Hong Leong Industries Berhad (5486-P)

QUARTERLY REPORT ON CONSOLIDATED RESULTS

FOR THE FINANCIAL QUARTER ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2000

The Figures have not been audited.

1.

Accounting policies

   

The accounting policies and methods of computation are consistent with those adopted in the most recent annual financial statements.

2.

Exceptional items

   

Exceptional items comprise :-

Individual Quarter

Cumulative Quarter

Current Year Quarter

Preceding Year Corresponding Quarter

Current Year to date

Preceding Year Corresponding Period

31/12/2000

31/12/1999

31/12/2000

31/12/1999

RM'000

RM'000

RM'000

RM'000

Exchange gain/(loss) on foreign currency borrowings

-

(480

)

(152

)

Provision for EuroConvertible 

88

(5,073

)

(4,985

)

(10,146

)

Bond Put Premiums

88

 

 

(5,553

)

 

(4,985

)

 

(10,298

)

3.

Extraordinary items

There were no extraordinary items included in the accounts.

4.

Taxation

   

Exceptional items comprise :-

Individual Quarter

Cumulative Quarter

Current Year Quarter

Preceding Year Corresponding Quarter

Current Year to date

Preceding Year Corresponding Period

31/12/2000

31/12/1999

31/12/2000

31/12/1999

RM'000

RM'000

RM'000

RM'000

Taxation

- Current Year

4,327

4,677

8,443

9,801

 

- Under provision in prior year 218

- 218

-

Deferred taxation

4,203

7,018

8,406

14,037

 

Share of associated

    companies' taxation

909 1,010 938 1,010  

9,657

 

  

12,705

 

 

18,005

 

  

24,848

 

The Group's effective tax rate is lower than the statutory tax rate due to pioneer status and reinvestment allowances.

5.

Pre-acquisition profits

There were no pre-acquisition profits included in the accounts.

6.

Sale of investments / properties

There were no sale of investments and/or properties for the financial quarter ended 31 December 2000. 

7.

Quoted securities

   

(a)

There were no purchase and sale of quoted securities for the financial quarter ended 31 December 2000.

(b)

Particulars of investments in quoted shares as at 31 December 2000:-

RM'000

Total investments at cost

-

Associated Companies

511,250

-

Others

83,351

594,601

Total investments at book value (after provision for appreciation in value)

596,861

Total investments at market value

221,512

8.

Group structure

The Group’s year-to-date results have not been affected by any form of changes in the composition of the Group.

(a)

 

The Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary company, Mai Kah Corporation Sdn Bhd ("MKC") has been put under voluntary winding-up pursuant to Section 254(1)(b) of the Companies Act 1965 on 10 July 2000. Subsequently, the Company had, on 2 January 2001, filed an affidavit with the court to stay the winding up of MKC. 

 

(b)

Quayline Company Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company is presently under voluntary winding up pursuant to Section 290(1)(b) of the Singapore’s Companies Act (Chapter 50).

 

(c)

The Company had, on 11 November 2000, entered into an agreement to dispose of its entire 70% equity interest in Autonet Sdn Bhd comprising 1,260,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each, to Auto Concessionaries Sdn Bhd for a total cash consideration of RM126.00. ("Disposal"). The Disposal was completed on 11 November 2000.

 

(d)

The Company had, on 14 November 2000, disposed of its entire equity interest in Guotrade Holdings Sdn Bhd comprising 2 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each to Ms Lee Oi Kuan and Ms Leong Wei Yin, for a total cash consideration of RM2.00.

 

(e)

The Company had, on 14 December 2000, acquired the entire equity interest in Kasih Sayang Realty Sdn Bhd comprising 290,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each from Taman Terang Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, for a total cash consideration of RM1.00.

 

9.

Corporate proposals

(a)

Deferment of Put Option Date For The USD73,480,000 Zero Coupon Euro-convertible Bonds Due 2006 From 25 October 2001 to 25 October 2005

The Company issued USD73,480,000 principal amount of the Bonds on 25 October 1996. Under the terms of the Bonds, the Bondholders have a put option to require Hong Leong Industries Berhad ("HLIB") to redeem the Bonds on 25 October 2001 (the “Put Option Date”) at 120.3% of its principal amount or to convert their Bonds into new HLIB's ordinary shares of RM0.50 each at a conversion price of RM8.20 per share at a fixed exchange rate of USD1.00 : RM2.50508 on or before 25 October 2006.

The Securities Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bondholders have approved the Company’s extension of the put option date from 25 October 2001 to 25 October 2005 and revision of certain terms and conditions of the Bonds. The completion is now pending finalisation of documents.

 

(b)

Redirection of Proceeds And Extension of Time

Out of the total of RM574.862 million raised from the fund raising exercise by the Company in 1997, an amount of RM3.563 million which have been earmarked for the repayment of bank borrowings of a subsidiary of the Company, which has been disposed of, remained unutilised. On 4 January 2001, the Securities Commission has approved the following:-

(i)

the redirection of the unutilised fund of RM3.563 million ("Unutilised Amount") from the Company’s fund raising exercise in 1997 for the Group’s working capital purposes; and

(ii)

an extension of time up to 31 March 2001 to fully utilise the Unutilised Amount.

(c)

Proposed Transfer of Land From Guolene Plastic Products Sdn Bhd to Guolene Packaging & Printing Sdn Bhd.

