Friday 5 November 2010

KNM settles termination of oil sands project with Fort Hills


November 5, 2010, Friday


KUCHING: KNM Group Bhd’s (KNM) subsidiary, KNM Process Equipment Inc (KNMPE) executed a settlement and release agreement and a right of consideration agreement with Fort Hills Energy LP (Fort Hills) and Suncor Energy Inc (Suncor) to terminate an oil sands project for the Fort Hills Froth Treatment (FHFT) project in Canada.

CONTRACT SETTLEMENT: KNMPE has executed a settlement and release agreement and a right of consideration agreement with Fort Hills and Suncor to terminate an oil sands project for the FHFT in Canada.
According to OSK Research Sdn Bhd (OSK Research), Fort Hills would pay RM9.3 million to KNMPE in addition to the progress payment previously paid as full and final compensation for the termination of the contract.
KNM had excluded all of the oil sand orders from its overall order book. Its existing order book of more than RM1.5 billion should be able to keep the company busy for the next nine to 12 months which did not include any more oil sand projects.
In consideration of the mutual agreement, Suncor (as partner of Fort Hills) would also pay KNMPE the first consideration for performance of identified products for five years from the date of the agreement.
Despite this contract termination, OSK Research noted that KNM’s tenderbook was now worth more than RM10 billion which was reflective of the recovery in the global economy.
In a separate report, AmResearch Sdn Bhd (AmResearch) remained cautious of KNM’s target of securing new orders of RM2 billion for the financial year 2010 forecast (FY10F) as the group’s quarterly replenishment had struggled to reach RM500 million since its completion of its Borsig acquisition back in 2008.
In particular, the group had only secured RM1 billion in new orders for FY10F to date with a target to secure another RM1 billion by year-end.
Based on this, AmResearch pointed out that KNM’s plant utilisation rate was likely to remain just above its operating breakeven level of 60 per cent.
To conclude, OSK Research pegged the group’s target price at RM0.56 per share while AmResearch pegged the group’s target price at RM0.42 per share.

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