BUTTERWORTH: PLB Engineering Bhd expects to be back in the black in the current financial year ending Aug 31, 2010 as it focuses more on property development, said group executive chairman Datuk Ong Choo.

He said the company would be launching several new property deprojects with a total gross development value (GDV) of RM400 million over the next four years in Penang.

HONG KONG: Chinese developer Shimao Property Holdings said on Tuesday, July 27 it hired banks to help arrange a series of meetings with investors ahead of a planned dollar bond issue.

HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered Bank were hired for the proposed bond sale, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

KUALA LUMPUR: PLB Engineering Bhd saw its net profit jump to RM2.36 million for its third quarter ended May 31, 2010 (3Q), up 325% from RM555,000 a year ago, despite posting a 27.2% decline in revenue of RM19.95 million from RM27.42 million.

KUALA LUMPUR: Construction group Ken Holdings Bhd posted a net profit of RM1.79 million in its second quarter ended June 30, 2010 (2Q), up 54% from RM1.16 million a year ago on the back of higher profit margins recorded during the current quarter.

Similarly, its profit before tax (PBT) rose 46% to RM2.4 million from RM1.65 million, the company said on Monday, July 26.

The company said on Monday, July 26 the marginal increase in net profit was despite a 32.3% decline in revenue to RM33.81 million from RM49.98 million a year ago.

KUALA LUMPUR: Residential housing across the country is set to see an incoming supply of 535,665 units as of 2Q 2010, according to preliminary property stock data for 2Q2010 by the Finance Ministry's Valuation and Property Services Department's National Property Information Centre (NAPIC).

BANGKOK: Impiana Hotels, Resorts and Spas, which is part of the Impiana Group, has officially opened its six-star boutique resort Impiana Private Villas in Kata Noi, Phuket, Thailand.

Ko Shiou Hee began his career with Morphosis, then moved on to Kohn Pederson & Fox, followed by IM Pei in the US, before returning to Asia. He then spent two years in Tokyo as a design consultant.

BEIJING: The total outstanding loans from major financial institutions to China's property market climbed 40.2% as of end of June compared to one year earlier, said the People's Bank of China (PBoC).

Xinhua, quoting the central bank, reported that the figure was lower by 4.1 percentage points compared to the figure at the end of March.

KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Investment Bank Bhd (RHB IB), stabilising manager for Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (SunREIT), has purchased 150,000 units in the latter for 89 sen to 89.5 sen apiece, it announced on Bursa Malaysia on Monday, July 26.

The purchase was made in relation to the initial public offering of 1.65 million new units representing undivided interest in the REIT.