MV Agusta sekali lagi dijual satu euro

DUNIA

GAMBAR menunjukkan Claudio Castiglioni (kanan) dan anak lelakinya, Giovanni Castiglioni yang kini mengendalikan semula jenama MV Agusta.



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ROM - Syarikat pengeluar motosikal terkenal dunia, Harley-Davidson menjual syarikat motosikal berkuasa tinggi MV Agusta yang pernah dibeli oleh syarikat Proton dari Malaysia pada harga satu euro (RM4.01), lapor majalah dalam talian, Motorcycle.com.



Menurut majalah itu baru-baru ini, Harley-Davidson menjual MV Agusta kepada Claudio Castiglioni dari Itali.



Majalah itu melaporkan, ia bukannya kali pertama syarikat MV Agusta dijual pada harga satu euro.



Pada 2005, syarikat pengeluar kereta Proton yang memiliki saham majoriti Lotus menjual pemilikan MV Agusta kepada sebuah syarikat kewangan Itali, GEVI SpA pada harga sama.



Pengumuman penjualan itu didedahkan pada awal bulan ini tetapi harga penjualannya cuma didedahkan baru-baru ini.



Keluarga Castiglioni sebelum ini pernah memiliki MV Agusta.



Harley-Davidson telah membelanjakan AS$109 juta (RM342.42 juta) untuk memiliki MV Agusta termasuk AS$70 juta (RM219.90 juta) untuk melunaskan hutang yang wujud.



Syarikat itu telah menumpukan perhatian untuk memotong kos dan memperkemaskan perniagaannya.



Pada Oktober tahun lalu, Harley-Davidson pernah mengumumkan bahawa ia merancang untuk menjual MV Agusta. - Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2010&dt=0830&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_02.htm

Are directors being set unrealistic objectives?

Monday August 23, 2010




Whose business is it anyway - by John Zinkin





Struggling with complexity





I WORRY that with the growing complexity of business, the ever faster pace of change and the demands to go global, directors are being asked to do an increasingly difficult, maybe impossible, job.



Growing complexity



Complexity takes many forms: multiple activities associated with conglomerates; directing matrix management organisations; and complicated technical issues in multi-level value chains.



This may not matter too much when boards have ample time to reflect on the issues they face so they can deal with the complexity and come to terms with real causes of problems rather than dealing reactively under pressure with the symptoms.



However, it may really matter when time is of the essence because treating symptoms does not prevent it from happening again and can in fact, make matters worse by providing answers to the wrong problems. It is rather like getting a dentist to deal with bowel cancer: The diagnosis and treatment are likely to make patient worse rather than better.



In my last article, I discussed the problems associated with conglomerates and how difficult it can be for boards to really understand what is going on in the different lines of business, or to decide who should become the CEO from internal candidates who have extensive experience in only one field of activity, but do not have adequate exposure to all the operations of the company.



Companies in a single line of business that adopt the matrix management approach are not as complicated to deal with as conglomerates, but they are still not simple. Developed by McKinsey in the 1970s for Shell and Unilever the matrix management idea is great in principle, but really difficult to implement well in practice. Decision-making is complicated.



The functional head is responsible for quality standards and the career progression of technical specialists within the function and also for ensuring that the right people are in the right place from a functional perspective. The business stream head is responsible for product development and profitability of the portfolio of products across markets, countries and regions. The country head is responsible for the portfolios of businesses represented by the different business streams within his or her geographical domain. Who is accountable for what? How do the three constituencies resolve resource allocation issues where each is affected by the decisions of the other two, who may well have different priorities?





Cleanup continues on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP’s independent directors are being criticised for not stepping in earlier and doing more. — AFP



Again, if there is no time pressure, and if the senior managers know each other well, have worked together and been in each other’s shoes through job rotation and have built up mutual trust and respect as a result, the matrix works well. However, when time is of the essence, and senior managers have not worked together before for long enough so that there is a lack of trust and resulting turf wars, the matrix is a recipe for disaster.



Boards may assume the constituencies work together for the common good, and yet so often that is not the case; key players work against each other – skilled practitioners of a Western version of wayang kulit and/or tai chi – pretending to cooperate while in reality sabotaging their colleagues to get ahead, or else passing the buck when difficult decisions affecting revenues, profitability and bonuses are involved.



Finally there is the ever-increasing technical complexity of business, which makes it more difficult than ever for directors to know when to challenge the technical assumptions of management. Take for example the crisis faced by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. Independent directors are being criticised for not stepping in earlier and doing more. Yet, it is still unclear exactly what happened, who is to blame, or the scope and magnitude of the disaster. Tony Hayward has been attacked for playing down the long-term environmental damage and that and his public relations gaffes have cost him his job as CEO. Yet, evidence may now be emerging that suggests that the capacity of the Gulf of Mexico to heal itself is more in line with his views than those of the doomsayers. Microbes appear to be digesting significant amounts of the spill so that the long-term effect may be much less severe than anticipated. Even so, were the independent directors competent to decide when to overrule the technical judgments of their management? Probably not, and yet that is exactly what their critics were asking them to do.