On 16 January 2001, Guolene Plastic Products Sdn Bhd, an indirect subsidiary of the Company, entered into a Sale & Purchase Agreement to transfer two (2) parcels of land together with a building erected thereon, to Guolene Printing & Packaging Sdn Bhd ("GP&P"), another indirect subsidiary of the Company, for a total cash consideration of RM10,000,000. The transfer of land title to GP&P is pending registration with the Land Office.

10.

Seasonal / Cyclical factors

There were no material changes to the factors affecting the sources of income and performance of the Group during the financial quarter ended 31 December 2000.

11.

Debt / Equity securities and Share buy-back

   

(a)

There were no issuance or repayment of debts or equity securities, share buy-back, share cancellation, shares held as treasury shares and resale of treasury shares for the financial quarter ended 31 December 2000 other than as mentioned below. 

(b)

The Executive Share Option Scheme (“ESOS”) of the Company was implemented with effect from 28 December 1999. During the quarter review ended 31 December 2000, 4,600 ordinary shares of RM0.50 each were issued and allotted pursuant to the exercise of the ESOS.

   

No. of shares

RM

As at 1 July 2000

225,123,900

112,561,950

Ordinary shares issued pursuant to ESOS

4,600

2,300

As at 31 December 2000

 

225,128,500

 

112,564,250

 
   

(c)

During the financial period under review, the Company bought back a total of 7,344,000 of its issued share capital from the open market. Total number of shares bought back as at 31 December 2000 were 7,344,000. The shares bought back are being held as treasury shares in accordance with the requirement of Section 67A of the Companies Act, 1965.

The details of the shares bought back during the financial quarter ended 31 December 2000 were as follows:-

Month No. of shares bought back Highest price paid (RM) Lowest price paid (RM)   Average price paid (RM) Total Consideration (RM)

August 2000

 

287,000

 

12.50

 

12.30

 

12.52

  3,592,975.75

September 2000

1,735,000

12.30

 

8.70

9.69

  16,794,603.77

October 2000

571,000

9.20

 

8.30

7.74

  5,071,989.67

November 2000

1,157,000

8.95

 

7.00

8.23

  9,099,141.81

December 2000

.

3,594,000

.

7.05

.

6.50

.

6.99

.

25,276,882.56

12.

Group borrowings

   

Particulars of the Group’s borrowings as at 31 December 2000 are as follows :-

RM'000

 

(a)

Unsecured short term borrowings

828,276

 

(b)

Unsecured long term borrowings

1,147,041

 

1,975,317

 

The above Group’s borrowing include foreign currency as follows :-

RM'000

 

USD borrowings

479,162

 

DM borrowings

18,547

13.

Contingent liabilities

There are no contingent liabilities to be disclosed as at the date of this report.

14.

Off-balance sheet risks

There are no off-balance sheet risks envisaged as at the date of this report that might materially affect the position or business of the Group.

15.

Material litigation

There is no pending material litigation against the Group as at the date of this report.

16.

Segmental reporting

   

Turnover

Profit Before Tax

Total Assets Employed

RM'000

RM'000

RM'000

 

Semiconductor

819,961

277,678

2,443,252

 

Motorcycles

172,071

(7,034

)

347,331

Building Materials

245,983

14,328

575,953

Packaging

97,492

9,785

232,668

Investment holding & others

56,419

.

.

(45,809

)

.

1,121,971

1,391,926

248,948

4,721,175

Share of losses of 

-

(23,319

)

-

associated companies

1,391,926

 

 

225,629

 

.

4,721,175

 

17.

Quarterly analysis

For the quarter under review, the Group recorded a profit before taxation of RM122.2 million, an improvement of approximately 18.2% over the preceding quarter of RM103.4 million.

The Group achieved an earnings per share of 17.4 sen for the quarter under review as compared to 7.1 sen for the previous quarter.

18.

Review of results

The Group recorded a turnover and profit before taxation of RM685.3 million and RM122.2 million respectively for the current quarter, representing an increase of 7.1% and 22.2% respectively over the preceding year's corresponding period.

19.

Prospects

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Board expects the Group to perform satisfactorily in the current financial year provided there is no major slow down in the US economy which will affect the semiconductor industry.

20.

Profit forecast / profit guaranteed

There was neither profit forecast prepared nor profit guaranteed by the Group.

21.

Dividend

The Board of Directors has declared an interim dividend of 10% tax exempt and a further special interim dividend of 15% less tax for the six months ended 31 December 2000 for the financial year 2000/2001 (1999/2000 : 10% tax exempt) to be paid on 13 March 2001 to holders of ordinary shares whose names appear in the Record of Depositors at the close of business on 27 February 2001.

This is to inform that a Depositor shall qualify for entitlement only in respect of :-

(a) shares transferred into the Depositor's securities account before 12:30 pm on 27 February 2001 in respect of ordinary transfers; and
(b) shares bought on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange on a cum entitlement basis according to the Rules of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
In respect of the financial year ended 30 June 2000, the proportion of final dividend attributable to shares bought back by the Company and Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad, a subsidiary of the Company, from 1 July 2000 to the dividend entitlement date on 1 November 2000 and 25 October 2000 respectively, which amounted to RM351,000 and RM837,000 respectively, have been reversed and adjusted against retained earnings during the current financial period. 

By Order of the Board

Hong Leong Industries Berhad

Christine Lee Oi Kuan

Joanne Leong Wei Yin

Company Secretaries

Kuala Lumpur

7 February 2001


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