Stocks to watch: Melati Ehsan , F&N, MSC, Nestle

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 6): Malaysian stocks will have to take their cue from regional and Wall Street when trading resumes on Tuesday, Oct 8.

Investors will have to prepare for the crisis as the chaos in Europe is far from over. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won a parliamentary confidence vote early Saturday, which helped the cash-strapped country avoid snap elections that would have destroyed its bailout deal and turned up the flames on the euro zone's economic crisis.

Stocks to watch on Tuesday include MELATI EHSAN HOLDINGS BHD [], Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (FNHB), MALAYSIA SMELTING CORPORATION [] Bhd and Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd following the corporate results last Friday.

Melati Ehsan unit Pembinaan Kery Sdn Bhd has accepted two contracts from the Housing and Local Government to undertake two housing projects worth RM298 million in Kuala Lumpur.

Fraser & Neave posted net profit of RM66.21 million in the fourth quarter ended Sept 30, 2011, down 85.7% from the RM462.31 million a year ago where there was a gain of RM382.03 million after selling its glass container business.

It proposed a final single tier dividend of 47 sen per share together with a special single tier dividend of 15 sen.

For the financial year ended Sept 30, its net profit was RM383.13 million, down 44.8% from RM695.29 million a year ago including the RM382 million gain on divestment of the glass business. Its revenue rose 7.6% to RM3.915 billion from RM3.637 billion.

MSC posted net profit of RM41.81 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2011 compared with net loss of RM37.05 million a year ago where there was an impairment provision for goodwill of RM73.63 million.

Revenue increased by 25.9% to RM907.04 million from RM719.96 million. Earnings per share were 41.80 sen compared with loss per share of 49.40 sen.

Nestle posted net profit of RM110 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2011 marginally lower from the RM113.18 million a year ago as profit margins were affected by higher prices of key raw materials.

Its operating profit was RM143.16 million, up 3.8% from RM137.83 million. Revenue rose 18.2% to RM1.171 billion from RM991.07 million, boosted by strong domestic and exports sales.

For the nine-month period, its earnings rose 4.8% to RM369.23 million from RM352.14 million. Its revenue increased by 14.6% to RM3.51 billion from RM3.06 billion driven by both domestic and export sales.

Meanwhile, The Edge weekly said there is little to indicate how Proton Holdings' recent MoU with Hawtai Motor Group will impact the national carmaker, especially since the outcome of its 2007 tie-up with Youngman Automobile Group remains uncertain.

As for GHL SYSTEMS BHD [], the group is looking to turn around its fortunes by banking on its strategic solutions business to drive future growth.