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https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/646962 | MN Holdings clinches substation parts replacement job from TNB | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 6): Underground utilities and substation engineering specialist MN Holdings Bhd has secured a RM43.5 million contract from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to replace parts of a substation in Penang. MN Holdings said its wholly owned subsidiary MN Power Transmission Sdn Bhd and joint venture (JV) partner Zafas Sdn Bhd have been appointed by TNB as the main contractors of the gas-insulated substation in situ replacement project. "The contract is expected to be completed in 790 days from the commencement date (Dec 5)," MN Holdings said in a filing. The JV company — owned 90% by MN Power and 10% by Zafas — will undertake the dismantling, replacement and commissioning of primary and secondary equipment, and power cables of the gas-insulated substation in Bayan Baru. In a separate statement, MN Holdings executive director Dang Siong Diang said that with the latest contract win, the company's outstanding order book stands at RM328.34 million. "The contract is expected to contribute positively to the revenues and earnings of the company for the financial year ending June 30, 2023 (FY2023), FY2024, and FY2025," he said. Shares in MN Holdings ended one sen or 4.35% higher at 24 sen on Tuesday (Dec 6), giving the company a market capitalisation of RM98.1 million. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/641755 | Destini scraps RM16 mil private placement | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 28): Destini Bhd has aborted its private placement of up to 10% of the company's total issued shares to raise RM16.14 million for working capital purposes. "The decision of the board was made in order to review the group's financial requirements and to explore other avenues of fundraising exercises to meet its financial needs," the integrated engineering solutions provider said in a Bursa Malaysia filing on Friday (Oct 28). An application has been submitted to Bursa Securities to withdraw the listing application in relation to the exercise, according to Destini. This comes just two months after the group first announced the proposed exercise on Aug 24. The private placement exercise entailed the issuance of up to 166.35 million shares — 10% of Destini's 1.66 billion total shares in issue — to third-party investors at an issue price to be determined later. At an illustrative price of 9.7 sen apiece — which represents a discount of 9.68% to the five-day volume weighted market average price of Destini shares up to and including Aug 1 of 10.74 sen — the group was expecting to raise up to RM16.14 million from the exercise. Destini said that the group intended to utilise RM15.98 million of the proceeds for ongoing projects' working capital, while the remaining RM160,000 was to be used to defray the exercise's expenses. It is worth noting that Destini in September last year completed a private placement exercise comprising the issuance of 277.26 million shares to raise gross proceeds of RM56.43 million, which had also been earmarked for existing projects' working capital. Shares of Destini finished unchanged at nine sen on Friday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM141.4 million. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/650252 | 王子铭任集团总执行长 Hextar Technologies创新高 | English | （吉隆坡3日讯）拿督王子铭受委为集团总执行长，Hextar Technologies Solutions Bhd在2023年首个交易日创新高。 闭市时，该股大幅上涨2.78令吉或16.3%，收于19.84令吉的纪录高位，市值为25亿5000万令吉。 此外，该公司今日向大马交易所报备，委任国家银行前总裁莫哈末依布拉欣为独立非执行主席，接替辞职的Datuk Iskandar Sarudin。 而职业银行家Choo Joon Keong获委为集团副总执行长兼执行董事。 王子铭此前曾任Hextar Global Bhd的执行董事、Hextar Industries Bhd和Hextar Healthcare Bhd（前称来百利，Rubberex）的非独立非执行董事。但他最近辞去这些公司的董事职务。 他持有Hextar Technologies的71.47%股权，其中16.70%是直接持股权，而54.77%是通过投资公司Hextar Tech私人有限公司所间接持有。 在王子铭的带领下，Hextar Group目前持有9家上市公司的显著股权，总市值超过80亿令吉。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Hextar Technologies rallies to new high as Eddie Ong made group CEO |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/648703 | 大马11月进出口皆增长15.6% | English | （吉隆坡19日讯）我国11月贸易总额按年增长15.6%至2381亿7000万令吉，连续第22个月双位数扩张。 11月贸易表现继续亮眼，贸易总额、出口、进口和贸易顺差皆是11月最高。 外贸发展局今日发布文告指出，11月出口和进口均上涨15.6%，分别至1302亿4000万令吉和1079亿3000万令吉，而贸易顺差亦扩张15.6%至223亿令吉。 与10月相比，贸易顺差增23.5%，而出口（-2.8%）、出口（-1%）和进口（-4.9%）则出现收缩。 今年首11个月，贸易总额增加29.9%至2.613兆令吉。 出口扬27.2%至1.42兆令吉、进口涨33.3%至1.193兆令吉，而贸易顺差微幅扩大2.6%至2278亿9000万令吉。 贸易、出口、进口和贸易顺差均为同期最高。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Malaysia's November trade up 15.6% to RM238b |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/601008 | Value Creator: Outstanding CEO of Malaysia: Datuk Seri Abdul Farid Alias - Group President & CEO, Malayan Banking Bhd - Steady hands building on strong foundations | English | This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 27, 2021 - January 2, 2022 Datuk Seri Abdul Farid Alias was a relatively fresh face when he joined the ranks of Corporate Malaysia chieftains upon being named CEO of Malayan Banking Bhd in August 2013. The then 45-year-old head of global wholesale banking — who beat two other internal candidates for the post — had big shoes to fill, having taken over the helm of the country’s biggest lender from Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, who was tapped to join a newly formed Cabinet as senator and minister in the Prime Minister’s Department heading the Economic Planning Unit (EPU). Abdul Wahid (2013 Value Creator: Outstanding CEO of Malaysia) had in 2008 succeeded Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz, a seasoned banker who started his career at Maybank in 1977 and had helmed it for 14 years before being appointed minister in the Prime Minister’s Department heading the EPU in 2008 and chairman of the National Economic Action Council (NEAC) in 2009. Today, more than eight years on, Farid has proven his worth, especially to people who know how much harder it is for large companies and economies versus smaller ones to keep growing at high single-digit rates or more year after year. As an old Chinese proverb says, “守业更比创业难” (shou ye geng bi chuang ye nan) — keeping a business is more difficult than starting one. And the business here is not just any business; it is the largest company by market capitalisation on Bursa Malaysia that is a Malaysian icon and today among Southeast Asia’s top five banking groups (US$165 billion assets) and the top 500 companies on the Forbes Global 2000 list. While the pressures of a professional manager differ from those of an entrepreneur, the burden of taking care of other people’s money is not to be taken lightly. After all, it was unchecked decisions by a 28-year-old professional manager that brought down Barings Bank in 1995, then one of the world’s oldest banks. It was under Farid’s watch that Maybank became the first Bursa Malaysia-listed company to breach RM100 billion in market capitalisation in 2017, for which a special award was conferred by The Edge Billion Ringgit Club to mark the occasion. Maybank continues to top The Edge BRC members’ list in terms of total profits, and shareholders are reaping the rewards. Over the past five years alone, Maybank has paid more than RM30 billion in dividends or an average of RM5 billion a year — more than any listed company here. In FY2020, Maybank declared a dividend of 52 sen per share, a 91.2% payout, but it conserved cash — in line with conservatism signalled by global regulators in relation to dividend payouts by banks during the pandemic — by lowering the cash component to 34% versus an all-cash payout in FY2019. A small-town boy from Negeri Sembilan, Farid rose through the ranks in investment banking, corporate finance and the capital markets riding on his professional training in accounting, finance and management. He is also president commissioner of PT Bank Maybank Indonesia Tbk and vice-chairman of the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers, and sits on the board of Maybank Singapore Ltd, Cagamas Holdings Bhd and the Financial Industry Collective Outreach. Apart from Maybank’s reach in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, local golf enthusiasts would recognise how the 1962 Malaysian Open had grown by leaps and bounds since the banking group took over the title sponsorship in 2006 and, in 2016, rebranded it as the Maybank Championship, a professional golf tournament co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour as well as the European Tour. This is certainly an area in which Farid, who is a keen golfer himself and has made a conscious effort to make the sport more accessible to a larger group of aspiring players in the country, would want to bring back when practicable post-Covid-19. During the pandemic, Maybank’s two topmost priorities have been to safeguard the well-being of its employees and customers. Knowing full well that many Malaysians would be in dire need of financial aid, Farid told shareholders in Maybank’s 2020 annual report that the bank had started offering assistance in terms of restructuring and rescheduling loans as early as Feb 11, 2020 — 1½ months before the first six-month moratorium on loan repayment was announced. According to Farid, Maybank’s presence in Greater China gave it an advantage in terms of knowledge of the severity of the Covid-19 virus “the moment it emerged”. “Reacting fast, we put into motion initiatives to brace for the challenges to come. In addition to strengthening our Business Continuity Management framework, we also developed a plan to protect our employees and customers,” he says, telling shareholders that Maybank had already had at least 82% of its local workforce (representing half of the group’s 42,000 employees) working from home. Assistance was also extended to customers in Singapore and Indonesia, among others. In his message, Farid assured shareholders that Maybank was entering the pandemic in a position of strength, thanks to its past emphasis on healthy liquidity and capital levels. “While many may have thought we were being overly prudent in the past with our capital position, our strategy proved judicious, as this pandemic showed us how quickly an untoward event can take place and have a lingering effect. “We entered the pandemic with a Group Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 15.729% as at end-2019 and concluded 2020 at 15.313%,” he wrote, noting that the group’s liquidity coverage ratio remained stable at 142% as at end-2020, from 141% as at end-2019. While Common Equity Tier 1 ratio slipped to 14.2% in 1HFY2021, analysts reckon its asset base still has room to withstand lingering economic challenges. Asset quality should improve as the green shoots of recovery gain strength. It looks like Farid is on a roll. After winning The Edge BRC Value Creator: Outstanding CEO of Malaysia 2021 award on Dec 13, he went on to become one of 15 to receive the Sri Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang (SSAP) award on Dec 14 from the Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah, which carries the title “Datuk Seri”. Farid, 53, says the win is not his alone but one of many fruits of the hard work put in by his colleagues and predecessors over the decades to grow the group into an international network of more than 2,200 branches and offices in 18 countries. “The value creation that Maybank has achieved in the short, medium and long term has been a culmination of the collective effort by all past and present Maybankers. It is the perseverance and hard work of all employees group-wide across our footprint of 18 countries, anchored by our mission of Humanising Financial Services, that have resulted in Maybank expanding, diversifying and growing its revenue sources through its 61 years of history and ensuring the sustainability as well as relevance of this organisation in a rapidly evolving marketplace,” he tells The Edge. “As we move into the next phase of our strategic journey, focusing heavily on digitalisation and sustainability, we will remain customer-centric in our solutions and digital innovations, leveraging data-driven insights, to better serve our existing customers and reach the underserved and unserved segments within the markets we operate. “We aspire to continue delivering strong shareholder returns, premised on good governance, with the mindset of doing the right thing always — be it in business- or sustainability-led decisions — and remaining true to our core TIGER values [of teamwork, integrity, growth, excellence and efficiency, and relationship building]. It is only by looking into the well-being of all our stakeholder groups that we can truly create sustainable and meaningful value for the organisation,” he says. Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/653226 | Joe Biden congratulates Anwar, commends Malaysia’s inspiring democracy | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 27): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim received on Friday (Jan 27), a congratulatory message from United States (US) President Joe Biden, who also commended Malaysia’s inspiring democracy in the 15th general election (GE15) last November. Anwar said the US President also expressed commitment to deepen its relations with Malaysia, including in the areas of digital economy, climate crisis and energy security. “I look forward to working closely with him (Biden) for the mutual benefit of our people,” Anwar said as he uploaded the congratulatory message from Biden on Facebook on Friday. Biden, in his note dated Jan 24, said as democracies around the world face unprecedented challenges, Malaysia’s election demonstrated that democracies can deliver. “Millions of Malaysians stepped up and made their voices heard — casting their ballots in the general election, many for the first time. “Civic engagement is the cornerstone of free and open societies and Malaysians have inspired people around the world with their commitment to exercising their fundamental freedom,” Biden said. Biden also pointed out that the relationship between both countries was built on a strong foundation of the ever-growing economy, security and people-to-people ties, which have also helped strengthen freedom, security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. “In the years ahead, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further — including working together to build (an) inclusive economic growth and resilient supply chains through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. “Together, we can advance a free, open, secure and prosperous region — one that benefits both of our people,” he added. Anwar took his oath of office as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister before Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at Istana Negara on Nov 24 last year. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/631847 | 兴业零售研究：德健资源将反弹 | English | （吉隆坡11日讯）兴业零售研究指出，昨日强力突破3.12令吉即时阻力，形成“更高高点”看涨形态，德健资源（Texchem Resources Bhd）将反弹走高。 该研究机构今日在报告中称，高于该水平的看涨倾向预计推动该股至3.42令吉（6月22日高位），然后3.55令吉（6月16日高位）。 “如今的即时支撑位是3.12令吉。” “若跌破2.89令吉，势头可能逆转，因会形成‘更低低点’看跌形态，并回调至在21天平均线下。” （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Texchem set to rebound higher, says RHB Retail Research |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/655104 | Kenanga raises target price for Press Metal to RM6.30 | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Kenanga Research has maintained its “outperform” rating on Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd at RM5.15 with a higher target price of RM6.30 (from RM5.50) and said that year-to-date, aluminium prices have risen 6% to above US$2,500/MT, buoyed by the reopening of China which is the largest global aluminium consumer. “While maintaining our FY2022 forecasts (average aluminium price assumption of US$2,400/MT), we raise our FY2023 earnings forecast by 7%, imputing a higher average aluminium price assumption of US$2,550/MT (from US$2,500/MT previously). “Hence, we also lift our TP by 15% to RM6.30 (from RM5.50). We maintain 'outperform',” it said. Kenanga said the risks to its recommendation include: i) a global recession resulting in a sharp fall in demand for aluminium, hurting prices; ii) an escalation of raw material prices; and iii) major plant disruptions/closures. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/665348 | 郭泉成持股26.15% 崛起为Tex Cycle最大股东 | Mandarin | （吉隆坡2日讯）郭泉成收购废物回收公司Tex Cycle Technology (M) Bhd的6700万股后，崛起为最大股东。 郭泉成通过私人公司Frazel Group私人有限公司，向Can Cycle私人有限公司收购Tex Cycle的26.15%股权，惟价格不详。 截至今日闭市，该股跌1.5仙或2.03%，挂72.5仙。 Can Cycle在4月27日脱售了Tex Cycle的8000万股。这家公司由数个人掌控，包括Tex Cycle主席Ho Siew Choong。 根据文告，Can Cycle将其余1300万股（5.13%）卖给了K Seng Seng执行董事Lee Hai Peng。Lee是振兴集团（Chin Hin Group）的前执行董事兼财务总监。他在去年12月离职。 今年1月，郭泉成和Lee同时成为K Seng Seng的股东。郭泉成持有2636万股或20.34%股权，并获委任为执行主席。Lee则持有300万股或2.32%股权。 除了Tex Cycle外，郭泉成在去年10月通过QYH Capital私人有限公司，收购了EG工业（EG Industries Bhd）的2795万股或6.47%股权后，崛起为大股东。 目前，他是EG工业和恒宝环球（HB Global Ltd）的非执行主席。他是恒宝环球的最大股东，直接持有1亿2950万股或16.65%股权。 该股在今年1月26日一度弹升至84.5仙高位，去年12月30日报41.5仙。根据最新收盘价72.5仙，公司市值为1亿8574万令吉。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：Keh Chuan Seng now the largest shareholder in Tex Cycle with 26.15% |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/654004 | Eurozone companies to slow price increases this year, ECB poll shows | English | FRANKFURT (Feb 3): Eurozone companies expect to slow the pace of price increases this year as their outlook for costs and demand becomes less clear, a survey by the European Central Bank (ECB) showed. The central bank raised interest rates for the fifth straight times on Thursday and signalled more hikes ahead, reaffirming it would stay the course in the fight against high inflation. Helping the ECB's effort to tame rising prices, its quarterly exchange with large eurozone companies showed they had been slowing the pace of price increases and were anticipating smaller rises this year. "Selling prices continued to increase in aggregate but at a moderating pace and with more variability across sectors and a less certain outlook," the ECB said in its summary of the findings. Expectations of entrepreneurs for future price increases peaked in early 2022 and have since been steadily declining, with a smaller pace of price hikes seen in 2023. "The effective likelihood that they would increase prices would...depend on the — increasingly uncertain — evolution of input costs and [price sensitivity of] demand," the ECB said. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/676180 | Volkswagen takes US$700m Xpeng stake, to jointly develop EVs in China | English | (July 26): Volkswagen AG plans to invest US$700 million (RM3.18 billion) in Xpeng Inc and jointly develop electric vehicles (EVs) in China as the German automaker fights to halt a sales slide in its most important market. VW will eventually hold a 4.99% stake in the Chinese company via a capital increase and is getting an observer board seat, it said on Wednesday (July 26). Its Audi premium brand will deepen ties with VW’s long-term partner SAIC Motor Corp Ltd to also bolster its EV lineup. VW is trying to turn the tide in China, where Tesla Inc and local champion BYD Co have raced ahead because they’re better at churning out EVs with technology and software geared to local tastes. The company’s EV sales in China dipped in the first half in a market that grew 20%. The deals, which bring VW’s count of carmaker partnerships in China to four, mark a turning point for the country’s manufacturers — from learning from foreign partners to helping them with their own technology and designs. VW and Xpeng plan at least two new battery-powered models, with the first due to arrive on the market in 2026, the company said. Audi’s partnership with SAIC will cover premium EVs and start with models in a segment where the brand isn’t yet represented in China. The vehicles “are to be equipped with state-of-the-art software and hardware,” VW said in a statement. Europe’s biggest automaker last month replaced the CEO of Audi partly because it wants to halt the sales slide in the country. The brand has faced delays in developing a new EV platform, hindering its ability to compete. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/610981 | 平均售价正常化 顶级手套次季净利按年猛挫97% | Mandarin | （吉隆坡9日讯）顶级手套（Top Glove Corp Bhd）第二季净利按季大跌52.86%，因手套平均售价逐渐正常化并接近疫情前水平，抵销销量上升。 该集团今日向大马交易所报备，截至2月杪2022财政年次季净利为8755万令吉，低于首季的1亿8572万令吉；营业额从15亿8000万令吉，跌8.51%至14亿5000万令吉。 按年比较，净利较上财年同期的28亿7000万令吉，猛挫96.95%；营业额也由53亿7000万令吉，按年暴跌72.99%。 次季每股盈利为1.09仙，大幅低于一年前的35.77仙。 该集团并没有宣布派息。 截至2月28日止2022财年首半年，顶级手套净赚2亿7327万令吉，较同期的52亿3000万令吉，锐减94.77%；营业额也从101亿2000万令吉，挫跌70.04%至30亿3000万令吉。 该集团指出，除了平均售价正常化，原料价格也整体呈下降趋势，但降幅较前者小，进而导致赚幅压缩。 “随着新冠疫苗在全球成功推出、新崛起的手套供应导致的定价压力，集团还需应对其他运营成本的增加，这包括水电资源、人力资源及化学品方面的成本，以及日益激烈的竞争。” 然而，该集团说，对于此现象亦有所预料，并已准备好迎接未来更严峻的时期。 “尽管2022财年次季的业务环境充满挑战，但由于客户恢复了手套定期进货活动，且平均售价接近疫前水平，销售量较首季显著提升。” 此外，顶级手套表示，自2021年9月，往美国市场的销量大幅增长220%，正处于复苏轨道。 去年9月，美国销售占该集团全球总销售额的4%，而到今年2月，比重增至13%。同时，生产率也从60%提高至73%。 截至2月28日，顶级手套的净现金流及资产净值分别维持于6亿5600万令吉和69亿5000万令吉。 顶级手套董事经理拿督李金谋在文告中指出：“过去两年，集团已视取得卓越业绩为常态。尽管2022财年次季业绩不如预期般强劲，但随着疫情缓和，此乃预料中之事，并接受其属于商业周期的一部分。从事手套领域31载，集团已经历了许许多多类似的周期，而我们的经验亦使集团拥有充分的准备以渡过此次周期。” “如今，对集团而言，至关重要的是持续关注于产品质量和效率、改进、创新、投资研发、使用先进技术/数字化及招聘更多优秀人才，同时深入化集团对永续发展的承诺。着手于此些举措并拥有良好的资产负债表状况，我们坚信集团有足够的能力渡过此充满挑战的时期，进而变得更强大。” 基于目前的供应情况，顶级手套表示将保持谨慎并缩小中期扩张计划的规模。 然而，该集团将不间断密切监视情势，并随时准备在需求量回升之时视情况恢复其扩展计划。 随着疫情逐渐受控，该集团预计短期内的商业环境将极具挑战并充满竞争。作为商业周期的一部分，额外的手套供应及随之而来的定价/利润率压力，或反过来导致领域的整合。 “尽管如此，即使于最艰难时期，只要对目前形势持积极态度，顶级手套坚信机会仍无所不在，并对领域长远前景抱持期望。” 李金谋表示：“手套需求量将持续稳定增长，但并不会如疫情肆虐期间般迅速地提升。目前此充满挑战的时期属暂时性，我们将通过维持员工于身心及财务方面的健康，来确保集团稳固的基础。这将使集团得以渡过此艰难时期，并为即将到来的美好未来做足准备。” 休市时，顶级手套跌7仙或3.74%，挂1.80令吉，市值达155亿9000万令吉。 过去一年，该股挫跌了65.32%。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Top Glove 2Q net profit plunges 53% q-o-q, 97% y-o-y to RM88m as ASPs normalise to pre-pandemic levels |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/678510 | State polls: Anwar thanks voters | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 13): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has thanked all voters for fulfilling their responsibilities in the polls involving six states on Saturday. Anwar who is also the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman stated in a post on his official Facebook that he will continue to cherish the support given to the Unity Government. "Thank you to all the voters in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah. I appreciate it and will not forget your support," he said. The PH and Barisan Nasional coalition, under the Unity Government, was victorious in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang while Perikatan Nasional won Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/625276 | 重量级股购兴改善 马股重返1440点关口 | English | （吉隆坡23日讯）交易商表示，重量级股购兴改善，由种植股领涨，提振马股开盘反弹，小幅攀升至1440点关口上方。 截至早上9时06分，富时隆综指上涨9.01点，至1440.11点，周三挂1431.10点。 富时隆综指高开3.40点，报1434.50点。 上升股137只，下跌股96只，184只无起落，1849只无交易及9只暂停交易。 马股总成交量为1亿4493万股，总值6099万令吉。 乐天交易私人有限公司股票研究部副总裁唐柏麟表示，由于富时隆综指逼近支撑水平，因此估计今日将会温和反弹。 他告诉马新社：“我们预计综指今日将游走于1425点至1445点之间。” 对于华尔街隔夜表现，他表示，三大主要股指均收低，市场基调谨慎，因为通胀担忧仍是主要阻力。 重量级股项吉隆坡甲洞（Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd）涨42仙，至22.56令吉，森那美种植（Sime Darby Plantation Bhd）升9仙，报4.13令吉，IOI集团（IOI Corp Bhd）扬8仙，至3.81令吉，国家能源（Tenaga Nasional Bhd）起3仙，报8.21令吉，国油贸易（Petronas Dagangan Bhd）则持平于20.50令吉。 热门股方面，新上市的YX贵金属（YX Precious Metals Bhd）升2仙，至30仙，泰达（Dataprep Holdings Bhd）增1仙，报20仙，China Ouhua Winery Holdings Ltd及Jade Marvel Group Bhd分别企于6.5仙和9.1仙，NWP控股（NWP Holdings Bhd）跌1.5仙，至27仙。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：Bursa climbs to slightly above 1,440 mark |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/676160 | Singapore could mine its only dump as waste keeps piling up | English | (July 26): Singapore is studying plans to dig up its only landfill site to make additional space as it wrestles with limited options to handle a rising volume of trash. Removing and then reusing incinerated waste ash could extend the life of Semakau, a landfill facility that’s about eight kilometres (5 miles) off Singapore’s coast and currently projected to run out of space by 2035. “We’re thinking of mining the entire Semakau to recover the ashes for a second lease of life,” Grace Fu, Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment said Wednesday (July 26) at Bloomberg’s Sustainable Business Summit. Singapore burns most of its trash at incineration plants before transporting the ash to Semakau and has in recent years tested options including the use of that residue as a road construction material. Semakau is “still filling up quite quickly” and the country is considering options on how to deal with the existing ash, according to Fu. A decision could be made by the end of this year about what might be done, she said. Singapore currently sends about 2,000 tonnes of ash and non-incinerable waste to Semakau each day, and has made only marginal inroads with efforts to reduce trash volumes and to increase recycling. The nation has also lagged behind countries like Japan or South Korea on introducing mandatory measures to reduce plastic consumption. Total waste generation rose in 2021 and 2022, and while the recycling rate jumped last year to 57% it remains below levels seen in 2018 and 2019. The situation has raised concerns among some legislators and campaigners, particularly given Singapore’s reliance on the Semakau site and its lack of available land to use for additional dumps. “It is worrying. We’re consuming more and more,” said Louis Ng, a lawmaker with the governing People’s Action Party and a sustainability activist. Experiments have reused incinerated ash for road construction and concrete applications, according to Zerowaste Asia, a Singapore-based company that has worked on the trials with the country’s National Environment Agency. The tests show such techniques can “not only prolong the landfill’s lifespan but also create alternative construction materials and reduce materials import reliance for Singapore,” said Sun Xiaolong, Zerowaste Asia’s founder and managing director. Some campaigners have urged a much greater focus on first reducing the volume of waste being generated, rather than on finding new uses for the ash. Singapore is introducing dual rubbish chutes for refuse and recyclables at more new public housing and private residential developments and looking to expand the use of food waste digesters at sites like hawker centers. Major supermarket chains started charging for disposable bags in early July. “We have to step up our outreach efforts to explain the importance of this issue and why we need to go zero-waste,” Ng said in an interview. “It’s really about changing people’s mindsets and habits, and that’s taking some time.” |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/634660 | 全球股市下跌 马股应声下挫 | English | （吉隆坡1日讯）交易员表示，美国的就业数据强劲，引发市场担忧美国将收紧激进货币政策，导致全球股市下跌，而马股周二大幅度收高后，投资者今早趁机套利离场，拖累马股低开。 截至早上9时08分，富时隆综指挫15.14点，至1496.91点，周二收报1512.05点。 富时隆综指今早低开14.04点，报1498.01点。 配合国庆日，大马交易所及子公司周三休市。 下跌股达286只，上升股仅96只，另有216只无起落，1690只无交易及20只暂停交易。 马股总成交量为2亿3237万股，总值1亿3428万令吉。 马六甲证券私人有限公司表示，尽管富时隆综指周二走高，但鉴于美联储的鹰派立场导致全球股市持续波动，投资者应保持谨慎。 “我们预计这种噪音将持续到下一次发布消费者物价指数（CPI）数据和联邦公开市场委员会会议之前。” 大宗商品方面，由于担忧全球经济放缓，原油价格降低至每桶96美元左右，而原棕油价格则徘徊在每吨4100令吉以上。 “至于关注的板块，随着纳斯达克指数跌破关键的12,000点水平，科技板块应该会面临一些抛售压力，而由于担忧需求疲软，导致原油价格暴跌，投资者可能会在能源板块套利。” “尽管如此，盈利稳健的股票将成为焦点，至少在短期内如此。” 重量级股方面，马银行（Malayan Banking Bhd）跌4仙，至8.93令吉，大众银行（Public Bank Bhd）降6仙，报4.65令吉，以及国油化学（Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd）挫15仙，至8.65令吉。 联昌国际集团（CIMB Group Holdings Bhd）升3仙，报5.40令吉，IHH医疗集团（IHH Healthcare Bhd）则企于6.20令吉。 至于热门股，Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd下滑4仙，至1.02令吉，UMediC Group Bhd扬1.5仙，报69仙，MNC无线（MNC Wireless Bhd）持平于1仙，Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd及大稳控股（Ta Win Holdings Bhd）分别企于3仙和7仙。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：Bursa opens lower on profit taking |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/613251 | Destini赢得合同 登州提供管状处理服务 | English | （吉隆坡23日讯）Destini Bhd独资子公司Destini Oil Services私人有限公司（DOS）已与EnQuest Petroleum Production Malaysia Ltd签订合同，在登嘉楼海岸提供管状处理服务。 Destini表示，该合同为期3年，从2月起生效，可选择续约1年。该集团并无透露合同价值。 根据协议，DOS须提供45万9918令吉的银行担保。 “Destini能源部门有望在2022年获得更多合同，集团对该行业继续复苏持乐观态度。” “集团也有信心在专注并执行长期策略的同时，让今年的业绩更具弹性。” 该集团预计，上述合同将为集团截至2022年12月31日财年及合同期限内财年的收益及净资产作出积极贡献。 Destini以18仙挂收，扬1仙或5.9%，市值为2亿9940万令吉。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：Destini bags contract to provide tubular handling services off Terengganu coast |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/602797 | Lion Industries buys leasehold agriculture land in Sepang for RM23m | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): Lion Industries Bhd has proposed to acquire a sub-divided leasehold agriculture land in Sepang for RM23 million or RM6.60 per sq ft in a related-party transaction. The group on Thursday (Jan 6) entered into an agreement with Granprop Sdn Bhd and Premier Land Resources Sdn Bhd for the acquisition of the 80-acre (3.48 sq ft) land. Premier Land is the master land title holder of 1,287 acres of land that includes the 80-acre sub-divided piece. Premier Land had in December 2020 entered into an agreement to sell the 1,287 acres of land to Grandprop Sdn Bhd for RM27.88 million or RM8 per sq ft. Grandprop is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Serbaniaga Holdings Sdn Bhd, which is in turn held by Liew Choon Yick (51%) and Lee Whay Keong (49%), as nominees for Tan Sri Cheng Heng Jem, a major shareholder of Lion Industries. Cheng held a 32.72% direct interest and 1.87% indirect stake in the group as of Sept 30, 2020. Lion Industries said its proposed acquisition provides a strategic investment opportunity and is in line with the group’s plan to expand its landbank for its property division. It added that the planned conversion of the usage of land from the existing agricultural land to mixed development/industrial development, is expected to provide the group with the opportunity to create potential economic value and contribute to its earnings in the near future. Shares of Lion Industries closed down 1.5 sen or 2.48% at 59 sen on Thursday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM424 million. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/664448 | Vikram Singh is Citi Malaysia CEO | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 25): Citi has appointed Vikram Singh as the chief executive officer of Citi Malaysia effective from May 1, the banking group announced in a statement on Tuesday (April 25). "Vikram will be responsible for leading the country team of the Malaysia franchise, leveraging Citi's global strengths, and further enhancing Citi's position as a leading bank and employer of choice. "He will also have oversight enhancing Citi's position as a leading bank and employer of choice. He will also have oversight of the Citi Solutions Centers in Malaysia. He will report directly to Amol Gupte, the South Asia and Asean head of Citi," said the group. Vikram joined Citi in 1999, and has 24 years of corporate banking experience managing 18 markets in Asia-Pacific, where he has held various leadership roles in India and the Phillippines, covering corporate and investment banking. While serving as the head of corporate and investment banking in the Phillippines from 2016 to 2021, Vikram achieved double-digit revenue growth by devising and deploying robust business strategies, said Citi. He most recently held the position of the head of Asia-Pacific regional account management, global subsidiaries group in Singapore. He has a Bachelor's degree in economics from Delhi University, New Delhi, and a Master's degree in management from International Management Institute, New Delhi. "Malaysia is a key market for Citi and has a strong institutional franchise. Vikram's long career and experience with the firm will be invaluable in leading the next stage of growth in a market that also supports many of our global businesses and functions," said Gupte in the statement. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/667678 | G7 to chase Russia’s diamonds while stopping short of total ban | English | (May 19): Group of Seven countries will agree to work together to track Russian diamonds, but stop short of slapping Moscow with an outright ban on the lucrative gem trade, according to people familiar with the discussions and a draft statement seen by Bloomberg. The move to track and trace Russian diamonds across borders could pave the way for an import ban in the future, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential matters. G7 leaders will hold talks on further responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during meetings that begin Friday in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Earlier attempts to sanction Russian gems in Europe have met resistance from importer nations like Belgium, who argue doing so would just shift the diamond trade elsewhere. Bloomberg reported previously that the G7 and European Union were discussing how to track the precious stones across borders. According to a draft seen by Bloomberg, the leaders will say they will work together to “restrict trade in and use of diamonds mined, processed or produced in Russia” and “coordinate future measures, including through tracing technologies”. The statement has yet to be finalised and could change before it is adopted. One G7 member state that would stop all imports of Russian diamonds is the UK, which since Brexit is no longer bound by the need for consensus with the European Union. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also announced that the UK would end imports of Russian-origin nickel, copper and aluminium, although such shipments are dwarfed by what goes to the EU. The G7 summit in Hiroshima will focus on how to further squeeze Russia’s economy. Barrages of sanctions have crimped growth but failed to deter President Vladimir Putin’s military assault on Ukraine, and Russia’s economy has been underpinned by commodity and energy exports to countries outside the G7. As part of its statements related to the war, the G7 will also make clear that any calls for peace must include the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops and equipment from Ukraine. That is in line with the Ukraine position, but comes as speculation grows that the government in Kyiv will progressively be urged to negotiate with Moscow. At the EU level, a diamond ban would require the backing of all member states. Belgium has said it would potentially be open to the proposition — but only if an effective G7 mechanism was in place. A diamond’s origin is clear at the start of the supply chain when it is issued a certificate under the Kimberley Process, which was designed to end the sale of so-called blood diamonds that financed wars. After that, they can become difficult to track. Cut and polished stones are often intermingled at trading houses and the original certificate will be replaced with “mixed origin” documentation, making it near-impossible to keep track of where Russian diamonds are eventually sold. On metals, the G7 leaders will simply affirm a broad effort to reduce Russia’s revenue, according to the draft statement seen by Bloomberg. The main focus of G7 nations is to close loopholes and enforce existing sanctions. According to the draft statement, leaders were set to announce: The ban on imports of Russian copper, aluminium and nickel by the UK is largely symbolic since it isn’t a major importer or warehousing location, whereas a clampdown by the EU would have major implications for metals markets. While the flow of many commodities from Russia to Europe has dropped since the war broke out, metal producers like MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC and United Co Rusal International PJSC have continued to sell nickel, copper and aluminium to European buyers. Politicians have been wary of the impact on western supply chains of sanctioning Russian metals following the experience of 2018, when the US imposed penalties on Rusal that triggered chaos for European manufacturers until they were lifted the following year. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/652784 | Biden may have to act unilaterally to avoid default, Khanna says | English | (Jan 24): The US will not default on its debt but the Biden administration might be forced to take unilateral action to head off a crisis, Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, offering several possible executive manoeuvres. “The question is whether it’s going to come to unilateral action by the executive branch,” Khanna said during a meeting with Bloomberg News reporters and editors on Monday (Jan 23). “I hope it doesn’t,” added Khanna, who emphasised that it was Republicans who were responsible for a large share of the increase in US borrowing over the past several decades. “I think we’re going to have a rocky time, it’s not great for the political system, but at the end of the day I don’t think the United States is going to default.” Options on the table for President Joe Biden, Khanna said, include making a legal argument that congressional appropriations already approved must be paid regardless of the debt limit; increasing the interest rates on Treasury bonds, an accounting gimmick that would artificially lower the face value of US securities but risk long-term damage to confidence in the market; or minting a US$1 trillion coin. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has rejected the coin idea, expressing doubt that the Federal Reserve would accept such a note. Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and other Republicans have demanded sweeping reductions in government spending, with Social Security and Medicare on the table, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling later this year. Former president Donald Trump has cautioned against cutting Medicare and Social Security, but other possible cuts, such as to military spending, would not be palatable to the Republican base. While Congress has never allowed the US to default, the prospects for a near-term solution seem dim at the moment. Moderate Republicans, at least for the moment, seem to be behind Speaker Kevin McCarthy and are pushing for a negotiated solution, but the House GOP is splintered as what that might look like. Khanna would like to strategically cut the defence budget and levy taxes on the very rich — including the billionaires of his Silicon Valley district who, he said, continue to send him back to Congress. “Budget deficits matter,” he said. “They matter because they increase the interest for the federal government. Ultimately, they matter when they’re a cause of inflation or crowding out private investment.” Yet the last president to leave a budget surplus was Bill Clinton, Khanna said. He referred to tax cuts that mostly benefited the wealthy plus costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan under President George W Bush — who ran a US$3.3 trillion deficit across his two terms; and the sweeping tax cuts under the Trump administration, which oversaw a deficit of US$6.6 trillion after four years, driven in part by significant spending on coronavirus programs. He did not mention President Barack Obama, who also ran a deficit, to the tune of US$6.8 trillion in his eight years in office. “We’re looking at paying the debt largely accrued by Republicans and Republicans are saying ‘we don’t want to pay up the debt we incurred’,” Khanna said. “I say let’s not negotiate whether we pay our debts. Of course we pay our debts.” |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/624730 | Making sense of CTOS’ venture into RAM | English | This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022 LAST week, CTOS Digital Bhd made a bold move to raise its stake in RAM Holdings Bhd (RAM), in which it already owns a 19.225% stake. This is the third acquisition that CTOS has undertaken within a year. CTOS, which bought into RAM shortly after it was listed in July last year, launched a general offer last week to buy out the remaining shares that it does not own in the credit rating agency (CRA) soon after it got the green light from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to own more than 51%. CTOS has so far spent the bulk of the RM173.8 million raised from a private placement in March on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). RAM will be the first local CRA to have a controlling shareholder upon the completion of the takeover offer. Dollars and cents aside, the takeover bid has prompted some quarters to question whether the independence of RAM’s rating process would be affected once a single party holds a majority stake. Against this backdrop, CTOS’ largest shareholder, Creador Sdn Bhd, is open to selling its 19.9% stake in RAM, held via Oscar Matrix Sdn Bhd. Creador owns 30.26% in CTOS through Inodes Ltd. It is understood that CTOS’ shareholding is likely to exceed 51%, considering that Creador is looking for an exit, while a number of minority shareholders holding less than 5% each may take up the offer. The other large substantial shareholders are expected to stay on. Apart from CTOS and Oscar Matrix, other substantial shareholders are S&P Global Asian Holdings Pte Ltd with 19.2%, Tunku Ali Redhauddin Tuanku Muhriz’s vehicle Dragonline Solutions Sdn Bhd (15.65%), Hong Leong Bank Bhd (5.8%) and Public Bank Bhd (5.325%). The remaining seven minorities collectively own 14.9% (See table). The independence of CRAs is crucial as the rating and assessment of bonds issued are essential information for institutional funds to make investment decisions. The concern over the independence of RAM when the single largest shareholder holds a majority stake is understandable, considering that the bond market plays an important role in the country’s capital market development. However, there are those who hold the view that the independence of a CRA relies on its independent board members, who should ensure that its rating committee functions without interference from its shareholders, whose priority is earnings. In other words, the quality of the independent directors and the members of the rating committee would be the main determinant. When CTOS unveiled the takeover bid, it stated “unequivocally that CTOS will respect the independence and integrity of RAM in all matters. We will not be involved in any rating-related decisions,” it says. The SC’s Guidelines on Registration of CRAs states that ratings are assigned and decided by a CRA’s rating committee, which, in the case of RAM, comprises seven members. Under the guidelines, the SC’s approval is required for any appointment to the board and rating committee, as well as the chief executive of both the CRA and its holding company — in this case, RAM and its rating services unit RAM Rating Services Bhd. The regulator also requires at least one-third of the board and rating committee to be independent, including the chairperson of the rating committee. The SC has also expressed its intention to require a majority of both the board and the rating committee to be independent in the upcoming review of the guidelines. In the past, the appointments of RAM directors were done by shareholders nominating candidates to the board, which would then deliberate and assess their suitability, before seeking the SC’s approval. Currently, apart from RAM group CEO and executive director Chris Lee, the other board members are independent non-executives. They comprise former Maybank CEO Tan Sri Amirsham A Aziz as chairman, former Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong and Datuk Kamaruddin Taib, who has been appointed chairman of HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd. HSBC Malaysia holds 3.5% equity interest in RAM. At the RAM Ratings level, apart from Amirsham and Lee, other independent board members are Datin Mariam Prudence Yusof, former investment banker Fong Seow Kee and Datuk Lee Kok Kwan, who is a board member and former deputy CEO of CIMB Group. Between 2019 and 2021, other RAM Holdings board appointments included Royal Selangor chairman Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon and lawyer Bhartidevi R C Seth, whereas the RAM Ratings board included OCBC Al-Amin Bank Bhd director Ng Son Hoon and Choy Khai Choon, who in 2019 was a director in Deutsche Bank (M) Bhd, which has a 0.8% stake in RAM. Likewise, Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd’s (MARC) six-member board was made up of five independent directors in 2021. CTOS has been aggressively pursuing M&As since listing a year ago. It spent RM205.8 million for a 49% stake in financial software solutions firm Juris Technologies Sdn Bhd (JurisTech), and RM26.8 million to raise its stake in Thai-based Business Online Public Ltd by 2.65% (BOL). In the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY2022), CTOS’ net profit jumped nearly 71% to RM12.48 million, or 0.6 sen per share, from RM7.31 million or 0.4 sen per share, helped by earnings from its associates and higher contribution across its customer base. A controlling stake will help CTOS to consolidate RAM’s annual earnings of around RM8 million and revenue of roughly RM40 million. Furthermore, the acquisition will strengthen its presence along the entire credit reporting value chain, says an analyst tracking the company. “But it makes more sense to first have a working relationship and collaboration with RAM,” the analyst opines. “Valuation (of RAM) is good (at 30 times PER) and accretive to CTOS (at 50 times PER), but it is best for CTOS to digest the recent acquisitions first,” the analyst adds. According to CTOS’ filings, it spent RM42.77 million to acquire a 17.225% stake in RAM from CIMB Bank Bhd, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd, OCBC Bank (M) Bhd, Affin Bank Bhd and Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd. On that basis, a back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the entire 100% stake in RAM was valued at RM248.3 million then. As at end-March, CTOS’ cash balance stood at RM16.415 million against long-term borrowings of RM69.212 million. The company is still left with RM13.39 million cash raised from the recent private placement that was priced at RM1.58 per share. Its share price closed at RM1.21 last Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM2.79 billion. The stock has been on a decline, falling 33% or 60 sen year to date. Its public offer price was at RM1.10 per share. A head of research, when contacted, says CTOS “can gear up” to fund the takeover bid for RAM given its low gearing of 0.1 times. “But, more importantly, CTOS has to prove that it can build synergy from all these acquisitions. Are you buying talent, systems, data or market share?” he asks. Apart from credit rating and bond pricing services, RAM launched RAM Analytics last year, which offers general credit assessments of non-financial companies in the corporate and mid-market segments. In 2019, Creador competed against Experian (M) Sdn Bhd to acquire a 33.15% stake in RAM Credit Information Sdn Bhd (RAMCI) from RAM. The stake went to Experian Malaysia for RM95.06 million. In the same year, CTOS bought a 26% stake in RAMCI, then renamed Experian Information Services (M) Sdn Bhd (EIS). RAM Analytics, which caters to a similar segment, was launched following the disposal of RAMCI. “CTOS might be interested in RAM Analytics,” says an industry observer. RAM group CEO Chris Lee, in his reply to The Edge, points to the CRA’s credit rating expertise and solutions for ESG analytics, as well as CTOS’ market leadership position as a credit reporting agency. “[RAM has] credit rating methodologies and calibrated credit rating engines that work for local companies. Our historical rating transition and default data provides us with the analytics to develop such rating models,” Lee says. “The CTOS’s database of Malaysian and overseas companies provides an avenue for RAM to work with CTOS in growing analytics solutions and assigning ESG risk ratings (score). “We anticipate that SMEs will need to demonstrate their commitment to ESG enhancement in the future, be it to grow their businesses and/or to obtain new financing,” it adds. Meanwhile, CTOS sees both parties leveraging on each other’s expertise in “credit assessment, data and analytics” to develop solutions for SMEs that will allow them to access broader forms of credit. “In addition, we see opportunities to help drive RAM’s regional expansion and the further development of Islamic-based ratings products,” says CTOS. CTOS also allays concerns about access to RAM’s database and information sources. “We do not subscribe to any data from RAM and we do not serve their clients as a third-party provider. We work independently,” it says. “We will not access privileged/confidential information from RAM as we abide by the highest standards and regulations from government entities that define data access and management,” it adds. When RAM shareholders agreed to remove the 20% shareholding ceiling, CTOS clarified that it had “commenced this investment application” since April 2021. That said, this is not the first time CTOS has swooped in to acquire a stake in a company that has piqued the interest of its largest shareholder Creador. In evaluating applications pertaining to changes in shareholdings in credit rating agencies (CRAs), the SC considers, amongst others, the value proposition by, as well as the ability and commitment of the applicant, in holding a significant stake in the CRA to grow the CRA’s business in the increasingly competitive environment that CRAs are operating in whilst ensuring the CRA’s compliance with regulatory requirements. A similar value proposition assessment was undertaken in the case of CTOS Digital’s proposal to acquire a controlling stake in RAM Holdings. In this regard, it is envisaged that by virtue of the significant stake in the CRA held by the shareholder, the shareholder will ensure all necessary efforts are undertaken to drive the growth of the CRA’s business, including the integrity of its rating process and decision. In 1990, RAM Holdings Bhd, previously Rating Agency Malaysia Bhd, was established by Bank Negara Malaysia as the country’s first credit rating agency (CRA) to support the country’s emerging corporate debt market. RAM’s original 51 shareholders were from the private sector, comprising commercial banks, merchant banks, finance companies, as well as two institutions — the Asian Development Bank and UK-based CRA, IBCA Ltd. Malaysia’s second credit rating agency, Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC), was incorporated in October 1995, with shareholders comprising major life and general insurance companies, stockbrokers and discount houses in Malaysia. Initially, each shareholder held no more than a 4.9% stake. Over the years, however, changes took place in the financial industry landscape, such as bank mergers and the decline of discount houses, as investing regulations tightened amid the financial crisis. This partly contributed to existing shareholders holding a higher stake in the CRAs. The 20% shareholding cap was introduced under the Securities Commission’s first Guidelines on the Registration of CRAs in 2011. Six years later, in 2017, CRAs with full foreign ownership were allowed into the Malaysian market, as the country sought a third domestic rating agency. Prior to the SC’s approval to allow CTOS Digital Bhd to raise its stake in RAM to above 51%, the CRA had six substantial shareholders (see main story) including Creador’s Oscar Matrix Sdn Bhd (19.9%), Dragonline Solutions Sdn Bhd (15.65%) plus a number of minority shareholders with less than 5% each. In the case of MARC, among its 24 shareholders, two hold substantial stakes, namely Moody’s Asia Pacific Ltd (19.45%) since 2020; and India-listed rating firm CARE Ratings Ltd (10%) from 2013. In the years before that, insurance companies Etiqa Insurance Bhd and MSIG Insurance (M) Bhd also held substantial stakes. Current MARC shareholders also include public-listed Apex Equity Holdings Bhd subsidiary JF Apex Securities Bhd (4.9%), TA Enterprise Bhd (4.9%), investment banks and insurance companies. In comparison, Fitch Ratings Inc — one of the big three international CRAs — is part of Fitch Group, which is in turn is 100%-owned by information and media company Hearst Corp. Moody’s Investors Service is part of US-listed Moody’s Corp, whose largest shareholders include Berkshire Hathaway Inc (13.37%), The Vanguard Group Inc (7.38%) and BlackRock Inc (6.71%). Vanguard and BlackRock are also the largest shareholders of US-listed S&P Global Inc with 8.64% and 7.96% respectively. The listed entity, in turn, owns credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings. With the help of local CRAs, Malaysia’s corporate debt market has grown from just a few billion ringgit in the 1990s to around RM800 billion currently. However, it is not a preferred market for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to tap into for various reasons, such as costs and competition for investors. As CTOS has alluded to collaborating with RAM to better serve the SMEs from a credit assessment perspective, market watchers will be keeping watch on what impact this development will bring. Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/640838 | Bursa share price rises after closing at lowest in over two years | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): Bursa Malaysia Bhd's share price jumped 30 sen or 5% to close at RM6.30 on Friday (Oct 21), valuing the company at RM5.1 billion. At RM6.30, it is the highest closing price this week as investors look ahead to the local bourse operator and regulator's third-quarter financial results announcement scheduled for end-October. "We tactically upgrade our rating on Bursa from 'sell' to 'buy' with higher TP (target price) of RM7 (from RM5.65) based on [price-earnings ratio of] 24 times mid-FY2022 EPS (earnings per share)," Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd (HLIB) analyst Jeremy Goh wrote in a note on Friday ahead of Bursa's Oct 31, 2022 announcement on its financial results for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (3QFY2022). "Taking cue from 3QFY2022 securities ADV (average daily trading value) of RM1.6 billion (-24% quarter-on-quarter, -44% year-on-year) and derivatives ADC (average daily contract) of 81,000 (+5% q-o-q, +15% y-o-y), we estimate Bursa could post earnings of RM52 million (-12% q-o-q, -35% y-o-y) when results are released on Oct 31," Goh said. He said that while external headwinds are not likely to dissipate anytime soon, HLIB sees a potential trading opportunity on Bursa shares given the impending 15th general election (GE15), which is scheduled to be held on Nov 19. "Two out of the past three GEs (i.e. GE14 and GE13) saw ADV surge 55% and 52% over the one-month period after the polls compared to the one-month period before," he said. Bursa’s share price has a strong 78% monthly correlation to its securities ADV, according to Goh, who maintained HLIB's earnings forecast for Bursa pending Bursa’s 3QFY2022 financial results release on Oct 31. "With the clock counting down to GE15, we believe investors will start angling on Bursa to ride on the potential near-term ADV surge post polling," he said. For 2QFY2022, Bursa's net profit fell to RM59.47 million from RM88.97 million a year earlier, according to its filing on July 28, 2022. Bursa said cumulative 1HFY2022 net profit was lower at RM127.44 million versus RM210.36 million a year earlier. On Friday, Bursa's stock traded between RM6.02 and RM6.31, with share volume at two million. Read also:
Bursa stock's trading volume spikes to highest in a year after final-hour price slump |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/609301 | Report: Ukraine accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether donations to fund war | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27): Within the first week of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Ukrainian government has reached out to the crypto community on Twitter to raise funds in support of its civilians and troops. Cryptocurrency news portal Cointelegraph on Sunday (Feb 27) said Ukraine has now started accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT) as donations. The portal said as Russia threatened to take over Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, the government of Ukraine sought help from numerous international organisations to overpower the imminent threat. However, considering time was of the essence, the official Twitter account of Ukraine extended its call for help to Crypto Twitter. Cointelegraph said the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov also shared three crypto wallet addresses urging the crypto community to donate and help Ukraine fight against the Russian troops. While the BTC and ETH addresses remain the same, Fedorov’s USDT wallet address is TRC20-based (different from the address shared by Ukraine’s office Twitter handle). The report said crypto entrepreneurs including ETH co-founder Vitalik Buterin initially suspected that the accounts requesting crypto donations were hacked. However, American diplomat Tomicah Tillemann later confirmed their legitimacy from Olexander Scherba, Ukraine's former Ambassador to Austria. Meanwhile, as a direct result of the ongoing war, Ukrainian civilians-turned refugees have reported the loss of access to their fiat savings and credit cards. The UN reported that over 150,000 people have been displaced from Ukraine as of Saturday (Feb 26). |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/608073 | Genting Malaysia appoints Ho Heng Chuan as director | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 18): Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM) has appointed Ho Heng Chuan as the group’s independent and non-executive director effective Friday (Feb 18). Ho, 65, has more than 40 years of experience in corporate and investment banking, treasury, capital markets and finance. He has held senior positions in AmMerchant Bank Bhd, AmMerchant Bank BHD, Macquarie Bank Ltd and Citi Malaysia from 1981 to 2020. Prior to joining the banking sector, Ho was with KPMG from 1977 to 1980, said GenM in a stock exchange filing. He is also a director of Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd. Shares of GenM slipped four sen or 1.36% to close at RM2.90, giving the group a market value of RM17.22 billion. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/638906 | Ex-AmBank MD: I only saw Jho Low in convoy to Najib’s house | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): Former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang told the High Court here on Wednesday (Oct 5) that he did see Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, at Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal home in Jalan Langgak Duta, when he (Cheah) went there in 2011 to help open the former prime minister’s bank accounts, but that he did not speak with the fugitive businessman. Cheah, 75, who is the 39th prosecution witness at the 1Malaysia Development Bhd Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial, said while he had seen Jho Low at the house when he went to facilitate opening Najib’s bank account, he never spoke to Jho Low at the time. “He did not talk to me and I did not talk to him at all,” he said before Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah. Cheah was answering questions from Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who had asked him about Jho Low’s presence at Najib’s house. He said that when he was picked up by a driver to go to Najib’s house in 2011, he was accompanied by “two or three” other cars and they made their way to Najib’s residence. He told the court that he was only accompanied by a driver in his car. “When the car came to pick me up [to go to Najib's house], there were two or three other cars. They picked me up somewhere near my house. “I did see Jho Low in the other car. I went into the house and [went] into a separate room. [Jho] Low went into a separate room,” he said. Previously, when Cheah testified as a witness in the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial — where Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence, having been found guilty of seven charges — he spoke about meeting fugitive financier Jho Low at Najib’s house when he went to open the account. He previously said that it was Jho Low who took him into Najib’s house and introduced him to Najib. “Once I arrived at Najib’s residence, I met with Jho Low, whom I have previously met. I was then taken into the residence by Jho Low, who introduced me to Najib, and Jho Low also informed him that I was from AmBank. “Najib and I proceeded to the guest room, while I saw Jho Low waiting at a different part of the residence,” he told the court, according to reports from The Edge in 2019. On Tuesday (Oct 4), Cheah testified that he had gone to facilitate the opening of Najib’s account at AmBank, as the former prime minister was due to receive US$100 million from Saudi Arabia. Cheah said he was given the green light by AmBank chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim, and therefore went to Najib’s Duta home to open the account. “I then met Najib at his home and introduced myself. There were only two of us at this meeting. I had informed Najib that I brought along a cheque book for the said account, credit card documents among other documents,” he said on Tuesday. After signing the documents, Najib had told him that US$100 million from Saudi will come into the account. Cheah said he did not ask the purpose the funds were coming in for. But Najib elaborated that it was a donation to him from Saudi Arabia, in line with “Islamic activity”. Cheah said he knew very little of Jho Low because when the latter started doing business with AmBank, Cheah was not involved. Cheah said he had met Jho Low several times for meals but the fugitive financier had a habit of tardiness. “Only later part, he (Jho Low) wanted to have a lunch [meeting] with me and it was arranged but he had a habit of turning up very late. “It’s not five minutes [late]. It’s more than 5 minutes; more than half hour. I met him only two or three times,” Cheah testified. He elaborated that these meetings had nothing to do with business dealings but rather, were meetings in social events. Muhammad Shafee: This is before 2011? Cheah: Can’t remember, maybe before 2011. Cheah said that as far as he can recall, Jho Low had no dealings with the bank. He also said that Jho Low was always late to these meetings and he grew irate at waiting for the fugitive. “Some other times, he came very, very late. [We were] supposed to have tea or something like that. After that, any other appointment [with Jho Low], I just don’t turn up because I didn’t want to entertain such things,” he said. Previously in the SRC trial, Cheah described Jho Low as a “liar” who was “never punctual” and would “set up an appointment at 7am but arrive at one in the afternoon”. Najib is charged in the 1MDB-Tanore trial with four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds. The Edge is covering the trial live here. Users of The Edge Markets app may tap here to access the live report. Read also:
