oil & gas company, a rather strange deal since Protasco has no relevant industry experience in this field.

The company just announced that it has entered in an amended Sales and Purchase Agreement, 13 months after the initial announcement. Was the first announcement made during the Christmas holiday, this time it was made on the evening of the CNY family reunion diner. Interesting timing indeed.

The deal in short (all PT companies are Indonesian based):
Anglo Slavic Petrogas, a BVI based company, owns 100% of PT ASU
PT ASU owns 100% of PT ASI
PT ASI owns 95% of PT FAS, an oil & gas exploration company
PT FAS owns 70% of PT Haseba
PT Haseba has the rights to KST Field
Protasco wants to buy a big chunk of PT ASI shares from PT ASU.

The old deal (28 December 2012): Protasco buys 76% of PT ASI for USD 55M, with a USD 55M profit guarantee (spread out over 4 years). This deal values PT ASI at USD 72M.

The new deal (29 January 2014): Protasco buys 63% of PT ASI for USD 22M, with a USD 22M profit guarantee (spread out over 4 years). The deal values PT ASI at USD 35M.

It seems that the value of PT ASI suddenly has halved while the profit guarantee is down a whopping 60%! No reason is given for the much lower profit guarantee, puzzling.

PT ASI's net assets are only USD 9M. The valuation (about 4 times net assets) is done by KPMG based on the DCF (Discounted Cash Flow) model.

I think this tool is completely unsuitable (I wrote before about this) to calculate the valuation for a junior oil & gas company, due to the enormous uncertainties, for instance:
The prices of oil and gas, fluctuating a lot
Exchange price between different currencies
Cost of exploration, often projects are more expensive and take longer than planned
The exact amount of reserves available and the economic viability to extract them
The possibilities of disasters, either caused by men (oil spills etc.) or by nature (the field is near an earthquake prone area)
Possible changes in the conditions of the concession or in the tax rate (happen quite often, especially if profit is good and the government changes)
High corruption and low corporate governance standards and enforcement in Indonesia (for instance compared to Malaysia)

There is still no approval to extend the partnership agreement that expires on December 2014 for another 10 years. The extension is however a condition for the deal to go through.

There still is hardly any transparency at all, for instance:
Who is behind the BVI based seller Anglo Slavic Petrogas?
What are the expected extraction rates and what are the oil & gas reserves of the KST Field?
Why was the exploration of KST Field stopped in the past? In 2011 revenue of PT Haseba was zero
Is there any middlemen, is any commission paid for this deal?
Who owns the other 30% of PT Haseba?
What did PT ASI pay to own 95% of PT FAS?
Protasco will make an advance of another USD 5 Million to be used for exploration, how much are the other companies (PT ASU, the other shareholders of PT Haseba) contributing?

Bad news is that the amount of money to be invested and loaned represents 24% of Protasco's net assets, and since this is less than 25% the company doesn't need shareholders approval nor does it need to appoint an adviser. Is it by chance that the percentage is just below the threshold?

An anonymous person pointed at the possible role that Adrian Ooi Kock Aun plays in the deal, he was appointed to the board of Protasco just before the deal was announced December 2012. He is the CFO of PT Inovisi Infracom Tbk, an Indonesian listed company that also invests in oil & gas. The guarantees that are given out are based on a large block of shares of PT Inovisi Infracom Tbk. Surely Adrian Ooi must be aware of the identity of this large shareholder who is most likely the person/company behind Anglo Slavic Petrogas, the seller. Should this information not be made public?

http://cgmalaysia.blogspot.com/2014/02/protascos-puzzling-purchase-2.html

----------for reference-----might answer some questions-----------

as don said, invest @ own risk. i'm taking a risk, so i'd like some return.

if unisem is able to turn things around, then why not see some improvement in share price. but why has it taken this long to sort out its problems? In the mean time share price has dropped from a peak of RM2.50 in 2010 to RM1 now.

please refer to http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Tearsheets/Financials?s=UNISEM:KLS

where is the phenomenal top-line growth? i just don't see it. sorry.

