unfortunately there was no mention on the prospect of its 10-year immigration system upgrade project bid for Sri Lanka in its latest AR released few weeks back;

Excerpt from an exclusive interview with the CEO of SCICOM on 17 July 2024 :

On being shortlisted for border control and immigration concessions in five countries, Ariyanayakam says: “We are bidding for such jobs in Sri Lanka, in various African countries, in the South Pacific, all over the place … Our chances are good, because we have a great product. We have a very great way to go to market because we do it on a PFI (private finance initiative) basis; the client doesn’t come up with a cent. We spend tens of millions [building the immigration system]; we will make it work. Then we get paid on a transaction basis, and we even split the revenue so the client makes money as well.”

The results of the tender in Sri Lanka are slated to be out in a couple of months. Ariyanayakam, a Sri Lankan national, is tight-lipped about the tenders, but The Edge understands that Scicom has also been shortlisted for one in Fiji.

In consultation with its external legal counsels, the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, LFM will file an application for leave to institute judicial review proceeding against the CAT Decision on Stay and seek an ad interim stay order in relation to the MyCC’s Decision requiring payment of the financial penalty.

LHI is now taking the case to Court to appeal against the Tribunal's decision; and to seek Court's intervention to "put on hold" the order for immediate payment of the fine imposed ..

The Miami land estate is the crown jewel for GENM, and indirectly GENB too .. let's not forget that .. a price tag of RM5 billion to its book value of RM1 billion will nett a gain of RM3-4 billion after corporate expenses ..

The Miami land estate is the crown jewel for GENM, and indirectly GENB too .. let's not forget that .. a price tag of RM5 billion to its book value of RM1 billion will nett a gain of RM3-4 billion after corporate expenses ..

SCICOM successfully turnaround its earnings this quarter, raising its EPS back to 2.20 cents, and more importantly re-instating its dividend payout back to 2 cents again; Management also expressed great confidence that the worst is behind and its new customized solution offerings are well received by its clients; Expect SCICOM share price to take off tomorrow to reclaim its 90 cents mark again .. thank God for another good surprise 🙏

SILTERRA very close to breaking even this quarter, which explains the strength of DNeX share price of late .. cannot fully write off DNeX just yet .. hahaha

Q1, 2025 Revenue showing good traction both yoy (+26.4%) and qoq (+11.6%); and would have been a profitable quarter if not because of the RM7.5 million FOREX loss hit; total cash holdings remain strong at RM195 million or 50 cents per share; and current traded share price of 97 cents is less than half of its NAV or RM2.20 .. next quarter should see a writeback on some of the FOREX loss provision as USD:RM exchange has swing back from 4.10 to 4.40 .. not so bad after digesting the details ya ...

i bet to differ that this special dividend payout is to bring forward the dividend from 2025, though i have no privy to the insider's news; if we dissect its YTD 2024 earnings result, the key drag on its earnings is obviously from its smelting division including a loss in Q3 which management attributed to foreign exchange losses & lower smelting performance, taking the shine away from its stellar tin mining division; before commissioning of its new smelting facility at Pulau Indah late last year, smelting division generated at healthy PBT of RM60-70 million a year via its obsolete plant in Butterworth; but since running both plants concurrently, smelting division had struggled to make profit over the last 3 quarters due to higher overheads & manpower to run both plants in parallel; i would expect the PBT of the smelting division to normalize back to RM60-70 million a year (if not better) once the old Butterworth plant is completely decommission before end of 2025; and assuming that tin price can hold at the current level, we can expect an additional operating cash generation of RM60-70 million next year to support its generous dividend payout in the future (i.e. management has reiterated few times that it can achieve cost savings of 30% once the old Butterworth plant is being decommissioned but stop short of providing the actual figures); and i wouldn't discount entirely that the dividend is a foregone case next year ya .. in fact, i'm seeing a strong run to its share price once the RM60-70 million smelting business margins return :)

what a surprise .. 2nd interim special dividend of 17 cents declared for the quarter .. taking 9 mths dividend payout to 24 cents thus far ... a dividend bonanza year indeed .. can expect another 7 cents final dividend payment next quarter :)

