Keck Seng's earnings this year should improve further from last year's 41.3 sen a share, judging from the booming property market in Johor Bahru. I think it is fairly valued at RM 7 per share but Keck Seng's share price could be re-rated on day by investors, you never know. Land is getting more and more scarce in JB. It is illogical to have a book value of several thousand ringgit for plantation land in JB.

leslie, If you want to take over Keck Seng, the asking price is RM 30 per share. If the company wants to privatize it, the offer price to small shareholders would be less than RM 10 per share.

Small investors have been short-changed but the company benefits tremendously. Very, very few medium sized companies are able to add over RM 100 million to their cash pile every year.

Keck Seng made 41.31 sen last year but only proposes to distribute 10.25 sen net dividend (5 sen gross and 6.5 sen net), a payout rate of less than 25%. More than RM 111 million of Keck Seng's net profit last year would now become its cash reserve.

TA has not traded above 90 sen for many, many years. I remember when the KLSE index was around 1200 points, TA was already being traded at well over RM 1. No reason for TA to stay at this level.

Including an interim dividend of 5 sen gross, the total dividend for the year amounts to 11.5 sen which translates to a dividend yield of only 1.5%. Do you think this is good? Maybank's dividend yield exceeds 5%. May drop towards RM 7 again due to the poor dividend payout.

The last time Keck Seng reached this level was at the beginning of Dec 2013, thereafter it was all the way down. Hopefully Keck Seng has the strength to reach RM 8 before the dividend announcement.

Starting this year, all companies can only declare single tier(net) dividend and you don't have to declare your dividend income to the IRD. You can find this out from dividend payment announcements.

ty77, I don't understand what you mean by 25% of the dividend will be given as tax. All dividend is tax free starting this year.

Investors are probably speculating about a higher than normal dividend. A few more days for Keck Seng shares to move higher.

EPF has been buying and selling Maybank shares over the past few years. From about end of May 2013 to around mid March this year, EPF had accumulated over 380 million Maybank shares, but has sold about 70 million since then. Maybank should breach the RM 10 barrier tomorrow as there are other institutions picking up this counter.

The market only expects a 6 to 8 sen dividend.

ASB owns almost 40% of Maybank. EPF is the second largest shareholder with about 13.5%. Maybank shares are tightly held by institutional investors. Those holding over 100,000 Maybank shares control over 95% of Maybank's paid up capital.

Once the final dividend amounting to 31 sen is announced, it should move up to RM 10.

Nothing unusual has happened. Boss not lending support. TA should be announcing its final dividend in another 5 to 6 weeks time. A 2.5 to 3 sen dividend should give the counter a big boost.

Do you guys know anything much about the "friendship" bridge between Malaysia and Singapore. I think it would be located at the eastern side of the IDR as the western side already houses the second link, two universities and a host of other amenities. A proposed terminal for the high speed rail between KL and Singapore is also going to be located here. Development has to be well balanced but the western part seems to be drawing the attention all this while.

Never have too high an expectation of this counter, you may be greatly disappointed later on. The company had the opportunity to pay more franked dividends from its huge 108 balance, yet it didn't. So do you think that the management would declare a bumper dividend this time? Not likely to exceed 8 sen.

The AGM which was held on the 7/4 has already approved a final dividend of 31 sen. Last year it was 15 days after the AGM that the company officially announced the final dividend payment.

For such an illiquid stock like Keck Seng, only a few traders are sufficient to manipulate its share price. Some traders are clearly buying and selling among themselves. It is a pity that Keck Seng is not on the radar screen of most investors despite its huge assets.

Maybank should have no problem touching RM 10.00 before it trades ex.

This counter has not traded above 15 sen for over a year now. It used to be very speculative several years ago and went up to as high as 28 sen but has been on its way down for over a year now. It could be clawing up slowly.

Last year's final dividend was announced on the 12/04/13. At 31 sen, 2 sen less than last year, the dividend yield is still very attractive.

winwin007, already traded ex-dividend over a week ago. You won't get cash, only CIMB shares.

Apple, the world's most cash rich company has US$ 158.8 billion in cash reserve. Its current market capitalization is around US$ 483 billion, having dropped from a peak of over US$ 600 billion some time ago. Keck Seng has cash reserve of around RM 950 million but its market capitalization is only RM 2.52 billion. So you know how cash rich Keck Seng is?

Keck Seng is expected to announce the company's final dividend for the financial year ended 21/12/13. No one knows exactly how much its conservative and stingy directors would declare but there could be another round of speculative play. So just be patient.