Published: Tuesday December 31, 2013 MYT 9:07:00 AM
Updated: Tuesday December 31, 2013 MYT 9:09:30 AM
Affin Research upgrades Unisem to Buy, target price RM1.39

KUALA LUMPUR: Affin Investment Research has upgraded Unisem to a Buy with a target price of RM1.39 and it believes the worst is over for the company.

It said on Tuesday that after two consecutive years of financial losses, management in a recent meeting guided that the worse could be over as the group has restructured itself and is in a position to sail back into profitability in 2014.

“Over the past few quarters, management has focused on product discontinuation of low volume products and has sought to raise average selling prices (ASPs) for others. More recently, Unisem further rationalised its headcount in Batam and decided to shut its Wales operations,” it said.’

Affin Research said Unisem anagement’s decision to close its Europe plant was due to: 1) Wales being no longer profitable; and 2) having adopted a new business strategy where management are more focus towards top tier and mid customer rather than new entrants in the industry.

“Collectively, Batam and Wales have been a drag to Unisem to the tune of RM15mil to RM20mil in losses over the past few years,” it said.

The research house said the management guided that the turnaround in Batam plant was already bearing fruit and had turned earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) positive in November 2013.

“We expect Unisem to register its final quarter of loss in 4Q13 on further restructuring charges, but expect a sharp turnaround in profitability in 2014 due to Unisem’s leaner operating structure.

“Without losses from Wales and Batam as well as continued profitability from its Ipoh and China units, we project that Unisem can achieve a FY14 net profit of RM44.2mil (previously RM16.1mil). Our FY13-15

EPS forecast is raised by -14%/+175%/139% respectively on our more upbeat prospects for the company,” it said.

----this might answer some questions.

probably decided to included nuts and ikan bilis in nasi lemak - investors pleased - buy shares to go with evening teh tarik :)

sorry, just saw your post tony. i'm no expert, but i imagine the huge valuation was due to the dot-com boom.

regarding contract manufacturing, i guess MPI and unisem lost out to Foxconn, Hoon Hai Precision, due to the scale.

their business must be pretty low margin, in addition, it seems these companies have poor management teams in place, and are unable to execute.

as to whether or not you can trade and make money, thats a different story...cheers

that is why rarely pay any attention to top line, if EPS is not growing as well. its a hugh red flag if eps is negative as well, unless its due to one-off charges.

you've got leaders like uchitec, gtronic and inari, so why should i invest in unisem. can someone help me out here.

don: the answer to the quiz is unisem - RM10, MPI - RM50

Lets looks @ last 8 quarters financials for unisem...

F.Y. Quarter Revenue Profit b Tax Profit Attb. to SH EPS
2013-09-30 246,780 -535 -1,113 -648 -0.10
2013-06-30 246,931 -1,281 -4,769 -4,195 -0.62
2013-03-31 249,723 -10,323 -10,283 -9,744 -1.45
2012-12-31 269,440 -20,036 -20,174 -19,501 -2.89
2012-09-30 282,952 9,086 8,330 8,306 1.23 -
2012-06-30 282,945 -8,242 -7,762 -7,582 -1.12
2012-03-31 256,611 -16,240 -13,686 -13,529 -2.01
2011-12-31 273,180 -5,134 -2,522 -2,531 -0.38

hmmmmm. losses for the last eight quarters. lovely!

i don't know if this is a 'good' or 'bad' share but happy investing :)

klia2 looking to be delayed. no nuts in my nasi lemak. what next. no toilet seats on the toilets...

visit malaysia 2014. no excuse for 'naked' nut-less nasi lemak.

actually 9000 -> 120K is a decent spike in activity. especially considering 624 counters untraded @ 12.15pm

of course. if you traded and made money. power to you. but don't tell me to be holding this stock like Warren Buffet and Coca Cola. Puuuuuhhhhllllleeese!

okay. quiz time. what was unisem & MPI (since also in similar industry) all time high?

clue: please refer to your history books circa 1999-2000

making losses regularly bro....

a good stock?????? u have got to be kidding

bear in mind that MAS was worth trading around RM1.00 in early 2011...