What makes matters worse for directors is not just the need to make decisions quickly as a result of increased competition, but to have to do it in the public eye. Communications are global and instantaneous. The public watches the news, as it is being created through 24-hour programmes that need to keep up the level of excitement in their audiences through half-baked sound-bites to win the ratings wars.



Complexity is manageable, if it can be dealt with calmly and rationally. Yet, the media glare public listed companies face when things go wrong or a major change in strategy is being contemplated, make it that much harder for directors to do their job calmly.



Complexity needs to be understood and explained; yet in the world of the TV sound-bite, there is no time to lay out the pros and cons of the argument.



At least professional media try to get their facts right: They can be sued, otherwise. The advent of the blogosphere means there is no need for caution by internet commentators: Bloggers can and do write what they like, often with little regard for the truth or the consequences of what they say. This creates a natural temptation for companies to want to respond quickly so they can remain in charge of the narrative, which in turn increases the tempo and pressure on boards to make quick decisions.



NGO pressure groups can also make life more difficult for boards as the company’s “Licence to operate” may be challenged in the name of corporate social responsibility: witness Greenpeace’s media-savvy attack on palm oil users and producers.



As soon as companies cross borders these issues taken on a new dimension. Companies that are “local champions” know the local rules, have good connections, and understand the culture and what the acceptable boundaries of behaviour are. Once they cross borders and enter economies with different levels of development or societies with different values, all the board’s assumptions about what will work must be re-examined.



Companies must find the right blend of adapting to how the host country expects them to behave, while keeping faith with their own core values and corporate codes of conduct.



Accommodating behaviour that undermines the company’s fundamental values because that is how business is done in country X is a recipe for trouble. At the same time, refusing to flex practices developed in one culture to take into account the norms in another may make it impossible to do business.



Directors must find the right balance and that is not easy.



These three drivers of board behaviour and their increasingly adverse impact on directors’ ability to make the right judgment calls when it matters, worry me that, unless we are careful, we may soon be asking directors to do the impossible.





The writer is CEO of Securities Industry Development Corp, the training and development arm of the Securities Commission.
 
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/23/business/6885697&sec=business

Property investment in the new decade

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The times have been good for property investors in the past couple of years. Prices in certain areas, particularly in selected areas of Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya have risen significantly, some as high as 50 percent. And as a result of this rise, practically all property investors had made money. In fact, some people have seen their net worth jump up by 30 or 40 percent because of the price rise. For example, a young colleague who purchased their house two years ago saw the value of their house increase from RM950,000 to RM1.3 million today. Of course, the owner was all smiles when they told me the story.

I am happy for them. As an avid property investor, I have benefitted from the rise myself, so I am certainly not complaining. At the same time, I must admit that I have some reservation about the whole scenario. The price rise has distorted reality to many investors, including my colleague. Because the price climbed up as soon as he bought the property, and remained at a high level even today, his view on property investment is seriously distorted. He thinks that:

1. Prices will go up as soon you buy a property.
2. The gains will be in double digits per annum.
3. This is normal.
4. Prices always go up.
5. It is easy to make money in properties.
6. He is a super genius when it comes to property investment!

Long-term property investors will quickly point out that none of the above are true. That’s right – none! For starters, I can tell you the current situation is exceptional. It wasn’t like this five years ago, and certainly not ten years ago. I can also tell you that times are not going to remain this good forever. Prices do not rise to the sky, and interest rates do not stay low forever. In fact, interest rates has already climbed (or to use the toned down term of ‘normalised’) by 75 basis points already this year.

Why am I so sure of this? Simple; I have seen similar euphoria before (the first in the mid-1980s and then in year 1997 during the Asian Currency Crisis), and the story did not end well on both occasions. Like most bubbles, prices edged up slowly initially. The initial buyers made money and this attracted others to invest into properties as well. And as prices climbed higher and higher, the euphoria got to the levels that some people were rushing to buy because they were scared that the prices will spiral out of their reach if they do not act then. But when the market crashed, as all bubbles eventually do, a lot of people were seriously hit, a lot of money was lost, and that included seeing their properties being auctioned off by the banks.

I see the same story being repeated today. On top of the ever present dangers, there will be massive challenges in this new decade. There will be much turbulence in the coming days, and some of them will be unlike what you and I have seen or experienced before. This may include double-digit interest rates, multiple bank failures, currency crashes and explosion of the derivatives market.

As a result of the new challenges, the investors using the current success formula of buying five properties at one go (by paying the minimum down payment and borrowing to the hilt) will be seriously hammered. They will experience much pain, to put it mildly. Some people will lose their properties, some will lose more than money and yes, some will become ex-millionaires.

But of course, where there is danger, there are also opportunities. This will include a huge number of properties being auctioned and also getting huge discounts from distressed sellers.
For more information about Azizi Ali, visit www.millionairesplanet.com

http://www.starproperty.my/PropertyGuide/Finance/6537/0/0

No stimulus packages even in slowdown

Saturday August 21, 2010

By DHARMENDER SINGH
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: There will be no more stimulus packages as the Government wants to strengthen economic fundamentals even if there is a slowdown next year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.