I used my EPF fund to buy TA about 5 years ago at over 80 sen a share. Still lose money.

With the introduction of the Finance Act 2007 gazetted in December 2007, companies could no longer pay franked dividends to their shareholders effective 2008, except for companies which still had credit in the 108 Balance (Keck Seng being one of them). However, such companies were given until the 31/12/2013 to pay franked dividends to their shareholders after which this right would be forfeited. Actually this Act was introduced to stem the loss of tax revenue. Now suppose a company made RM 100 million in 2007 and paid 25% corporate tax. The company then declared RM 100 million gross dividend to its shareholders and assuming all its shareholders were retired people. Can you imagine the scenario? The shareholders would only receive RM 75 million in total and would claim back the entire RM 25 million which the company had paid from the IRD. How much did the Government receive in tax revenue from the said company? NOTHING.

It is a big pity that many investors still don't have a clear understanding of the so called "tax credit" or the 108 balance. When Keck Seng failed to make full use of its "tax credit" to pay franked dividends to its shareholders by the 31/12/13, it didn't mean that the company had to surrender its 108 balance ( over RM 300 million for which corporate tax had already been deducted) to the IRD. It is crazy to think this is so.

cefiro22, The Directors had already forfeited the "tax credit" when they failed to declare a special dividend to Keck Seng's share holders to use up the company's 108 balance which amounted to over RM 300 million as at end of 31/12/2013. It is all history now and every company including Keck Seng has to pay net dividend, no more franked dividend where 25% tax was deducted and you could claim a portion or all of the tax deducted from the Inland Revenue Department.

Judging from the volume of TA shares transacted today and the highest level reached, I think speculative interest in TA should continue in the next few days.

If the company declares another 1.3 sen dividend again later just like last year, the dividend yield would amount to 5%. Not bad at all when banks are paying you around 3% a year on fixed deposits. Only thing is earnings per share is bit too low.

Breaching the 80 sen barrier is a certainty next week. Don't worry, those who had bought TA at 80 sen and above the last couple of months will have the opportunity to make money this time.

May be these buyers have some insider news about Keck Seng that you and I don't know.

The timing isn't good this time. We have the stand off between Western powers and Russia over Ukraine, concern over China's economic outlook. Tokyo dropped by 2.6% today and HK has dropped 1.53% so far. Keck Seng also went up very strongly during its recent bull run amid poor market sentiment. It is likely to be the same again this time.

NTA is only 20 sen and earnings per share is just over 2 sen. How much are you guys willing to pay for this counter?

So TA is probably moving up in anticipation of good Q4 financial result. Earnings for the whole year should be around 9 sen per share. A PE of 12 would mean that TA is worth 108 sen a share.

Keck Seng's performance will surprise every one again this time. Who would have expected its share price to breach past the RM 7.00 barrier during the counter's bull run 4 months ago? Yet it almost touched RM 8. With two big time and established developers building big townships adjacent to Keck Seng's plantation land, Keck Seng's share price should reach uncharted territories. * This is not a recommendation to buy KS shares.

The issuers of Keck Seng call warrants have valued Keck Seng at over RM 8.00 per share. There must be some basis for such a valuation.

TA should make much more money this year. Its dividend is expected to increase too. What's more, starting this year, all declared dividend is not subject to tax any more.

Better to invest in Maybank or CIMB bank shares. Maybank's dividend yield is much better than the 12 month fixed deposit rate that banks offer. MNRB's earnings are far too unpredictable.

Only made 6.6 sen this quarter. Expect a heavy drop next Monday.

Net earnings at 41.3 sen aren't particularly impressive but are commendable, 80% more than last year. Keck Seng made RM 26 million from divestment of listed company shares (non last year) and RM 10.3 million from government compensation for compulsory acquisition of 38 acres of its plantation land ( also non last year). It has no more borrowings now. Its net cash and investments in listed company shares are worth RM 3.83 per share.

RHB's analysis of MNRB way out.

I hope your forecast is correct. Then Keck Seng has the opportunity to go up to RM 9.32, based on a PE of 20 x earnings.

choong_dc, RHB says sell MNRB with a tp of RM 3.20, now MNRB has gone up to RM 4.00.

This counter is only for speculation. Take profit immediately after making one or two sen.

Tony has been accumulating TA shares for many months. Follow him and you are unlikely to go very wrong.

If CIMB can maintain its earnings, its full year earnings should come up to 60 sen per share. If it maintains its dividend payout, it is really an attractive company to invest in.

It is my pleasure to share what I know with the other small investors.

TA's share price has not touched the 90 sen mark for over 6 years now.