Cheah denies receiving iPhones from ‘liar’ Jho Low
Jho Low was at Najib's home when AmBank MD facilitated opening of ex-PM's account |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/672768 | J&J’s push to end cancer suits meets trial in bankruptcy court | English | (June 27): Johnson & Johnson is facing a key test of its plan to use the US bankruptcy system to end more than 60,000 claims that a talc-based baby powder it sold for years causes cancer. A group of cancer victims is asking a federal judge in New Jersey to throw out, for the second time in less than two years, the insolvency case of LTL Management, a unit that J&J created to settle lawsuits over talc-based baby powder for US$8.9 billion (RM41.5 billion). Tuesday (June 27) marks the start of a trial in which US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan will again decide whether J&J is wrongly using bankruptcy laws to force a settlement. The bankruptcy court strategy has split lawyers suing J&J into two camps: those who back the settlement and are ready to drop their lawsuits, and holdouts who want to take their claims to juries around the country instead. Last year Kaplan sided with J&J against a unified band of the top plaintiff’s law firms in the US, but was overruled by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia, which ordered the judge to dismiss LTL Management’s first Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. J&J responded by tweaking its legal strategy and raising its settlement offer to US$8.9 billion in order to attract support from cancer victims. LTL returned to bankruptcy in April and Kaplan agreed to hold a hearing to decide if the new case fixed the legal flaws that doomed the first effort. Lawyers for the cancer victims who reject the settlement argue that the motive for the new bankruptcy is the same as the first: to protect J&J. “LTL was created, and this bankruptcy was filed to benefit J&J — not to preserve LTL, which has no operations, or to help sick-and-dying claimants,” the official committee representing cancer victims said in a June 22 court filing. J&J’s latest effort is backed by lawyers who represent about 60,000 alleged victims. It is opposed by the official committee of cancer victims and lawyers who say they also represent tens of thousands of clients. The holdouts argue that the new case, like the old one, is not a valid use of bankruptcy. The appeals court previously ruled that LTL — the bankrupt unit — was never in financial distress because it had an agreement with J&J to backstop any settlement funding shortfall. The court found the backstop agreement meant LTL could pay claimants as much as US$61.5 billion outside of bankruptcy and therefore the Chapter 11 filing was not made in good faith. In response, J&J and LTL agreed to cancel that funding agreement and replace it with one backed by a J&J holding company worth about US$30 billion. J&J also said it would only provide LTL money to pay the cancer victims as part of a bankruptcy case. Lawyers for LTL say all of the changes mean the new case meets the appeals court test. Kaplan has ordered the two sides into mediation, but any breakthrough is unlikely to come before the judge decides whether the bankruptcy case can continue. “The firms that appear to be leading the opposition effort have no interest in negotiation or proposing a workable alternative plan, but rather have repeatedly represented to the Court that they will never agree to any settlement,” LTL said in a court filing. Jury verdicts and settlements have cost J&J billions of dollars in recent years, including one case that the company appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court. It lost that case and was forced to pay out US$2.5 billion to about 20 women. LTL’s proposal would cap its exposure and limit compensation to individuals. The US Trustee, an arm of the US Justice Department that monitors corporate bankruptcy cases, has joined J&J’s critics, arguing the LTL insolvency proceeding was filed in bad faith. The holdouts contend LTL’s decision to take a less lucrative funding agreement with J&J is evidence the bankruptcy is manufactured and doesn’t serve a legitimate purpose. Still, the events that lead to LTL’s second bankruptcy may not be enough to sway Judge Kaplan, who has touted Chapter 11 as a better alternative for plaintiffs than waging costly and time-consuming litigation. “The draw of settling this case is going to be very strong,” said Samir Parikh, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School who studies the use of Chapter 11 to resolve mass injury litigation. The new bankruptcy filing is LTL Management LLC, 23-12825, US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey (Trenton). |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/620115 | 2022财年第三季净利下跌 戴乐集团派息1.3仙 | English | （吉隆坡17日讯）戴乐集团（Dialog Group Bhd）截至今年3月杪第三季（2022财年第三季）净利下跌2.3%至1亿3306万令吉，一年前为1亿3617万令吉，主要是项目成本增加所致。 每股盈利从2.41仙，降至2.36仙。 然而，季度营业额弹升46.5%至5亿9343万令吉，一年前报4亿518万令吉，得益于国内外业务的商业活动增加。 该集团还宣布，派发每股1.3仙中期现金股息，将于今年6月28日支付。 现财年首9个月净利按年下滑3.7%至3亿8976万令吉，一年前为4亿460万令吉。现财年首9个月营业额则大涨51%至16亿4000万令吉，去年同期报10亿9000万令吉。 戴乐集团表示，大马业务营业额增长，得益于上游、中游及下游活动增加。 国际业务收入也上涨，因为该集团在新加坡的工程、建筑和工厂服务活动有所增加，以及在多个国家的专业产品及服务销售增长。 展望未来，戴乐集团仍然相信业务模式结构良好，能够在经济稳定、油价波动和汇率波动期间管理和维持集团。 闭市时，戴乐集团跌2仙，至2.28令吉，约1147万股转手。根据闭市价，其市值达128亿7000万令吉。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：Dialog posts lower profit for 3QFY22 despite revenue growth, declares 1.3 sen dividend |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/655162 | China, US to participate in first meeting of new debt roundtable on Feb 17 | English | WASHINGTON (Feb 13): Officials from China, India, Saudi Arabia and Group of Seven nations will participate in a first virtual meeting of a new sovereign debt roundtable on Friday, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday, confirming an earlier Reuters report. The roundtable will also include officials from countries that have requested debt treatments under the Group of 20 common framework — Ethiopia, Zambia and Ghana — as well as middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, Suriname and Ecuador, which have faced their own debt crises, three sources had earlier said. The meeting will be co-chaired by the IMF, the World Bank and India, the current leader of the Group of 20, and comes a week before G20 finance officials are due to gather in Bengaluru, India, from Feb 23-25. An in-person meeting of the roundtable expected on Feb 25 and a formal launch is planned at the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in April. Brazil, which will lead the G20 next year, is also taking part, one of the sources said. An IMF spokesperson confirmed the first roundtable meeting would take place on Friday, and said more details would be released in the near future. "The objective is to bring together key stakeholders involved in sovereign debt restructuring, from traditional creditors from advanced economies, to new creditors like China, Saudi Arabia, India, as well as the private sector and debt countries to address the current shortcomings," they said. The roundtable will include the Paris Club of official creditors and private sector participants — the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the International Capital Markets Association and two private-sector financial institutions that have asked not to be identified, one of the sources said. Creation of the body comes amid growing frustration about the slow pace of discussions on debt relief for Zambia, which first requested help two years ago. Organisers say the roundtable could help resolve issues in principle and will not focus on Zambia or other individual cases. Officials hope to resolve China's concerns about cutoff dates to protect new financing from debt restructuring by the end of the year, one of the sources said. G7, International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials have long pushed for faster and broader efforts to deliver debt relief to heavily indebted nations to avoid cuts in social services that they fear could tip off social unrest. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other G7 officials see China, now the world's largest sovereign creditor, as the main stumbling block for quicker work on debt treatments. They are also pushing for agreement by G20 members on expanding the common framework to include middle-income countries. Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, a coalition of religious, development and advocacy groups, said support for the matter was growing among other countries. But China’s opposition — and that of Russia — remained significant a “stumbling block”, he said. “The majority of countries support expanding these policies to middle-income countries, but China is the biggest challenge,” LeCompte said, adding that Europe had gone through a similar period of reluctance on debt relief in the 1990s, but eventually came around. Also on the agenda will be China's repeated calls for World Bank and other multilateral development banks to participate in debt reductions — a proposal firmly rejected by US officials, who argue that those lenders already offer highly concessional loans and grants to countries in crisis. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/633284 | NEWS: Panasonic champions quality developers | English | Supporting partner of The Edge Malaysia’s Best Managed & Sustainable Property Awards Panasonic Corp says that awards like these help to put the spotlight on quality property developers. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/609700 | Petronas sees global gas shortage in the next few years amid prolonged underinvestment | English | KUALA LUMPUR (March 1): The global oil and gas industry as a whole has been “quite slow” in taking up gas investments over the last decade, so the market could see shortages in the next few years, said Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas). The national energy firm sees it as the transition energy source to “fuel the recovery post Covid-19” even after the recent upswing in prices in Europe and other key markets. “In the next two three years, we [expect to see] 25-28 million tonnes per annum short of LNG (liquefied natural gas),” said Petronas president and group chief executive officer Tengku Muhammad Taufik (pictured). “We just have not stepped up as an industry to take on more gas,” Muhammad Taufik said. On Malaysia’s prospects, Petronas expects an uptick in demand for both piped gas and LNG in the region post-pandemic. “In Malaysia as well, we will see an increase in gas consumption, especially from the power sector. We are also positioning ourselves to offer solutions through carbon-neutral LNG. "We have delivered to Shikoku Electric [since August 2021], and we are going to supply to Hiroshima Gas Co Ltd in China,” said Petronas executive vice-president and CEO of Gas and New Energy, Adnan Zainol Abidin. Petronas, whose portfolio is 70% gas and is the fifth largest gas exporter in the world, expects its capital investments to rebound after two years of lower-than-expected spending amid supply chain disruptions, Covid-19 impact on human capital and movement controls, and forgone merger and acquisition transactions. Petronas spent RM30.5 billion for capital investments in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021 (FY21), which fell short of its initial guidance of RM39 billion-RM40 billion. The latest full-year capex was also 8.68% lower from the RM33.4 billion it spent in FY20, making it the two lowest capex allocations by the company in more than a decade. In those two years, Petronas recorded 15,092 Covid-19 cases across 210 clusters, with 64 deaths. “We had to work in a very different way. We had to commandeer how to respond to [the pandemic],” said Muhammad Taufik. “There were also some transactions that we wanted to take on, particularly to support both upstream and gas, where the valuations became distorted [sic], and the board wanted to exercise prudence; some of those M&As did not happen because we wanted to make sure we are buying at the right value," he said. Of the total FY21 capex, the national energy firm said 48% was allocated for the upstream segment, 23% on gas and new energy, 16% on downstream, with the balance for corporate and others. “We expect in 1Q and 2Q this year, there will be a catch-up [of capex spend],” said Muhammad Taufik. The group added that its five-year capital allocation will include 20% for step-out activities, which include new energy and zero-carbon initiatives. “Notwithstanding prolonged movement restrictions and supply chain challenges, we expect to increase spending. Petronas is committed to strengthen core business and pursue growth,” he added. Petronas is also seeking to establish a new independent entity that will focus on clean energy solutions by mid-2022, covering renewable energy, hydrogen and green mobility. In addition, the group will set up a centralised carbon management unit to accelerate the group’s decarbonisation efforts. This will mainly manage carbon storage portfolio from emissions across its operations, with plans to establish a regional carbon storage hub as a new revenue generator in the long run, it added. Read also:
Petronas' FY21 profit highest since 2018, keeps RM25b dividend payout
Petronas says it will not rush into any decisions on its joint venture with Russian oil firm Gazprom
More efficient capital base and cost needed to benefit from price surge — Petronas CEO |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/614962 | Lazada co-founder and former CMO joins Revolut as APAC general manager | English | SINGAPORE (April 4): Revolut, the global financial superapp, has appointed Charles Debonneuil as its Asia Pacific (APAC) general manager. The appointment comes as Revolut continues to focus on growth in the region. The superapp is currently present in Singapore, Australia and Japan. In his new role, Debonneuil will focus on...(click on link for full story on theedgesingapore.com) |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/656915 | 末季净利飙升95% 马面粉厂派1.5仙股息 | English | （吉隆坡27日讯）马面粉厂（Malayan Flour Mills Bhd）第四季净利按年飙升95%至4687万令吉，上财年同期报2403万令吉。 该集团向大马交易所报备，截至去年12月杪2022财政年末季营业额上扬18%至8亿1956万令吉。 该集团指出，盈利增长主要归功于综合家禽（PI）业务持续改善，该业务由联营公司与Tyson Foods经营。 马面粉厂宣布派发每股1.5仙的中期股息，将于3月24日支付。 全年净利为1亿4505万令吉，低于2021财年的1亿7391万令吉；营业额则从24亿7000万令吉，涨至29亿2000万令吉。 执行主席郑伟财表示：“随着QSR和食品制造业客户对我们的加工肉类需求不断增加，综合家禽业务保持优化势头，因此前景依然光明。” 休市时，该股攀升5.84%或4.5仙，至81.5仙，共450万股成交。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Malayan Flour Mills’ 4Q net profit surges 95% to RM47 mil, declares 1.5 sen dividend |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/655116 | MyEG仍可更新路税与驾照 | English | （吉隆坡14日讯）MyEG服务（MyEG Services Bhd）表示，车主和司机仍可通过现有渠道继续更新路税和驾驶执照，但现在可以选择不接收文件的实体副本。 “MyEG希望向我们所有尊贵的用户保证，我们不会中断更新路税和驾照服务。” 该集团周二向大马交易所报备：“集团继续致力为大马民众服务，为车主和司机提供一个安全和方便的网上平台，以分别更新他们的路税和驾照。” 该集团也在另一份文告中透露，配合宣布企业活动，股票从早上9时至10时暂停交易。 该股昨日以60.5仙挂收，大量的抛售活动导致公司市值蒸发了26亿1000万令吉。 该股昨日继续在卖空名单中名列前茅，卖空约2440万股，价值1460万令吉，占本地交易所总卖空量3279万股的74.4%。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：MyEG still facilitating road tax, driving license renewals, trading suspended until 10am |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/662518 | BNEF: US$1 trillion to protect biodiversity cheaper than cost of inaction | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): Safeguarding the Earth’s biodiversity won’t be cheap, but it is far less expensive than the alternative, according to research outfit BloombergNEF (BNEF). In a statement on Wednesday (April 5), the firm said financing explicitly to protect and restore the planet’s more fragile natural resources currently amounts to US$166 billion per year — less than one-sixth of the annual investment in the energy transition, based on BNEF’s analysis. It said this will need to jump to almost US$1 trillion by 2030 to sustainably manage biodiversity and maintain the integrity of ecosystems. BNEF said while this is a sizeable sum, it pales in comparison to the anticipated economic cost of biodiversity loss by the end of the decade. It said even by the World Bank’s conservative estimates, the deterioration of natural processes like wild pollination and resources like marine fisheries could see global gross domestic product come in US$2.7 trillion a year lower than projected levels by 2030. The Biodiversity Finance Factbook, released by BNEF, provides finance, policy and sustainability professionals with important data to gauge current and required finance flows. The Factbook then identifies where funding should be prioritised and offers insights on how to make this happen. The Global Biodiversity Framework agreed in Montreal last year will necessitate a significant scale-up in finance. BNEF said if this is not achieved, companies face physical risks with financial repercussions, such as supply-chain disruptions and price volatility, and the destruction of real assets due to erosion or wildfire, for example. They also incur transition risks, including higher costs spurred by tougher regulations to mitigate biodiversity loss, denial of permits and reputational harm, it said. BNEF head of global policy Victoria Cuming, who is also lead author of the Factbook, said the 2022 biodiversity deal won’t be worth the paper it’s written on unless governments, financial institutions and companies ramp up financing and integrate nature into their plans and policies. “Public financing in the form of government spending and tax breaks currently dominates capital flows for biodiversity. “The vast majority of this support is spent domestically,” she said. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/652841 | Hindenburg shorts India's Adani citing debt, accounting concerns; shares plunge | English | BENGALURU (Jan 25): Hindenburg Research said it held short positions in India's Adani Group, accusing the conglomerate of improper use of offshore tax havens and flagging concerns about high debt that eroded US$11 billion (RM46.85 billion) in investor wealth on Wednesday (Jan 25). The group, which is led by Gautam Adani, the world's third richest person according to Forbes, dismissed the US short-seller's claims as baseless, saying it was timed to damage its reputation ahead of a large share offering. The group's flagship firm, Adani Enterprises, will on Jan 27 launch the country's biggest public secondary share offering, aiming to raise to US$2.5 billion to fund capital expenditure and pay off some debt. Hindenburg, known for having shorted electric truck maker Nikola Corp and Twitter, said it holds short positions in Adani companies through US-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments. Its scathing research report questioned how the Adani Group has used offshore entities in offshore tax havens like Mauritius and the Caribbean Islands, adding that certain offshore funds and shell companies tied to the Adani Group "surreptitiously" own stock in Adani listed firms. It also said key listed Adani companies had "substantial debt" which has put the entire group on a "precarious financial footing", and asserted that shares in seven Adani listed companies have an 85% downside on a fundamental basis due to what it called "sky-high valuations". Adani Group's chief financial officer Jugeshinder Singh said in a statement the company was shocked by the report, calling it a "malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations". "The group has always been in compliance with all laws," the company said, without addressing specific allegations made by Hindenburg. "The timing of the report’s publication clearly betrays a brazen, mala fide intention to undermine the Adani Group’s reputation with the principal objective of damaging the upcoming follow-on Public Offering from Adani Enterprises," it added. Shares in Adani Transmission fell 9%, Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone slipped 6.3% and Adani Enterprises ended down 1.5%. Collectively, the seven listed group companies lost US$10.73 billion in market capitalisation. The report coincided with bidding for Adani's secondary share sale by anchor investors on Wednesday. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority was among investors who bid for shares worth 90 billion rupees (RM4.7 billion), compared with 60 billion rupees worth of stock on offer, a source told Reuters. The research report, Hindenburg said, was based on an investigation over two years that involved speaking with dozens of individuals, including former Adani Group executives as well as a review of documents. India's capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Adani has repeatedly dismissed debt concerns. Jugeshinder told media on Jan 21: "Nobody has raised debt concerns to us. No single investor has." Hindenburg's report said five of seven key listed Adani companies have reported current ratios — a measure of liquid assets minus near-term liabilities — below 1. This, the short-seller said, suggested "a heightened short-term liquidity risk". Adani Group's total gross debt in the financial year ended March 31, 2022, rose 40% to 2.2 trillion rupees. Refinitiv data shows debt at Adani Group's seven key listed Adani companies exceeds equity, with debt at Adani Green Energy Ltd exceeding equity by more than 2,000%. CreditSights, part of the Fitch Group, described the group last September as "overleveraged". While the report later corrected some calculation errors, CreditSights said it continued to be concerned about Adani Group's leverage. Hindenburg also said it was concerned that a high proportion of equity held by promoters or key shareholders in Adani Group listed companies has been pledged for loans. "Equity share pledges are an inherently unstable source of lending collateral," it said in the report. Last year, Adani Group bought cement firms ACC and Ambuja Cements from Switzerland's Holcim for US$10.5 billion. Days later, it pledged shares in the two firms, worth about US$12.5 billion at the time, to banks in a non-disposal agreement that prevents it from offloading the shares until lenders agree that debts are paid. ACC and Ambuja both fell over 7% on Wednesday. Read also:
India's Adani Group terms Hindenburg Research's report on company 'malicious' |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/653191 | Yellen: US in middle of talks with EU on Russian crude price cap | English | EMALAHLENI, South Africa (Jan 27): US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday (Jan 27) that the US and European Union were in the middle of discussions on a Russian crude oil price cap. She said she was encouraged that the US and EU would reach an agreement by Feb 5. Yellen added in comments to reporters during a visit to the South African coal-mining province of Mpumalanga that she had discussed sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine in every country she had visited during an ongoing Africa tour. She emphasised that the US would respond quickly and harshly if sanctions were violated. Yellen also said she had heard real enthusiasm from US companies about investing in South Africa, despite crippling power outages in the country. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/614187 | BNM sees vulnerabilities in commercial real estate which makes up 7.8% of total banking system assets | English | KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): Post-pandemic structural trends are likely to add to pre-existing imbalances in the country's commercial real estate (CRE) market, as vacancy and rental rates of office and retail spaces have worsened since the onset of the pandemic and could take longer to improve, given the structural shifts observed. Direct links between the CRE sector and the financial system are however, limited, thus substantially mitigating risks to financial stability, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said in its Financial Stability Review for the second half of 2021 (2H21) on Wednesday (March 30). “Relative to many countries, linkages between the CRE sector and the financial system are significantly lower in Malaysia, with credit exposures to the CRE sector comprising 7.8% of total banking system assets,” said the central bank. BNM noted further that the share of CRE exposures to overall property exposures of financial institutions has declined in the past decade, reflecting banks’ cautiousness towards the sector. According to the central bank, the largest share of bank exposures to CRE is in the form of end-financing for the purchase of shophouses. “Historically in Malaysia, trends for shophouses typically follow developments in the housing market, which makes shophouses more resilient relative to other CRE segments, further mitigating financial stability risks. "The quality of overall bank lending to the sector is also sound, with impairment rations remaining low at 1.5%. “The share of Stage 2 loans has risen to 12%, in line with an expected deterioration in asset quality, as a result of Covid-19 developments,” it said. However, BNM noted that this increase reflects to some extent, conservative loan staging and provisioning practices of banks during the pandemic, in view of continued uncertainty in the credit outlook. BNM added that risks from broader contagion are also contained by the relatively small CRE market in the country. According to the central bank, experience shows that foreign investors and cross-border flows to CRE can amplify boom-bust cycles. “However, the limited presence of foreign investors in the property sector in Malaysia reduces the likelihood of cross-border investments amplifying contagion risk,” it said. Meanwhile, BNM said the country’s real estate investment trusts (REITs), which are mostly funded by large institutional investors such as pension funds, remain a nascent and small market, representing less than 3% of total Bursa market capitalisation. “While the larger REITs experienced sharp declines in income during the pandemic, the impact on financial institutions has been relatively muted, given their limited holdings,” it added. While pre-existing issues of commercial property oversupply have so far not posed a significant risk to the financial system and broader economy, BNM observed that a sharp and protracted slowdown in CRE activity could have an indirect negative impact on other industries such as the manufacturing sector, ancillary business services, and wholesale trade providers. This, the central bank explained, could in turn, affect employment prospects within these sectors and eventually weigh on the debt-servicing capacity among some households. “As such, progress in resolving the existing glut, compounded by the large incoming supply of office and retail spaces, remains important. “More specifically, the long-term sustainability of the overall CRE sector will require stronger resolve and effort by industry players to re-strategise and, where needed, reform commercial spaces to take into account growing risks to prices and the structural shifts shaping demand,” it said. Read more stories from the BNM Annual Report 2021 here. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/661173 | Comintel returns to the black in 4Q on higher revenue from construction segment | English | KUALA LUMPUR (March 28): Comintel Corp Bhd posted a net profit of RM5.57 million for its fourth quarter ended Jan 31, 2023 (4QFY2023), compared to a net loss of RM7.90 million a year earlier, thanks to higher revenue from its construction segment.
