Protasco

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not vsted

Protasco to raise RM100mil via private placement of 50 million shares by yvonne tan

Protasco Bhd group managing director Datuk Ir Chong Ket Pen did not reveal details on the impending exercise but confirmed that the company was looking to raise funds via a private placement.

KUALA LUMPUR: Protasco Bhd, which has seen sterling share price performance year-to-date, intends to raise close to RM100mil via a private placement.

Sources said the exercise would be done at a price of at least RM1.95 per share with some 50 million shares placed out to investors.

When asked, its executive vice chairman and group managing director Datuk Seri Chong Ket Pen did not reveal details on the impending exercise but confirmed that the company was looking to raise funds via a private placement and that the funds raised would be used to finance projects undertaken by the mid-sized construction and property firm.

Protasco’s stock is up 42.7% to RM1.97 from RM1.38 at the beginning of this year, outperforming the local benchmark index which is up by 0.4%.

The low-profile Protasco has obtained a string of jobs in recent times coinciding with the emergence of businessman Tey Por Yee as the second largest shareholder in the company in late 2012.

Tey, who is the founder of mobile application service provider Nextnation Communication Bhd, however, has said that he was merely a “passive” investor in Protasco.

Meanwhile, Chong who spoke to journalists following a luncheon session organised by MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd yesterday said Protasco was targeting to boost its net profit by 15% in this current financial year ending Dec 31.

The increase would be helped by launches under its property segment as well as a growing construction orderbook.

Its construction orderbook now stands at RM700mil and Protasco, which is largely involved in road construction expects this to cross RM1bil by the end of this year.

“Most of our jobs have always been government projects and we are expecting our new contracts to come from the Government too,” Chong said, adding that the pre-tax profit margins for government projects were generally higher than jobs from the private sector at between 8% and 10%.

On its offshore ventures, he said Protasco which exited Libya in 2011 following a revolution in that country has been asked by its government to complete its projects there.

In Libya, it currently has RM120mil worth of construction jobs which it expects to finish latest, by the first quarter of next year, he said.

The company has fully-provided for its losses in that country amounting to RM40mil, Chong added.

Under its property segment, Protasco has the De Centrum, which is its first mixed development project, located in Bangi to develop service apartments, SOHO and a mall.

De Centrum is the first of several phases of the larger De Centrum City project which has a gross development value of up to RM10bil, to be developed over the next 10 to 15 years.

Protasco also recently ventured into oil and gas via an acquisition of a 63% stake in PT Anglo Slavic Indonesia. This comes with a profit guarantee of US$22mill (RM72mil), spread over four years.

Chong said Protasco was in a position to pay out dividends to shareholders twice every year – in January and July.

For FY13, it paid out dividends amounting to four sen per share compared with 14 sen per share the year before.

Its net profit was higher at RM48.6mil in FY13 compared with RM37.4mil in FY12

http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Busi ... on-shares/

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RHB Research maintains Buy on Protasco

KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Research has maintained its Buy on Protasco with a raised fair value of RM2.43 from RM2.18, adding that the group is a good small-cap proxy to public infrastructure spending, particularly road maintenance and public housing.

In a note on Wednesday, RHB said it also likes the company’s RM10bil De Centrum integrated property project, which involves the redevelopment of the 100-acre Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur (IUKL) land in Bangi that it acquired at a very low price.

“A strong balance sheet, with a net cash of RM85.7mil or 26 sen per share and highly cash-generating road maintenance concessions will underpin a 10 sen dividend based on our forecast, which translates into about a 5% yield,” it said.

RHB said Protasco’s 1Q14 net profit came in at only 18% of its full year forecast.

“However, we consider the results within our expectations as we expect strong quarters ahead driven by profit recognition from newly secured construction contracts,’ it said.

The research house expects Protasco’s earnings to grow 43% in FY14, driven largely by contributions from two recently secured public housing projects with a combined contract value of RM667mil and a first full-year contribution from the RM10bil De Centrum integrated property project in Bangi, Selangor.

Source: The Star

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not vested

Protasco Bags RM21m Deal

• Infrastructure development provider Protasco had been awarded by Jabatan Kerja Raya (Public Works Department) via its wholly-owned subsidiary, HCM Engineering a maintenance contract worth RM21 million.

• The job relates to the construction of overtaking lanes from Sibu to Bintulu and from Bintulu to Tatau, federal roads in Zone 2A, Sarawak, Malaysia.

• The works are expected to be completed within 12 months from the award.