“It is better to strengthen our fundamentals, like encouraging locals to invest more and carrying out projects offering spillovers and major multiplier effects,” he said.

“We cannot roll out the stimulus packages on a sustained basis – a physical stimulus is a last resort and should not be considered something expedient,” he said after chairing the National Financial Council meeting here yesterday.

Najib said the Government had to avoid frequent stimulus packages as they also increased the nation’s deficit.

Economic boost: Najib answering questions from the media after chairing the National Financial Council meeting at the Finance Ministry office in Putrajaya yesterday. Looking on are (from left) Deputy Finance Minister Daruk Dr Awang Adek Husin and Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.

Malaysia, he said, would have to work towards increasing domestic demand and getting locals to invest in projects with major multiplier effects if the country was to sustain its targeted 6% economic growth in the coming years.

The prime minister said the recent strengthening of the ringgit would have minimal impact on Malaysia’s economy as it would not have much effect on the country’s exports.
The decline in economic growth in Europe, he said, was also estimated to have little impact on the country’s target of achieving 6% growth this year.

“But we have to (continue to) monitor developments outside the country – we are still confident of achieving 6% growth this year, but we have to ensure domestic demand is strong to achieve it.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/21/nation/6897805&sec=nation

Two sides of the same coin

Saturday August 21, 2010

Insight Down South by SEAH CHIANG NEE

Where Singaporeans grumbled, Malaysians were figuring how they could benefit from the launch of Singapore’s two casinos and, more crucially, its population expansion plans.

AMONG Singaporeans, life often evolves around one thing – property, especially private ones. For most people, it is a big factor that determines how well or badly they can live in this over-crowded city, so everyone strives to own one as early as possible.
The rationale is simple: This is a small and affluent city, where land is limited and cannot be expanded (beyond some reclamation).

Demand, however, will grow and continue to grow as long as there is economic prosperity and stability.

Singaporeans have regularly bought and sold their homes be­­cause of social mobility, or they flipped them for a quick profit. Often they talk property and breathe it.
A survey some years back found that 53% of Singaporeans had moved homes at least once in the previous 10 years.

Early bird Malaysians who were familiar with this and acted on it last year by buying into the depressed private property market have reason to be cheerful today.
From the bottom, their values have risen by 40%.
The buying spree began in mid-2009 when the city was still mired in recession, led initially by foreigners who made up 70% of the buyers.

Heading the foreign influx were Malaysians, who formed the largest group at 25.1%, followed by Indonesians (18.4%) and mainland Chinese (16%).
Foreign permanent residents (PRs) bought up 20% of public flats on the resale market, again with Malaysians leading the pack.

From early this year, Singaporeans moved in with larger numbers.
What propelled the foreigners to take the plunge during the depressing mid-2009 when locals were sitting on their hands?

“Foresight at a time when it was most needed,” replied a veteran housing agent, who has seen many past storms.

“They held a broader view of things, taking into consideration two things, the launch of the two casinos and more crucially, Singapore’s population expansion plans.”
He said the Malaysian buyers were calculating the future demand for property to house a proposed 6.5 million population.

“While Singaporeans were criticising both policies (the casinos and foreign intake), foreigners were busy calculating how to profit from them,” the agent said.

This is how the housing situation presently stands: With a 5 million population, the city has a total of 1.13 million residences – only a fifth of them being private properties.
The rest, some 885,000 were public apartments which are also in growing demand as more young Singaporeans and PRs jostle for the limited supply.

Singapore has gone from being one of the most depressed housing markets – in 2009, following the global crisis – to one of the fastest rising in the world.

A recent survey by The Economist showed that Singapore has overtaken Hong Kong as the world’s frothiest property market.

It pushed Hong Kong into second place, followed by Australia, South Africa and China, in that order.

The amount of froth is measured by comparing price-to-rent, which indicates its vulnerability; the wider the gap, the more dangerous the market is to a crash.
What it means is that too many properties are over-priced in relation to rent – or worse if they cannot be rented out, then it could signify a bubble is building.

In the Economist’s view, Singapore residential housing is some 20% over-valued after the recent run-up.

This has led some analysts to anticipate a real estate slowdown in the next six to twelve months, but no crash, barring a new global disaster.

People in the industry are, however, more worried about policy risks than they do about any bubble bursting, including the introduction of a capital gains tax or other measures to cool down prices.
In the 45 years since independence, Singapore has been transformed into one of Asia’s richest cities.

The Boston Consulting Group recently said that Singapore had the highest concentration of millionaire households (in US dollars) in the world.
Some 11.4% of families (about 125,000) owned more than US$1mil, and that doesn’t even include properties.

This rising domestic wealth has been steadily moving into the market from early this year. This momentum, helped by a strong economy and low mortgage rates, is keeping the market hot.

“The current demand is driven by Singaporeans upgrading from government housing to the more expensive private property,” one housing representative said.
Are the rising prices a blessing or a bane?

The answer is surprisingly mixed, given that 90% of Singaporeans are owners who benefit from high prices.