The group registered an earnings per share of 1.85 sen, versus a loss per share of 5.64 sen for 4QFY2022, according to its bourse filing.
Quarterly revenue jumped 174.97% to RM74.16 million from RM26.97 million previously, as the construction segment’s contribution rose to RM73.8 million from RM25.9 million, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Binastra Builders Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Total Package Work Sdn Bhd).
For the full financial year (FY2023), Comintel reported a net profit of RM16.52 million as against a net loss of RM8.13 million in FY2022, as revenue increased to RM188.67 million from RM38.55 million.
The group said the shortage of skilled labour, fluctuations in building material prices and rising logistic costs could affect its profitability, despite the government’s projection in the revised Budget 2023 that the country’s economy will grow moderately at 4.5%, with the construction sector growing 6.1%.
“The group will continue to monitor the business environment that it operates in vigilantly, and with periodic assessments to be carried out to ensure prudent financial management and efficient operating procedures in order to achieve sustainable growth moving forward,” said Comintel.
Comintel’s share price closed unchanged at 83 sen on Tuesday (March 28), valuing the group at RM317.47 million. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/600395 | Edu Nation: Addressing the issue of school dropouts | English | This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 20, 2021 - December 26, 2021 A question was raised in parliament recently about the number of children who have dropped out of school since March 2020, when schools were forced to close during the lockdown implemented to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has again revived the discussion on concerns over school dropouts. Sadly, and unsurprisingly, the written answer given by the Ministry of Education left much to be desired. It raised more questions than answers. It was reported that a total of 21,316 students stopped schooling between March 2020 and July 2021. This is a cause for concern, indeed, sending alarm bells ringing, though it has been forecast in the Unicef and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Report in October 2020 entitled “Families on the edge” that a large number of children from low-income households who are poverty-stricken are at risk of dropping out of full-time education. Research by Khazanah Research Institute in June 2020 highlighted that 77% of children are unable to participate in digital learning at home, supporting the observation that many would be left behind in their education because of a lack of access to online learning. But data compiled in a report by Ideas in 2014 entitled “Dropping out of school in Malaysia”, as well as data from the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, put the number of dropouts at more than 40,000 in 2012. The dropout incidence was worse at the start of the millennium, with over 50,000 not proceeding beyond primary school and receiving only up to Standard 6-level education. However, the enrolment rates in secondary school have improved over the years. Currently, compulsory schooling in Malaysia is only up to primary-level education. Dropout rates are highest between Standard 6 and Form 1. The second-highest dropout rate occurs between Forms 3 and 4. Based on the Ideas report, the main reasons for dropping out in the past have been a lack of interest in school, the inability to afford fees and poor academic performance. Most of the dropout cases are children from the low-income group in both rural and urban areas. The Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) 2013-2025 aims to increase compulsory schooling from six years at primary level to 11 years, which would include the completion of secondary schooling, by 2020. The directive to remove UPSR and PT3 in the 2020 cohort perhaps contributed to retaining more of these cohorts than previously, which is consistent with the report presented in parliament. Low academic achievement would not have been a factor for dropping out, as there was no UPSR and PT3 evaluation. Perhaps this is a good way, though a sneaky one, to show improvement and address the statistical data on dropout numbers, but it is far from addressing the crux of the problems for dropping out and low academic achievement. The last comprehensive study that looked into the dropout problem was almost 50 years ago, in 1973, under the Murad Report. More can be done now with improved information exchange, better profiling, data transparency for making better decisions and targeted solutions. It is high time another comprehensive study is done to keep students in school for a complete 11 years until high school, while maintaining the desired outcome expected of them. Studies have shown that high school graduates earn 50% to 100% more than those who do not complete high school. In addition, Malaysia faces the issue of gender disparity, where boys have a higher propensity to drop out than girls. Enrolment figures show that 70% of university students are female. The concern that girls are outperforming boys, and that the gender gap is increasing, will perpetuate the problem of marginalised young Malaysian men. The problem is serious enough for the MEB to categorise them as the “lost boys”. Setting up a task force that will analyse and propose recommendations is the first step to giving due recognition to this problem and admitting that we need to fix it urgently. The socioeconomic disaster that will result from this trend must be arrested. If we do not invest in preventive measures now, more would have to be spent on remedial measures later. Research has shown that people with low educational attainments are more dependent on welfare and more likely to be involved in crime. This would be a big loss to the economy when they could have potentially contributed with their income instead. Those who are deemed at risk of dropping out must be given the help and support they need to at least stay in school. Individualised intervention catering to their needs should be given so that they are able to keep up with learning and continue going to school. The breakfast programme for all students should have been continued, as it provides them with the nutrition to jump-start their day. We wish that the government would seriously address the dropout problem and take care of it before it becomes larger. Tunku Munawirah Putra is honorary secretary at PAGE Malaysia Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/648537 | F&N announces final single-tier final dividend of 33 sen | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 16): Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N) has declared a final single-tier dividend of 33 sen per share for the financial year ended Sept 30, 2022. Its ex-date is Jan 19, 2023 followed by the entitlement date on Jan 20, 2023, and payable on Feb 10, 2023, according to a bourse filing on Friday (Dec 16). This is the second dividend announced for its financial year 2022 (FY2022) after the first dividend of 27 sen per share announced on April 27, totalling 60 sen in 2022. The group’s highest final dividend payment on record was 47 sen in FY2011. F&N recorded a higher net profit of RM98.89 million in its fourth quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 from RM58.69 million in the previous year. Its quarterly revenue also grew by 27% to RM1.14 billion from RM896.26 million due to positive momentum for the recovery of economic activities, out-of-home consumption and trade restocking, reflecting its business returning to pre-pandemic levels. At market close, F&N’s share price dropped 1.36% or 30 sen to RM21.80. Its market capitalisation stood at RM8 billion. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/625842 | Zahid denies instructing trustee law firm to transfer RM59 mil of charity funds into FD | English | KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi denied instructing law firm Messrs Lewis & Co, the trustee for funds belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi, to transfer more than RM59 million into a fixed deposit (FD) account.
Zahid also told the High Court that the firm’s partner, B Muralidharan, told him that the fixed deposit account needed to be opened “by law” to manage the funds. However, the subsequent fund transfers happened without his knowledge, he said.
“I categorically deny that I gave instructions to Messrs Lewis & Co or any lawyer or staff, including V Sothilechmy, to deposit the funds in the fixed deposit account,” Zahid said when reading his witness statement.
Sothilechmy, the accountant for Lewis & Co, is the 85th prosecution witness in Zahid’s money-laundering trial, while Muralidharan is the 87th prosecution witness.
Testifying from the witness stand, Zahid accused Muralidharan as the one who deposited the funds into the FD account.
The former deputy prime minister also recalled Sothiletchmy’s testimony in court that she received instruction from Muralidharan to transfer the funds.
During his testimony, Zahid explained that Lewis & Co was nominated as Yayasan Akalbudi’s trustee because he had no staff to help him manage the donations he was receiving via cheques.
“Lewis & Co was nominated to be a trustee to manage Akalbudi funds; this is because Akalbudi had no staff and only a private secretary, which helped me with cheques,” Zahid said upon query by his lawyer Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal.
“I spoke and took the decision to nominate them to take care of Akalbudi by opening a clients account… I have never given instructions to put the money in a fixed deposit account,” he said.
As for the FD account, Zahid testified that Muralidharan had told him that they were going to open the account to manage the foundation’s funds and accrue interest.
“He told me that we had to open the account by law,” he said.
At the start of the trial, the prosecution set out to prove that Zahid had received approximately RM65 million worth of cheques from individuals known and unknown to him — including the aforementioned RM59 million.
“The evidence that follows will show that these cheques were delivered or caused to be delivered to a lawyer, a Mr Muralidharan of Messrs Lewis & Co, who in turn would deposit the cheques into the firm’s Clients Account.
“A substantial portion of the monies were subsequently used to make placements for fixed deposit under the firm’s name,” the prosecution’s opening statement read.
Zahid was also alleged to have received an additional RM5.9 million to purchase two bungalow units, which makes up RM65 million sum.
In the trial, Zahid maintained that the funds, initially sent to Yayasan Akalbudi in the form of cheques, were donations from individuals and corporate organisations for the foundation to undertake charitable activities.
He denied giving Muralidharan authority to pay for the bungalow — currently used by Tahfiz students — using the Yayasan’s funds, and alleged that the lawyer paid it on his own discretion.
Zahid is currently facing 47 charges of criminal breach of trust, money-laundering and bribery involving millions of ringgit from Yayasan Akalbudi.
In a separate trial, he is also facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million in relation to the award of the foreign visa system (VLN) contract when he was home minister. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/616925 | S P Setia partners Tenaga to help nation achieve carbon-neutral status by 2050 | English | This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 18, 2022 - April 24, 2022 Last Tuesday, S P Setia Bhd signed a memorandum of understanding with Tenaga Nasional Bhd to show its support and commitment towards the national agenda of becoming a carbon-neutral country by 2050. During the signing ceremony, S P Setia president and CEO Datuk Choong Kai Wai said the property developer was thrilled to work with Tenaga to drive change and deliver value beyond housing. It also aimed to encourage sustainable living and make a positive impact on the communities in its developments. The partnership will see S P Setia’s property developments provided with infrastructure and support for rooftop solar panels, electric vehicle (EV) charging and battery storage solutions. Solar power is a renewable energy that reduces consumption of electricity from the national grid, with the savings passed on to the consumer. EV charging infrastructure is built to support residents’ green mobility choices. Batteries are used to store energy from solar-power generation for the needs of the household as well as the township. This venture marks a great step forward in the sustainability imperative for S P Setia and Tenaga, as they will work together to make the impact needed to propel Malaysia towards its environmental commitments. Adopting a greener lifestyle will be made easier and more affordable for consumers. Choong said the homes in S P Setia’s developments will incorporate a green master switch that will allow residents to turn off all power points, except the refrigerator and alarm system. The green master switch, which will require simple wiring work to install, will be easy to use and ultimately eliminate the need to connect with any mobile applications. “Supply and demand — not construction cost — will dictate the price of the properties. Tenaga will provide the infrastructure at a competitive price and, as such, it will make up only about 2% of the total construction cost. We will set a new benchmark for homes in Malaysia with these actions, cultivating green lifestyles across the country,” said Choong. S P Setia’s developments have always been designed to coexist with nature in a way that supports connection and growth. Parks, gardens and bodies of water are seamlessly integrated with the built environment to form healthy ecosystems. The collaboration between the property developer and Tenaga is the next step in the group’s ever-evolving concept of sustainability. For Malaysians, S P Setia’s commitment will translate into an increased awareness of the green agenda and numerous savings, thanks to the ready infrastructure and more efficient energy billings, as well as an easy transition to environmentally conscious living. “Sustainability is our collective responsibility. For S P Setia, it is embedded in our culture and expressed through our developments. We embrace our duty to adopt, adapt and uphold the environmental agenda in meaningful ways that transfer savings, ease of living and innovative lifestyles to our customers,” said Choong. Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/662509 | 市场情绪仍谨慎 马股基本开平 | Mandarin | （吉隆坡7日讯）市场情绪保持谨慎，马股开盘几乎持平。 截至9时12分，富时隆综指下滑0.7点，至1424.19点。 综指以1424.86点报开，较昨日闭市的1424.89点，微滑0.03点。 惟市场广度正面，上升股152只、下跌股121只，另有214只无起落、1729只无交易，以及13只暂停交易。 成交量1亿7947万股，值7357万令吉。 乐天交易股票研究副总裁唐栢麟预计，在综指的低估值和国家经济状况改善的带动，本地股市近期前景乐观。 他向马新社说：“我们认为，逢低买盘将占上风，综指今日料在1425至1435点区间波动。” 重量级股中，马银行（Malayan Banking Bhd）、国油化学（Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd）和联昌国际集团（CIMB Group Holdings Bhd）各跌2仙，分别报8.63令吉、7.23令吉和5.24令吉、大众银行（Public Bank Bhd）下滑1仙，至4令吉，以及国家能源（Tenaga Nasional Bhd）减5仙，挂9.20令吉。 至于热门股，登高集团（Tanco Holdings Bhd）和Classita Holdings Bhd皆扬0.5仙，分别挂46.5仙和20仙、征阳集团（Sunsuria Bhd）升6仙，报67.5仙、Reach能源（Reach Energy Bhd）持平于4.5仙，以及开泰（ATA IMS）跌1仙，报30.5仙。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Bursa opens almost flat on prevailing cautious sentiments |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/602721 | Axteria, Elsoft, Mieco, SMTrack, Tex Cycle | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): theedgemarkets.com highlighted five stocks with momentum at Bursa Malaysia’s afternoon close on Thursday (Jan 6). Three displayed positive momentum, while two indicated negative momentum. The stocks with positive momentum were: Elsoft Research Bhd — up four sen at RM1.15 Mieco Chipboard Bhd — up half a sen at 58.5 sen SMTrack Bhd — up half a sen at 26.5 sen The stock with negative momentum were: Axteria Group Bhd — unchanged at 24 sen Tex Cycle Technology (M) Bhd — up one-and-a-half sen at 60.5 sen The list of stocks with momentum is generated using a proprietary mathematical algorithm highlighting stocks with a build-up in trading volume and price. The algorithm differentiates between stocks that exhibit positive (+ve) momentum and negative (-ve) momentum. This list is not a buy or sell recommendation. It merely tells you which stocks are seeing higher-than-normal volume and price movements. The share price may move up or down from this point. But the “+ve” (suggesting a rising price trend on volume) and “-ve” (suggesting a falling price trend on volume) indicators should give readers a better idea of what the market is buying and when to sell. Note also that momentum generally only persists for a short period of time. However, each stock has an accompanying fundamental score and valuation score to help readers evaluate the attractiveness of the stocks if they want to ride the momentum. For more detailed financial information and reports on the above-mentioned stocks, please subscribe to AbsolutelyStocks at www.absolutelystocks.com |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/631000 | Amendments to fortify Personal Data Protection Act to be tabled in October — Annuar Musa | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 4): Amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) are expected to be tabled in the next session of Parliament in October this year, with the proposed amendments expected to create a stronger and more dynamic personal data protection policy. This follows a series of personal data breaches in the country this year which had stirred concerns among the public. Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said the ministry through the Personal Data Protection Department (JPDP) is committed to the matter given its responsibility for regulating the processing of personal data in commercial transactions based on the jurisdiction stipulated under the PDPA. Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, the Ketereh Member of Parliament (MP) noted the proposed amendments to the Act had already been extended by the ministry to the Attorney General's Chambers on June 28 for further action. Annuar was responding to a question by Setiu MP Shaharizukirnain Abd Kadir, who asked about the ministry's plan to amend several clauses in the PDPA in fighting cybercrimes that had caused nearly 100 million cases of personal data breach. The suggested amendments made include requiring all data users to appoint a data protection officer, and introducing data breach notification which obligates all data users to report data leaks to the JPDP Commissioner within 72 hours. Besides obligating data processors to comply with security principles under the Act, another amendment is to allow the transfer of personal data (data portability) between data users at the request of the data, if the technical system allows it. This is in addition to the repeal of the Determination of Cross-Border Place List which will replace the place list (whitelist) with a blacklist for the transfer of personal data across borders. “Based on the records by JPDP, in fact, almost 120 million personal data have been leaked. “Despite this, it needs to be clarified that what is subject to the jurisdiction of the ministry under the PDPA is only for the purpose of commercial transactions while data in departments and ministries are not subject to this Act,” Annuar said. Annuar was responding to a supplementary question by Shaharizukirnain, who asked about the action taken against perpetrators of data breaches and what the efforts taken by the ministry to curb the issue of data breaches were. For more Parliament stories, click here. Read also:
Investigation ongoing on MyIDENTITY data breach, no arrests yet
Malaysia among least cyber-secure countries worldwide — data |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/628297 | MGRC names former MOH sec-gen as chairman | English | KUALA LUMPUR (July 15): Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd (MGRC) has appointed Datuk Seri Dr Chen Chaw Min as its independent non-executive chairman. In a filing with Bursa on Friday (July 15), the company said the appointment is effective immediately, following the resignation of Tan Sri Ahmad Mohd Don on July 12, 2022. MGRC said Dr Chen, who was appointed to the board on Aug 3, 2021, was with the Malaysian civil service from 1988 until his retirement in February 2021. He was the secretary-general of the Ministry of Health (MOH) from July 2015 until his retirement and also served the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in various capacities from 1990 until 2014. Chen said MGRC is currently expanding downstream to healthcare services and pioneering holistic care which will benefit many for the years to come. "I hope that my experience in both MOH and MOF will be able to add knowledge and insights to support the company's growth," he said. MGRC executive director Datuk Alvin Josep said Dr Chen's extensive experience in the civil service and in particular the MOH will be invaluable to MGRC. Dr Chen obtained a doctorate in finance from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2005. He received an MBA (Finance) from the University of Illinois in 1997 and a Bachelor in Surveying from the University of Technology, Malaysia, in 1985. At the midday break on Friday, MGRC rose 2.88% or three sen to RM1.07 with 4.64 million shares done. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/624389 | EPF dumps shares in heavyweight telcos amid 5G uncertainties | English | KUALA LUMPUR (June 16): The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has been selling its shares in leading telecommunication groups Axiata Group Bhd, Maxis Bhd and Digi.com Bhd amid uncertainties surrounding the 5G rollout in Malaysia. A cumulative 42.64 million shares in the three telcos were divested by the provident fund over the past six months — 21.34 million units in Digi, 16.2 million units in Axiata and 5.1 million units in Maxis. Following the disposal, EPF’s stake in Digi slipped to 14.95% (comprising 1.16 billion shares) as of June 13, compared with 15.23% (1.18 billion shares) as of Dec 31 last year. EPF also trimmed its shareholding in Axiata to 16.93% (1.55 billion shares) as of June 10, from 17.11% (1.57 billion shares) on Jan 14. As for Maxis, the fund's direct interest went down to 11.93% (933.95 million shares) as of June 13, from 11.99% (938.57 million shares) as at end December last year EPF’s indirect stake in Maxis, meanwhile, dropped to 0.036% (2.81 million shares) from 0.042% (3.29 million shares) during the period after it sold 474,400 indirect Maxis shares. In March, the government announced its decision to retain the single wholesale network (SWN) — Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) — for the 5G rollout in Malaysia. "There is still no certainty that the four big telcos (Celcom, Maxis, Digi and Umobile) would ink 5G wholesale agreements or acquire individual stakes in DNB by the stipulated end-June deadline,” noted RHB Research analyst Jeffrey Tan in a report last Friday (June 10). Tan said the key areas of discontent are on the prohibitive wholesale pricing structure (10-year agreement), the ability to “influence” decision-making and justify their investments without a majority stake in DNB. Tan, who has a “neutral” call on the sector, said “the stalemate on the SWN continues to be a key sector overhang, with Malaysian telcos being the worst performers among the ASEAN-4 telcos year to date.” For individual stocks, Tan has a "neutral" recommendation for Digi with a target price of RM4.10, while he has also issued a “neutral” call for Maxis, with a target price of RM3.98. Tan had a “buy” recommendation for Axiata, with a target price of RM4.08. On Thursday, Digi, Axiata and Maxis all closed higher. Digi closed at RM3.25, up three sen or 0.93%, valuing the group at RM25.27 billion. The stock has fallen 20% from RM4.07 at the beginning of the year. Axiata settled three sen or 1.09% higher at RM2.79, with a market value of RM25.6 billion. Year to date, the stock has lost 28% from RM3.88. Maxis' share price advanced four sen or 1.23% to close at RM3.29, rebounding from its all-time low of RM3.25 on Wednesday. Since the beginning of the year, the share price has depreciated 29% from RM4.60. At RM3.29, it has a market capitalisation of RM25.75 billion. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/616675 | Ecomate set to resume uptrend, says RHB Retail Research | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 18): RHB Retail Research said Ecomate Holdings Bhd is set to resume its uptrend as it broke above the 50 sen resistance level on strong volume — printing a “White Marubozu” bullish candlestick. In a trading stocks note on Monday (April 18), the research house said the strong bullish momentum above that level will likely take it to the immediate resistance at 54 sen, followed by 56.5 sen. “However, the momentum may decline if it falls below the 48 sen support level, forming a 'lower low' bearish structure,” it said. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/664969 | 朝圣基金局连续三年派息3.1% | Mandarin | （吉隆坡28日讯）朝圣基金局（Lembaga Tabung Haji）宣布，2022年派息3.1%，这是该局连续三年维持同样的派息率。 全年派息达26亿5000万令吉，一年前为24亿6000万令吉。 首相署部长拿督莫哈末纳因表示，该局在去年录得38亿5000万令吉总收入，一年前报37亿5000万令吉。 值得注意的是，去年朝圣基金局的朝觐财政援助较低，约2亿令吉，大概1万4000名朝圣者前往朝觐。 朝圣基金局总执行长Datuk Seri Amrin Awaluddin表示，今年朝圣者人数预计将增加到3万1000 人，初步估计财政援助接近4亿令吉，甚至可能更高。 他补充说，朝圣基金局今年仍在呼吁增加朝圣者配额，这是该局第二年实施针对B40和M40群体的朝觐财务支援计划。 去年，朝觐成本弹升25%至每人2万8632令吉，2019年疫情前为2万2900令吉，导致朝觐财务援助占该局朝觐成本的55%至65%。 朝圣基金局在今年3月预测，今年该成本将会提高至3万850令吉。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：Tabung Haji keeps 2022 profit distribution at 3.1% for third straight year |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/676796 | Top Builders明复市 仅3天又将停牌 | Mandarin | （吉隆坡31日讯）随着向大马交易所呈交所有未提呈的财务报告，Top Builders Capital Bhd将于周二（8月1日）恢复交易。 根据今日的报备，Top Builders已提交截至去年6月杪2022财政年的常年报告，以及截至去年9月杪、12月杪和今年3月杪的季度财务报告。 然而，由于未能在6月29日的延长期限内向大马证券监督委员会（SC）或马交所提呈重组计划，这家PN17公司仅复市3天，又将从周五（8月4日）起停牌。 若未能在8月3日或之前就除牌提出上诉，该股将于8月8日下市。 Top Builders在2022年1月被列为PN17公司，当时外部审计师毕马威（KPMG）质疑其持续经营能力，因为流动负债超过流动资产2160万令吉。同时，公司的综合权益低于股本的25%。 该股自2022年11月8日起停牌，最后作价为2仙，市值报1410万令吉。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Top Builders to resume trading on Aug 1 after submitting financial reports — but only for three days |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/644725 | Unofficial: Pakatan Harapan picks up 11 seats | English | (Nov 19): Pakatan Harapan has won 11 Parliamentary seats so far, according to unofficial results They are: |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/605377 | Analysts see earnings recovery from IGB REIT, but some remain sceptical | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 27): IGB Real Estate Investment Trust's (REIT) results for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021 (FY21), which were deemed broadly in line, have set the base for a recovery, according to analysts. However, some remain sceptical and have cut their earnings forecasts for the REIT to reflect lower rental reversion. CGS-CIMB analyst Sharizan Rosely said in a note that IGB REIT’s FY21 core net profit made up 101% of his and 102% of consensus full-year forecasts. “The performance was broadly in line, with the fourth quarter of financial year 2021 (4QFY21) exhibiting a strong quarter-on-quarter recovery, setting the base for improvements in operating conditions in the coming quarters,” he said. With the overall retail sector set on a recovery path in FY22, he sees minimal risks of rental assistance as he understands retail footfall and tenant sales as at end-2021 have recovered close to pre-pandemic levels. According to him, the indicative of easing rental assistance/rebates was 4QFY21’s net profit income (NPI) margin of 78%, being the group’s highest quarterly NPI margin achieved since the pandemic began in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20). As for the retail assets, he said Mid Valley Megamall (MVM) and The Gardens Mall closed FY21 with high occupancy rates of 99.8% (FY20: 99.7%) and 99.5% (FY20: 96%) respectively, higher than the retail sector’s end-2021 average occupancy rate of 72% (according to JLW Research). While the emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant is a concern, he remains optimistic of a retail space recovery in FY22, with MVM and The Gardens Mall potentially emerging as among the biggest beneficiaries. “We expect rental reversion to stay in the slight negative territory in FY22 (FY21: average single-digit negative) as tenant retention is the top priority. In terms of FY22 lease expiry profile, 24%/45.4% of MVM’s/The Garden’s NLA are due for renewal,” he said. He cuts IGB REIT FY22 to FY23 earnings per share (EPS)/distribution per unit (DPU) by 0.4% to 3% on housekeeping. He also forecast IGB REIT FY22 EPS/DPU growth of 28.3% year-on-year, reflecting the REIT’s low base, post-pandemic recovery trajectory. He retains an "add" call rating on IGB REIT and target price of RM1.88, backed by dividend yields of 4.9% to 5.9%. “IGB REITs flagship malls’ strong neighbourhood appeal make them well-positioned for a robust recovery — a key medium-term potential share price catalyst,” he said. In a separate note, UOB KayHian analyst Yap Xiu Li said IGB REIT’s results were within expectations, with its 4QFY21 performance improving on the back of a recovery in footfall traffic and the reversal of impairment. “2022 should be the year of normalisation primarily based on broader vaccine coverage, provided that any new Covid-19 variants are not deadly,” she said. Yap still likes IGB REIT over other retail REITs for its resilient assets and faster-than-peers’ recovery pace. She maintained a "buy" on IGB REIT with a target price of RM1.90 and said the REIT still offers decent yields of at least 5% from 2022 onwards. Her projected IGB REIT 2022 earnings growth of 55% year-on-year is based on flat rental reversion, and minimal rental assistance. While CGS-CIMB and UOB KayHian are positive on the outlook of IGB REIT, AmInvestment Bank has downgraded its recommendation on IGB REIT to "hold" from "buy" with a lower fair value to RM1.65 (from RM1.85 previously). “Our valuation for IGB REIT is based on a target distribution yield of 5% over a lower FY23F distribution income,” it said. The research house also cuts IGB REIT distribution income forecasts for FY22 to FY24 by 13%, 4%, and 1% to RM240 million, RM317 million and RM343 million respectively (from RM276 million, RM329 million and RM340 million). “This is after factoring in a lower rental reversion amid the continued challenging operating environment in retail malls as some tenants still require rental assistance in the near term,” it said. It said it has turned cautious on IGB REIT's outlook in FY22 due to: IGB REIT said Wednesday that it has posted an NPI of RM93.66 million for its 4QFY21, a marginal improvement of 0.6% from RM93.09 million in the previous year, amid reversal for impairment of trade receivables. It has also approved a DPU of 2.17 sen. Its NPI for FY21, however, fell 13.13% to RM275.1 million from RM316.68 million a year ago. At the time of writing, IGB REIT rose one sen or 0.65% to RM1.54, valuing the group at RM5.5 billion. Read also:
IGB REIT posts RM94m for 4Q NPI, to distribute 2.17 sen DPU; IGBCR reports RM32m for 4Q NPI, 0.99 sen DPU |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/669544 | Foreigners pulled more money out of China in May | English | (June 1): Foreign investors' selling of Chinese shares gained some momentum in May, as flagging domestic demand and expectations for weak corporate earnings led to steep falls on mainland and Hong Kong stock markets. Refinitiv data shows foreigners sold US$1.71 billion (RM7.9 billion) worth of mainland shares this month via Stock Connect, a key cross-border link between the mainland and Hong Kong exchanges, after selling US$659 million in April. The selling marks a slow reversal of their heavy investment totaling US$20.92 billion in January when China reopened its economy after three years of Covid restrictions, spurring a wave of bullish expectations for growth. Such hopes were dashed as domestic and overseas demand wilted, and the recovery proved uneven. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, profits at China's industrial firms slumped in the first four months of the year. Despite outflows in February, April and May, foreigners' net purchases of mainland shares still stood at US$25.05 billion for the first five months of this year, compared with net buying of about US$6.36 billion worth over the whole of 2022. China's manufacturing activity contracted more than expected in May, according to the official purchasing managers' index (PMI) survey released on Wednesday (May 31). Though a private sector survey, the Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing PMI released on Thursday, showed China's factory activity unexpectedly swung to growth in May from decline. In April, imports contracted sharply, factory gate prices fell, property investment slumped, industrial profits plunged and factory output and retail sales both missed forecasts. Over the past month, analysts have cut their forward 12-month earnings forecasts of China's large- and mid-cap companies by over 0.7%, with mining and real estate sectors seeing over 3% cuts. "Confidence among consumers and business investors is not recovering as fast as the market had hoped," said Pruksa Iamthongthong, senior investment director of Asian equities at abrdn. "We think that the economy would take time to recover, and we would see a period of risk aversion over the short term in response to risks around slowing activity against a backdrop of a potential global recession." According to Morningstar, US funds that invest exclusively in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have seen an outflow of US$1.15 billion between February and April after witnessing an inflow of US$2.5 billion in January. The Allianz All China Equity WT (GBP) saw an outflow of US$137.6 million in the week ending May 25, the biggest weekly outflow since at least July 2018, while iShares Core MSCI China ETF (HKD) faced US$103.72 million worth of net selling, as shown by Refinitiv. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 3.6% in May and posted its biggest monthly loss in seven months, compared with the MSCI Asia Pacific's decline of 1.2%. "Decisive policy actions including cyclical and macro policy tools such as RRR cuts and targeted fiscal easing are needed to restore confidence, though investors may be too bearish on the China economy and have priced in too much risk or downside, in the long run," said Alexander Davey, global capability head for active equities at HSBC Asset Management. The outflows from Chinese equities also came as investors became more risk averse as the US Federal Reserve increased interest rates to combat inflationary pressures. Vikas Pershad, investments portfolio manager for Asian Equities at M&G Investments, said the risk premium for Chinese markets has increased due to the increased regulatory scrutiny of various sectors in China, and investors would need greater returns to allocate more capital to that market. "Foreigners seem to have been selling because of the underwhelming near-term economic data points and, perhaps, because of the opportunities available to investors with a broader (pan-Asia or global) mandate," Pershad said. "We presume other investors have re-allocated some capital from China to those markets (and others) this year." |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/600962 | TikTok overtakes Google in popularity in 2021 | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 23): Search engine behemoth Google has been dethroned by video-focused social networking service TikTok as the most popular domain in 2021. American technology-security company Cloudflare Inc in its "2021 Year in Review for Internet traffic" rankings said that in 2020, TikTok was ranked No. 7, while Google came in at No. 1. This year, TikTok came in first, followed by Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple. Cloudflare said Internet traffic continued to grow (at least so far and with some "help" from the Covid-19 pandemic), and Internet applications, be they websites, Internet of things (ToT) devices or mobile apps, continued to evolve throughout the year, depending on if they attracted human beings. Another trend was that Netflix surpassed Amazon in December 2020, especially around the Christmas week. Cloudflare said on some days around Christmas 2020, Netflix was even higher than Apple in rankings at No. 4. That was the case on Dec 23, 25 and from Dec 29 to Jan 2, 2021. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/631869 | Shares of Malaysian companies in Forbes Asia's Best Under A Billion 2022 list rise at mid-morning | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 11): Shares of the seven Malaysian companies that made it to the Forbes Asia's Best Under A Billion 2022 list rose at mid-morning on Thursday (Aug 11). ViTrox Corp Bhd hiked 32 sen or 4.43% to RM7.54 with 57,100 shares traded. Greatech Technology Bhd gained 14 sen or 3.7% to RM3.92, with 891,200 shares transacted. Meanwhile, D&O Green Technologies Bhd climbed 14 sen or 3.59% to RM4.04, with 406,000 shares done. Kim Loong Resources Bhd traded higher by two sen or 1.2% to RM1.68 with a volume of 33,200. On the ACE Market, Tashin Holdings Bhd increased one sen or 2.27% to 45 sen, with 158,000 shares changed hands. CE Technology Bhd shares have not been traded on Thursday yet, therefore its price remained unchanged at RM1.15. However, the RM1.15 is its record high since the company was listed on Bursa Malaysia’s LEAP Market in June 2019. UG Healthcare, which is listed on Singapore Exchange, also saw its share price grow half a cent or 2.38% to 22 Singapore cent, with 458,700 shares traded. The Forbes Asia's Best Under A Billion 2022 is an annual list that highlights 200 Asia-Pacific public companies with less than US$1 billion in sales and consistent top- and bottom-line growth. The companies on the list, which is unranked, were selected based on a composite score that incorporated their overall track record in measures such as debt, sales and earnings-per-share growth over both the most recent fiscal one- and three-year periods, and the strongest one- and five-year average returns on equity. Aside from quantitative criteria, qualitative screens were used as well, such as excluding companies with serious governance issues, questionable accounting, environmental concerns, management issues or legal troubles. The list uses full-year annual results, based on the latest publicly available figures as of July 11, 2022. Read also:
Seven Malaysian companies make it to Forbes Asia's Best Under A Billion 2022 list |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/618288 | Petronas withdraws from Myanmar’s Yetagun gas project | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 29): Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) said on Friday (April 29) that it had withdrawn from the Yetagun gas project in Myanmar. In a statement, Petronas said its subsidiaries Petronas Carigali Myanmar Inc (PCMI) and PC Myanmar (Hong Kong) Ltd (PCML) had withdrawn from Blocks M12, M13 and M14 located in the Yetagun field, offshore Myanmar. PCML had operated the Yetagun Gas Project since 2003, where it held 40.9% participating interest. Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise own 20.5%, while Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) Ltd and PTTEP International Ltd own 19.3% each. “The decision was made following a thorough techno-commercial review in alignment with Petronas’ asset rationalisation strategy for a portfolio that fits with its growth ambitions amid the changing industry environment and accelerated energy transition,” the statement said. This comes as Reuters reported on Feb 19 that Petronas is divesting its stakes in the Yetagun gas project, after signing agreements for the sale of its entities related to Petronas' upstream operations in Myanmar in July 2021. The buyer of Petronas’ stakes was unidentified at the time of Reuters’ report. Petronas had also been setting up a business unit focusing on clean energy solutions, as part of a global operational shuffle. Bloomberg had reported on Feb 9 that the national oil company’s CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik had planned to launch the clean energy solutions business as early as the middle of 2022. A divestiture of Petronas’ assets in Myanmar, Chad and Azerbaijan was mentioned in the same report. The national oil company had also declared force majeure on the Yetagun field located offshore Myanmar due to depleted gas production back in April 2021, after facing challenges in the wells deliverability that resulted in the production rate dropping below the technical threshold of the offshore gas processing plant. Notably, Myanmar had been embroiled in a military coup after the country’s military junta overthrew the elected government of Aung Sang Suu Kyi in February last year. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/667151 | Amazon plans to add ChatGPT-style search to its online store | English | (May 16): Amazon.com Inc plans to bring ChatGPT-style product search to its web store, rivalling efforts by Microsoft Corp and Google to weave generative artificial intelligence (AI) into their search engines. The e-commerce giant’s ambitions appear in recent job postings reviewed by Bloomberg News. One listing seeking a senior software development engineer says the company is “reimagining Amazon Search with an interactive conversational experience” designed to help users find answers to questions, compare products and receive personalised suggestions. “We’re looking for the best and brightest across Amazon to help us realise and deliver this vision to our customers right away,” the company said in the listing, which was posted on its jobs board last month. “This will be a once-in-a-generation transformation for Search.” Another posted job would be part of “a new AI-first initiative to re-architect and reinvent the way we do search through the use of extremely large-scale next-generation deep-learning techniques”. Amazon spokesperson Keri Bertolino declined to comment on the job listings. “We are significantly investing in generative AI across all of our businesses,” she said in an email. Conversational product search has the potential to reshape a key element of Amazon’s core retail business. The search bar at the top of the app and home page in recent years have become the default gateway for millions of shoppers seeking to find a specific product. More than half of US shoppers say they start product searches on Amazon.com, a higher share than Google, according a survey conducted earlier this year by Jungle Scout, a maker of software for sellers on Amazon. Early deployments of generative AI by Microsoft, Alphabet Inc’s Google and others have been beset by errors in response to basic questions. But they also show how a beefed-up Microsoft Bing or Google search could offer users a more valuable way to find products. Asking Microsoft Bing — which is powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT — to show the five best electric razors pulled up a roster of five products, including citations to reviews from Men’s Health and GQ, along with links to stores selling the products. The same search on Amazon yields a pair of ads, followed by dozens of products. Amazon’s search experience has been criticised in recent years for the increased share of results devoted to ads and other sponsored content. Generative AI uses vast quantities of data to assemble large language models that can help create text or images following a prompt. Amazon chief executive officer Andy Jassy said on an earnings call last month that the technology “presents a remarkable opportunity to transform virtually every customer experience”. Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud-computing unit, in April announced a set of services that rely on advances in generative AI. They have yet to be widely released. Meanwhile, the company is hoping to use similar technology to improve its Alexa voice assistant, Insider reported. Amazon is also building a team to use AI tools to create photos and videos for advertising campaigns, The Information reported this month. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/673937 | Yellen criticises China's 'punitive' actions against US companies, urges market reforms | English | BEIJING (July 7): US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday (July 7) called for market reforms in China and criticised the world's second-largest economy for its recent "punitive" actions against US companies and new export controls on some critical minerals. Yellen, who arrived in Beijing on Thursday said the moves underscored the need for "resilient" and diverse supply chains, and warned that the US and its allies will fight back against what she called China's "unfair economic practices." Yellen made the remarks to the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham) after what a Treasury official called "substantive" talks with former Chinese economy czar Liu He, a close confidante of President Xi Jinping, and outgoing top Chinese central banker Yi Gang. She is slated to meet later Friday with Premier Li Qiang. Yellen's trip is part of a flurry of visits aimed at calming tensions between Washington and Beijing that escalated after the US military shot down a Chinese government balloon over the US and amid increasing strains over export controls. No major breakthroughs are expected, with officials from both sides accepting that safeguarding national security interests now trumps deepening economic ties. China hopes the US will take "concrete actions" to create a favourable environment for the healthy development of bilateral economic and trade ties, China's finance ministry said in a statement on Friday. "No winners emerge from a trade war or from decoupling and 'breaking chains'," the statement added. US firms in China hope Yellen's visit will ensure trade and commercial lanes between the two economies remain open, regardless of the temperature of geo-political tensions. AmCham president Michael Hart welcomed Yellen's "extra firepower" in pressing for changes in China's policies. "Yellen's visit is significant because it allows more conversations to happen, it allows more mid-level folks from both sides to come," he said. "I think if there was another year of no visits by top US government leaders, the market would get colder," he added. The US diplomatic push comes ahead of a possible meeting between President Joe Biden and Xi as soon as September's Group of 20 Summit in New Delhi or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering scheduled for November in San Francisco. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Beijing last month and agreed with Xi that the mutual rivalry should not veer into conflict, and Biden's climate envoy John Kerry is expected to visit later this month. Yellen said she came to work toward a "stable and constructive relationship" between the two countries, while making clear that Washington will act to protect its national security interests and human rights. Regular exchanges could help both countries monitor economic and financial risks at a time when the global economy was facing "headwinds like Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the pandemic," Yellen added. Yellen said she would make clear to Chinese officials that Washington was not seeking "a wholesale separation of our economies," but raised concerns about their use of expanded subsidies for state-owned enterprises and domestic firms, barriers to market access for foreign firms, and recent "punitive actions" against US firms. Yellen said Washington was still evaluating new Chinese export controls on gallium and germanium, critical minerals used in technologies like semiconductors, but said the move underscored the need for "resilient and diversified supply chains." Yellen also took aim at China's planned economy, urging Beijing to return to more market-oriented practices that had underpinned its rapid growth in past years. "A shift toward market reforms would be in China’s interests," the former top US central banker told the US business executives. "A market-based approach helped spur rapid growth in China and helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. This is a remarkable economic success story." Yellen noted that China's enormous and growing middle-class provided a big market for American goods and services, and stressed that Washington's targeted actions against China were based on national security concerns. "We seek to diversify, not to decouple," she said. "A decoupling of the world’s two largest economies would be destabilising for the global economy, and it would be virtually impossible to undertake." |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/676075 | 等待美联储决议 马股追随美股走高 | English | （吉隆坡26日讯）由于消费者信心改善，隔夜美国股市收涨，马股延续昨日升势走高。 富时隆综指以1436.70点报开，较昨日闭市的1436.79点，微滑0.09点，但随后攀升。 截至9时05分，综指上扬4.74点，至1441.53点。 上升股151只、下跌股139只，另有204只无起落。 成交量1亿8372万股，值7556万令吉。 乐天交易股票研究副总裁唐栢麟向马新社表示，随着交易员消化美国企业财报，同时等待美国联储局（FED）公布利率决定，华尔街维持上涨趋势。 国内方面，他认为，综指将延续周二升势，得益于蓝筹股的积累。 “由于一些外国基金的投资组合多元化，这一情况可能持续。因此，综指预计将继续上行走势，今日将徘徊在1435至1450点区间，因为银行股将奋起直追。” 今日在创业板上市的Daythree Digital Bhd，开盘报65仙，溢价116.67%或35仙。 |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/647172 | The Week Ahead: Eyes on Najib’s final appeal on SRC sentence, July exports | English | This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 15, 2022 - August 21, 2022 This week, the spotlight will be on the Federal Court’s decision on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s final appeal in the SRC International case, for which he had been convicted and sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million on July 28, 2020. At stake is whether the former prime minister would qualify to contest in the 15th general election (GE15), which could be called as early as October and has to be held by the middle of next year. Last week, there were reports, including in Utusan Malaysia, that Najib’s son, Datuk Mohd Nizar, 44, the Umno youth chief for Pekan, could be named as a candidate for the constituency should Najib be ineligible to contest. Najib was 23 when he took over the Pekan parliamentary seat in 1976 following the death of his father, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. The weeks leading up to the final appeal have been eventful, to say the least — from an 11th hour change of counsels to news reports of the new counsels giving an ultimatum that they would discharge themselves should the Federal Court not grant an adjournment in the trial, and a subsequent denial that the said counsels had sought to abandon their client. Najib discharged his previous lawyers Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah and Harvinderjit Singh weeks ago, replacing them with Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan T H Liew & Partners. Senior criminal lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik is now the lead counsel in the appeal. Proceedings will begin with the Pekan MP’s bid to adduce fresh evidence. This application revolves around trial judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali’s alleged conflict of interest as he served as a general counsel and company secretary for Maybank Group in 2006. Najib has also asked to call upon former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation officer Rosli Hussein to give oral evidence in court. Shahrol had never testified in the SRC matter, while Rosli was the prosecution’s 57th witness. Najib’s lawyers are also seeking an adjournment of the appeal. If the Federal Court grants an adjournment for SRC, Najib’s second trial, the 1MDB-Tanore trial, will begin before Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah in the High Court. Najib’s lawyer Rahmat Hazlan told The Edge that Justice Sequerah has not granted an adjournment, pending the Federal Court’s decision on SRC. In the 1MDB-Tanore trial, Najib is charged with four counts of abuse of power in enriching himself with RM2.3 billion of 1MDB funds, and 21 counts of laundering the same amount. If convicted, he could be jailed up to 20 years and fined. Meanwhile, data watchers will be looking out for Malaysia’s trade figures for July, slated for release on Friday (Aug 19). Exports recorded the 11th straight month of double-digit expansion, growing 38.8% year on year to RM146.2 billion in June. Imports rose 49.3% to RM124.23 billion while the trade surplus eased 0.8% to RM21.93 billion. Total trade recorded double-digit growth for the 17th straight month (19th straight month of growth), rising 43.4% to RM270.39 billion in June. New Zealand will also be reporting July trade data on the same day while Indonesia and Japan will report theirs earlier, on Aug 15 and Aug 17 respectively. China, meanwhile, is expected to report industrial production for July and its latest employment figures. There are no scheduled announcements from Bank Negara Malaysia this week. Central bank watchers will be looking out for minutes from the US Federal Open Market Committee’s July meeting on Thursday (Aug 18). Key rate decisions this week include those by The Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Wednesday (Aug 17) as well as Norway’s Norges Bank and the Philippine’s Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Thursday. All three are expected to raise rates by at least 25 basis points. Other economic data releases include the second quarter GDP growth reading from Thailand on Monday (Aug 15) — the last of the Asean-5 countries to report the quarterly figure. Malaysia said last Friday (Aug 12) that 2Q GDP grew 8.9% year on year. That’s above the Philippines’ 7.4%, Indonesia’s 5.4% and Singapore’s 4.4%. Thailand’s economy is expected to expand by 3.1% year on year in 2Q, according to a Reuters poll, while a Bloomberg poll expects 2.4%. Second-quarter GDP numbers are also slated for release in Japan (preliminary) and the eurozone (final). Eighteen S&P 500 companies will be reporting earnings this week, according to UOB Bank. It says market focus will be on “big-box [large] retailers”. Walmart is slated to release its 2QFY2023 earnings on Aug 16, according to its website. In Malaysia, companies reporting the latest quarterly earnings this week include MISC Bhd. In an Aug 11 report, CGS-CIMB Securities Research said MISC’s 2Q2022 results on Aug 18 “is very important” as it may offer critical insights on whether the group is finally benefiting from strong tanker spot rates. Latest quarterly financial releases are also expected from Sime Darby Bhd, Dialog Group Bhd, Gas Malaysia Bhd, S P Setia Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd and Inari Amertron Bhd. Companies holding their annual general meeting this week include AMMB Holdings Bhd and ELK-Desa Resources Bhd on Aug 18. Asia Media Group Bhd’s AGM is on Aug 19, the same day Berjaya Food Bhd is asking shareholders’ approval for its proposed 4-for-1 bonus issue at an extraordinary general meeting. Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/616749 | Insider Moves: NWP Holdings Bhd, Jerasia Capital Bhd, Dynaciate Group Bhd, Bina Darulaman Bhd, TRC Synergy Bhd | English | This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 18, 2022 - April 24, 2022 Notable shareholder changes at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies for the week of April 4 to 8 include those at timber manufacturer NWP Holdings Bhd. Datuk Chang Huan Soon ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the company after selling 900,000 shares, or a 0.17% stake, in a series of disposals since March 5, 2021. Chang surfaced as a substantial shareholder in NWP on July 16, 2020, after acquiring 34.99 million shares, or an 8.11% stake, in the company. According to the company’s annual report, Chang held 29.19 million shares, or 5.55% equity interest, in NPW via Maybank Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd as at June 30, 2021. He was the second-largest shareholder in the company after its former managing director Kee Song Ling, who owned 48.64 million shares, or a 9.24% stake. On March 21, the company announced that Kee and independent non-executive director Yew Onn Chong, who were being sued by the company’s management over alleged fraudulent transactions, had resigned from their posts effective that day. NWP closed last Wednesday at 25 sen, translating into a market capitalisation of RM128.97 million. Over at Jerasia Capital Bhd, Yee Jia Cheng continued to raise his stake in the apparel manufacturer and fashion retailer with the acquisition of 900,000 shares, bringing his shareholding to 5.5 million shares, or 6.7% equity interest. Yee emerged as a substantial shareholder in the Practice Note 17 company on March 14 with the acquisition of 4.59 million shares, representing a 5.59% stake. While it is not known how much Yee forked out for his entry into Jerasia, the stock closed at 0.05 sen on April 6. Jerasia ended trading last Wednesday at 4½ sen, valuing it at RM4.1 million. Meanwhile, MMAG Holdings Bhd strengthened its grip on engineering, procurement and construction solutions provider Dynaciate Group Bhd by increasing its shareholding to 30.16%, from 9.92%. MMAG surfaced as a substantial shareholder in Dynaciate in early March last year, after taking up a private placement of 65.88 million shares, or a 9.92% stake. MMAG recently disposed of its 74.51% stake in MGudang Sdn Bhd to Dynaciate for 180.16 million Dynaciate shares, and accepted an additional 46.87 million shares under a debt settlement agreement, which bumped up MMAG’s stake to the current level. Dynaciate closed on Wednesday at 11½ sen, giving the company a market value of RM116.55 million. MMAG closed atseven sen, valuing it at RM91.87 million. In a span of two months — mid-January to March 10 — shares in Kedah-based developer Bina Darulaman Bhd shot up more than 50% to hit a multiyear high of 87 sen. Since early January, Kemajuan Negeri Kedah (PKNK), the largest shareholder of Bina Darulaman, has been trimming its stake in the company. PKNK held 199.4 million shares, representing an equity interest of 65.6% on Jan 4. During the week in review, it hived off three million shares, or 0.98% equity interest, to reduce its shareholding in Bina Darulaman to 184.4 million shares, or 60.7%. Bina Darulaman closed last Wednesday at 50 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM148.89 million. Over at TRC Synergy Bhd, deputy group managing director Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohamad disposed of 4.7 million shares, representing a 0.1% stake in the construction outfit, to trim his shareholding to 133.76 million, or 23.38%. It is believed that the shares were acquired by the group’s chief operating officer Datuk Leong Kam Heng and founder and managing director Tan Sri Sufri Mohd Zin. After the respective acquisitions, Sufri held direct and indirect shareholdings amounting to almost 37% in TRC Synergy; Leong’s stake is pegged at 10.77%. TRC Synergy ended Wednesday at 35 sen, valuing it at RM168.17 million. Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/618432 | Brokers Digest: Local Equities - Plantation sector, Westports Holdings Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Uzma Bhd | English | This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 2, 2022 - May 8, 2022 MAYBANK RESEARCH (April 25): Indonesia’s ban on palm oil exports will worsen the tightness in global edible oil supply. But we think the ban will be a short one to two months. Prices of edible oils will remain lofty in 2Q22 to ration demand. We expect Bursa Malaysia Derivative’s Futures Crude Palm Oil to trade higher (possibly retesting recent highs) while Indonesia’s domestic crude palm oil (CPO) price will gravitate towards subsidised cooking oil price if the ban stays. Indonesia, the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil, made up 31% of global exports in 2020. According to Oil World, Ukraine exported 7.2 metric tons (MT) of edible oils (mainly sunflower oils) in 2020, which accounted for 8% of global exports of 95.1MT. Ukraine ports in the Black Sea region have been closed since the Russia-Ukraine war started on Feb 24. The disrupted exports from Indonesia and Ukraine will keep global edible oil prices lofty, until such time when either the Indonesian export ban is lifted or shipment from Ukraine in the Black Sea region is allowed to resume. Malaysia-based planters are clear winners for now. Pure Malaysian plays include Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd, Ta Ann Holdings Bhd, Boustead Plantations Bhd and Hap Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd. Among the large caps, IOI Corp Bhd has the least exposure to Indonesia. But bear in mind, this Indonesian export ban is temporary. We expect it to be lifted by end-2Q22. When the ban is lifted, we expect Indonesia to flood the global market with its accumulated inventory. And as the industry enters into its seasonal peak output period in 2H22, this could trigger a sharp price correction. 