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Kenanga ups SapuraKencana’s fair value Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:38 PM PDT Kenanga Research raised SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd's fair value to RM2.90 from RM2.80 after the oil and gas services firm secured two new contracts worth a total of RM836 million (273.92 million). "We are positive on the wins," the research house said in a note on Friday. "Despite being marginal in terms of value, the cumulative contract of RM1 billion (327.65 million) for 2012, illustrates SapuraKencana's market dominance in the local fabrication scene." Kenanga maintained an 'outperform' on the counter, and said it was positive on the company due to its domestic EPCIC (engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commission) market dominance and reputable international global track record. The counter rose 1.53 per cent to RM2.65 per share, outperforming the broader index's 0.11 per cent drop. - Reuters

Investors cry foul over KFC privatising Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:41 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: A 1.7 billion bid for Malaysia's two main KFC fast food franchisees faces a growing chorus of opposition from investors challenging the terms of the offer that is nearly a year old and now looks to them badly undervalued. A showdown is looming on Nov. 5 and 6, when shareholders vote on the deal. Some investors contacted by Reuters said they planne to vote against the bid but it was not clear if they had enough firepower to do so. The bid for KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd and QSR Brands Bhd was made last December by the investment arm of Malaysia's Johor state and CVC Capital Partners. The Employee Provident Fund joined the consortium in May. But it was only in October that the companies called extraordinary general meetings. They have not explained the delay. It is a long enough period, opposing shareholders argue, to mean that the bid price no longer represents the true value of the companies after what has been a prolonged retail sector boom, with prospects for it to continue. What is not clear is whether those minority shareholders can muster enough support to prevent its backers winning the 75 percent of the votes they need to pass the acquisition. But they may be helped by the fact that Johor Corp, top shareholder of both KFC and QSR, is not eligible to vote on the deal because it made the offer. Johor Corp and related parties own nearly half of KFC and about 60 percent of QSR. Share prices in the two firms have hovered around last December's bid price. In the same period, shares in other Malaysian consumer companies have soared as much as 70 percent as household spending has jumped, helped by generous government handouts ahead of a hotly contested national election. "Comparing the companies with their peers based on last year's multiples? is not relevant," said Jonathan Foster, Singapore-based director of global special situations at Religare Capital Markets. Religare does not own shares in either of the companies. "If it is based on current multiples, KFC and QSR are quite undervalued." Independent advisers for both KFC and QSR have recommended shareholders accept the offer. Also, shares of the two companies trade at a discount of just about 3 percent to the offer prices. That suggests the market expects the deal to go through. A discount of 15 percent or more, known as a merger arbitrage spread, signals investors expect a deal to fail. UNHAPPY SHAREHOLDERS Reuters contacted eight shareholders representing around 38 percent of the total shares outstanding of KFC and 16 percent in QSR. Two said they intended to vote against the proposal and one planned to vote in favour for the lack of a better alternative. The rest declined to comment. The two holders intending to vote against the deal are based outside Malaysia and represent about 5 percent of KFC shares and 3 percent of QSR. They said both companies had stopped paying dividends since receiving the offer last December, the negotiations had dragged on too long and too little information was shared with minority shareholders. QSR and Johor did not respond to requests for comment. CVC declined to comment. A KFC official said shareholders will have the opportunity to voice their concerns at the meetings, scheduled for Nov. 5 and 6. Malaysian consumer stocks have enjoyed a strong run this year as pre-election government giveaways boosted domestic spending. Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd has risen about 23 percent to date, while Berjaya Food Bhd and Oldtown Bhd , have risen between 60 percent and 70 percent this year, benefitting from strong domestic consumption and solid economic growth. Shares of KFC and QSR's sector peers are up an average of 28 percent this year, compared with a 9 percent rise in the broader index, according to Thomson Reuters data. By contrast, KFC's shares are up 2 percent and QSR's 1 percent. Both companies lag on a current price-to-earnings ratio basis. Berjaya Food and Oldtown trade at 23.50 times and 14.68 times, respectively, more than double where they were last December when the KFC franchisees received their takeover bids. -Reuters