For those with investments in land-banks and private properties, these are boom times, turning out more millionaires than ever before.
Landlords can fetch high returns for their investments.
But for Singaporeans who live in their property, the escalating prices mean little except a higher cost of living.

The biggest sufferers are the lower-middle class and the poor, who own no property or have only a low-cost one-room public flat. They’ll have to settle for a further widening of the gap between them and the rich.

Nearly 80% of Singaporeans (and many PRs) live in public flats, whose values have also risen in line with the private sector – making it a major political threat to the government.
The shortage of cheap public housing is one reason why many young Singaporeans who have just started work are putting off marriage.

With more immigrants likely to arrive and over-crowdedness persisting, the prospect of expensive homes on this island will be around for a very long time.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/21/focus/6893694&sec=focus

What is Peter Lim cooking for TMC Life?

IN 1991, Peter Lim invested S$10 million (RM23.2 million) in Wilmar Group. Today, his 5 per cent stake is valued at more than S$1.5 billion (RM3.48 billion). The man is virtually unheard of in Malaysia, even though he is only one of the nine billionaires in the city state.

Peter Lim is Singapore's eighth richest man. His investment in TMC Life Sciences Bhd is belived to be his first sizeable Malaysian investment.

In Singapore, he has various investments, including a 7 per cent stake in Healthway Medical Corp, which has a chain of clinics. He also has stakes in education group Informatics Education Ltd, FJ Benjamin, a fashion purveyor, as well as Brewerkz, a brewery and restaurant operator.

Analysts basically don't know what the billionaire, who rarely appears in public, is going to do. But what they can say is, when he puts his money, his long-term goal is to make more money.

For example, in August, he boosted his stake in Informatics to 19.05 per cent from 4.4 per cent. In August alone, the firm's share price has risen 30 per cent to 17.5 cent. In June, he expanded his stake in Healthway to 7.2 per cent. Since June, Healthway's share price has gained 20 per cent to 18 cent.

So far this year, Informatics' share price has more than doubled while Health-way shares have gone up by more than 47 per cent.

Currently, there are all sorts of speculations surrounding TMC and Lim. Some believe that Lim may want to merge TMC with Healthway. Some even say that other corporate exercises are on the cards.

Last month, Fortis Healthcare was reported to make S$116.7 million (RM270.74 million) for selling its 24.9 per cent stake in Parkway Holdings Ltd, just four months after it bought in. Will Lim do the same or will he buy more shares?

Lim's entry into TMC proves one thing: there is value in the company. His investments in Wilmar have shown that he is also the type of investor who stays for the long-term.

He bought the shares at 52 sen each, a price that is not cheap. A week before that, TMC's shares were trading at around 40 sen. For most part of this year, its share prices were traded at around 36 sen.

Having Lim as one of the main shareholders does have some benefits for the company. For example, if in future TMC decides to expand, Lim and Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, TMC's single-largest shareholder, probably can be counted on to provide more funds.

Of course, in order to do that, both big shareholders must first see eye to eye on the company's future.

Just like the man himself, right now, analysts, dealers and market punters just can't quite figure out what Peter Lim is cooking for TMC?

Read more: What is Peter Lim cooking for TMC Life? http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/lim20/Article/index_html#ixzz0xHY1aCCT

Only time will determine practicality of dinar

Published: 2010/08/21

So what was it that Kelantan was trying to do by reintroducing the gold dinar into the state's financial system? The northeastern state of Kelantan surprised everybody last week when it announced all systems go for its gold dinar and silver dirham initiative. It took a bit of time before the federal government digested what Kelantan was doing and even then, response from Putrajaya and the central bank in Kuala Lumpur were generally guarded.

So what was it that Kelantan was trying to do by reintroducing the gold dinar into the state's financial system?

Of course it would be easy to think it was all political play. Kelantan is, after all, held by the opposition party, Pas. Analysts say by putting the gold dinar into the state's financial system, Kelantan managed to thumb its nose towards the federal government and scored what could well be precious political points.

Others, however, said that it was not all political and that Kelantan was not doing anything new. It was reintroducing a payment system practised in the Islamic world more than a thousand years ago.

They said based on the increased doubts cast on the valuation of currency after the 1998 crisis, what Kelantan did made some sense. Today's paper money, in actual fact, has no value other than the paper it is printed on, plus perhaps other costs incurred in producing and circulating them.

Enter one of the five tenets of Islam, the zakat, which some currency experts think was the single largest push factor that strengthened Kelantan's resolve to reintroduce the gold dinar into its financial system. In Islam's early years, zakat could only be paid with tangible merchandise. It cannot be paid with any instrument which denotes a promise to pay or a debt.

In the early days, metal objects were first introduced as money, which later emerged as coins. Value of the coins were attached to the value of metals they were made of. Some of the earliest known paper money can be traced to China and with its introduction, money, which was earlier backed by a commodity, became just representative money. It means what the money is made of no longer matters but the currency was backed by a governmen or a bank's promise to exchange it for a certain amount of silver or gold. For instance, the old British pound bill or pound sterling was exchangeable for a pound of sterling silver. And for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the majority of currencies were based on representative money through the use of the gold standard.