F.Y. Revenue ('000) Profit Attb. to SH ('000) EPS (Cent) PE DPS (Cent) NAPS ROE (%)
TTM 15,090,855 -778,876 -10.35 - 0.00 - 0.2600 -
2012-12-31 13,756,411 -432,587 -12.94 - - - 0.6400
2011-12-31 13,901,421 -2,523,988 -75.52 - - - 0.3200 -

wow!!! with such a sterling set of results, i can't wait to top up!!! just like our federal govt, using our tax dollaz... :)

what about the whopping liabilites of mkh? total debt/total equity around 0.52? anyone care to comment?

from what i understand, raw water licenses are to be cancelled and handed back to a Selangor unit. MB Khalid should and can pay hardball. and why not? who enjoys a risk-free return of 12%, especially when sitting in opposition?

"as of 30/9/2013, retained profit 1.2B" - that is one helluva stingy company ... trying to win oscar for stinginess and tightfistedness

heading back to 1.20. where it belongs.

as you say ... speaking of penny stocks with potential. what about ES Ceramics as a proxy play to the glove sector? earnings have been looking up. pe - 10. debt/equity (gearing) - 0.3175. roe ~ 7.5% .... any thoughts?

i'm counting on it. will look to top-up post divvy. down to 15 sen hopefully.

i couldn't be happier, quite frankly, if this stock stays stuck @ 15-16 sen and continues payouts of ~ 1.2 - 1.6 sen per share. but that hardly seems likely to continue on, without some adjustment to either dividend policy or share price.

just joking laaaaaaa. its all good things!! : ) happy investing!

ROE - Return on Equity - measures a corporation's profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested

DY - Dividend Yield - A financial ratio that shows how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. In the absence of any capital gains, the dividend yield is the return on investment for a stock.

Pls request Mr Kcchongnz for further info....

maybe i should plough my life-savings into sumatec, luster, tiger, csl-wa & gp-wa. the future lies here i'm sure.

its a terrible analysis!!! what will i do with all my dividends??? o my! poor me! how terrible indeed anbz!

trading above 200 day ema. if it can maintain earnings @ ~ 2 sen (ttm), a conservative pe of 12, then 24 sen should be doable.

maybe i stick with marco eh? more of a bargain eps - 2.2 sen. pe - 7.5. somemore got DY 13.33%. wow. what a bargain!

eps - 0.03 sen. pe - 283.33. what a bargain. :)

only EPF can/will reward such mismanagement. no one complains when the share price goes from 5.12 to 9.78.

heading to 1.50 soon.

already priced in. have you not seen how this stock has moved over last 6 weeks.

wasn't it hwangdbs that also, coincidentally, released a report last year about a certain Keck Seng regarding a "super special dividend" etc etc.... that never materialized? never mind tho, the share price alone provided the "special dividend" if you bought at 3 - 3.5 that is! :) happy investing!

what on earth as thailand got to do with support and resistance? with investing? know how to read balance sheet and cash flow statements? might be more relevant than thailand right about now. :) happy investing.

if you don't own this stock, then thats already GREAT news!

educspec - education speculation. how to hold? it is meant for speculation! :)

.42 to 50 is almost 20% gain from today? Is that likely considering we had two double digit percentage down days last week? only time will tell...

missed the boat? i don't think so. just wait and see :)

c u @ .35. i am confident enough contra players will need to dump.

how many years does it take to learn this simple lesson? oh well. there is always next time. happy investing and have a joyful and prosperous cny!

i still find it fascinating malaysians still believe what is written in bolehland/kangkungland papers.

wow. the way that sell-off is accelerating maybe pn17 before lunch.

potential for limit down before lunch?

heading back to RM0.30 perhaps?

i do feel a bit sad for those guys. what a horrible way to start cny with a cry.