Significance: The award is expected to contribute positively to Protasco’s results for the financial year ending 31 December 2014.

Source: Shares Investment

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Not vested

June 3, 2014

Protasco wins RM21mil contract, MIDF Research maintain Buy

KUALA LUMPUR: MIDF Research is maintaining its Buy call on Protasco Bhd with an unchanged target price of RM2.90 based on the financial year 2015 sum-of-parts (SOP) valuation.

Jabatan Kerja Raya recently granted Protasco’s subsidiary, HCM Engineering Sdn Bhd a contact worth RM21mil for the construction of overtaking lanes in Sarawak. So far this year, Protasco has completed jobs worth RM109mil, amounting to 36% of its RM300mil in new jobs.

The research house estimates that Protasco has an outstanding order book of approximately RM700mil.

“We are neutral on the job win as contribution from this job has already been captured in our job replenishment assumption of RM300m for the current year. Hence, we make no changes to our earnings forecasts,” it said.

The research house is maintaining its recommendation due to potential road construction jobs, property developments in Bangi and Johor, frequent maintenance concession earnings and profit guarantee from the oil and gas business.


Source: The Star

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not vested

Protasco wants property, construction to contribute more to revenue

PETALING JAYA: Protasco Bhd expects to reduce the maintenance division proportion to revenue by 50%-55% this year from the current 60%, by pushing the contribution from the property development and construction divisions, said its group managing director Datuk Seri Ir Chong Ket Pen.

"We want to slowly reduce the maintenance division's proportion. We want it to be at a healthy level," he told reporters after the company's AGM here yesterday.

Chong said contribution to group revenue from the property development division, which stands at 10% now, is expected to increase to 20% while that of the construction division is to go up to 15% from the current 10%.

The company is targeting a minimum of 15% growth in net profit every year, driven by the construction and property development divisions.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2013, Protasco's profit after tax and non-controlling interests improved by 28.6% to RM48.2 million from RM37.5 million in 2012, led by growth in the construction and property development divisions.

Chong said Protasco is always on the lookout for good opportunities locally and overseas, especially infrastructure-related business.

"We are continuously looking for potential business opportunities locally and overseas via acquisition and joint venture. We always look for opportunities in areas that we are strong, like infrastructure, drainage, irrigation and roads."

He said the company's outstanding order book currently stands at RM710 million and it is tendering for close to a billion worth of projects.

As for its property division, Chong said the company plans to launch projects with a total gross development value (GDV) of RM200 million every year.

"We have recorded a good start for 2014. There is an upside for our property development with unbilled sales of around RM122 million from our De Centrum City project for Phase 1," he said, adding that the company recently soft launched Phase 2A of De Centrum City, comprising 320 units of apartments, which is expected to generate a GDV of RM200 million.

Source: The Sun Daily

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not vested

Protasco MD ups stake amid board tussle

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 13): Protasco Bhd ( Financial Dashboard) Group Managing Director Datuk Seri Chong Ket Pen, who is involved in a board tussle, has raised his stake in the company.

In a statement to the exchange today, construction and property firm Protasco said Chong had acquired 800,000 and 1.28 million shares last Tuesday (Nov 11) and yesterday (Nov 12) respectively.

On Tuesday, Chong had purchased the shares at RM1.812 each. Yesterday, he acquired the shares at RM1.925 each.

Following these purchases, Chong's direct stake in Protasco rose to 12.87%. He also owns an indirect portion of 9.56%.

Protaco shares settled flat at RM1.86 at 12.30pm, for a market capitalisation of RM623.6 million.

Source: The Edge

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not vested

Protasco Bhd had today called off its proposed private placement and one-for-10 bonus issue of warrants, which the board proposed a year ago.

The company — which recently embroiled in a shareholder tussle — did not reveal however, the reason for such decision to terminate the plan in the announcement.

To recap, Protasco had in Dec 12, 2013, proposed the private placement of up to 50 million shares, together with up to 100 million new detachable warrants, on the basis of two warrants for every one placement share.

The board also proposed a bonus issue of up to 33.5 million free warrants, on the basis of one warrant for every 10 existing shares.

Protasco is expected to raise RM82.5 million from the private placement, of which RM70 million will be used for property development and construction projects, while another RM12 million will be allocated for working capital, according to the earlier announcement.

Protasco share price fell five sen or 3.4% to settle at RM1.42 today, with 904,600 shares done, bringing it to a market capitalisation of more than RM476 million.

Source: The Edge