Sats

A unit of engineering firm Sats has made an offer to acquire Brahim's Holdings' (BHB) shares in Brahim's Airline Catering Holdings (Bach).

Sats Investment plans to acquire 490,000 shares at RM1 each. This makes up 49 per cent of the total issued and fully paid-up shares in the catering firm. Bach owns 70 per cent of the issued and paid-up share capital, with Malaysia Airlines holding 30 per cent.

The proposed consideration is RM110 million (S$35.6 million) and an additional earnout payment - based on performance - of up to RM108 million. The earnout payment is conditional upon agreed financial targets being achieved, said Sats.

The firm said that BHB is considering the offer and will update shareholders when appropriate.

Sheng Siong Group

Supermarket chain Sheng Siong Group reported an 18.7 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit to $14.5 million yesterday.

The reasons for the stronger bottom line were mainly higher revenue, improved gross margin, higher other income and tight control of operating expenses.

Revenue climbed 7.3 per cent to $200 million compared with the same period a year earlier. The firm said 6.2 per cent was contributed by five new stores. However, it noted that retail sales "had been unexciting and unsurprisingly sales at (the) supermarket(s) remained tepid".

Quarterly earnings per share for the quarter came in at 0.96 cent, up 11.6 per cent from 0.86 cent last year, while net asset value per share stood at 15.27 cents as at Sept 30, down from 15.71 cents as at Dec 31 last year.