2022 will likely be a year of two halves for CPO price. CPO spot price has averaged RM6,248/T year to date. Given the high prices and new export ban, we now raise our 2022E/2023E CPO average selling price to RM5,000/RM3,400/T (from RM4,100/RM3,200/T). Target price: RM3.78 HOLD CGS-CIMB RESEARCH (April 26): 1Q22 core net profit of RM152 million was 19% lower y-o-y and 21% lower q-o-q, mainly due to a huge jump in the effective tax rate to 39%, versus 24% in 1Q21, and an unusually low 16% in 4Q21. Stripping out the tax impact, 1Q22 was decent with Ebit flattish y-o-y and up 5% q-o-q. The tax burden in 1Q22 was especially heavy, partly because of the Prosperity Tax that is effective from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2022, and because the additional deferred tax income that was accrued in 4Q21’s profit and loss is now being gradually reversed. The latter suggests that FY21F’s effective tax rate may end up being higher than our current forecast; we are waiting for further clarification from Westports on this. Despite a 10% y-o-y fall in container volumes in 1Q22, Westports is guiding for “near identical” volumes in FY22F compared to FY21; hence, we cut our volume growth forecast from 6% to 1%. However, we think there is still downside risk to volumes if Westports’ customers do not switch back from Northport, or if China’s ongoing zero-Covid lockdowns snarl traffic for long periods. Target price: RM3.20 BUY HONG LEONG INVESTMENT BANK RESEARCH (April 26): Taiwan’s Plant 2 phase 1 expansion is slightly ahead of schedule and will be completed by 1H21. Although the Plant 2 land size is almost the same as Plant 1, the former’s production capacity can be more than double as new technology requires less floor space. The expansion is expected to lift FY23 core net profit by 22%. It is also in negotiations with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customer (existing client in Taiwan) on a large volume-based project to support Singapore’s foundries. If this project materialises, expansion will be required and it plans to repurpose the idle space in its O&G site. Demand projection remains strong and there has not been any order reductions so far. Frontken shared that it continues to experience price pressure despite the foundries increasing their average selling prices. Ebitda margin should increase thanks to improvement in O&G, and we are expecting O&G to achieve double-digit growth at the profit-after-tax level. We like Frontken for its multi-year growth ahead on the back of the sustainable global semiconductor market outlook, robust fab investment, leading edge technology (7 nanometer and below), and strong balance sheet (net cash of RM315 million or 20 sen per share) to support its Taiwan expansion. Target price: 68 sen OUTPERFORM KENANGA RESEARCH (April 26): We returned from a small group meeting feeling positive, with management taking the opportunity to detail its diversification plans into the solar energy space. Overall, solar is expected to be the main driver of the group’s non-oil and gas business, expected to reach about RM500 million revenue in the near term by 2025. However, we do note that execution and results delivery will still be crucial. While the solar space is expected to see huge growth potential in the coming years, especially in Malaysia, competition within the space is also stiff as it is crowded with many other competent and well-established players, with barriers to entry also relatively low. Nonetheless, we also believe that any fruition or materialisation of Uzma’s ventures into the solar space will serve as immediate re-rating catalyst. Currently, listed solar players (Solarvest Holdings Bhd, Samaiden Group Bhd, and Pekat Group Bhd) are trading at a huge valuation premium compared to Uzma. Maintain “outperform” with a target price of 68 sen — pegged to 0.5x PBV, broadly in line with its mean valuations. Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/663330 | Affin Bank, Supermax, Country Heights, Sarawak Cable, KAB, Perak Corp, Reservoir Link, Yong Tai, TNB, Malakoff, SFP Tech, Icon Offshore, PLS Plantations, Uchi Tech, Infomina and Metro Healthcare | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 13): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made news on Thursday (April 13) involving Affin Bank Bhd, Supermax Corporation Bhd, Country Heights Holdings Bhd, Sarawak Cable Bhd, Kejuruteraan Asastera Bhd, Perak Corp Bhd, Reservoir Link Energy Bhd, Yong Tai Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Malakoff Corp Bhd, SFP Tech Holdings Bhd, Icon Offshore Bhd, PLS Plantations Bhd, Uchi Technologies Bhd, Infomina Bhd and Metro Healthcare Bhd. Affin Bank Bhd said its largest shareholder Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) has divested a 4.95% stake in the bank to State Financial Secretary Sarawak, via a direct business transaction. LTAT sold the stake comprising 112.56 million shares for a cash consideration of RM221.74 million or RM1.97 per share. Supermax Corporation Bhd is urging its former migrant employees to apply for reimbursement of any fees paid to obtain employment at the company, to complete the transformation of its labour policies. It continues to conduct an outreach campaign in its effort to follow up on earlier efforts implemented in Nepal and Bangladesh, asking that former workers who paid recruitment fees to obtain employment be reimbursed. Country Heights Holdings Bhd's founder and largest shareholder Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew claimed that he did not file for bankruptcy, and is still far from insolvency. Lee said the issue was escalated by Patrick Healy, a former officer of US-based Club Excellence Inc which had already been wound up. Healy went to the US arbitration court to seek RM3 million from Lee. Lee claimed that the court had granted a court judgement in favour of Healy without him being present, owing to the distance between Malaysia and the US, and the Covid-19 pandemic, among others. Sarawak Cable Bhd (SCable) and KAB Energy Holdings Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kejuruteraan Asastera Bhd (KAB), have mutually agreed to extend the conditional period for the proposed disposal of 300,000 shares in PT Inpola Mitra Elektrindo, which owns and operates a mini hydroelectric power plant in North Sumatera, Indonesia, for another three months to July 31. Perak Corp Bhd has been granted a further six-month extension until Aug 9 by Bursa Securities to submit its regularisation plan to address the company’s financial condition. Perak Corp was previously granted an extension of time until Aug 10 last year and more recently another extension until Feb 10 this year. Perak Corp slipped into Practice Note 17 status in February 2020, as a result of a default in payment and its inability to declare solvency. Reservoir Link Energy Bhd has inked an agreement to undertake the construction, commissioning and operations of a new wastewater treatment plant in Indonesia. The group’s 85%-owned subsidiary PT EnviroTech Akva Indonesia entered into an agreement with PT Unilever Oleochemical Indonesia (PTUOI) for the new plant in PTUOI's premises at Sei Mangkei, North Sumatra. Yong Tai Bhd has scrapped the mining agreement to undertake a gold mining project on a 100ha site in Bukit Kenderak in Pahang's Lipis district. The High Court has fixed another case management for the judicial review application by a joint venture (JV) company between Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Malakoff Corp Bhd against the Inland Revenue Board, as the parties engage in out-of-court settlement negotiations. The next case management will be held on May 23 for the parties to update the court on the outcome of the negotiations. SFP Tech Holdings Bhd has proposed to undertake a bonus issue of up to 1.6 billion shares on the basis of two bonus shares for every one existing share held, on an entitlement date to be determined later. As at April 12, the issued share capital of SFP Tech is RM119.49 million, comprising 800 million shares. Icon Offshore Bhd has proposed to replace its existing employee share scheme (ESS) with a new long-term incentive plan for its employees and executive director Datuk Seri Hadian Hashim, which will be in force for 10 years. As such, it is seeking to end the existing ESS ahead of its expiration period at end-2024. The scheme commenced in January 2015 for five years up to Dec 31, 2019 and was extended for another five years up to December 2024. PLS Plantations Bhd has aborted its plan to invest RM50 million into a 51:49 JV with Landasan Erajaya Sdn Bhd to undertake cash crop plantation activities in Pahang. PLS and Landasan Erajaya have mutually agreed to not further extend their binding term sheet for the collaboration. Shareholders of Uchi Technologies Bhd will get a windfall in the form of a second interim dividend of 13 sen per share and special interim dividend of five sen per share for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022, payable on May 31. Infomina Bhd posted net profit of RM22.72 million or 3.78 sen per share for its third quarter ended Feb 28, 2023, on revenue of RM109.73 million. Revenue driven by technology infrastructure operations which benefited from an increased number of customers, and new contracts. Metro Healthcare Bhd, which is listed on the LEAP Market of Bursa Malaysia, said it has received a letter from its founder, executive chairman and major shareholder Dr Tee Swi Peng @ Tay Swi Peng requesting the board of directors to consider a transfer to the ACE Market. Metro’s board will deliberate on the proposal. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/678490 | Negeri Sembilan menteri besar to be sworn in on Monday | English | SEREMBAN (Aug 13): The swearing-in ceremony of the Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar will be held on Monday (Aug 14) at 3pm at Istana Sri Menanti, Kuala Pilah, said state Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun. Aminuddin, who is the caretaker menteri besar, however, declined to divulge who will be appointed as menteri besar. "Tomorrow we will know who the menteri besar is," he told reporters at the menteri besar's official residence here on Sunday (Aug 13). Aminuddin said he was granted an audience by Negeri Sembilan Yang Dipertuan Besar, Tuanku Muhriz Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir at Istana Hinggap here this morning to inform His Royal Highness of the state election results yesterday (Aug 12). The results saw the unity government made up of Pakatan Harapan (PH) and BN succeed in forming the state government after winning 31 seats in the 36-seat state assembly. PH won 17, BN 14 while PN secured five seats. In the meantime, he said the state PH still unanimously proposed him to be the menteri besar. "(Negeri Sembilan) Pakatan Harapan (PH) is still unanimous for me to be menteri besar, I think that will not change," he said, adding that the final decision would be determined by the coalition's (PH) central leadership. Visit this link for everything about the State Polls 2023 |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/645743 | Infomina makes strong ACE Market debut with 34% jump in share price | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 25): Infomina Bhd, which listed on ACE Market on Friday (Nov 25), jumped as much as 60% to an intraday high of 64 sen in early trade, despite the profit-taking sentiment in the broader market. At market close, the stock pared gains to settle 13.5 sen or 34% higher at 53.5 sen per share, with 172.63 million shares changing hands, being the third most actively traded counter among all Bursa Malaysia-listed securities on Friday. At its closing price, Infomina has a market capitalisation of RM321.67 million. In comparison, the FBM KLCI fell by 1% or 15.34 points to 1,486.54 on Friday, with 629 stocks on Bursa Malaysia closing lower versus 347 gainers while 362 counters remained unchanged. Infomina specialises in the design and implementation of technology application and infrastructure solutions that support the fundamental business operations of large private and public enterprises. The group further supports its clients through customised operations, maintenance and support services. The group's listing raised approximately RM32.47 million via a public issue of 81.17 million new ordinary shares at an issue price of 40 sen per share. Of the proceeds raised via this initial public offering, 43% will be used for working capital, 23.4% for strengthening the group's research and development capabilities, 17% for regional expansion, 2.7% for branding and marketing, and the remainder for listing expenses. "We are optimistic that there is more room for growth as we execute our order book of more than RM440 million," said managing director Yee Chee Meng in a statement on Friday. "Additionally, we are hopeful that our tender book of RM375 million will translate into new contracts and positive news flow in the coming months ahead," he added. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/667582 | MyOnline Passport system can improve, optimise passport issuance, says immigration director | English | SHAH ALAM (May 18): Full online renewal of Malaysian international passports at two immigration offices in Selangor from June is expected to further improve and optimise passport issuance. Selangor Immigration director Dr Muhammad Syahmi Jaafar said the two offices, which will be among the first to implement the initiative through the MyOnline Passport system, issued the highest number of passports in Kelana Jaya at 450 per day and in Kajang at 350 per day. This initiative can help improve and optimise the issuance of passports and enable more people to visit our offices to access the services. “Technical preparations and manpower resources have been mobilised for this new initiative developed by the Home Ministry,” he told reporters during an engagement session between the Selangor Immigration Department and its strategic partners, here, on Thursday (May 18). The media previously reported that Malaysian international passport renewals at three immigration offices — Kajang, Kelana Jaya and Wangsa Maju — will go fully online from June 1. Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that with the implementation of the fully online application, applicants aged 13 to 59 can no longer make applications at counter services or via walk-ins at these three offices. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/640487 | 前执行主席黄俊豪起诉可人儿控股及新董事部诽谤 | English | （吉隆坡18日讯）霹雳内衣及成衣制造商可人儿控股（Caely Holdings Bhd）前执行主席拿督威拉黄俊豪在高庭起诉可人儿控股及新董事部诽谤，指控他涉嫌挪用3055万令吉资金。 黄俊豪曾在2021年2月至2022年5月期间，担任可人儿控股执行主席。 黄俊豪今日发布文告表示，可人儿控股在10月6日发布的新闻稿中，对前主席提出了几项虚假和毫无根据的指控，这些指控具有诽谤性。 他指出，这些诽谤性言论是恶意的，目的是将公众和当局的注意力从真正的不法者身上转移到黄俊豪身上。这也严重损害了黄俊豪的声誉。 “因此，黄俊豪正在寻求对可人儿控股及其董事部进行诽谤损害赔偿，包括加重和惩戒性损害赔偿。黄俊豪还将申请禁令，以重新培训可人儿控股及其董事部，使其不再发表诽谤性言论。” 黄俊豪在10月7日否认指控，指他在任职期间挪用独资子公司可人儿（马）私人有限公司（Caely (M) Sdn Bhd）的3055万令吉资金。 截稿时，可人儿控股企于28仙，市值为7360万令吉。从年初至今，该股下滑了20%。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：Former exec chairman Ng sues Caely, new board of directors for defamation over RM31 mil embezzlement of funds |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/654430 | 12月批发零售贸易额创新高 达1373亿令吉 | English | （吉隆坡8日讯）我国2022年12月的批发与零售贸易额按年增长13.8%，至创纪录的1373亿令吉。 根据统计局发布的文告，这是由于零售贸易次领域上涨22.7%或110亿令吉，至595亿令吉，而批发贸易次领域扬4.7%或27亿令吉，报603亿令吉。 汽车销售也增加20.3%或30亿令吉，至175亿令吉。 统计局局长Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin指出，按月比较，批发与零售贸易额增2.3%或30亿令吉，主要受到汽车销售增长9.3%所推动。 批发贸易额则按月升1.4%，主要归因于其他专业批发指数增1.7%。 第四季零售与批发贸易额达4052亿令吉，而全年为1.6兆令吉。 末季批发与零售贸易额增长14.3%，得益于零售贸易次领域扩张23.8%或339亿令吉，至1765万令吉。零售贸易额增5.9%或100万令吉，挂1797亿令吉，而汽车次领域增长16.3%或69亿令吉，至490亿令吉。 按季比较，则小幅上涨1.8%。 全年批发与零售贸易额达1.6兆令吉，按年升幅为19.6%，受益于零售贸易额扬23.9%或1275亿令吉，报6611亿令吉。批发贸易额攀10.7%至7103亿令吉，而汽车次领域劲扬47.6%至1832亿令吉。 Uzir表示：“与疫情前相比，2022年批发与零售贸易额较2019年高出2281亿令吉。” （编译：陈慧珊） English version：DOSM: Wholesale, retail trade hits all-time high of RM137.3 bil in Dec 2022 |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/612810 | Mubadala Petroleum commences first gas from Pegaga field | English | KUALA LUMPUR (March 21): Mubadala Petroleum announced on Monday (March 21) that it has successfully commenced first gas production from the Pegaga gas field in Block SK 320, offshore Malaysia.
As a key strategic development for the local energy sector, it said Pegaga will be a key producing field supplying gas to Petronas LNG Complex, in Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Mubadala Petroleum chief executive officer Mansoor Mohamed Al Hamed said in a statement that the Pegaga achievement is a landmark for the Abu Dhabi headquartered international energy company.
“Having taken this project from discovery to development and now into production with the support of Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), Petronas, our partners and contractors, this demonstrates our deep capabilities, resilience and commitment as an energy provider.
“With our strategic focus on gas as a key bridge fuel in the energy transition, this achievement reflects our ambition for the future as a long-term investor and strategic energy partner,” he said.
Petronas senior vice president of MPM Mohamed Firouz Asnan said the project, which undertook its final investment decision at the time when the oil market was still finding its footing in 2018, demonstrates the confidence investors have in Malaysia’s upstream industry.
“The facilities were fully designed and fabricated in the country — implemented during the toughest period caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, underscores the resiliency of the country’s ecosystem,” he added.
Mubadala Petroleum has been present in Malaysia since 2010 and is the operator of Block SK 320 with a 55% interest.
Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Petronas, holds 25%, with Sarawak Shell Berhad holding the remaining 20% interest.
The Pegaga gas field is located in the Central Luconia province, offshore Sarawak, Malaysia at about 108-meter water depth. The development concept comprises an Integrated Central Processing Platform (ICPP) consisting of an 8-legged jacket. The facility is designed for gas throughput of 550 million standard cubic feet of gas per day plus condensate. The produced gas will be evacuated through a new 4 KM, 38-inch subsea pipeline, tying in to an existing offshore gas network and subsequently to the onshore Petronas LNG Complex in Bintulu.
At the height of the pandemic in Malaysia, the jacket and wellhead deck which were constructed in Lumut and Kuching fabrication yards, were installed in April 2020, followed by the Pegaga Development Drilling campaign. The ICPP float-over and installation was then safely completed in August 2021. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/612120 | Russia sentiments among Asia-Pacific companies fell 20% on 1Q22 | English | KUALA LUMPUR (March 16): With several Western peers halting Russian operations, there is a rising uncertainty around Asia-Pacific (APAC) companies’ stand on a Russian exit. In a statement Wednesday (March 16), London-headquartered data analytics and consulting company GlobalData Plc said that as a result, the earnings call transcript sentiments of APAC-based companies were down by 20% in 1Q22 as of March 8 over 4Q21. GlobalData business fundamentals analyst Rinaldo Pereira said 1Q22 sentiments have not however, reached the Covid-19-driven lows of 3Q20. “The APAC companies seem sceptical of exiting Russian operations, even if their sentiments around Russia have been impacted by the Ukraine conflict and reached the medium range,” said Pereira. GlobalData said “sanctions” as a keyword only appeared 14 times in APAC earnings call transcripts so far in 2022. It said in comparison, North American companies mentioned the word nearly 190 times, according to GlobalData’s Filing Analytics database. The firm said Japan Tobacco Inc, Food Empire Holdings Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, IRC Ltd were some of the APAC companies with the most mentions of Russia in all filings during 2016-2022. Pereira said most mentions do not necessarily mean the most exposure but indicate company discussions around the possibility of geopolitical risk on the production and sales, or an indirect impact on their business. “APAC corporates do recognise the gravity of the crisis but are more cautious in their approach around discussions while several Western counterparts directly comment on suspending or halting operations,” he said. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/635407 | Can Najib seek judicial review of his conviction, sentence after submitting pardon petition? | English | Media statement by DAP Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Tuesday (Sept 6): Can former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak seek a judicial review of his Federal Court appeal in the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption case after submitting a pardon petition [for his conviction in the SRC case]? Will Najib’s earlier pardon petition affect his subsequent action to seek a judicial review from a new apex court bench on the Federal Court’s rejection of his appeal and/or will the submission of a judicial review affect his earlier pardon petition? With Najib’s two actions, these legal conundrums will have to be resolved by the relevant authorities. Lim Kit Siang |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/651938 | Ex-Selangor police chief Arjunaidi appointed as Saudee Group chairman | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 16): Saudee Group Bhd has appointed former Selangor police chief Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed as its independent and non-executive chairman.
The appointment is effective from Monday, the frozen food processor said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
Arjunaidi, 60, had served the police force for 35 years, before retiring as Selangor police chief on Dec 31 last year.
Saudee's share price closed flat at 4.5 sen on Monday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM46.19 million. The stock has declined 36% over the past year. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/665518 | Astino buys Klang land for RM60.16m to expand operations | English | KUALA LUMPUR (May 3): A wholly-owned company of flat steel products manufacturer Astino Bhd is buying a 884,703 sq ft piece of land in Selangor for RM60.16 million to undertake its expansion programme. In a filing on Wednesday (May 3), the group said Astino (Malaysia) Colour Steel Sheets Sdn Bhd had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Bukit Saujana Jaya Sdn Bhd to acquire a freehold land known as Lot 12 held under HS (D) 165115, PT No 84452, Mukim Kapar, Klang. According to Astino, the land is currently charged to CIMB Bank Bhd as security for a loan granted to Bukit Saujana. “This sale, purchase and transfer of the land is conditional upon the approval of the vendor’s application for subdivision/surrender and re-alienation of the land by Selangor state authorities,” it said. Astino said it expects to pay 15% of the purchase price with its internally generated funds and the remaining 85% through bank borrowings, adding that the acquisition will not have any effects on its issued and paid-up share capital and substantial shareholders’ shareholdings. "The acquisition is not expected to result in any material gain or loss on the company’s earnings," it said. Meanwhile, the purchase is expected to raise its net borrowings to RM85.57 million from RM34.57 million as at July 31, 2022, while its net gearing ratio will rise to 0.17 times from 0.07 times. “Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the acquisition is expected to complete by Nov 1, 2024,” it noted. Astino shares closed unchanged at 51 sen apiece on Wednesday, valuing the company at RM251.64 million. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/623674 | Tenaga’s rising receivables raise eyebrows | English | This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 13, 2022 - June 19, 2022 WHILE the country’s power generation fuel costs are typically passed down to end-consumers under existing mechanisms, it does not mean Tenaga Nasional Bhd is entirely shielded from the sharp rise in its coal and gas prices, which have more than doubled since the start of 2021. The impact is now being seen in the books of the utility firm, as receivables more than doubled to a record high of RM14.07 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY2022), from RM6.29 billion a year ago. An estimated RM8.8 billion, or more than 60%, comprises additional fuel costs not accounted for under current electricity base tariffs, and imbalance cost pass-through mechanism (ICPT) surcharge for February to June 2022. Tenaga, in its reply to questions from The Edge, says: “Due to the continued increase in the fuel price during 1QFY2022, the amounts due from the government [under the ICPT mechanism] increased correspondingly. “The increase in the ICPT receivable [in 1Q2022] despite the ICPT surcharge adjustment was due to a continuous rise in the fuel price and the timing between the upfront payment for generation costs made by TNB and recovery of that generation costs via the surcharge under the ICPT framework,” it says. “The recovery of higher generation costs via the ICPT mechanism will be done either from the collection of surcharges through customers’ electricity bills or claims from the government, e.g. Kumpulan Wang Industri Elektrik (KWIE).” In a nutshell, ICPT acts as a buffer against fuel price swings to avoid shocking the market with a sudden jump in electricity tariff. Conversely, any discount in fuel prices will result in future electricity bill rebates. Recall that Tenaga’s receivables rose to over RM10 billion in 2018 on higher fuel prices, followed swiftly by a higher ICPT surcharge, which was wound down in 2020 when fuel prices reversed course during the pandemic. However, since the ICPT mechanism was introduced in 2014, this is the first time fuel prices across the board have headed in one direction — north — for a prolonged period, and tariffs need to play catch-up to cover the costs being borne by Tenaga in the interim. Since the start of 2021, prices of coal, which typically makes up half of Malaysia’s generation mix, have risen by an average of 76% every six months in the open market. Comparatively, an ICPT surcharge of 3.7 sen/kWh has been imposed on non-domestic users in February to June 2022 on the base tariff of 39.45 sen/kWh compared to a rebate of two sen/kWh for the whole of 2021. That said, Tenaga still booked RM3.5 billion in ICPT under-recovery in 1Q2022, up from RM3.21 billion in 4Q2021. Reports show that Tenaga’s gas price rose to RM30/mmbtu in 1Q2022 from RM26.81/mmbtu in 4Q2021, while the coal reference price stood at RM696/MT, from RM723.70/MT. Amid rising receivables, Tenaga’s cash and bank balances have fallen to their lowest level since 2018 at RM4.67 billion in 1QFY2022, down from RM6.71 billion in 4QFY2021. Net operating cash flow shrunk to RM1.1 billion in each of the latest two quarters, also the weakest since 1Q2018. Meanwhile, the group’s short-term borrowings have more than doubled to RM8.79 billion, from RM3.48 billion at end-2019 prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, although long-term borrowings remained stable at over RM40 billion. To be sure, Tenaga secured supply for 77% of coal consumption for 2022 back in 4Q2021. In May, it signed agreements with Indonesia’s coal exporters, involving imports across three years for US$3 billion, up from US$2.3 billion a year ago. Indonesia supplies around 65% of Tenaga’s coal requirements. It also secured supply for 77% of coal consumption for 2022 back in 4Q2021. In May, it signed agreements with Indonesia’s coal exporters, involving imports worth US$3 billion, for three years. Indonesia supplies around 65% of Tenaga’s coal requirements. In the face of rising energy costs, the government is reportedly looking at improving targeted electricity subsidy mechanisms as well, apart from the widely reported petrol subsidy. In a note, Maybank IB Research analyst Tan Chi Wei calculates the ICPT surcharge would rise to 14 sen kWh in 2H2022 to reflect the 1H2022 fuel costs, if domestic users are excluded. “We believe that the government will likely uphold Tenaga’s pass-through mechanism for 2H2022, possibly through the form of direct compensation,” Tan says in a June 7 note. HLIB Research analyst Daniel Wong, in a June 2 note, opines that the government “may decide for a staggered ICPT recovery over a longer period instead of all at once”, resulting in higher working capital requirement and tighter cash flow in the short term for Tenaga. “Management believes the government would be bolder for a meaningful tariff hike only post GE15,” Wong says. It is worth noting that another 40% of Tenaga’s receivables are made up of payments due from its industrial, commercial and domestic customers, which have also been on the rise. These trade receivables rose 25% year on year to RM6.82 billion at end-2021, while impairments increased to RM2.85 billion or about 42% of the trade receivables. Tenaga responds: “The electricity trade receivables have increased due to lower and slower collection as our customers were adversely impacted by Covid-19. “Consequently, the impairment also increased when we incorporated the impact of Covid-19 into our impairment methodology. This should improve as the economy improves going forward.” As the ICPT revision date of end-June looms, Tenaga’s share price hovers at a seven-year low of RM8.66, having declined by 7.28% this year. Nine analysts covering Tenaga have “buy” calls on the counter, against four “hold” and four “sell” calls. Target prices range between RM7.20 and 13.60, with an average of RM10.76. “Risk-reward would be perceived as being more favourable if Tenaga is successful with this upcoming round of surcharge,” Maybank IB’s Tan says.