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Romney back to campaign attacks on Obama after Sandy pause - Reuters Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:06 AM PDT By Steve Holland ROANOKE, Virginia | Thu Nov 1, 2012 12:31pm EDT (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney returned to campaign attacks against President Barack Obama on Thursday after a pause for the storm Sandy, hitting the Democrat for proposing more government bureaucracy. Romney swept into must-win Virginia looking to increase turnout among Republican voters in a conservative area of the state to help offset the Democrats' advantage the northern area. Virginia went for Obama in 2008 but may flip for the Republican this year. "Turnout here makes a big difference," Romney told a crowd gathered inside a window and door factory. With the race too close to call in the final five days before Tuesday's election, Romney is engaged in a frenzy of campaigning in battleground states that will likely decide the race. The former governor of Massachusetts had not mentioned Obama's name in two days of events this week as he toned down campaign rhetoric while Americans along the East Coast reeled from the superstorm Sandy. But with the recovery now under way, Romney resumed his standard campaign fare of singling out the president for criticism. He leaped on a comment that Obama made in an interview aired by MSNBC on Monday in which the president said he would like to create a new government agency headed by a "secretary of business' to try to help businesses create jobs. "I've said that I want to consolidate a whole bunch of government agencies. We should have one Secretary of Business, instead of nine different departments that are dealing with things like giving loans to SBA (the Small Business Administration) or helping companies with exports," Obama had said. This comment bolstered Romney's charge that the president wants to expand government rather than boost the private sector. "I don't think adding a new chair to his cabinet will help add millions of jobs on Main Street," Romney said. Romney's schedule in the coming days is a mix of travel in swing states and at least one effort to expand his campaign into Wisconsin, a state that has gone Democratic the last several elections. He is to travel to Wisconsin on Friday and then visit Ohio, a state a Republican candidate normally has to win in order to take the White House. He also has weekend plans to visit New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada in the battle to put together the 270 electoral votes that are needed for election. (Editing by Alistair Bell and Vicki Allen)

Sandy recovery: Death toll up, gasoline lines grow after monster storm - Chicago Tribune Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:03 AM PDT The New York City subway system was paralyzed when Superstorm Sandy poured seawater into the underground tunnels. Jim Axelrod reports on what it's going to take to get it back up and running. NEW YORK— Subways started running again in much of New York City on Thursday for the first time since Superstorm Sandy, but traffic at bridges backed up for miles, long lines formed at gas stations, and crowds of hundreds of people, some with short tempers, waited for buses. Lines formed at gas stations amid fuel shortages around the U.S. Northeast and emergency utility crews struggled to reach the worst hit areas and restore power to millions of people. At least 82 people in North America died in the superstorm, which ravaged the northeastern United States on Monday night, and officials said the count could climb higher as rescuers searched house-to-house through coastal towns. More deaths were recorded overnight as the extent of destruction became clearer in the New York City borough of Staten Island, where the storm lifted whole houses off their foundations. Authorities recovered 15 bodies from Staten Island. Among those still missing were two boys aged 4 and 2 who were swept from their mother's arms by the floodwaters, the New York Post reported. In all, 34 people died in New York City. In hard-hit New Jersey, where oceanside towns saw entire neighborhoods swallowed by seawater and the Atlantic City boardwalk was destroyed, the death toll doubled to 12. The trains couldn't take some New Yorkers where they needed to go. There was no service in downtown Manhattan and other hard-hit parts of the city, and people had to switch to buses. But some of those who did use the subway, after three days without service, were grateful. About 4.7 million homes and businesses in 12 U.S. states remained without power early Thursday as utilities scrambled to restore service disrupted by Sandy, U.S. Department of Energy data showed. Power companies had restored electricity to more than 3 million customers across states on the East Coast. In total, Sandy left more than 8 million customers in 21 states from North Carolina to Maine when the storm came ashore in New Jersey late Monday. Three days after Sandy slammed the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, New York and New Jersey struggled to get back on their feet, the U.S. death toll stood at more than 70, and more than 4.6 million homes and businesses were still without power. Nearly 20,000 people remained stranded in their homes by floodwaters in Hoboken, N.J., across the river from the New York, and swaths of the New Jersey coastline lay in ruins, with countless homes, piers and boardwalks wrecked. Downtown Manhattan, which includes the financial district, Sept. 11 memorial and other tourist sites, was still mostly an urban landscape of shuttered bodegas and boarded-up restaurants. People roamed in search of food, power and a hot shower. Some dispirited and fearful New Yorkers decided to flee the city. Flights took off and landed Thursday at LaGuardia Airport, the last of the three major New York-area airports to reopen since the storm. With the electricity out and gasoline supplies scarce, many stations across the metropolitan area closed, and the stations that were open drew long lines of cars that spilled out onto roads. New Jersey power company Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (PSEG) CEO Ralph Izzo said on Thursday that Hurricane Sandy's tidal surge caused significant damage to the electric transmission system and some switching stations. The storm left 1.7 million customers without service at the peak, he said, adding that the company has already restored service to about a million. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed.

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