Business this week (6 July to 10)

July 10:

- Supermax Corp Bhd posted net profit of RM25.78 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009. This was a 90% increase from the RM13.52 million a year ago “as a result of management focus on extracting greater efficiency from its wholly owned manufacturing facilities and higher contribution from its overseas distribution centres”

- Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng and Datuk Dr Zainal Aznam Mohd Yusof have been appointed as members of the board of the National Economic Action Council (NEAC), which is chaired by Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz who was appointed in May.

- China-based Xingquan International Sports Holdings Ltd, made a strong debut on the Bursa Malaysia on July 10, opening at RM1.83, a a premium of 12 sen above the retail offering of RM1.71 while for institutions it was three sen above the offer price of RM1.80.

- The new Central Banking Act for Bank Negara Malaysia was passed by the Dewan Rakyat and has been sent to the Dewan Negara for further action. BNM governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said on July 10 the new Act represented the culmination of more than two years’ work to address many of the issues and challenges whhich central banks were confronted with in the 21st century.





July 9:

- Reclusive corporate figure Tan Sri Robert Tan Hua Choon, who is not known for speaking out in the media but has been in the spotlight lately, yesterday broke his silence over his apparent hostile takeover bid for Goh Ban Huat Bhd (GBH). His takeover offer for GBH is being resisted by the Goh family, the founding and major shareholders who own 17% of the ceramic sanitary ware maker.

- AirAsia Bhd expects its newly launched low-cost courier, Redbox, to contribute RM25 million to RM30 million revenue to the group next year. Group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said the courier service, which offers on average 50% lower shipment rates than the market’s, was targeted at small- and medium-sized enterprises and individual customers.

- IJM Corp Bhd has proposed to raise RM700 million via a commercial paper and medium-term notes (CP/MTN) programme to refinance borrowings as well to subscribe to Lebuhraya Kajang-Seremban Sdn Bhd’s (Lekas) debt securities and its unit IJM Plantations Bhd’s (IJMP) rights issue with warrants. IJM Corp also proposed a renounceable rights issue of up to 134.93 million warrants on the basis of one warrant for every 10 shares held, after its earlier proposed two-for-five bonus issue of up to 385.52 million new shares.

- Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) expects sales of its cars to reach 158,000 units this year and approach its historic high of 167,000 units next year. Perodua expected demand for new cars to pick up ahead of year-end festivities and the upcoming launch of its multi-purpose vehicles (MPV) this November, said Ahmad Suhaimi Mohd Anuar, director of sales at Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd (PSSB).

- Malaysian consumers living in the Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru and Ipoh are less interested in purchasing a new vehicle in the coming year, according to a survey conducted by Synovate Motoresearch. The survey showed 56% of those polled plan to keep on using their current cars or motorcycles while 48% would not mind buying a used or certified car if there was a warranty from a manufacturer or authorised dealer.



July 8:

- Bank Negara Malaysia's policy will focus on giving access to financing for now it but does not rule out another round of overnight policy rate (OPR) cut. BNM governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the central bank would, at this point, focus on giving access to financing, given that the country's interest rates were already in historical lows.

- IJM Plantations Bhd (IJMP) has proposed to raise a total of RM336.56 million via a renounceable rights issue of 160.27 million new shares of 50 sen each, together with 80.13 million new warrants, at an issue price of RM2.10 per rights share.

- T Ananda Krishnan, one of the country’s richest men, has denied any interest in buying Newcastle United Football Club or had sent representatives to explore or conclude such a deal.
Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd, his privately held company, said: “There is in fact no truth or foundation to this story. Krishnan has not expressed an interest in purchasing Newcastle United Football Club, has not sent any delegation to Newcastle to engage in such talks or authorised any representatives to negotiate on his behalf and is not considering any such purchase.”



July 7:

- Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd (STMB) hopes to beat the industry's growth rate of 20%-25% per annum to help realise its target of capturing at least 50% share of the takaful industry's total assets within two years.

- Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) has placed out a 3.18% stake comprising 40 million shares of 10 sen each in numbers forecast operator Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) at RM4.75 per share for a total of RM190 million cash to partly redeem RM848.1 million worth of bonds.
BLand said its major shareholder Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun had also concurrently placed out a total of 15.6 million shares in BToto, thus reducing his direct interest to 54.5 million shares representing a 4.34% stake in BToto. No detail of Tan’s transaction price was disclosed.

- Sunway Holdings Bhd’s interest in acquiring the local concrete plants, quarries and asphalt factories owned by HeidelbergCement AG may have waned, after the latter raised the indicative sale value for these assets to US$250 million (RM885 million) from US$200 million. Sources familiar with the deal said that HeidelbergCement, a heavy building materials manufacturer based in Germany, has recently upped the assets’ selling price following the emergence of three other interested bidders. The debt-laden German group was looking at exiting from Malaysia and hence was putting its local assets up for sale.

- EON Capital Bhd’s banking arm, EON Bank Bhd, is working with MyKad payment solution provider ePetrol Holdings Sdn Bhd to launch a cashless payment programme using the MyKad by year-end, the banking group’s head of cards and unsecured lending, Aaron Tan, said.

- Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) will suspend its thrice-weekly services from Kuala Lumpur to New York via Stockholm and vice versa effective October due to a drop in demand. MAS said on July 7 the last flight from Kuala Lumpur to New York will be on Sept 30 while the last flight departing New York will be on Oct 1 and Stockholm on Oct 2.



July 6:

- The Port Klang Authority (PKA) has been instructed by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to resume the payment of RM660 million owing or due by the end of the month to Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd-related (KDSB) companies for work done at the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ). After a board meeting upon the intervention of the MoF, PKA immediately made a payment of RM360 million, which fell due on June 30, to two of the companies while the remaining RM300 million will be paid out by the end of the month to the other two.

- The Johor state government is compulsorily acquiring a 4.62ha vacant parcel of land in Plentong, Johor Bahru, from Tebrau Teguh Bhd subsidiary Bayou Bay Development Sdn Bhd (BBDSB) for RM17.77 million. Tebrau Teguh said BBDSB had received a notice from the Johor Bahru land administrator for the compulsory acquisition and had accepted the offer with an objection on the valuation of the land.

- DFZ Capital Bhd is acquiring duty-free retail company Seruntun Maju Sdn Bhd (SMSB) for RM13 million cash to increase its business at the Malaysia-Thai border. DFZ said it had, on July 3, entered into a share sale agreement with SMSB’s vendors to acquire the entire stake, or 1.5 million shares of RM1 each, in the company. The acquisition, which will be funded via internal funds, is expected to be completed in the third quarter ending Nov 30, 2009.

- The new 30-stock FBM KLCI started off on a lacklustre note, in line with most regional markets weighed down by weaker commodity prices and the downbeat US employment data released last week. European markets also started off on a negative note with the London FTSE 100 and the DAX Index shedding about 1.5% in early trade, dragged down by worries that an economic recovery might be some way off.

- Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s unfolding structural reform programme, if implemented effectively alongside much needed fiscal policy adjustments, could play an important role in reshaping the country’s medium-term competitiveness. Moody’s Investors Service said the timely reforms would help boost Malaysia’s growth potential and overall sovereign creditworthiness, while the government drew up specific fiscal strategies and policy reforms to limit and reverse, the growing government debt overhang.

- AirAsia Bhd is seeking shareholders’ approval for its plan to extend financial assistance to PT Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) and Thai AirAsia Co Ltd (TAA) totalling RM355 million and RM248 million, being net amount owing to AirAsia as at Dec 31, 2008 by the two associated companies.

- Great Eastern Life Assurance Malaysia Bhd is seeking to secure one of the two family takaful licences to be issued by Bank Negara Malaysia. Great Eastern director and chief executive officer Koh Yaw Hui said yesterday its strong channels and bancassurance business, via holding company Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd (OCBC), would provide it a strong platform to launch products for the takaful market, if it was successful in securing the licence.