KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies in focus tomorrow (Feb 24) may include: Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, Perak Transit Bhd, IOI Corp Bhd, Leong Hup International Bhd, Sunway Construction Group Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, ATA IMS Bhd, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd, Manulife Holdings Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Samchem Holdings Bhd, Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Genting Malaysia Bhd and AT Systematization Bhd.
Nestle (M) Bhd's (Nestle Malaysia) net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 ticked up 0.5% to RM132.47 million from RM131.82 million a year earlier. The group said its revenue registered a 3.1% increase to RM1.37 billion from RM1.33 billion a year ago, underpinned by sales in Out-of-Home channels as restrictions eased in the second half of the year under the Recovery Movement Control Order. Earnings per share increased marginally to 56.5 sen from 56.21 sen previously. Nestle also declared a third interim dividend of 92 sen per share totalling RM215.74 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020 (FY20), to be paid on May 20, 2021. Cumulatively, this will bring total dividends for the year to RM2.32 per share. For FY20, Nestle Malaysia's net profit dipped to RM552.71 million from RM672.91 million a year ago, on the back of revenue of RM5.41 billion versus RM5.52 billion.