KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd is optimistic on MISC Bhd's three 15-year contracts with QatarEnergy for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, which starts in 2026.
These contracts involve the construction of three new-build LNG carriers named Polaris 5, Polaris 6, and Polaris 7, to be built by Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd.
CIMB Securities said these wins come as no surprise, building on the momentum from the previous agreements.
With this contract, the firm said MISC now has a total of 17 LNG carriers under construction, with four set for delivery in 2025 and the remainder in 2026.
"We anticipate the potential daily charter rate (DCR) for these contracts to range within US$110,000–120,000/day, considering the vessel's capacity of 174,000 cbm and its long-term nature.
"Assuming a vessel capex of US$235 million each, we estimate this translates to an IRR of 11 per cent," it said.
If these new contracts commence in the second quarter (Q2) of the of the financial year 2026 (FY26), CIMB Securities said rough calculations suggest that it could boost its FY26F earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) by approximately RM378.3 million.
From FY27F onwards, it said this contribution could reach RM474.8m on a full year basis.
"However, after deducting finance costs on debt raised for the investment, the contribution to MISC's FY26 core net profit would be negligible at below 2.8 per cent.
"All said, our buy rating for MISC is reaffirmed with an unchanged target price of RM8.96," it added.