Later, the gold standard was done away with, replaced by what is known as fiat money. Fiat is the Latin word for "let it be done". Money is given value by a government fiat or decree and enforceable legal tender laws were made. By law, the refusal of "legal tender" money in favour of some other forms of payments became illegal.

Herein lies the doubt over use of paper money for payment of zakat as the important tenet of Islam cannot be settled with just a promise to pay in which money in its current form is. There were views that if zakat was to be paid with paper money alone, only the value of the paper as merchandise can be accepted which means the value printed on the paper currency is irrelevant. Some currency experts said much of what Kelantan was premised on its efforts to once and for all put away doubts surrounding accuracy of the zakat payment.

The Kelantan state government said they have further plans as regards to the gold dinar but it was too early to be elaborated upon. What is certain however, is that the state cannot go to the extent of doing away with use of the national currency, the ringgit, because only the ringgit issued by Bank Negara Malaysia is recognised as legal tender.

As for the practicality of what Kelantan is doing, only time will tell. It will surely have to construct a comprehensive system to handle all the gold and silver in circulation, even if it is only within the state. And as for Bank Negara, the sole issuer of currency in Malaysia, it has not come up with a firm stand on the issue as yet. Many were asking why Bank Negara have remained relatively quiet on the issue. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that there is just no issue at all here, at least for now.

Read more: Only time will determine practicality of dinar http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/wkn20-2/Article/#ixzz0xHVmHSP6

Economists raise Malaysia's growth outlook

A Stronger-than-expected economic performance in the first half of the year has led some economists to raise their growth outlook for Malaysia this year.
However, they felt the second half is unlikely to match the 9.5 per cent expansion in the first six months.

OSK DMG raised its 2010 growth forecast to 7.5 per cent from 7 per cent, but it thinks export contribution would fall due to weaker overseas demand.

"We expect slowing manufacturing growth in the second half on the back of more moderate demand from the US and China," said economist Enrico Tanuwidjaja.

The research house expects the US economy to grow by around 3 per cent and China by 8.8 per cent during the second half of the year.

The government is also expected to reduce its spending to manage its finances, added Tanudwidjaja, leaving two engines to support growth in the final two quarters, namely domestic consumption and investment.

"As a percentage of GDP (growth domestic product), private consumption has averaged around 48 per cent. With the share of 52 per cent in the first half, it is quite unlikely for consumption to move significantly higher from here."

But the removal of subsidies would also stifle spending power.

As for investments, there is room for greater improvement.

"To achieve the desired 6 per cent economic growth target as set in the Tenth Malaysia Plan, Malaysia would need to beef up investment spending to reach around 4 percentage point contribution (equivalent to an average of 17 to 18 per cent year-on-year growth)".

Wellian Wiranto, Asian economist at HSBC Bank, said that Malaysia's second quarter GDP data provided some pleasant surprises, such as investments growing 12.9 per cent year on year, adding 2.9 percentage points to growth in that period.

"Although very encouraging, it may be too early to see this as a resolute sign that the recent slew of government initiatives has been successful in breaking the back of the structural issue of lacklustre investment facing the country."

HSBC Bank estimates 5-6.5 per cent year-on-year growth for the last two quarters of 2010, based on less enthusiastic export growth.

Read more: Economists raise Malaysia's growth outlook http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/pdg/Article/#ixzz0xDzOWIZE

Malaysia GDP to exceed 6pc growth in 2010: BNM

Published: 2010/08/18

 

 

Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to exceed 6.0 per cent this year, according to Bank Negara Malaysia.
This is based on the strong growth figure recorded in the first half of this year despite the economic slowdown in advanced economies, said the central bank governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

Bank Negara has been monitoring the economic slowdown, she said, adding that it strongly believed that the Malaysian economy will continue to grow in the second half of this year.

The growth momentum in the first half of 2010 rebounded to 9.5 per cent from a negative 5.1 per cent in the same period of 2009, Zeti said.

"Based on the strong growth that we have experienced in the first half of this year, we believe the economy will continue to grow in the second half despite the challenging environment where we could see further slowing down in advanced economies, who are our trading partners," she told reporters after announcing the GDP growth for the second quarter of this year here today.

Asked whether this is a new forecast by the central bank, Zeti said: "There is no forecast, just saying that this is the expected number based on what we have seen so far."
"We don''t expect a recession in advanced economies but the pace of growth has slowed," she said, adding that there is increased risk of a moderation in the global growth momentum moving forward following rising concerns over the ongoing sovereign debt crisis and the planned fiscal consolidation in several advanced economies.

The forecast growth will be announced during the 2011 Budget in October, she added. Bank Negara has earlier forecast that the GDP for 2010 will be expanded between 4.5 and 5.5 per cent.

Zeti said going forward, the domestic demand, which is playing an important role in the Malaysian economy at present, is expected to remain strong, sustained by robust private sector demand.

The Malaysian economy, she said, is fundamentally strong, supported by strong financial system, ample liquidity and easy access to financing.

