Datuk Seri Shahrizat leaving as Women, Family and Community Development Minister
Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has announced that she will step down as minister when her senatorship ends on 8 Apr. UMNO leaders, including its president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, welcomed her decision, saying it was an appropriate thing to do. Wanita UMNO leaders lamented that Shahrizat’s resignation was a big loss but were grateful that she was still their chief. (The Star)
RM139bn boost for Johor
A total of 59 projects are expected to bring in RM139.3bn in investments by 2020 and create 68,000 job opportunities in Johor, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. He noted that the projects, under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), would not only change Iskandar Malaysia’s landscape but also Pangerang in the South East and Mersing in the North East. The 27 entry point projects (EPP) would cover the education, tourism and the oil and gas sectors while the 32 Quality Living Projects under the Johor Baru transformation plan would cover safety and security, improvements in living standards in the city and also its road and transport systems. (The Star)
Qantas plan in jeopardy as MAS talks fail on trade terms
Qantas Airways Ltd’s plans to set up a full-service carrier in Asia to reverse losses on international routes have been set back after talks with Malaysian Airline System Bhd collapsed. The companies couldn’t agree on commercial terms, the Sydney-based airline said in a statement last Friday. The company said it will examine other opportunities for a venture in Asia involving minimal capital. (Malaysian Reserve)
Eversendai has bid for RM800m worth of jobs locally
Eversendai Corp Bhd has another RM800m worth of jobs that it has bid for in Malaysia, which includes some work for the new MRT line. Fresh from its Tanjung Bin project win, group managing director Datuk AK Nathan said of the RM12bn it has bid for, about 10% is for businesses in Malaysia while the rest are mainly in the Middle East. He added that financing for its projects would mainly be via banks. (BT)
Eng Kah moves into China with Cosway
Eng Kah Corp Bhd, one of the largest contract manufacturers for personal care and household products in the country, is banking on a joint venture partner Cosway Corp Ltd’s aggressive expansion in China to further boost its bottom line. The two companies, Cosway and Eng Kah, via a 70:30 joint venture company, have set up a plant in China to manufacture personal care and household products for Cosway’s stores there. (Financial Daily)
DRB-Hicom, VW target 40% local content in 12-18 months
Volkswagen AG and DRB-Hicom are targeting at localizing 40% of the automotive components in the next 12 to 18 months, said Dr Christof Spathelf, senior vice-president, group manufacturing overseas of Volkswagen AG. The Passat 1.8 TSI is the first of a few Volkwagen vehicles to be assembled at the DRB-Hicom Automotive Complex in Pekan and the group is currently investigating the potential export of Passat to other countries of Asean. (Financial Daily)
Putrajaya is reviewing the eight-month-old Malaysia Airlines-AirAsia alliance as it has failed to show any promised improvement or lift the morale of the 20,000-strong staff in the flag carrier that lost RM2.52bn in 2011. The Najib administration is also considering taking MAS private by directing state asset manager Khazanah Nasional Berhad buy back a 20.5% stake exchanged with Tune Air Sdn Bhd, the majority owner of AirAsia, for 10% stake in Southeast Asia‘s largest budget carrier. ―Datuk Seri Najib Razak is not happy with MAS‘s performance which he was told would improve after the share swap,‖ a government source told The Malaysian Insider. He confirmed that the MAS Employees Union (Maseu) had met and urged the prime minister to unravel the deal, which will break MAS into separate long- and short-haul operations. ―The prime minister wants to see the full picture of the deal and find the best way forward for MAS especially since the union has expressed concerns.‖ The MAS management, under managing director Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, has had townhall meetings with the staff, some of whom are unhappy with Rashdan‘s management style. ―There are some valid concerns as they feel he isn‘t a people person and that is important in a service industry,‖ the source said. Another area of concern is the talk of being redeployed outside MAS to the short-haul premium airline headed by Rashdan as that would mean a loss of benefits. MAS has slightly more than 20,000 staff although former MD Datuk Seri Idris Jala had cut it down to 17,000 when he left in 2009. Industry analysts say the flag carrier could just do with one-third of its current staff especially with cuts in routes in the past six months. Cutting staff could improve costs but is seen as a major political liability in Selangor, where MAS has most of its operations and the state that Najib wants to win back in the next elections. MAS hopes to finalise and announce a plan to raise funds and strengthen its balance sheet within the next 60 days. This is critical as the carrier‘s plan to deploy 23 new aircraft this year would cost some RM6bn. (Malaysian Insider)
AirAsia X will reportedly face a financial penalty if it withdraws from Kuala Lumpur-Christchurch sector before April 2013. Christchurch International Airport stated the carrier would need to refund the airport for costs of a joint marketing plan if it cancels the service before it has been operated for two years. AirAsia X reportedly plans to withdraw from the route but has not yet made an official announcement. The service was launched on 1 April 2011. (Fairfax NZ News)
Securities Commission (SC) MD Datuk Ranjit Ajit Singh has been appointed chairman of the regulator with the retirement of Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, whose term expires on March 31. Ranjit is recognised internationally for his expertise in securities regulation. The SC said in a press release that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had appointed Ranjit to succeed Zarinah as chairman while fellow managing director Datuk Dr Nik Ramlah Mahmood had been appointed to the post of deputy chief executive. Their appointments take effect from April 1. (Starbiz)