My bastion of dividend counters and the respective yield at yesterday's closing price :
1) BAUTO (Bermaz Auto) : above 9%
2) HLIND (Hong Leong Industries) : above 8%
3) FPI (Formosa Prosonic) : ~8%
4) SPToto and GENM (Gaming) : 6-7%
5) BONIA : above 7%
6) RHB, Maybank and CIMB (Banks) : between 5-6%
7) Gas Malaysia : ~6%
8) IGBREIT and SUNREIT (REITS) : 5-6%
9) LHI and Teo Seng (Poultry Players) : 5-6%
10) Carlsberg and Heneiken (Breweries) : above 5%

I have a rough split of 75%/25% between dividend vs value counters; with a total of 50 counters in my portfolio at the moment to spread out the risks ... happy to share here, and may my God blesses your investment too ya :)

@terence94tan, i re-collected between 92-93 cents after cashing out earlier @RM1.20, as i find its dividend yield of 5-6 cents (i.e. above 6%) very compelling even without winning the 10 year Sri Lanka immigration system upgrade project .. i do have plans to add more on further retracement of the share price towards 75 cents region; and trust its share price to be well supported by its lucrative yield .. Despite loss of few key long term clients, SCICOM is still capable of generating ~RM50 million of operating cashflow per year, more than enough to support its revised dividend payout of 5 cents (or ~RM16 million) .. Winning the Sri Lanka's project will be a significant upside from the current base ya .. hope this answers your queries and God Bless too :)

Its current CEO, Leo Suresh (a Sri Lankan national) has guided that the immigration system upgrade tender result should be announced before end of the year; The CEO is very confident that SCICOM has a cost advantage, but is somehow pitched against a local based player, making the odd of winning at 50-50 only ... i'm still holding on to my shares because the upside is just too big to dismiss at the current traded price ... i also take comfort that the CEO has further increased his own stake in SCICOM as a vote of confidence that SCICOM could win this game-changing project ..

SCICOM reported a 2nd consecutive quarter of weak EPS largely affected by the non-renewals of contract with certain long term customers, which shall continue to put some pressure on its near term earnings; On a brighter note, management continues to pay out generous dividend of 1.25 cents (i.e. albeit lower than the typical 2 cents) supported by its strong cash holdings (i.e. sitting on nett cash of ~RM90 million or 25 cents); Management reiterated on the challenges posed by AI technology, and at the same time guiding that it is pivoting towards AI solution to future proof its business; Management remains optimistic on conversion of some new prospects in their pipeline which can fetch a higher margins thru new customization of its business solutions offering.

Position : Despite the earnings disappointment, the scale-down dividend payout of 5 cents is still decent, translating to a yield of above 5% at the current traded price and still worth a HOLD for now as the upside can be substantial if it successfully emerges as the winner of Sri Lanka's 10 year immigration system upgrade project (i.e. final selection is now down to last 2 bidders, of which SCICOM is one of them) ..

anyone can help to explain why is the taxation so high for Genting Malaysia operations? RM140 million tax charges against PBT of RM230 million? this is looking unusually high to me and dragging down the EPS ..

@dragon328, thank you for keeping us updated on your analysis. I do find them very insightful.

I have a question on its dividend policy. I remembered reading somewhere in your previous report that the management had committed to increase the dividend payout to between 10-15 cents but seems like it is not the case now. Do you have any latest info on this? Thank you in advance and God Bless :)

I believe in you, OTB regardless of what other says ... its normal for this kind of SELL OFF when fear concurs the market, and being exacerbated by short selling .. i did take some profit off the table at RM2.15 but I'm collecting back now at RM1.00 .. really don't mind if it drops lower to collect cheaper ya .. a fundamentally good counter will always bounce back stronger once rational thinking returns .. God Bless :)

Thanks, Gabriel and finger cross🤞

@Gabriel, would u be able to share the article from The Edge on the potential buying of Armada stake by MISC? MISC had openly denied such moves in the past, but ARMADA's financials does look healthier now for any potential M&A play ya .. better keep ARMADA shares close to my chest if this is heading into something tangible ... Thanks and God Bless :)

I'm with Pinky too, GENTING and YINSON are now my favourite heavy-weight laggards waiting for a couple of consistent quarterly earnings delivery before can take-off meaningfully .. I've fully exited Mr. DIY and KENANGA, taking cue of the heavy selling by its CEO & management team; and the funds shall find its new host in GENTING & YINSON ya .. Thank you and God Bless :)

Thanks @gankm. Affin's TP of RM1.10 is not too far away from what i'm looking at too. SCICOM management has openly acknowledged in their recent QR that AI is indeed a threat to its BPO business, and has been working on a few in-house developed AI models leveraging on ChatGPT to gradually substitute its traditional human outsourcing business .. This is truly AI at work, and successful rollout of these AI based customer service chatbot to its existing client base wud be a significant game changer for SCICOM .. Re-collecting SCICOM again since my last exit at RM1.20 ..

