Two pieces of good news over the past one week. HDBS Research has a buy call on Keck Seng several months ago with a fair value of RM 6.00 based on 30% discount to RM 8.50 SOP-derived valuation. Keck Seng's share price should easily breach past RM 6.00 tomorrow. After the two pieces of good news, perhaps the 30% discount is no longer justified.

It is not the end of the world even if Keck Seng fails to pay the special dividend that every small share holder is expecting. The directors are only thinking of themselves. While many small investors are able to claim back a portion or all of the 25% tax that has been deducted, the directors may not be able to do this. The happiest people if Keck Seng does not make full use of the 108 balance would be those from the Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri.

EcoWorld could not have bought into Focal for no reason. There are hundreds of other developers around.

Now there is talk of a third link, connecting Changi Airport to Pasir Gudang or Pengerang. The Pasir Gudang route being nearer and hence cheaper to construct. If the Pasir Gudang route is chosen, it will probably link up with the existing Senai-Desaru Highway. The value of Keck Seng's land bank will receive a huge boost. So now you know why EcoWorld is buying into Focal.

During the last rally, TA went as high as 73.5 sen. I believe this rally will bring TA's share price well above the previous peak on improved fundamentals.

For those of you who had bought TA when it dipped below 60 sen just a few weeks ago, your net profit already exceeds 15%.What kind of business can give you such return?

You are talking to a cash rich company. PPB group went up to almost RM 20 per share a few years ago but Keck Seng didn't dispose of a single of its 4.9 million PPB shares. So the offer needs to be 50% higher than market value to entice Keck Seng to part with its land.

They will sell if the offer is tempting, say at RM 600,000/- per acre.

Keck Seng is up today probably because EcoWorld, a company linked to Liew Kee Sing's son has signed an agreement to purchase a 65.05% stake in Focal. Focal is the developer of Kota Masai in Johor Bahru and Keck Seng's plantation land is just next to Kota Masai.

You must be holding a few hundred thousand Keck Seng shares?

Ex-dividend isn't on 29 Sept. but 26 Sept. Looks like it is going to move up higher, perhaps to its recent high of just over RM 3.90

Keck Seng has net cash of over RM 860 million. Paying a special dividend of 80% gross to its share holders will still leave the company with about RM 650 million in cash.

That's good. Somebody is accumulating Keck Seng shares.

nightrader, Keck Seng's share price has already gone up quite substantially over the past 3 1/2 years. Before the bonus issue of 1 for 2 and the disposal of its Parkway Holdings shares in early 2010, Keck Seng was trading at under RM 4.00 per share or RM 2.67 after adjustment for bonus issue. Keck Seng's share price has more than doubled over this period, outperforming the KLCI by at least 50%. Still, it has a long way to go to reach its fair value.

Keck Seng's cash and share investments in listed companies are already worth more than 3.60/share.

It appears that Keck Seng directors prefer to please the Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri rather than the myriad small shareholders.

When TA's share price was going up a few weeks ago, every one was excited. The market can't be going up every day. For those who had sold TA at over 70 sen a share, perhaps it is time to pick up slowly if it dips below 55 sen and just wait for it to go up to above 70 sen again. Even if you have to wait for 8 years, the return is still better than fixed deposit rates offered by banks. TA won't go bankrupt.

The par value of this counter is to be reduced to 10 sen, from 50 sen. Lost over RM 55 million last financial year or 32 sen per share. This is a huge amount. Try to avoid this type of company. It may drop to below 20 sen.

MNRB Holdings has turned in impressive financial results in 8 of the past 10 years. Only during financial years ended 31/03/09 and 31/03/10 did its earnings per share dip below 40 sen. The company was nevertheless profitable during those two years. Its average earnings per share over the 10 year period was 47.6 sen. Funny thing is this company is not recommended by most investment banks and its largest shareholder has been selling MNRB shares for the past one year. Selling seems to have stopped for several weeks now.

Commendable financial result and the 32 sen final dividend should propel MNRB shares to over RM 4.00 next week.

Which previous quarter were you referring to? I was referring to the quarter ending 31/03/13 and not the preceding year corresponding quarter.

First quarter financial result just out. Made 18.1 sen, much better than the previous quarter. Those who have bought MNRB shares stand to make huge gains next week.

Department of Inland Revenue Malaysia has bought some firecrackers, ready to set off in celebration.

Last year's interim dividend was only 4%. This is a 25 time increase over last year. What is that to complain about? Don't worry, Keck Seng would earn RM 8 billion this financial year from its RM 800 million cash instead of RM 8 million last financial year.

I don't know, I was just predicting conservatively. It may reach 73 sen again within a year. TA is quite a well managed company. Datuk Tiah Thee Kian has been accumulating TA shares for the past few months. It is a potential take over target. Its NTA is RM 1.66. The company just rejected a take over offer.

82.8 sen dividend, best figure.