On foreign direct investment (FDI), Zeti said: "We expect that there would continue to be a steady inflow of FDI."

"This is further reinforced by the government's effort to improve business processes for companies to come to Malaysia," she said, adding that intra-Asean trade has improved.

Asked whether the cental bank will increase or pause the interest rate, Zeti said the current interest rate level of 2.75 per cent is considered appropriate and consistent with the assessment of growth and inflation.

"Our monetary policy is forward-looking. It is not based on the current conditions but based on the outlook. Based on outlook for inflation and growth, the current level of interest rate is consistent and appropriate," she said.

For the ringgit, Zeti said Bank Negara does not have any target levels and what it wanted to see is orderly adjustments and movement of the currency.

"We saw that in 2009 the ringgit had appreciated the least and it so happens that this year, it has appreciated more. So, if compared within the two-year period, it is moderate, not deviating significantly from trends that occur in Asian region," she said.

Zeti said that Bank Negara was pleased that the market has remained orderly with trade activities increasing significantly.
"To exporters, their competitiveness has never really relied on the exchange rate. Malaysia has been able to enhance this through efficiency, quality and innovation," she said. -- Bernama

Read more: Malaysia GDP to exceed 6pc growth in 2010: BNM http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20100818211523/Article/index_html#ixzz0xDuug1SF

Maybank reports record RM3.8b profit

The top lender in Malaysia expects earnings this year will be even better on higher lending and fee-based activities 

 

  Top lender Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank)(1155), which reported record earnings yesterday, expects to do even better in the current financial year as it grows its market share at home and abroad.

Group net profit in the fiscal year ended June 30 2010 was RM3.8 billion, more than a fivefold increase from RM691.9 million before and slightly higher than the RM3.7 billion that analysts had estimated.

The results were achieved on the back of higher revenues across all key business segments as the economy improved, its president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said.

"It is indeed a year of achievement as we cross the regional milestone of US$100 billion (RM314 billion) in total assets and US$1 billion (RM3.14 billion) in profit after tax," Abdul Wahid told reporters at its results briefing late yesterday.
Earnings this year will be even better on higher lending and fee-based activities, he said.

Maybank is targeting 12 per cent loan growth this year, after 10.3 per cent last year, and a return on equity (ROE) of 14 per cent. Its ROE was 13.6 per cent last year.

The group swung back to a net profit of RM912.5 million in its final quarter from a loss of RM1.1 billion before due to an absence of impairment losses.

A year ago, it was hit by a RM1.7 billion impairment charge on its banking investments in Indonesia and Pakistan.

Maybank announced a better-than-expected final dividend of 44 sen a share less tax, of which 4 sen will be paid in cash.

Investors can choose to receive the balance either in cash or re-invest it in Maybank shares.

Abdul Wahid said Maybank intends to be a financial services leader in the region, with 40 per cent of pre-tax profit coming from overseas operations by 2015 compared with 21 per cent last year.

The group is targeting financing growth of 24 per cent in Indonesia, 5 per cent in Singapore and 12 per cent in Malaysia this year.

Read more: Maybank reports record RM3.8b profit http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/mayre-2/Article/index_html#ixzz0xDtSTbFp

Bank Negara likely to keep key Interest rate at 2.75%

Tuesday August 17, 2010




By FINTAN NG

fintan@thestar.com.my





Economists say Bank Negara is more concerned over economic activities than inflation



PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara is likely to keep the country’s benchmark overnight policy rate (OPR) at 2.75% when its monetary policy committee meets on Sept 2 as focus shifts to stimulating economic activities rather than price pressures.



The central bank has raised the OPR by 75 basis points this year as the pace of economic recovery accelerated in the first half of the year.



Economists told StarBiz that the consumer price index (CPI) would still see a gradual upward trend for the month of July with the median in a Bloomberg survey showing a 2% rise year-on-year.

The statistics department is scheduled to release the CPI data on Wednesday while Bank Negara will be releasing second quarter (Q2) gross domestic product (GDP) data on the same day.





According to a separate Bloomberg survey, the median for Q2 GDP is 8.4% year-on-year versus the 10.1% achieved in Q1.



“At this point, the central bank will be more concerned about economic activities rather than price pressures, so there’ll be less compulsion to reset rates,” AmResearch Sdn Bhd senior economist Manokaran Mottain said.



He acknowledged that prices in the Klang Valley and other urban areas were rising higher than the rest of the country but this would not show in the aggregate data, which included prices from across the country.



Manokaran, along with other economists, said a double-dip recession would not happen this year in the region.



“Yes, growth is moderating but the eurozone just saw the fastest pace of economic growth in four years while Germany’s is the fastest in 23 years,” he noted.



Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd economist Ho Woei Chen said Bank Negara would likely keep the OPR at 2.75% until the end of next year as growth has moderated.



“Growth will moderate but generally it’ll be within expectations, external factors will have more of an impact on Malaysia due to the economy’s export-oriented nature,” she said, adding that the near term outlook was positive and that there would be no double-dip recession this year and next year. “Growth will certainly not be exciting but the economies in the region will continue to expand.”



Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd economist Wan Suhaimie Saidi said the base effects for the CPI was wearing off with inflation likely to see a higher month-on-month rise although year-on-year it would still be gradual.



He said the income gap was of more concern for ordinary wage earners than any rise or fall in the GDP.



“Likewise any increase in the OPR will not help much too as it will only help those in the higher income brackets,” Wan Suhaimie said.


http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/17/business/6865711&sec=business

Proton-Perodua merger move a tricky affair

By Zuraimi Abdullah
Published: 2010/08/16




Such a union boils down to the will of two key stakeholders: the Malaysian government and Toyota, the world's number one carmaker from Japan




Let's just face it: there will be no merger between Proton Holdings Bhd (5304) and Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) this year or next. But other forms of alliances are probable.



It is not that such a union is too complex to deal with in terms of business culture or managing people integration. It boils down to the will of two key stakeholders: the Malaysian government and Toyota, the world's number one carmaker from Japan.



Also, Proton needs a global partner more than a local partner at this stage if it does not want to be just a "jaguh kampung" and aims to take itself up another level on the international stage (although a successful merger with Perodua will ultimately mean securing Toyota's help to move towards its international goal).



Proton's management can offer many reasons to support a merger, both for the two national carmakers and the domestic automotive industry. Perodua, on its part, can try to thwart the latest merger attempt by stressing (and it has already stressed) that it is not feasible and compatible.

But the management aren't the owners. Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir and his Perodua counterpart, Aminar Rashid Salleh, do not have the final say on a merger although they do have some powers in forming other kinds of consolidation.



As the parties with majority stakes in Proton and Perodua, the government and Toyota (via Daihatsu owns the controlling stakes in Perodua's two manufacturing arms) hold the push button to reinvent the automotive industry in the country.



Looking at things now, it is very unlikely that they will seriously make the push. For one, Proton and Perodua are government-linked companies, so they carry great political baggage.



Is the government willing to make every effort to ensure a merger will work by exorcising the ghost of the past? We are talking about the politically-linked vendors of Proton and Perodua.



Some quarters said the equity deal with Volkswagen AG talked about not so long ago failed because of, among other reasons, fears that many Proton vendors would go bust if the German carmaker took over. Volkswagen would probably cut down the number of vendors substantially or replace some with more credible ones to streamline and maximise Proton's production.



In the case of Toyota, there are strong push factors why it would want to merge its lucrative and virtually trouble-free Perodua business with Proton's.



Would the government, through Khazanah Nasional Bhd, be willing to offer Toyota a substantial stake in Proton to make the merger work? Would Toyota be happy if the government only gave it control over the manufacturing aspects and not the whole group?



The push from the government and Toyota aside, a Proton-Perodua merger may be good after all. The rhetoric of any merger has largely to do with cost-savings and synergies. This could happen to Proton and Perodua once they merge. But it still may not address Proton's spare capacity problem.



The two companies do not have much to offer each other. Perodua may offer the merged entity its work culture and quality control; and Proton, its more expansive research and development (R&D) and Lotus technical departments for parts and engineering.



The two may be able to save money and time on product R&D and assembly. In the long run, they can complement each other by producing models uniquely theirs. In other words, both can retain their existing identities. They can also keep their production, sales and distribution networks, which will help avert significant job cuts and closing of outlets.

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/mond15/Article/

Khazanah kuasai lebih 95% kepentingan dalam Parkway

17/08/2010 11:30am





KUALA LUMPUR 17 Ogos – Khazanah Nasional Bhd. (Khazanah) melalui Integrated Healthcare kini menguasai lebih 95 peratus kepentingan dalam Parkway Holdings.



Khazanah pada Mei lalu, menawarkan untuk mengambil alih 51 peratus ekuiti kepentingan dalam Parkway milik Singapura pada harga RM2.78 bilion (S$1.18 bilion).



Pada masa itu, Integrated Healthcare hanya menguasai 23.9 peratus kepentingan dalam Parkway yang mengendalikan sebanyak 16 buah hospital di Asia dan kejayaan dalam penguasaan itu akan merealisasikan usaha Khazanah menjadi pemain utama di peringkat serantau. – Utusan

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=0817&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Terkini&pg=bt_05.htm

Khazanah said to have agreed to S$1.85b loan for Parkway bid

Published: 2010/08/05


Australia & New Zealand Banking, CIMB, DBS, OCBC, UOB, Maybank, HSBC and BNP Paribas will lend to the company, sources say




Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, agreed to S$1.85 billion (RM4.33 billion) in loans to part-finance its offer for Parkway Holdings Ltd, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.



Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, DBS Group Holdings Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, United Overseas Bank Ltd, Malayan Banking Bhd, HSBC Holdings plc and BNP Paribas SA will lend to the company, the people said, asking not to be named because the deal is private.



The facility has a three-year maturity, two of the people said. It pays interest of 125 basis points more than the Singapore dollar swap offer rate, one of the people said. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.



