KUALA LUMPUR (April 18): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made the news on Tuesday (April 18) involving FGV Holdings Bhd, Pharmaniaga Bhd, SHH Resources Holdings Bhd, Censof Holdings Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem), Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (Axis REIT), Ancom Nylex Bhd, Prolexus Bhd and Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd (MGRC).

FGV Holdings Bhd said its two wholly owned units that are being sued for alleged fraudulent transactions and trespass relating to land in Sabah held under a native title, "strongly refute" the claim. The units intend to fully defend themselves and are in the process of engaging lawyers to represent them on the matter. On April 12, FGV announced that the two sub-subsidiaries, Sri Kehuma Sdn Bhd and Yapidmas Plantation Sdn Bhd, had been served with a writ of summons dated March 13 by an individual named Euggne Kousai.

The Health Ministry has confirmed that Pharmaniaga Bhd’s concession agreement to provide medicine and medical supplies to the ministry’s facilities has been extended for 10 more years. Pharmaniaga was initially granted a concession agreement to supply public health facilities with medicines and medical supplies in 1994. The concession agreement with the ministry was extended by six months last December until end-June to facilitate a new agreement.

James Teo Bok Yu, the son of SHH Resources Holdings Bhd founder and managing director Datuk Teo Wee Cheng, has resigned as the group’s chief executive officer “to pursue other interests”. Wee Cheng and his wife Datin Teo Chan Huat, who is also the deputy managing director, are major shareholders in the group with a combined stake of 17.28%

Financial management software solution provider Censof Holdings Bhd has secured a RM5.97 million project to develop a unit trust management system for Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd (PHB). This follows the acceptance of a letter of intent that Censof had received from PHB eight months ago. Censof’s unit accepted the letter of award from PHB as application vendor for the project. PHB is the real estate investment holding arm of Yayasan Amanah Hartanah Bumiputera.

Cecile Jaclyn Thai, the daughter of Supermax Corp Bhd's executive chairman and major shareholder Datuk Seri Stanley Thai, has resigned from her post as non-executive director of the group, following a disagreement with the board. Cecile, 35, had expressed her disagreement on several matters discussed at the board meetings. Thai co-founded Supermax with his wife Datin Seri Cheryl Tan Bee Geok. They both control a 38.376% stake in the company.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) is focusing on expanding its specialties portfolio after posting a strong performance for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022, amid geopolitical conflicts, market volatilities and general industry challenges .PetChem said its landmark acquisition of Sweden-based Perstorp Group resulted in further diversification of the group’s product offerings, specifically for its specialty chemicals portfolio.

Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (Axis REIT) posted a marginal increase of 0.92% in its net property income (NPI) to RM58.93 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023, from RM58.39 million a year earlier, due mainly to rental from newly acquired properties and positive rental reversion in 2022. Revenue for the quarter rose 5.22% to RM70.17 million, from RM66.69 million.

Ancom Nylex Bhd’s net profit increased 8.05% to RM16.36 million for the third quarter ended Feb 28, 2023 (3QFY2023), from RM15.14 million a year earlier, due to lower tax expenses and higher segmental contributions. Tax expenses dropped to RM5.88 million, from RM16.78 million for 3QFY2022. Quarterly revenue fell 5.11% to RM483.95 million from RM510.01 million, as the industrial chemicals segment contributed a lower revenue of RM320 million, compared with RM371.9 million for 3QFY2022, due to lower average selling prices and weaker global demand.

The High Court has thrown out a suit brought by two subsidiaries of Prolexus Bhd to compel South Malaysia Industries Bhd (SMI) to provide them with its record of depositor in their attempt to call for an extraordinary general meeting to remove the current directors of SMI, and declared that the units have abused the court process. In dismissing the suit, the court said the two Prolexus subsidiaries — Honsin Apparel Sdn Bhd and HiQ Media (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, who collectively own a 10.01% stake in SMI — had intentionally cited the wrong legislation in their legal action.

Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd (MGRC) has proposed a private placement to raise up to RM3.85 million to be used for future viable investment and working capital. The ACE Market-listed MGRC previously undertook a private placement in 2021 to raise RM24.2 million, and then another in 2022, which saw it raise RM4.03 million.