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https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/631051 | Takaful Malaysia's 2Q net profit falls 15% to RM70 mil | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 4): Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd’s net profit in the second quarter fell 14.62% to RM69.62 million, from RM81.54 million a year earlier, on the back of higher gross benefits and claims. Earnings per share for the quarter ended June 30, 2022 dropped to 8.32 sen from 9.76 sen, the group said in a Bursa Malaysia filing. Quarterly revenue was up 18.64% to RM831.93 million from RM701.21 million, mainly attributable to higher sales generated from the family takaful and general takaful businesses. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit came in lower by 19% from RM86.58 million in the immediate preceding quarter, while revenue declined 17% from RM997.39 million. For the full six-month period, the group’s net profit dropped 14.39% to RM156.39 million from RM182.69 million registered in the same period last year. Six-month revenue rose 13.15% to RM1.83 billion from RM1.62 billion Takaful Malaysia said that despite the challenging operating environment, it will remain vigilant and prudent in managing operating costs, business growth and the risk profile of its business portfolio. “Our solid financial fundamentals and strong operational resilience have enabled us to continue with good business performance during the pandemic. “Thus, Takaful Malaysia will continue to leverage its market-leading position in single contribution products whilst focusing on retail regular contribution products to further diversify its business portfolio. “Our strategic direction is to strengthen our presence in the retail market providing Malaysians with greater access to more affordable regular contribution protection products,” it said. Shares in Takaful Malaysia finished one sen or 0.3% lower at RM3.36, giving the group a market capitalization of RM2.81 billion. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/668372 | MOT: 40% of initiatives under National Transport Policy 2019-2030 completed | English | KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): A total of 99 initiatives, or 40% of the total 247 initiatives, under the implementation of the National Transport Policy (NTP) 2019-2030 have been completed, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke. He said another 123 initiatives (50%) are still ongoing, while the medium-term initiatives for the year 2023 to 2025 and long-term initiatives for the year 2026 to 2030 (consisting 23 initiatives or 10%) have not yet begun. Loke said this in a parliamentary written reply dated Tuesday (May 23) in response to Tenggara Member of Parliament Manndzri Nasib, who enquired on the progress of the implementation of the NTP 2019-2030. Launched on Oct 18, 2019, the National Transport Policy (NTP) 2019-2030 provides an overarching policy to guide relevant federal ministries and agencies as well as state governments and local authorities to develop and streamline transport initiatives towards a common goal, resulting in effective and efficient use of resources. It aims to take advantage of the rapid advancement in technology as well as embracing the upcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) to promote the modal shift from private vehicles to public transport. For more Parliament stories, click here. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/670872 | Barakah子公司PBJV获国油授予3年执照 | Mandarin | （吉隆坡12日讯）Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd独资子公司PBJV Group私人有限公司获得国家石油（Petronas）授予3年执照。 PBJV在2019年遭国油冻结的执照，于两个月前获得“解冻”。 Barakah说：“PBJV成功向国油申请更新执照。” 闭市时，Barakah企于5.5仙，市值为5057万令吉。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：Barakah unit PBJV secures Petronas licence for three years |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/636932 | 腾宇产托首开价1.14令吉 马股粉墨登场 | English | （吉隆坡20日讯）腾宇产托（AME Real Estate Investment Trust）今日在大马交易所粉墨登场，首开价为1.14令吉，比首次公开募股（IPO）发售价1.13令吉，上涨0.9%或1仙。 首宗交易涉及106万股。 腾宇产托拥有34个工业产业和宿舍，全部产业均已出租，跨国公司占租赁工业产业总净租赁面积逾90%。 腾宇产托的管理公司I REIT Managers私人有限公司主席兼执行董事Simon Lee表示，腾宇产托已确定在未来12个月潜在收购3个工业产业，有望在2023年第三季将投资产业增至37个。 他出席上市仪式后说：“作为一家工业产托，我们处于有利地位，可以从进入大马的外国与本地投资中受益，因为他们在国内建立和/或扩大营运基地。我们有信心在未来实现稳定增长。” IPO涉及发售2亿5480万个单位，占总单位（5亿2000万个）的49%。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：AME REIT make modest debut on Bursa at RM1.14 |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/606057 | 虎年首日交易 马股收涨 | English | （吉隆坡3日讯）银行、种植及油气等股掀购兴，激励马股虎虎生风，在虎年首个交易日收高。 闭市时，富时隆综指上涨0.89%或13.46点，以1525.73点挂收。 综指今早开市报1515.92点，较周一收盘的1512.27点，上升3.65点。日内于1515.25点和1526.62点之间波动。 市场广度正面，上升股达563只、下跌股269只，另有358只无起落、1016只无交易，以及11只暂停交易。 成交量20亿5000万股，值16亿2000万令吉，高于周一半天交易日的12亿1000万股和10亿9000万令吉。 乐天交易股票研究副总裁Thong Pak Leng指出，尽管美国股市表现强劲，但主要亚洲股市涨跌不一，因投资者对企业财报保持谨慎，并评估企业如何应对通胀。 他向马新社说：“我们认为，本地股市的走向仍很大程度上取决于区域波动。” “因此，我们预计综指周内将在1520至1530点区间波动，即时阻力位为1530点，而支撑位落在1500点。” 纵观亚股，新加坡海峡时报指数上涨2.04%、日本日经指数跌1.06%，以及香港恒生指数收高1.07%。 重量级股中，马银行（Malayan Banking Bhd）升5仙，报8.32令吉、大众银行（Public Bank Bhd）攀2仙，至4.23令吉、国油化学（Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd）起1仙，挂8.90令吉、IOI集团（IOI Corp Bhd）扬10仙，报3.89令吉，吉隆坡甲洞（Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd）则跌12仙，收于21.48令吉。 至于热门股，G3 Global Bhd和思泰科技（SMTrack Bhd）均扬0.5仙，分别报8.5仙和16.5仙、迪耐（Dagang NeXchange Bhd）增4仙，挂98仙，以及盔甲综合科技（Coraza Technology Bhd）涨5.5仙，以95仙挂收。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Bursa Malaysia ends higher on strong buying interest |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/617835 | Most foreign companies ready to work in Russia — Russian media | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 27): Most companies with foreign capital are ready to continue working in Russia, but want to reduce the risks of doing business, Citing Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), the Russian news agency TASS reported that foreign business associations noted that the majority of foreign companies are interested in continuing to work in Russia, but would like to ensure that risks for their activities are reduced. “I would like to emphasise that Russia is not closed off from foreign capital and the world market and is ready to continue to take an active part in international economic relations,” he said. Katyrin said fears of foreign companies "are caused by work within the framework of decisions on parallel imports." In particular, he said the possibility of making changes, according to which a number of product groups can be imported into the Russian Federation without the consent of the copyright holders. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/662094 | PAS MP: Anwar stopped criticising LCS when Zahid became his deputy PM | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 4): Pendang Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Awang Solahuddin Hashim alleged that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has ceased to criticise the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project and Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi after he became Anwar’s deputy. The Pendang MP said this in his statement of defence in a defamation suit brought against him by Anwar. “For the record, Zahid is the deputy prime minister of the country, appointed by Anwar after Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional had formed government, although the plaintiff (Anwar) had previously called BN thieves,” he said. “Ever since he became Malaysia’s tenth PM, there were no statements made by him against Barisan Nasional, especially Zahid (which is his current deputy),” he said. He noted that no authority has investigated or prosecuted any individual in connection to the LCS issue since Nov 24, 2022. Anwar was sworn in as the tenth prime minister of Malaysia that day. Awang, who is a PAS lawmaker, also alleged that Anwar contradicted a statement he made — that he would not practice politics of revenge and vengeance when he became prime minister — by charging former prime minister and Bersatu chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and former Bersatu information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan in connection with the Jana Wibawa programme. On March 3, Anwar had sued Awang seeking an unconditional apology over the libellous statement he made against the prime minister at the Parliament lobby on Feb 21. Awang Solahuddin allegedly made a statement to reporters outside the Dewan Rakyat about the PM on that day that was then published on TikTok under the account “@asriasri64chanel” the following day, garnering over 20,600 views, 322 comments, 159 likes and 47 shares by the time the letter was issued and could still be accessed. The libellous remarks were also published in a Malaysiakini article titled MP PAS: Sikap pendendam Anwar lebih teruk daripada Mahathir at 2.29pm on Feb 21. “In uttering the impugned slanderous words and/or the impugned libellous words, Awang Solahuddin has patently, wilfully and maliciously and in defiance, challenged the powers of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as enshrined in Article 43(2)(a) of the Federal Constitution to appoint the plaintiff as the prime minister of Malaysia,” it read. Anwar’s lawyer said that the comments were made with malicious intent and in bad faith, and that the comments were burdensome, not of fact, unreasonable, confusing and were meant to disparage Anwar in the eyes of the public. Awang said that Anwar was the worst prime minister in Malaysia, and that his "vindictiveness is very strong and vengeful”. Anwar also vehemently denied interfering in court cases and in the role of the attorney general, who has the discretion to prosecute a case or not. In his statement of defence, Awang said that his comments were fair and backed by facts, citing the defence of fair comment and justification. Anwar is represented by lawyer Sankara Nair while the law firm Amalin & Faizi is acting for Awang. For the suit, Anwar is seeking general damages; compensatory damages; aggravated damages; and exemplary damages. Anwar’s lawyers are also seeking an injunction to restrain Awang Solahuddin from further uttering, writing or publishing, or distributing the impugned libellous words or words to the effect or similar against or in relation to the plaintiff, which are or may be considered defamatory of the plaintiff. Anwar is also seeking costs. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/607567 | Funding Societies raises US$294m to fuel expansion plans in Southeast Asia | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 15): Southeast Asia's largest digital financing platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Funding Societies has raised a total of US$294 million (RM1.23 billion) to fund its expansion plan. In a statement, Funding Societies said it raised US$144 million (RM605 million) in an oversubscribed Series C+ equity round led by Japanese venture capital fund SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with new investors, notably Vietnamese tech giant VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Asia-based global investor EDBI, Indies Capital, K3 Ventures, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures. The company also received US$150 million (RM630 million) in debt lines from institutional lenders across Europe, the US, and Asia, some of which have been drawn down since 2021. This comes on the back of its US$45 million (RM189 million) Series C raised between 2020 and 2021, the fintech company said. “The funds solidify Funding Societies’ position as a market leader in digital financing, and propel its expense management, and business-to-business (B2B) payments services for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Southeast Asia. Its latest fundraise also provides US$16 million (RM67 million) to former and existing employees via the company’s stock option plan, in the form of share buyback,” it said. Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies, Kelvin Teo said the company is honoured by the confidence of its new and existing shareholders. “We started Funding Societies | Modalku to empower SMEs by solving their biggest problem, access to financing, especially unsecured financing. A common misconception is that we compete with banks. The reality is we ‘compete’ with savings, friends and families, and personal credit cards. There is a huge unsecured financing gap because it takes patience and focus, or you risk losing a lot of money. “Having proven our AI-led credit capabilities in an unprecedented financial crisis, we look to serve SMEs even better with neobanking and [a] deeper regional presence in Southeast Asia,” said Teo. Meanwhile, Managing Partner at Softbank Investment Advisers, Greg Moon said SMEs in Southeast Asia have historically had difficulty accessing institutional financing and have instead been forced to rely primarily on personal financing to support their growth. “Funding Societies is establishing a bridge for these companies to access more sustainable and cheaper financing by building unique data sets on their performance and using AI-led technology to assess their creditworthiness more effectively than traditional models. We are delighted to partner with Funding Societies to support their mission to improve societies in Southeast Asia by funding worthy and underserved SMEs,” he said. Funding Societies was founded in 2015 by Kelvin Teo and Reynold Wijaya to empower MSMEs in Southeast Asia. The fintech platform addresses MSMEs’ key pain points for growth, starting with the US$300 billion (RM1.26 trillion) financing gap in the region. “Although small enterprises make up almost 99% of total enterprises in Southeast Asia, they also face many hurdles in obtaining business financing from traditional financial institutions due to a lack of a credit track record or collateral to pledge,” it said. Funding Societies offers financing of up to RM2 million that can be disbursed within 24 hours to provide timely assistance to MSMEs facing challenges in accessing business funds. After seven years, the fintech company is now licensed in four countries in the region — Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand; and operates in Vietnam. To date, it has disbursed over US$2 billion (RM8.7 billion) in business financing to MSMEs through more than 5 million financing deals in Southeast Asia. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/633820 | 7-Eleven次季净利飙升至2600万 | English | （吉隆坡25日讯）7-Eleven控股（7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd）次季净利飙升至2577万令吉，一年前报112万令吉，得益于营业额增长。 截至今年6月杪第二季（2022财年第二季）营业额暴增至9亿4367万令吉，一年前为6亿7667万令吉。 （编译：魏素雯） English version：7-Eleven Malaysia 2Q net profit jumps to RM26 mil from RM1 mil a year earlier |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/602399 | Radiant Globaltech, SMTrack, Spring Art, Tex Cycle | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 4): theedgemarkets.com highlighted four stocks with momentum at Bursa Malaysia’s afternoon close on Tuesday (Jan 4). Two displayed negative momentum, while two indicated positive momentum. The stocks with negative momentum were: Radiant Globaltech Bhd — up two and a half sen at 48.5 sen SMTrack Bhd — up two sen at 25.5 sen The stocks with positive momentum were: Spring Art Holdings Bhd — up two sen at 31.5 sen Tex Cycle Technology (M) Bhd — up two and a half sen at 58.5 sen The list of stocks with momentum is generated using a proprietary mathematical algorithm highlighting stocks with a build-up in trading volume and price. The algorithm differentiates between stocks that exhibit positive (+ve) momentum and negative (-ve) momentum. This list is not a buy or sell recommendation. It merely tells you which stocks are seeing higher-than-normal volume and price movements. The share price may move up or down from this point. But the “+ve” (suggesting a rising price trend on volume) and “-ve” (suggesting a falling price trend on volume) indicators should give readers a better idea of what the market is buying and when to sell. Note also that momentum generally only persists for a short period of time. However, each stock has an accompanying fundamental score and valuation score to help readers evaluate the attractiveness of the stocks if they want to ride the momentum. For more detailed financial information and reports on the above-mentioned stocks, please subscribe to AbsolutelyStocks at www.absolutelystocks.com |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/663416 | 逢低买盘带动 马股微升0.1% | Mandarin | （吉隆坡14日讯）亚洲股市造好，受临尾逢低买盘带动，马股全日微升0.1%。 闭市时，富时隆综指微扬0.91点，收于1435.13点。 综指今早以1434.84点报开，较昨日收盘的1434.22点，攀升0.62点。日内游走于1431.81点和1438.28点。 下跌股居多，有425只、上升股415只，另有393只无起落、1032只无交易，以及19只暂停交易。 成交量32亿2000万股，值17亿5000万令吉。 乐天交易股票研究副总裁唐栢麟指出，隔夜美国股市收高，主要亚股也向上。 他向马新社说：“投资者寄望美国疲软的通胀率可能会促使美国联储局（FED）和欧洲央行推迟或缩减加息计划。” 重量级股中，联昌国际集团（CIMB Group Holdings Bhd）扬3仙，收于5.23令吉、国家能源（Tenaga Nasional Bhd）升6仙，挂9.21令吉，而马银行（Malayan Banking Bhd）、大众银行（Public Bank Bhd）和国油化学（Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd）分别收平于8.71令吉、3.99令吉和7.40令吉。 至于热门股，银丰集团（Revenue Group Bhd）涨8.5仙，至40.5仙、丰成综合（Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd）增0.5仙，报13.5仙，而CSH Alliance Bhd和TWL控股（TWL Holdings Bhd）分别平盘挂于4.5仙和5仙、MyEG服务（My E.G. Services Bhd）则跌2仙，报85.5仙。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：KLCI closes marginally higher on late bargain hunting |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/630825 | MARGMA expects global glove demand to resume growth next year, after 19% drop | English | PETALING JAYA (Aug 3): The global demand for rubber gloves is expected to return to growth in 2023, after a 19% contraction to an estimated 399 billion pieces this year, from 492 billion in 2021 when the world was at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (MARGMA) expects glove demand to expand in the range of 12%-15% next year. Meanwhile, the association has cut its demand forecast for this year by 12% to 399 billion pieces, from 452 billion pieces previously, as the demand normalises against the backdrop that the Covid-19 pandemic is under control. MARGMA’s President Dr Supramaniam Shanmugam, however, stressed that the association’s forecast “is a very conservative estimate”, given the various growth drivers, for instance rising hygiene awareness, ageing population and recovery in non-Covid-19 related demand. He explained that MARGMA’s initial forecast on global glove demand had taken into consideration the potential risk from the outbreak of the Omicron variant. “Now we find most of these [risks] have come under control. That’s why we need to reassess the numbers,” said Supramaniam. He was speaking at the press conference on Wednesday (Aug 3) in conjunction with the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony for the upcoming 10th International Rubber Glove Conference & Exhibition (IRGCE). MARGMA and the Malaysian Rubber Council, which will jointly host the IRGCE, had signed the MOU with 18 key sponsors of the IRGCE on Wednesday. Supramaniam said Malaysia, which produces an estimated 240 billion pieces of gloves in 2022, is expected to command a 65% share of the global rubber glove market, followed by China (20%), Thailand (10%) and Indonesia (3%). In line with the decline in global demand this year, MARGMA projects that the export value of rubber gloves from Malaysia would drop by 58% to RM23.10 billion this year, from RM54.81 billion last year and RM35.26 billion in 2020.
Nonetheless, MARGMA foresees that the export value for rubber gloves from Malaysia would grow 10% annually from 2023 onwards. “Glove manufacturing will still be a profitable business, bearing [in] mind, in normal conditions, its (annual global demand) growth is about 15%,” said Supramaniam. Nonetheless, Supramainam expects the outlook of the Malaysian glove industry to be tough in the next six- to nine months, in terms of production capacity utilisation and glove average selling prices. “Supply pipeline has sufficient gloves. Upon (supply-demand) equilibrium, players will expand only to the tune of demand growth,” he said. Supramaniam also updated that MARGMA members have so far automated about 85% of their glove production operations, and that it will take them another three- to four years to automate 95% of their operations. “The last mile is very important and we are investing continuously to achieve that. One of the examples we like to use is 10 years ago, we needed 9.7 workers to produce one million pieces of gloves. Today, to produce the same [number] of gloves, we need 1.7 workers. So, we will continue to automate,” he said. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/639270 | Jentayu Sustainables获500万合约 | English | （吉隆坡7日讯）Jentayu Sustainables Bhd已与Outspan Malaysia私人有限公司签署一项价值500万令吉的太阳能购电协议。 Jentayu今日发布文告指出，Outspan在丹绒柏勒巴斯港（Port of Tanjung Pelepas）自由区的设施营运着一家乳制品加工厂，生产充脂奶粉和乳制品原料。 Outspan是新加坡翱兰国际（Olam International Ltd）的子公司。 Jentayu表示，该协议为期20年，将按照事先商定的固定电价，允许Outspan以低于电网的电价购买电力，使其在合约期内节省约10%。 该公司指出，Outspan所需的投资或资本开销为零，因所有相关的屋顶太阳能光伏（PV）系统和安装成本将由Jentayu承担。 Jentayu执行主席Datuk Beroz Nikmal Mirdin说，与Outspan的协议是业务扩张计划的一部分。 “该协议还旨在确定更多区域协同机会和可能性，如可再生能源证书和碳信用收购、碳相关审计和咨询。” 截至9时53分，该股起0.94%或0.5仙，报53.5仙，成交量有136万股。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：Jentayu Sustainables gets contract worth RM5m from Olam subsidiary |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/669036 | China rejects US claim that it’s ‘de-risking’, not ‘decoupling’ | English | (May 29): President Joe Biden and his European allies have repeatedly stressed their desire to “de-risk,” not “decouple,” from the Chinese economy in recent months as a way to explain a slew of new restrictions on trade with Beijing. The problem is, for China there’s no difference. Chinese state media, officials and academics have all publicly rejected the distinction in recent weeks, in a seemingly concerted effort to undermine the rhetorical shift. The official Xinhua News Agency said in a Friday (May 26) commentary that “de-risking is just decoupling in disguise.” “A change in words does not mean a difference in action. In essence, de-risking is hardly different from decoupling,” the agency said, adding that the US has been “stepping up its siege of China.” Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang voiced similar criticisms at a press briefing in Germany this month, saying that “if the EU seeks to decouple from China in the name of de-risking, it will decouple from opportunities, cooperation, stability and development.” Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the European Union, pressed leaders to define what de-risking entails in an interview with the New Statesman. “If de-risking means ridding China of global industrial and supply chains, especially in key areas, and when it involves key technology, we are firmly opposed to that,” he said, according to a transcript published on the embassy’s website. The shift in US language reflects the Biden administration’s attempt to strike a more moderate tone for Western allies worried about completely cutting business ties with Beijing. Washington’s attempts to deprive China of cutting-edge chips over national security concerns have sparked concerns of a new technology cold war. “Pushing for de-coupling brings the US a lot of international pressure due to its huge economic impact,” said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, adding that the term “de-risking” gives the US more “space to maneuver.” “There’s no substantial difference between the two terms,” he added. “I don’t see the change in rhetoric brings any adjustments in policies.” The de-risking narrative began to take hold in March when European Union President Ursula Von Der Leyen gave a speech that, in part, outlined why she planned to travel to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping. “I believe it is neither viable, nor in Europe’s interest, to decouple from China,” she said. “We need to focus on de-risk, not decouple.” That approach was widely seen as an attempt to cool US tensions with China, after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down after crossing US airspace a month earlier. That prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a visit to Beijing and further souring diplomatic ties. The Biden administration echoed her language soon after, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying in April that “we do not seek to decouple our economy from China’s.” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan argued the next week: “We are for de-risking and diversifying, not decoupling.” That rhetorical shift allowed some of the world’s wealthiest democracies to speak in a common voice on countering Chinese economic risks at a Group of Seven summit in Japan this month. The leaders pledged in a final statement to achieve economic security by “diversifying and deepening partnerships and de-risking not de-coupling.” Two researchers at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a think tank affiliated with China’s top intelligence body, wrote this month that the “de-risking” narrative reflected that Western democracies had realised they couldn’t operate without the world’s second-largest economy. They also argued that the term demonstrated “some goodwill” from the US and its allies, as it showed they wanted to keep dialog open with China. Biden said at the close of the G7 that US-China ties could “thaw very shortly,” suggesting a long-awaited call with Xi could be imminent. Still, the researchers cautioned that the new language didn’t mean there would be any fundamental change in their strategy, such as the US rolling back trade sanctions on Chinese entities. The push to de-risk supply chains could result in the opposite effect: countries depending on a single location for some products, according to Deborah Elms, the Singapore-based executive director of the Asian Trade Centre, who pointed to the recent shortages of baby formula in the US as an example of this. “This is a classic case of you put all your eggs in the one basket and assume that your domestic production is somehow less vulnerable to disruption, but that’s actually not true,” she said. The US and other Western nations have been increasingly looking to onshore supply chains of various goods since the pandemic. The Inflation Reduction Act, for example, which offers subsidies and tax breaks for companies that produce in the US, has been criticised by Europe and South Korea for putting their companies at a disadvantage. Japan is also spending billions of dollars to try and rebuild its domestic semiconductor industry. Tokyo has also introduced export restrictions on some chip-making technology to China. “What they are trying to realize is the partial decoupling,” said Zhou Xiaoming, a former deputy representative to China’s United Nations mission in Geneva, of the US and its allies’ de-risking strategy. “This means decoupling in areas of their choice that they believe are important for their national security, as well as important for the effort to contain the rise of China,” he added. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/625347 | 亚航长程委Urusharta Jamaah投资总监Farouk Kamal为独立董事 | English | （吉隆坡23日讯）亚航长程（AirAsia X Bhd）宣布，委任Urusharta Jamaah私人有限公司（UJSB）投资总监Farouk Kamal为独立非执行董事，立即生效。 该集团发布文告指出，Farouk Kamal的任命反映了亚航长程进入了一个新时代，因为该航空公司开始了一个新的战略方向，以实现可持续和可行的未来。 “Farouk来得正是时候，因为亚航长程本周的销售额创历史新高。我们期待他作为一名经验丰富的董事部成员能为集团做出更多贡献。” 亚航长程联合创办人兼非独立执行董事丹斯里东尼费南德斯表示：“亚航长程是我们整体集团扩张战略的重要部分，它完善了投资组合公司的广泛生态系统和总体转型目标，成为全球领先的旅游和生活方式首选平台。” 根据文告，Farouk在投资银行、企业融资、股票研究和股票交易方面拥有超过15年的经验。他的职业生涯始于瑞士信贷，曾是马来西亚股票交易和研究团队的一员。 他在2008年加入摩根大通投行团队，并在2013年加入德意志银行投行团队。 闭市时，亚航长程下滑0.5仙或0.97%，收于51仙，市值为2亿1156万令吉。 （编译：陈慧珊） English version：AirAsia X appoints Urusharta Jamaah CIO Farouk Kamal as new independent director |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/634517 | MRCB returns to the black in 2Q with RM14.1 mil net profit as operations normalise | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 30): Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) swung back to the black in the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 (2QFY22) with a net profit of RM14.1 million compared with a net loss of RM32.42 million a year earlier, hoisted by the normalisation of its operations, which resulted in increased revenue and profit recognition from construction progress. The group's revenue for the quarter leapt more than three-fold to RM700.39 million from RM225.75 million, according to its Bursa Malaysia filing on Tuesday (Aug 30). MRCB added that the strong set of earnings was further boosted by the construction progress of the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) project, despite shortages in labour and key building materials. "Operating profits were mainly derived from the LRT3 project, which reached physical construction progress of 74% and financial progress of 67% at the end of June 2022. "Additional contributions also came from the sale of completed unsold inventories and ongoing property development projects, namely Sentral Suites in KL Sentral, the 9 Seputeh mixed residential developments in Jalan Klang Lama and Alstonia in Bukit Rahman Putra," it said. MRCB noted that its 27.94%-owned Sentral REIT and associated company Sentral REIT Management Sdn Bhd contributed a combined lower profit after tax of RM8 million from RM9.4 million last year. For the cumulative first half ended June 30, 2022 (1HFY22), MRCB posted a net profit of RM28.14 million compared with a net loss of RM27.21 million, while revenue more than tripled to RM1.51 billion from RM452.46 million. The bulk of the group's revenue came from the engineering, construction and environment division which chalked up RM1.15 billion in revenue compared with RM156.4 million last year, mainly due to the improved operating conditions. The division's operating profit came in at RM55.7 million in 1HFY22 versus a net loss of RM32.98 million last year, largely due to the LRT3 project. Meanwhile, its property development and investment division's operating profit jumped over two-fold to RM43.18 million from RM16.46 million, largely due to ongoing property development projects achieving higher construction progress. "As at June 30, 2022, two of the group's largest property development projects, [Sentral Suites reached construction progress of 75% while TRIA 9 Seputeh reached construction progress of 80%,] and will continue to contribute revenue and profit as sales improve and construction progresses," it said, noting that the division recorded RM331.9 million in revenue compared with RM274.92 million. Going forward, MRCB said its engineering, construction and environment division's long-term order book will ensure the group has a steady pipeline of contracts to sustain its business over the long term. "As at June 30, 2022, the external client order book stood at RM27.2 billion, while the unbilled portion was RM18.4 billion," it said, noting that the division's open tenders stood at RM35 million. In terms of its property development and investment division, the group said its immediate priority in FY22 is enhancing cash flow by monetising its inventory of unsold completed stock — which stood at RM349 million. "In the meantime, the group will continue to closely monitor conditions in the broader economy and property market, revising its strategies and financial targets accordingly, including reviewing its future launches if conditions dictate," it said. Shares in MRCB finished up half a sen or 1.45% at 35 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.54 billion. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/663315 | Infomina says revenue boosted by hike in rates for customers, overage fee | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 13): Infomina Bhd announced a net profit of RM22.72 million or 3.78 sen per share for its third quarter ended Feb 28, 2023, on revenue of RM109.73 million. As the company was only listed on the ACE Market of Bursa Securities on Nov 25 last year, there are no comparative figures for the preceding corresponding quarter, said the technology solutions provider in a bourse filing. It said 80% or RM87.8 million of its quarterly revenue was contributed by the technology infrastructure operations, maintenance, and support services segment, which benefited from an increase in rates for customers, overage fee charged to customers due to higher-than-expected utilisation, and new contracts which were effective in this quarter. For the first nine months of FY2023, Infomina posted a net profit of RM32.51 million or 5.93 sen per share, on revenue of RM193.72 million. “The significant growth in our revenue and earnings was driven by an increasingly strong performance from our technology infrastructure operations, maintenance, and support services segment from our contracts in the Philippines and Thailand,” said Informina managing director Yee Chee Meng in a statement. He added: “Looking ahead, our performance will be driven by an outstanding orderbook of about RM500.2 million comprising a well-diversified portfolio of over 60 active clients across multiple industries and geographical locations including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan." Infomina's share price closed five sen or 3.01% lower at RM1.61 on Thursday (April 13), valuing the company at RM968.01 million. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/652550 | Headline inflation eased to six-month low of 3.8% in December | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 20): Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, eased to a six-month low of 3.8% in December 2022 as compared to 4.0% in November, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said on Friday (Jan 20). This brought the full-year inflation rate to an average of 3.3% compared to 2.5% in 2021. Malaysia's chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the December inflation was pulled down by slower food, transport, recreation services and culture, and personal care price inflation. “The slower increase in the food and non-alcoholic beverages group of 6.8% versus the previous month of 7.3% has contributed to the lower increase in national inflation. “This was followed by transport (4.9%) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (3.7%) which also recorded a slower increase as compared to November 2022,” he said in a statement on Friday. He added the slowdown in those groups helped to offset the persistent rise in restaurants and hotels price inflation and an uptick in housing, utilities and other fuels price inflation. “Restaurants and hotels continued to show an increase of 7.4% as against November 2022 (7.0%),” said Mohd Uzir. “Malaysia’s inflation was also driven by the increase in recreation services and culture (2.4%), miscellaneous goods and services (2.3%) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (1.5%),” he added. Similarly, education also registered an increase of 1.4%, and health recorded a 1.3% rise. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco posted a marginal increase of 0.7% while clothing and footwear inched up 0.4%. Inflation for the year 2022 at 3.3% versus 2021's 2.5% was mainly attributed by food and non-alcoholic beverages (5.8%), restaurants and hotels (5.0%) and transport (4.7%). “The conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the global food price increases in 2022 attributed to the increase in the inflation for this year,” Mohd Uzir added. Inflation for the fourth quarter of 2022 accelerated 3.9% to 128.9 against 124.1 in the same quarter of the preceding year. On a quarterly basis, inflation increased 0.6% as compared to the third quarter of 2022. Monthly headline inflation in December 2022 increased moderately to 0.2% as compared to 0.3% in November 2022 which was mainly contributed by the restaurants and hotels (0.7%) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.5%). Core inflation, which measures changes in the prices of all goods and services without taking into account the volatile prices of fresh food as well as administered prices of goods by the government, registered an increase of 4.1% in December 2022, compared to a year ago. UOB Bank’s senior economist Julia Goh noted that this is the first time in 15 months core inflation decelerated, tentatively suggesting that it has peaked at 4.2% in November. The highest increase was recorded by the food and non-alcoholic beverages group at 8.1%. In addition, the restaurants and hotels group recorded an increase of 7.4%, followed by transport (7.3%), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (3.7%), and recreation services and culture (2.4%), according to the DOSM. “Nevertheless, December’s core inflation continued to stay above the headline inflation for the third month in a row and surpassed its 2016-2021 long-term average level of 1.4% for the 12th straight month,” said Goh in a note on Friday. For the full year of 2022, core inflation averaged 3.0% against 0.7% in 2021, hitting the upper bound of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s forecast range of 2.0% to 3.0%. Meanwhile, services inflation remained high at 4.4% in December, the highest level since October 2008, Goh added. It also exceeded its 2016-2021 long-term average of 1.9% for the eighth consecutive month. “All these continue to presage strong demand price pressures,” she says. Goh said that although BNM unexpectedly took a prudent pause on its interest rate hike on Thursday (Jan 19), the central bank guided that its is not done with the interest rate hikes yet and future rate move remains data dependent. “In our view, recent global developments and country-specific factors suggest rising challenges for Bank Negara to hike further in the near term. Hence, we have dialled down our expectation to just one more 25bps hike to bring the overnight policy rate (OPR) back to pre-pandemic level of 3.00% by mid-2023, before taking a long pause for the rest of the year,” she added. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/622209 | SC: Scammers are promoting their investment schemes on social media such as Facebook to lure victims | English | KUALA LUMPUR (May 31): Scammers using cloned firms — companies that fraudulently impersonate a legitimate or a licensed entity — are using social media such as Facebook to lure investors by putting up advertisements promoting investment packages that guarantee high returns and are seemingly managed by "licensed intermediaries", according to the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). Such cloned firms tend to misuse the name and logo of a public listed company, corporate credentials and website to dupe investors and solicit funds. These are among the modus operandi the SC found in its investigation into 10 cloned firm scams, which it disclosed in a statement on Tuesday to arm investors with greater awareness about such entities. These scammers also tend to use a large number of "agents" to lure potential victims and to solicit investments through WhatsApp chats once the victims click on the link provided. And victims are typically requested to deposit monies for the investment schemes into bank accounts held by mule account holders to layer and launder the illegal proceeds received. "In the course of the SC's investigation, at least 32 mule account holders have been identified to be involved in facilitating the operators of these scams," said the SC. These scam operators have duped a large number of victims and generated a large amount of illegal proceeds, said the SC. "In one of the scams, approximately RM3.6 million flowed through one mule bank account within a period of six months. Based on the 154 bank statements reviewed, the SC also found that in total, at least RM24.7 million may have flowed to several 'masterminds' of these scams," it said. Its findings also highlighted that the cloned firm scams will target victims/investors who are willing to part with small amounts of money but with the expectation of making huge returns in a short period of time. And many of such victims who have lost only small amounts of money are reluctant to come forward and cooperate with the SC in its probe. "Out of the 24 victims identified, 15 of them declined to cooperate with the SC." To clamp down on these illegal activities, the SC said it is currently reviewing available evidence and considering various enforcement options against those involved in the cloned firm scams. "The SC wishes to reiterate that investors too have to play their role by exercising vigilance and scepticism when evaluating investment opportunities such as checking the legitimacy of individuals or entities who approached them to invest in any investment scheme or investment opportunities marketed through social media and WhatsApp chats. More importantly, investors are also advised to never deposit money into personal bank accounts of any individuals when requested to do so," it said. It further urged investors to refer to the SC's Investor Alert List to check for unauthorised websites, investment products, companies and individuals. They can also contact the SC's Consumers and Investor Office at 03-6204 8999 or email [email protected] to lodge reports on suspected scams. "Additionally, they can also check Polis Diraja Malaysia's (PDRM) Semak Mule website at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my/ to verify whether the bank account numbers provided by the 'agents' marketing their investment schemes are in the list of mule accounts that have been identified by the police and other enforcement agencies," the SC advised. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/643619 | Other awards | English | This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 14, 2022 - November 20, 2022 The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards, introduced in 2010, initially comprised anchor award The Edge Malaysia Top Property Developers Awards, and two other sub-awards, namely The Edge Malaysia-PEPS Value Creation Excellence Award and The Edge Malaysia-PAM Green Excellence Award. They were subsequently expanded to include The Edge Malaysia Affordable Urban Housing Excellence Award, The Edge Malaysia Lifetime Property Achievement Award, The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property CEO Award, The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property Entrepreneur Award, The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Overseas Project Award and The Edge Malaysia Property Development Excellence Award. This year, we recognise two veterans for their outstanding contributions to the industry. Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman is a pioneer in the local real estate valuation industry. In 1976, he started Rahim & Co International Sdn Bhd, which today has 23 offices and a staff strength of 500. His leadership mantra is “Anything worth doing, is worth doing well”. He continues to be active today. Datuk Seri Michael Yam’s more than 40-year career covers many areas of real estate. Aside from running successful businesses and companies at home and abroad, he has been actively involved in industry advocacy work, through senior roles in the Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) and Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), and has just been elected the first Malaysian president of the UK-based Chartered Institute of Building. This award recognises industry captains who have made significant and outstanding contributions to growing their companies into dynamic players at the forefront of the industry. This year, the award goes to Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong of I-Bhd. The property business was new to Lim when he bought a 72-acre piece of plantation land sandwiched between Klang and Shah Alam nearly 30 years ago. He left it idle for many years as he plotted his vision for bringing top-notch living, retail and work spaces to the Klang/Shah Alam community. He had his sceptics, but his patience and determination has paid off and those 72 acres of land have been transformed into the vibrant i-City, which we cannot miss when we drive down the highway to Klang. This award recognises CEOs or professionals who have taken their companies to an exceptional level. This year’s award goes to Ngan Chee Meng of Gamuda Land and Ho Kong Soon of Matrix Concepts Holdings Bhd for steering their respective companies on a path of innovation and growth during a challenging time for the property sector. The companies they helm continue to be profitable, underpinned by solid growth in sales. This award recognises successful, large-scale property developments that have made a significant impact. The projects have to be catalysts for growth while continuing to contribute positively to the vibrancy of the areas they are located in. Eco Business Park 1 An integrated industrial hub, Eco Business Park 1 in Tebrau, Johor, is a combination of modern design, intelligent green features, business solutions and smart facilities. Foresight, innovation and a solution-driven approach have made it the benchmark for industrial parks in the country. Bandar Bukit Raja Industrial Gateway The exemplary 39-acre state-of-the-art, build-to-suit supply chain hub is a collaboration of best practices of international and local expertise. It aims to raise the standards of customised industrial properties and logistic hubs in Malaysia. IOI Resort City IOI Resort City, Putrajaya is more than just an integrated township; it is the pulse of the southern Klang Valley. From an 18-hole championship golf course and a mega regional mall to Grade-A offices and resort-like residences, it is a success story worthy of recognition. Sunway City Kuala lumpur The 800-acre integrated township was once the site of a tin mining facility. Today, it is an exemplary sustainable city that has successfully merged technology with sustainable ideas, offering something for everyone. Sunway City Kuala Lumpur is a benchmarking pioneer in integrated townships. Introduced in 2014, this award seeks to identify and encourage the private sector to provide more and better quality, affordable housing. Building affordably priced homes must not be merely an exercise in fulfilling an obligation. Instead of settling for a cookie-cutter design and layout, more thought must go into how the homes can be improved. Practical spatial planning and comfort are important, and affordable homes must be designed to facilitate community building, something for which the developer should take the lead. No two affordable homes are necessarily alike in design and pricing. The latter is highly dependent on location and accessibility. However, their function remains the same. This year, our two winners are Bandar Baru Setia Awan Perdana — Phase 1A by Lagenda Properties Bhd, and SkyAwani2 Residences by SkyWorld Development Bhd. The award was introduced this year and recognises an outstanding catalytic development that has rejuvenated an area. Bangsar South by UOA Development Bhd and SkyArena by SkyWorld Development Bhd are the first recipients of this award. In mid-2000, UOA Development started work on a 60-acre tract of land in Kampung Kerinchi, with the vision of turning it into a self-contained township. That vision has become a reality: Bangsar South has transformed the area into one of the Klang Valley’s most sought-after addresses, impacting the property value and offerings of the surrounding area. The 28-acre SkyArena is located in a part of Setapak where the resident demographic is older. The development has, however, brought in a new group of younger residents to the area with its lifestyle offerings of high-rise and healthy living. In addition, its RM100 million sports complex with an Olympic-size swimming pool, indoor rock climbing facilities and a football field with a running track, among others, is poised to attract more people to the area. This new award recognises the best conservation and adaptive reuse projects that have preserved our heritage and history, and are reintroducing them to a new generation. The two winners are REXKL by Rex KL Sdn Bhd and The Marian Boutique Lodging House by Urban Village Sdn Bhd. Sitting in the heart of the old KL city centre, REXKL was once the site of one of the first cinemas in the country. Having survived several fires over the decades, the dilapidated building was given a new lease of life and transformed into a vibrant community and cultural hub that draws both locals and tourists. REXKL proves that repurposing an old building can create new opportunities while honouring its history. The 137-year-old Marian Boutique Lodging House in Kuching, Sarawak, started its life as the family home of Kapitan Ong Ewe Hai before becoming a boarding school for the Anglican Church for 30 years and, later, a guest house. The building has been lovingly restored and turned into a handsome and popular black-and-white colonial lodging house. It is a fine example of how some reimagining and redesigning can breathe new life into old structures. Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. 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https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/651734 | Auditor finds Serba Dinamik has unverified assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses totalling over RM12 bil | English | KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 13): Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd has unverified assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses amounting to RM12.43 billion, according to accountant Jason Sia Sze Wan from Nexia SSY PLT, the group's external auditor. “We were unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence about whether any adjustments might have been necessary in the group’s and the company’s financial statements,” Sia stated in the independent auditors’ report to the members of Serba Dinamik dated Jan 5, 2023 that is included in the group’s 2022 annual report. “In addition, we were unable to conclude that the carrying amounts of the above items are fairly stated in the financial statements,” he said referring to Serba Dinamik’s statements of financial position as at June 30, 2022 (FY2022). By breakdown, Sia listed under assets an unverified property, plant and equipment of RM1.99 billion, unverified inventories of RM1.59 billion, as well as unverified trade and other receivables of RM1.59 billion. Under liabilities, there is an unverified trade and other payables amounting to RM639.56 million, as well as unverified loans and borrowings totalling RM3.65 billion. He also indicated RM1.35 billion of unverified revenue and RM1.62 billion of unverified cost of contracts with customers. “We do not express an opinion on the accompanying financial statements of the group and of the company,” Sia said. Serba Dinamik finally submitted its 2022 annual report to Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd on Thursday after much delay since Oct 31, 2022. When Serba Dinamik failed to meet the Oct 31, 2022 deadline, the financially-distressed oil and gas services provider said it faced challenges for the completion of the audit by the external auditors due to lack of personnel arising from the resignation of many staff across the organisation, including its chief financial officer and the financial controller in September 2022. Serba Dinamik said the company's finance team had to also adapt to new work processes in facilitating the interim liquidator and his team in carrying out their duties in managing the company's financial and operational affairs. In addition, the company said there was a delay in finalising the responsibility of the audit fees and other incidental obligations. Moving forward, the management team said it will focus on the company’s financial health and is looking into formulating a plan to regularise its financial condition in approximately one month. After a three-week suspension, the trading of Serba Dinamik’s shares resumed on Friday, as the stock doubled from its all-time low of one sen to two sen. The counter was the most active on Bursa with 371.05 million shares traded. However, it should be noted that the trading of Serba Dinamik’s shares will be suspended again next Wednesday (Jan 18) until further notice, as the court had granted a winding-up order against the company. Read more: Serba Dinamik finally submits its 2022 annual report after much delay |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/667891 | Frankly Speaking: Inflation continues to bite corporate earnings | English | This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 22, 2023 - May 28, 2023 Higher input costs continue to weigh on some consumer firms, putting a dent in their profitability as a result of margin compression. In the latest corporate results season, Berjaya Food Bhd, which operates the Starbucks and Kenny Rogers’ Roasters franchises in Malaysia, for one, saw its net profit halve to RM15.94 million for the first three months of 2023, against the same period a year ago. This was despite higher revenue of RM265.85 million during the quarter under review. Similarly, frozen food manufacturer Kawan Food Bhd’s net earnings were down 8.4% to RM7.88 million for the January-to-March period this year from RM8.6 million in the previous year, owing to higher expenses, including selling and distribution expenses. To offset the impact of high operating costs, companies such as Nestlé (M) Bhd began raising product prices in 2022. In March, it embarked on another round of price increases. To be sure, consumer players have to do more than just raise prices to survive. As pent-up demand after the pandemic eases, they need to work on more creative business strategies to lure new customers, such as the introduction of new products to increase revenue streams. At the same time, it is equally important to improve cost efficiency and productivity, as well as reduce wastage to sustain business operations. Although the easing of production bottlenecks, the cooling of commodity prices and higher interest rates have worked to tame inflation and offset some input cost pressures, consumer players now need to brace for a potential slowdown in the global economy, particularly those who derive a large chunk of revenue contribution from export markets. Any deterioration in market sentiment will drag on the demand for consumer products and may even result in lower consumption of staple goods. What is certain is that the business environment will grow more challenging for businesses to manage costs while boosting sales. Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy. P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/616605 | LBS Bina revises dividend policy based on 30% of PATAMI | English | KUALA LUMPUR (April 15): LBS Bina Group Bhd has revised its dividend policy where dividends will be paid based on 30% of the company's profit after taxation and minority interest. This will take effect from the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021 (FY21). This is to maintain an efficient capital structure and ensure sufficiency of funds for future growth, the property developer said. In a bourse filing on Friday (April 15), LBS Bina said the revised dividend policy seeks to distribute 30% of the company's profit after taxation and minority interest (PATAMI) subject to availability of distributable reserves and its future cash flow requirements and market conditions. "The actual amount and timing of dividend payments will depend upon the company's cash flow position, results of operations, business prospects, current and expected obligations, and such other matters as the board of directors may deem relevant," it said. "Dividends will be paid only if approved by the board or shareholders, as the case may be, out of funds available for such distribution," it added. In August 2013, the group had announced its decision to adopt a policy to pay a minimum normal dividend based on 30% of the company’s profit after taxation for each financial year from FY13 as part of the company’s plan to reward its shareholders. LBS Bina shares closed down 0.5 sen or 1.03% at 48 sen on Friday, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM745.55 million. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/624007 | Karex, Unitrade Industries, Powerwell, Cahya Mata Sarawak, Dynaciate, Jentayu Sustainables and Caely Holdings | English | KUALA LUMPUR (June 14): Here is a brief look at some corporate announcements and news flow on Tuesday (June 14), which include Karex Bhd, Unitrade Industries Bhd, Powerwell Holdings Bhd, Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, Dynaciate Group Bhd, Jentayu Sustainables Bhd and Caely Holdings Bhd. Karex Bhd chairman Tun Arshad Ayub has passed away at the age of 93. The condom manufacturer said Arshad held 15.81 million shares directly and 5.2 million shares indirectly via Zalaraz Sdn Bhd. Building materials wholesaler Unitrade Industries Bhd made its ACE Market debut at 26.5 sen on Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, 17.19% lower than its initial public offering (IPO) price of 32 sen. The lacklustre debut was in line with with weaker broader market sentiment, as global stocks and government bonds plunged again on Monday, with the sell-off pushing the US S&P 500 Index — which has dropped over 20% since a recent record close — into a bear market, and came on the heels of last Friday's data that showed US inflation accelerating more than expected in May. Low voltage and medium voltage electrical power distribution equipment manufacturer and solutions provider Powerwell Holdings Bhd has bagged a supply contract worth RM94.12 million for a new building project in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah. Powerwell said its wholly-owned subsidiary Powerwell International Sdn Bhd had accepted a letter of award dated June 10 from Tialoc Malaysia Sdn Bhd for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of low voltage panels. Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) is disposing of its entire 25% stakes in OM Material (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd and OM Materials (Samalaju) Sdn Bhd to OM Materials (S) Pte Ltd (OMS) for US$120 million cash (RM526.62 million). OMS — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australian Securities Exchange and Bursa Malaysia-listed OM Holdings Ltd (OMH) — owns the remaining 75% stakes in both OM Sarawak and OM Samalaju. Dynaciate Group Bhd has proposed to acquire a piece of freehold industrial land measuring 23,550 sq m in Bentong, Pahang from KPower Bhd for RM12 million, cash. Dynaciate said its wholly-owned subsidiary Magnitude Resources Sdn Bhd had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with KPower’s wholly-owned subsidiary Powernet Industries Sdn Bhd for the proposed acquisition. The acquisition includes a double-storey office building, single-storey factory, double-storey warehouse and a single-storey warehouse. Jentayu Sustainables Bhd (formerly Ipmuda Bhd) has proposed a private placement to raise as much as RM47.07 million, mainly to finance the group's pre-development expenditures. Jentayu Sustainables said the exercise entails the issuance of up to 142.63 million new shares, representing not more than 30% of the total number of issued shares, and it is intended to be placed to third party investors to be identified at a later date. Lingerie maker Caely Holdings Bhd has appointed fashion designer Datuk Jovian Mandagie as its new executive vice chairman, effective Tuesday (June 14). Jovian is the son-in-law of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. The group said Jovian, 36, began his career in the fashion industry in 2006, before expanding into bridal designs and wedding planning. |
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/674338 | Foxconn dumps US$19.5b Vedanta chip plan in blow to India | English | TAIPEI/BENGALURU (July 10): Taiwan's Foxconn has withdrawn from a US$19.5 billion (RM90.92 billion) semiconductor joint venture with Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta, it said on Monday (July 10), in a setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chipmaking plans for India. The world's largest contract electronics maker signed a pact with Vedanta last year to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Modi's home state of Gujarat. "Foxconn has determined it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta," a Foxconn statement said without elaborating on the reasons. The company said it had worked with Vedanta for more than a year to bring "a great semiconductor idea to reality", but they had mutually decided to end the joint venture and it will remove its name from an entity that is now fully owned by Vedanta. Vedanta said it is fully committed to its semiconductor project and had "lined up other partners to set up India’s first foundry". "Vedanta has redoubled its efforts" to fulfil Modi's vision, it added in a statement. A source familiar with the matter said concerns about incentive approval delays by India's government had contributed to Foxconn's decision to pull out of the venture. New Delhi had also raised several questions on the cost estimates provided to request incentives from the government, the source added. Modi has made chipmaking a top priority for India's economic strategy in pursuit of a "new era" in electronics manufacturing and Foxconn's move represents a blow to his ambitions of luring foreign investors to make chips locally for the first time. “This deal falling through is definitely a setback for the ‘Make in India’ push,” said Neil Shah, the vice-president of research at Counterpoint, adding that it also does not reflect well on Vedanta and "raises eyebrows and doubts for other companies". Deputy IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Foxconn's decision had "no impact" on India's plans, adding that both companies were "valued investors" in the country. He said it was not for the government to "get into why or how two private companies choose to partner or choose not to". Foxconn is best known for assembling iPhones and other Apple products but in recent years it has been expanding into chips to diversify its business. Most of the world's chip output is limited to a few countries, such as Taiwan, with India a late entrant. The Vedanta-Foxconn venture announced its chipmaking plans in Gujarat last September, with Modi calling the project "an important step" in boosting India's chipmaking ambitions. But his plan had been slow to take off. Among other problems encountered by the Vedanta-Foxconn project were deadlocked talks to involve European chipmaker STMicroelectronics as a tech partner, Reuters has previously reported. While Vedanta-Foxconn managed to get STMicro on board for licensing technology, India's government had made clear it wanted the European company to have more "skin in the game", such as a stake in the partnership. STMicro was not keen on that and the talks remained in limbo, a source has said. The Indian government has said it remains confident of attracting investors for chipmaking. Micron last month said it will invest up to US$825 million in a chip testing and packaging unit, not for manufacturing. With support from India's federal government and the state of Gujarat, the total investment will be US$2.75 billion. India, which expects its semiconductor market to be worth US$63 billion by 2026, last year received three applications to set up plants under a US$10 billion incentive scheme. These were from the Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture, Singapore-based IGSS Ventures and global consortium ISMC, which counts Tower Semiconductor as a tech partner. The US$3 billion ISMC project has stalled, too, owing to Tower being acquired by Intel, while another US$3 billion plan by IGSS was also halted because it wanted to re-submit its application. India has re-invited applications for the incentive scheme from companies. |