I bought DNeX for its Silterra turnaround story; and I'm happy for DNeX to lose out on the ailing NIISe project which has thin margins & tight schedule to deliver .. any strong sell-off on losing out of NIISe is very much welcomed since i get to average down and collect cheaper .. also checking with my ex-colleagues from PETRONAS on the status of its re-activation of Abu Cluster production, which in my rough calculation shud fetch a quarterly earnings of RM15 million @ 2k barrels of oil/day @ USD75/barrel, providing a strong support of 40 cents to DNeX .. Thank you and God Bless :)

@gankm, wud you be able to share Affin's latest report on SCICOM? thanks in advance :)

that's true, a closed loop water cooling system will recycle back most of its water .. only old and obsolete plants still employed open loop water cooling system which is very inefficient ... talking from experience working in petrochemical plants ...

I remembered buying into YTLPower back in 2017 at RM1.50, and gradually averaging down to the lowest point of RM0.69 during COVID days .. and after holding on huge paper losses over the years, it has now paid off handsomely once its true value unleashed .. i believe GENTING too have the similar potential .. started accumulating between RM3 - 4 during COVID days, and continue picking up a bit more at RM4.90 this morning .. waiting to strike another jackpot few years down the road .. so, let's not get overly depressed with today's share price movement ya ..

Result out with a spot-on operating profit very close to RM350 million, and EPS coming in at 4 cents .. let's see how the share price will respond later ..

Does FPI involve or produce audio recognition technology apart from its speaker sound system?

Just to add that the fine payment of RM157 million is still manageable to LHI considering its circa RM1 billion of operating cashflow generation annually, which is more than sufficient to service its debt payment & dividend payout of 4 cents per share .. And in spite of this negative hit, LHI is still a compelling counter to hold for its superior dividend yield of >6% with further capital upside on its eventual earnings recovery from Vietnam and Indonesia market .. Thank you and God Bless :)

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/12/22/five-companies-fined-rm415mil-for-fixing-chicken-feed-price

MyCC has upheld its earlier verdict and fine of RM157 million on LHI's participation on a cartel group's fixing of chicken feed price which is in violation to the country's anti-competition law provision despite LHI's strong rebuttal against the charges .. The total fine amount of RM157 million is rather substantial as it accounted for ~50% of its total earnings in 2023, and has yet to be booked in its 2023 financials .. This is a grossly negative as it will certainly affect its ability to declare a higher dividend payout to the shareholders but management had earlier indicated in its recent QR of its intention to challenge the verdict via court proceeding .. Nonetheless, the penalty amount still needs to be booked in its account for prudent accounting practice and reverse out in the event of successful court challenge .. i reckoned the recent price weakness of LHI share (i.e. dumping by institutional investors) have more less priced in this negative news and the share price could see a more meaningful recovery in 2024 ...

i like what i'm seeing too, and the spare capacities will work to its advantage if demand does surge in response to the heightened global health risk :)

i remembered our very own flagship Gemusut Kakap deepwater semi-floating production system also suffered significant delays, cost overruns and arbitrations before reaching its commercial production .. as long as the field is not depleted, i'm still optimistic that production will come thru at some point ..

https://www.coinstore.com/#/launchpadDetail?activityId=102&fromPath=%2Flaunchpad

Additional 200k ZETRIX tokens @ USD1 million on offer due to the previous round of ICO oversubscription .. a good sign that the demand is there for now :)

means MYEG successfully raised USD5 million from the coinbase crypto market from its first round of ZeTRIX token ICO .. which is roughly 5% of its annual earnings .. and this also opens up more coins to be offered to the market in the future :)

anyone can share latest ZETRIX ICO subscription rate? just to see if there's any new market interest since BITCOIN has just broken its USD35,000 mark .. thanks

yea, i also have a feeling of being conned on the hype of ZeTRIX ICO ... big news announcement but the exact value of all these ZeTRIX monetization isn't clear at this juncture ..