Keep cool! Buy now if you can hold. Assuming the price goes up to the recent high again (73 sen), even in two year's time, the return is still very rewarding at over 15% per year including dividend. Much, much better than keeping money in the bank.

I had disposed of all my L&G shares last week and made 10% profit in 3 three months. Would have lost over RM 1000 if I have disposed the shares today.

Many factors determine the share price of a listed company. Among them earnings, the amount of dividend paid, integrity and capability of people in charge in the company, prospect of the company, assets owned by the company and whether it is on the radar screen of investors. You can now short sell Keck Seng (by borrowing shares from some body). I don't think any body is foolish enough to force Keck Seng shares down to RM 4.00 and below.

Treasury shares are not entitled to any dividend payment. So perhaps the directors plan to announce a huge dividend payout?

MNRB shares should go up higher than its recent peak (RM 3.86) once the final gross dividend of 32 sen per share is announced next week, provided its latest earnings are in line with market expectations.

Sin Chew reported that foreign fund managers have been net sellers for the past three weeks. Perhaps they sell more aggressively today and local fund managers are not supporting. Keck Seng still faring quite well.

Should make some money once the final dividend of 32 sen gross is officially announced.

On several occasions over the past few months, Keck Seng shares had attempted to rally but only to find the rally reversing trend after a few days. Sometimes the rally only lasted a few hours.The present rally started just over 2 weeks ago and its momentum appears to be still intact.Lets hope for the best.

This counter is somehow not recommended by many investment banks. ASM and ASB have been selling MNRB shares for the past one and a half years. The only plus side is the 32% dividend to be announced later this month.

Remember to sell also once you make some money. The largest share holder, ASB may decide to unload some shares. It has been trimming on its MNRB shares for the past year.

You are quite right. Small share holders are disadvantaged.

Nobody can claim that he is an expert. Savvy speculators may make more money in the stock market. MNRB has been a profitable company over the past 5 years, net earnings per share ranged from a low of 12.3 sen during financial year ending 31/3/2009 to a high of 57.7 sen during financial year ending 31/3/2011. The average EPS over the 5 year period was about 38 sen. 7 to 8 years ago, the top 30 largest share holders still held over 90% of MNRB shares. Today it has dropped to just over 70%, meaning major share holders have been selling MNRB shares.

The directors of a listed company would only want to privatize their company if they find that the company shares are undervalued. If they have to re-value the company assets to the market value, then there is no more temptation for them to privatize the company. Of course Keck Seng directors can't privatize the company by offering its minority share holders a price based on Keck Seng's share price plus a slight premium as the company has huge chunks of land not re-valued since the early 1980s. The land price could fetch as high as 80 times over its book value.I think the SEC has a say on this.

Keck Seng directors, majority share holders and their associates together own about 61% of Keck Seng shares. This means another 39% of Keck Seng shares are in the hands of the public. I believe most of these share holders are Malaysians.

Abudance, Mbf Holdings had paid a special dividend of 40 sen gross on the 31/5/13.

eth6769, Oriental Holdings has net cash of around RM 2.3 billion. Its market cap is RM 6 billion. Keck Seng has net cash of over RM 760 million. Its market cap is only RM 1.93 billion. Keck Seng also has share investments worth over RM 500 million. Oriental has much less.

nightrader, Keck Seng has net cash of over RM 750 million, more than twice its paid up capital. Name me another company listed on Bursa which has Keck Seng's enviable cash position?

Share holders prefer cash, not bonus issue. I think it is not going to be another flash in the pan this time. Keck Seng shares have gone up and down too many times. With the dateline for announcing a special dividend (if any) approaching, some speculative play is in the offing. Ini kali lah!

Investors are hoping for a special franked dividend of RM 960 per 1000 shares. Keck Seng shares won't go up if investors are expecting a RM 40 dividend.

During the 2006/07 bull-run, Keck Seng’s investments in listed company shares peaked at over RM 750 million. It disposed of less than 3% of its shareholdings (net). In the ensuing world financial crisis of 2008/09, the value of Keck Seng’s share holdings dropped by over 50% at its nadir. Buy Keck Seng only if you are able to hold for some time. Looks like there might be some speculative play on Keck Seng shares leading to the announcement of the interim dividend, hopefully the special dividend as well before the end of the month.

They were savvy when they made investments in Parkway Holdings, PPB Group and Chin Teck. When it comes to disposing of shares, they are not savvy at all. I bet they could be still holding Parkway Holdings shares if Khazanah had not made a GO.

You seem to be very optimistic of a special dividend payment but the company is under no obligation to do this. Of course if the company fails to declare a special dividend, its directors would be bombarded during the AGM next year.After disposing of Parkway Holdings shares more than 3 years ago, they should have re-invested the money instead of keeping it in Singapore banks and earning just 1% interest a year. If they had bought land in JB, the total return could have been 50% over the 3 year period.

Accumulation of L&G shares certainly taking place.

Are you sure or it is just your wishful thinking? Don't bring us to Holland.