18 May 2012
Gas Malaysia set for high dividend payout
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Its position as the sole licensed operator and distributor of natural gas in Peninsular Malaysia and a high dividend payout policy are among factors attracting investors to Gas Malaysia Bhd.
The debt-free company, with small capital expenditure requirements for the next few years, expects to pay out as dividends its entire consolidated after tax profit for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2012.
It is looking at a payout ratio of not less than 75 per cent of its consolidated after tax profit for 2013.
Its managing director, Datuk Muhamad Nor Hamid, said on Friday Gas Malaysia's major spending will be this year where it will invest RM130mil to RM140mil for pipeline expansion and infrastructure in preparation for the distribution of the liquefied natural gas that would be supplied by Petronas from Malacca.
It would be expanding its pipeline by 70km to 90km to supply new customers and strengthen supply security.
Even then, it would be financed with internal funds, he said at a press conference after the launching of Gas Malaysia's prospectus.
"At least for the next three to four years, we don't need to raise extra capital," he said, adding that for the next few years, the annual capex requirement for Gas Malaysia would be around RM30mil to RM40mil.
Gas Malaysia, which operates 1,800 km of pipelines across Peninsular Malaysia, gets all its natural gas supply from Petronas.
Commenting on the dip in net profit to RM229.2mil for 2011 against RM298.3mil in 2010, he said it was due to the new gas tariff which resulted in the lower margin.
Its revenue in 2011 increased to RM2bil from RM1.807bil in 2010.
However, the profitability should start to pick up again with growth in revenue and volume with the addtional gas to be supplied by Petronas, Muhamad said.
Gas Malaysia has 700 industrial customers, 519 commercial customers and 10,612 residential customers for natural gas, while its liquefied petroleum gas customers comprise one industrial customer, 1,132 commercial customers and 20,663 residential customers.
He said 99% of Gas Malaysia's revenue is derived from the 701 industrial customers.
The company is scheduled for listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd on June 11.
In conjunction with its listing, the existing shareholders will offer for sale 333.840 million shares with indicative initial public offering price of RM2.20 each.
Upon listing, MMC-Shapadu (Holdings) Sdn Bhd will see its stake reduced to 40.7% from 55%, while Tokyo Gas-Mitsui & Co Holdings Sdn Bhd's stake will come to 18.5% from 25% and Petronas Gas Bhd's stake reduced to 14.8% from 20%.
By Star Online: Business
19 May 2012
Solid dividend play stock
While stepping into the limelight of being a public-listed company might not be something Gas Malaysia Bhd managing director Datuk Muhamad Noor Hamid is accustomed to, he seems to be grabbing the bull by the horns to ensure that the countrys industrial sector is well supplied with natural gas for their usage.
Having been in the oil and gas industry for more than 30 years, he tellsStarBizWeek that running a 1,800km network of gas pipelines throughout the country is no mean feat with just 360 staff spread throughout the country.
Enroute to be listed on Bursa Malaysia next month, Gas Malaysias IPO is expected to raise over RM734mil potentially making it the third largest IPO this year after Felda Global Venture Holdings Bhd and Integrated Healthcare Holdings Bhd after its major shareholders MMC-Shapadu (Holdings) Sdn Bhd, which owns a 55% stake, Tokyo Gas-Mitsui & Co Holdings Sdn Bhd with a 25% and Petronas Gas Bhd agreed to pare down their stakes.
Noor: ‘We are trying to help our customers to improve the efficiency of gas consumption.’
There are two things we are looking for, and the IPO will give us bigger flexibility in terms of capital management and funds. It will also give the opportunity for the Malaysian public to invest in Gas Malaysia, as we are the sole distributor of natural gas, and the public should have the chance to enjoy the growth of the company, he says.
He says the companys financial position is solid and does not have any gearing.
Moving forward, our capital expenditure is expected to be funded with internal funds as we have a facility but we have not decided to use it, Noor says.
While the company has a medium-term note facility amounting to RM533mil which it has not utilised, Noor says that the amount is more than sufficient to drive its expansion plans.
This year, the company will be spending about RM140mil to extend its pipeline by another 70km to 90km while trying to introduce and promote new utilisation techniques like combined heat power or CHP and absorption chillers to increase the efficiency of fuel utilisation while reducing overall energy cost.
In February 2012, Gas Malaysia signed a gas supply agreement with Petronas for the supply of 492 million standard cu per day (mmscfd) on a step-up basis, a 29% increase from its previous supply of 382 mmscfd.
The new agreement, which starts in January 2013, will be for a duration of 10 years with an option to renew for another five years.
