Scomi shares climb on report it may win India project

Scomi Engineering Bhd, a Malaysian oil and transport services company, climbed to a three-month high after Bernama reported it may win a 1.01 billion ringgit ($302 million) project that would boost its earnings.

Scomi and its Indian partner, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, may beat Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, which teamed up with Hitachi Ltd, in the bid to build a 20-kilometre (12-mile) elevated monorail in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, the Malaysian official news agency said, without citing anyone.

“It will be positive for the company, as well as” its parent, Scomi Group Bhd, said Kaladher Govindan, an analyst at TA Securities Holdings in Kuala Lumpur who tracks the parent’s stock.

“This will be their maiden monorail project overseas” and “the operating margin for that project is quite high so, it should be good for them if they get it.”

Scomi Engineering jumped 7.9 per cent to 1.09 ringgit at 10:00 am on the Malaysian stock exchange, set to close at its highest since May 20. Revenue from overseas accounted for more than half the company’s total in 2007, Bloomberg data showed. Scomi Group shares gained 0.7 per cent to 69 sen on the exchange, after earlier adding as much as 3.7 per cent.