Shares of Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MHB) fell 5.4 per cent after its second quarter result fared below expectations.

At 4.30 pm, MHB's share declined 29 sen to RM5.09 with 1.2 million lots traded, while the price hovered between RM5.02 and RM5.29.

"The result is due to poor earnings visibility due to a slow order book replenishment," HwangDBS Vickers said in a research note today.

MHB's pre-tax profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012 fell to RM60.5 million from RM96.4 million in the same quarter last year.

Revenue, however, rose to RM965.712 million from RM957.798 million previously.

HwangDBS Vickers has maintained its "hold" rating on MHB with a new target price of RM4.90 from RM4.75.

In contrast, Maybank IB Research maintained a "buy" call on the shares with a target price of RM5.70.

The research house said it expects MHB's earnings from the new Kababangan and Shell F14/29 projects to kick-in progressively.
The company is also currently bidding for 15 projects worth a combined value of RM5.0 billion.

"We believe that MHB is a frontrunner for three fabrication projects worth a total of RM1.4 billion, which will likely be awarded in the second half of this year," Maybank IB Research said. -- Bernama