GP Batteries

GP Batteries: Last week, chairman and CEO of GP Batteries, Andrew Ng, jumped to his death in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong. According to a police source, Ng, who is also the vice-chairman and executive director of GP Batteries' parent company- Gold Peak Industries (GPI), had been troubled by his company’s business over the past few months and had been depressed. We note that GP Batteries have been making 52-week lows in Jan and Feb this year, and was previously touted as a privatisation play back in 2010- with GPI holding 53.2% stake in the company. At the current price of $0.56, GP Batteries trade at 0.24x P/B and is loss-making.

Venture Corp

Venture Corp: UOB Kay Hian notes that business sentiment is improving gradually, with leading indicators- US new orders, PMI backlog orders and Taiwan’s export orders index, showing a firm recovery in demand for electronic products. House reckons that the improved outlook, if sustained, will lead to increased demand for Venture’s industrial and enterprise products, and is a good time to pick up the stock before XD on 5 May. UOB Kay Hian maintains a Buy rating with $8.85 TP.

Memstar (technical)

Memstar - Technicals appear rather neutral and shows a consolidation phase, with no clear upside/downside indicator as exhibited by RSI, Stochastics and ADX. Although for now, the key support could be at $0.021 while the high of $0.028 should cap any near-term rise.

Yongmao

Yongmao: Has secured $3.0m worth of contracts for the delivery of its tower cranes to Myanmar. These contract wins come on the heels of the group’s maiden delivery of tower crane to Myanmar in Jan '14. Going forward, the group aims to continue its push into Myanmar by securing more contract wins with well-established tower crane rental firms in the country.

Ausgroup

Ausgroup: In an interview with The Business Times, AusGroup’s CEO, Mr Stuart Kenny guided that it is still too premature to define the group’s areas of tie-up with Ezion, while highlighting that Ezion’s aim to develop its fuel pump and its need for project management support could be potential opportunities for further collaboration. Mr Kenny remains confident of the unique proposition that AusGroup could bring to Ezion, highlighting AusGroup’s integrated service line and wide service range offering as its competitive advanrage.

Cosco

Cosco: Has secured 6 contracts valued at US$100m, for four emergency response / rescue / field support vessels (ERRVs) and two platform supply vessels (PSVs). The six vessels are scheduled for delivery by 1H16. The latest contracts bring Cosco’s year-to-date announced orders to ~US$217m (inclusive of US$60m option contracts exercised), taking the group’s orderbook to ~US$7.2-US$7.4b, with progressive deliveries up to 2015/16. We caution however that the group’s recent contracts could have been won at the expense of margins. In view of its poor execution, the stock is generally unloved by the street. Analysts generally prefer closest peer Yangzijiang, which has not only enjoyed strong order win momentum year-to-date (total orders secured year-to-date at US$815m), but also better profitability Cosco currently trades at 31.3x forward P/E versus Yangzijiang’s 8.6x. Overall, the street has 2 Hold and 9 Sell call ratings with a consensus TP of $0.61.

IEV

IEV: Won 2 separate contracts to supply compressed natural gas to two divisions of PT Indofood’s Noodle Division and Nutrition & Special Food Division in Bandung for a period of 1 and 2 years respectively. This is expected to yield revenue in excess of US$9m