Any updates on the response of ZeTRIX ICO said to be debut in HK crypto market today? i hv no idea how to find it .. thanks and God Bless :)

how much wud it cost for the existing clearance process for goods export to China without using ZTrade platform? and how much faster can we expect with transaction in ZTrade platform? Answers to these questions wud give some ideas to how valuable this new ZTrade platform to potential clients ..

MYEG requested for a 1-hr trading suspension to clear the air, and as a pre-emptive move to "avoid" its shares get bashed down unnecessary by the "opinion" of some lawmaker .. any knee jerk selldown wud present an opportunity to collect at a discounted price and shud be short lived too with this clarification (logically) ..

https://www.bursamalaysia.com/market_information/announcements/company_announcement/announcement_details?ann_id=3384871

Clarification done ..

i fully agree with ur views @Loy Loy Cheong and i do hope market will come to appreciate what we see too ya :) Any guess on what the final dividend payment will look like post MIDF completion?

or should we say that MBSB share price has been all the while heavily discounted by the market and the on-going fair valuation of MBSB-MIDF asset will bring to light the true value of MBSB share ... can't wait to see the reaction of the market on the coming Monday :)

Finally, someone is taking notice of this hidden gem ...

Management can't "hide" the amortization of its huge intangible capital cost of its WTE @ RM1.049 billion forever ... RM1.049 billion divide by PPA of 16 years = RM65 mil. per year ... good luck, guys!

very well summarized in a very funny and catchy video using very layman term to explain those big question marks that any sound investors wud pick up ... i still dun get it why SOSCO wud commit such big risks going into a company with so many red flags? not learning enough from Serbak fiasco? or they got over themselves for their super brilliant investment in BJFood? Only tells will tell and good luck for those still holding substantial shares in Cypark ya ...

@Jiang Ng, i agree with your view .. successful commissioning of Cypark's WTE/LSS projects can bring in substantial cashflow to service their current debts but may not be EPS accretive particularly if the non-cash amortization charge-out is way higher than the topline revenue generation .. having said that, the successful delivery of these projects can vastly remove the key drag on the share PE multiples which is currently trading at subpar 3-4x; and rerate the counter to a more palatable range of 8-10x for its ESG quality .. the stronger cashflow generation also potentially supports its dividend pay-outs ability barring any major CAPEX projects in the near future .. again, it all depends on the delivery of the WTE project; and failure of it will be damaging akin ARMADA's case (i.e. using existing revenue stream to service the debt of their failed WOODSIDE venture) ...

Can't tell if the sell off today has anything to do with the article posted .. but it's true that the commissioning of the WTE has been delayed by >5 years; and now eating into its 25-year concession agreement signed .. On a more positive note, this piece of information is not new to the investment communities and well accounted for in Maybank's TP report as well as Cypark's 2021 AGM report (i.e impairment assessment is done using the remaining useful span period of 20 years) ... as long as they can deliver on their promised revenue of circa RM80 mil per year (i.e. RM80 mil. x 20 years = RM1.6 bil.), it is still sufficient to cover for the project funding cost of RM700++ mil. PROVIDED it can contain its OPEX within RM40 mil. per year (i.e. net positive cashflow of RM40 mil. per year) ... The key catalyst for Cypark to revisit their RM1 share price level is still the successful commissioning of their rather controversial WTE project ... let's hope the management can provide this assurance in the coming QR ya .. cheers~

Thanks, finger crossed no further surprises this QR announcement ..

Question : Is another round of Sukuk holders' approval required on the bond repayment IF the COD of either the WTE/Solar plant got deferred beyond Sept 2022?

Opportunity does present itself even during the darkest days ... Well done to those profiting from this rather unexpected rally!

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/petronas-plans-rm60b-capex-2022-says-group-cfo

Any insights on who are the key players snapping up those huge blocks of shares offloaded by EPF & directors? Any institutional players coming in? or merely retail participants only ya?

p/s : Trying to also gauge the positions of other key institutional players ..