While the public might not be aware of the huge industry of supplying natural gas in the country, the 700 industrial players understand the importance of natural gas supplied to them.
The natural gas supplied by Gas Malaysia contains 99% methane, and is a highly efficient energy source that is widely used to fire up furnaces, boilers, power generation, and to produce ammonia/fertiliser along with as a feedstock to produce hydrogen. Natural gas has a higher combustion value compared with other fuel sources like petrol, diesel, and distillates, while also has a cleaner footprint on the environment with relatively lower greenhouse gases emissions compared with other hydrocarbon fuels.
Equipment using natural gas also enjoys longer uptime for production and less maintenance.
These aforementioned characteristics of natural gas are the reason why it is a preferred choice as an energy source for industries around the world.
Despite having a large customer base of 33,600, Gas Malaysia currently derives 99% of its revenue from 700 industrial players and names like Nippon Electric Glass, Malaysian Sheet Glass, Hartalega, Fatty Chemical and Central Sugars Refinery are among its major customers.
We are always scouring for opportunities for the best way we can leverage on our customers to grow, and currently we are trying to enhance the gas consumption and also to help our customers to improve the efficiency of gas consumption. The company cant grow if our customers are stagnant, we must help our customers to grow so that we can ride on their growth to grow ourselves, he says.
He says that these industrial players contribute a huge amount to the Malaysias gross domestic product along with the spill-over effects generated by these business activities.
To support these companies, you must have a big steady gas supplier to ensure a sustainable industry, he says.
Helming the company since 2003, Noor started to transform the company by setting a five-year target of joining the billion-dollar club as he says it, which is to hit a revenue of RM1bil by 2008.
But we hit it in 2006, 24 months ahead of our target. That is something we are very proud of and even now a lot of our staff are still talking about that achievement, he says.
For its financial year ended 2011, the company hit a revenue of RM2bil from RM1.8bil recorded previously, driven by the gas tariff revision announced by the Government, which took effect on June 1, 2011, in addition to increase in sales volume.
However, its net profit decreased by 23% to RM229mil in 2011 from RM298mil in the previous year due to the new gas tariff, which resulted in Gas Malaysias average margin declining by 48.9% to RM2.02 per mmBtu, or just 12.5% compared with 26.3% recorded previously.
Although the companys margin had been slashed, Noor says the margin squeeze is balanced out by the increase in the volume of gas supplied by Petronas, and in fact, many of its main customers had opted to ramp up their demand for natural gas to drive up their production, hence driving up the revenue of Gas Malaysia as well.
The company intends to payout 100% of its net profit for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2012, and subsequently targets a payout ratio of not less than 75% of its net profit moving forward.
As Gas Malaysia is running a monopolistic business in the country, he says it is hard for them to show they are better or more competitive should there be an alternative provider of natural gas.
There are upsides and downsides to the monopoly business, though the upside is there are no parties in competition with you, the downside is that you dont have a competitor to benchmark yourself against with, and its difficult to tell people that youre good, he says.
We are a different kind of utility compared with the power and water utility players here, and we often benchmark ourselves against international players like British Gas, Gas de France and Tokyo Gas, and we have a 99.9% availability rate for our supply of natural gas, he says.
The company sources its natural gas supply from Petronas via the Peninsular Gas Utilisation Transmission System operated by Petronas Gas Bhd.
While consumption of natural gas in Malaysia has grown from about 315 bcf (1 bcf equals to 1 trillion BTUs) in 1990 to an estimated 1,260 bcf in 2010, the ability to satisfy this demand has been constrained since 2007 due to the shortage of supply. However, with the completion of the liquefied natural gas regasification facility in Malacca, it will provide a new source of allocation to Peninsular Malaysia.
In addition, the volume of gas from the North Malay Basin project will also help sustain the natural gas supply to customers in the Peninsula.
Meanwhile, investors and analysts believe that Gas Malaysia is a strong dividend-recurring stock with more potential upside with the new Petronas contract and its commitment to pay most of its profit back to shareholders.
This is certainly a solid dividend play stock, and these stocks dont come often to the market in the form of an IPO. This is a rare opportunity for the public to invest amid choppy market sentiments and reap the benefits much later, Noor says.
He says in terms of growth for Gas Malaysia, its infrastructure is already quite well developed with its extensive reach to most industrial estates in the peninsular that entails little capital expenditure to expand its operations.
At a price of RM2.20, Noor says Gas Malaysia is attractively priced at a 13 times its price-to-earnings ratio, compared with Tokyo-Gas which is currently trading at about 21 times.
Upon listing, the company will have a total market capitalisation of RM2.8bil.
[Source]
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