Khazanah said on July 26 that it offered S$3.5 billion (RM9 billion) for the shares in Singapore-based Parkway that it doesn't already own, topping a bid from India's Fortis Healthcare Ltd. It raised S$1.5 billion (RM3.5 billion on Tuesday from five- and 10-year Islamic bonds in the city state's largest sale of the securities.









Asuki Mohd Abas, a spokesman for Khazanah, declined to comment on the company's financing arrangements.



Khazanah's non-recourse loan is through Integrated Healthcare Holdings Ltd, the unit that's making the Parkway bid, one of the people said yesterday. Integrated Healthcare





Read more: Khazanah said to have agreed to S$1.85b loan for Parkway bid http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/khaz4-2/Article/#ixzz0vpBLAoR2

Malaysia must tap oil palm biomass potential

Published: Monday August 2, 2010 MYT 2:27:00 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIA needs to tap the full potential of oil palm biomass such as empty fruit bunches, palm fibre, palm kernel shells and palm oil mill effluent which can be developed into high-income generating renewable resource products for export, said Plantation Industries and Commodities secretary-general Datuk Wira Ismail Salleh.
Of the total output from the oil palm tree, about 10% is palm oil while the remaining 90% is in the form of oil palm biomass which has yet to be exploited.

Last year, the local oil palm sector generated an estimated 80 million tonnes of biomass, Wira said at the opening of the two-day Second International Conference on Oil Palm Biomass today.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/2/business/20100802143416&sec=business

Tanjong jumps to record on buyout offer

Published: 2010/08/02


Tanjong Plc, a Malaysian power and gaming company, surged to a record in Kuala Lumpur trading after a group led by billionaire T. Ananda Krishnan offered RM4.7 billion (US$1.5 billion) for full control.



The stock jumped 20.4 per cent to RM21.26 at 9:02 am local time, set for a record close.



Krishnan and associated parties bid RM21.80 a share for the 53 per cent of Tanjong they don’t already own, according to a company statement. -- Bloomberg


http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20100802091253/Article/index_html

Pelabur asing tidak ada wang untuk melabur - Dr. Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR 1 Ogos - Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad berkata, kemerosotan pelaburan langsung asing (FDI) ke negara ini disebabkan pelabur asing seperti dari Amerika Syarikat (AS) dan Eropah tidak mempunyai wang untuk dilaburkan.



Bekas Perdana Menteri memberitahu, pelabur terbabit juga memerlukan wang yang mereka ada untuk dilaburkan di dalam negara sendiri berikutan keadaan ekonomi yang semakin teruk terutama di Eropah dan AS.



''Keadaan ekonomi Eropah dan AS amat terjejas berikutan krisis kewangan yang melanda negara terbabit sehingga ramai rakyatnya tidak mempunyai pekerjaan.



''Kebanyakan pelabur terpaksa menumpukan kepada pelaburan di dalam negara masing-masing kerana ia amat diperlukan di sana, ini bermakna mereka tidak akan membuat pelaburan besar di negara lain,'' katanya.



Beliau yang merupakan Pengerusi The Loaf berkata demikian kepada pemberita selepas melancarkan cawangan keempat The Loaf di IOI Boulevard di Puchong dekat sini hari ini.



Turut hadir isteri beliau, Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Mohd. Ali dan Pengarah Urusan The Loaf, Jiro Suzuki.



Dr. Mahathir mengulas mengenai Malaysia mencatat kejatuhan FDI sebanyak 81 peratus tahun lalu kepada AS$1.38 bilion (RM4.22 bilion) berbanding AS$7.31 bilion (RM23.39 bilion) pada 2008 yang merupakan rekod terburuk dialami negara sejak 15 tahun lalu.



Sehubungan itu, beliau meminta kerajaan mengkaji bagi meningkatkan pelaburan dalam negeri seperti yang dilakukan oleh negara-negara lain.



Sementara itu, mengenai The Loaf, Dr. Mahathir memberitahu, kedai roti premium berasaskan resipi Jepun itu menerima banyak permohonan untuk memfrancais jenama kedai tersebut termasuk dari Singapura dan Indonesia.



''Memang menjadi hasrat The Loaf untuk memfrancais perniagaan tetapi masanya belum tiba, memandangkan pihak pengurusan perlu mendapatkan data yang tertentu bagi memastikan ia akan memberi keuntungan mencukupi.



''The Loaf perlu memastikan bahawa jenama ini mampu menarik pelanggan setiap masa dan dapat mencatatkan keuntungan yang maksimum, bagi memastikan setiap kedai francais yang dibuka akan dapat keuntungan sewajarnya,'' katanya.



Beliau memberitahu, usaha untuk memfrancais The Loaf akan dibuat secepat mungkin selepas semua data dan jenama itu mendapat pengiktirafan sewajarnya daripada pelanggan.



Dr. Mahathir memberitahu, adalah tidak rasional untuk The Loaf mengendalikan semua cawangannya dan cara terbaik ialah melalui francais yang dilakukan pada masa yang sesuai.



The Loaf juga akan membuka cawangan kelima di Bangsar sebelum akhir tahun ini.
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=0802&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Muka_Hadapan&pg=mh_04.htm