Independent local palm oil refiners are pushing for the abolishment of duty-free export quota for crude palm oil (CPO) and crude palm kernal oil (CPKO), given yearly to selected local plantation companies with refineries overseas. Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia (PORAM) chief executive officer Mohamad Jaaffar Ahmad said they support the abolishment to help secure a steady supply of feedstock for local refiners affected by Indonesia's latest low palm oil export duty structure. Total operating refining capacity in Malaysia, currently at 23.97m tonnes, was more than enough to refine the total CPO production in the country. However, at the current forecast CPO production of 19.36m tonnes minus about 3m tonnes of CPO duty-free export quota, local palm oil refiners would only have an average refining capacity utilisation rate of 68%. Last year, Malaysia imported a total 1.30m tonnes of CPO, mainly from Indonesia. Mohamad Jaaffar Ahmad pointed out that if Indonesia's refining capacity improved and the export duty differential continued to favour processed palm oil in the republic, local refiners did not expect Indonesia to export more CPO this year. The average refining margin for 2011 was only 1.4% or RM45.14 to the cost of one tonne of CPO. However, the margin turned negative this year to -RM18.81 in January and -RM18.66 in February. (StarBiz)
Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGVH) and its partners are looking to sell their controlling 17% stake in Australia Agricultural Co Ltd (AAco), the largest beef-cattle producing company Down Under, sources said. "The block has been up for sale for some time now, and FGVH hopes to conclude the sale before its planned initial public offering," the source said. Australia-listed AAco now trades at around A$1.30 per share, with a market capitalisation of A$410m (RM1.3bn). The reason for the sale, however, is not clear. (StarBiz)
Malaysia Smelting Corp (MSC) has entered into a Strategic Alliance Agreement with Optima Synergy Resources to boost its business prospects in the Indonesian mining sector. The alliance is to enable its 75%-owned mining and smelting company PT Koba to secure an extension on an existing contract of work from the Indonesian government or a new mining permit over the existing work area for 10 years, through joint efforts between ORSL and MSC. (Malaysian Reserve)
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which is charged to lead the development of the proposed prime township sited at Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) land in Sungai Buloh, Selangor, is expected to start distributing portions of the long-awaited project by June. EPF CEO Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said it will start calling for tenders, which are open to all strong property developers in the country to participate in. "The project is going through some legal issues and then it will go through the bidding process. "The development will be spread out over several phases and each phase will be around 12.15ha-20.25ha portions for the development of projects from commercial, residential, industrial, affordable housing and shophouses," he told BT in an interview at EPF's headquarters here recently. Previously managed by RRIM, the 1,215ha land was slated for development over the next 10-15 years, as announced in the 2010 Budget , but until now the project has not taken off. On May 12, 2010, the government had approved the proposal for the development of the Sungai Buloh land by Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the EPF. (BT)
British American Tobacco announced the retirement of its chairman and director Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman. Abu Talib currently holds a direct interest in the company through 51,000 shares. (Malaysian Reserve)
With close to 2,600 high-end condominiums scheduled for completion in Kuala Lumpur this year, the outlook for the luxury condominium market in the capital city is expected to be challenging. ―Bank Negara is keeping a close eye on the mortgage loan market on concerns of rising household debt-to-gross domestic product levels and has issued new guidelines to further tighten lending with effect from Jan 1,‖ said property consultancy Knight Frank, in its Second Half 2011 Real Estate Highlights report. ―This will inevitably have a negative impact on this sector as demand turns cautious with further pressure expected on prices and rentals of high-end condominiums in selected locations and schemes.‖ (Starbiz)
SP Setia, which made two bids of £262m (RM1.2bn) and £324m (RM1.5bn) last year for London's Battersea Power Station site, is said to be keen to make a fresh bid for the ongoing sales tender exercise for the 15.8ha (39.1 acres) freehold site. (Starbiz)
Parkson Holdings Bhd will invest some RM3bn to develop a chain of 10 shopping complexes by 2020. The development and management of the mall, which will be under Festival City Sdn Bhd, will open in major cities within the country and carry the Festival City brandname. Group MD Datuk Alfred Cheng this is a natural extension of its enormous retail experience and to create a new and steady source of income. ―Within the next three years, we expect to have two more malls and, within 10 years, 10 malls in total in Malaysia,‖ he said. It was reported that Parkson was finalising a second mall that will be located in Malacca. ―Each mall will cost between RM250m and RM300m,‖ Cheng said. ―We will only be in major cities for a start,‖ he added. Cheng also did not discount the fact that it could buy an existing mall but said that it would focus on developing its own mall. Meanwhile, Cheng said KL Festival City will post a earnings before tax and interest of RM20m in the first year of operations. The mall's tenants are expected to rake in a total of RM300m in sales in during the same period. (BT)
Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd plans to invest RM60m in the next two years to open new stores and refresh some of its existing stores. However, Tesco Malaysia, which operates 45 stores in the country, did not provide further details on its upcoming stores. (Starbiz)
Naim Holdings expects to rope in RM300m in sales this year on the back of an ‗aggressive‘ property develop plan. The group is in the midst of making inroads in the upcoming Bintulu property market by leveraging its landbank in the prime location of the Bintulu Airport. To date, the group owns approximately 2,900 acres of landbank in Sarawak, with about 1,000 acres in Bintulu. (Malaysian Reserve)
Malaysian retailers sold RM83.2bn worth of items in 2011, as retail sales grew higher than the anticipated 8.1% growth. Nevertheless, the projected retail sales growth for 2012 will remain at 6% translating into RM88.2 bn in value as the European debt crisis and job uncertainties linger and credit card spending reduces. Retail Group Malaysia (RGM) tabulated retail sales numbers on behalf of the Malaysia Retailers Association (MRA). The data did not take into account big ticket items like houses and cars. The Malaysia Retail Industry Report this year showed that retailers remained optimistic of businesses for the first quarter of 2012 after chalking 11.5% growth in the fourth quarter of 2011. For the January to March 2012 period, retailers see sales rising by 12.1% while RGM remains a little conservative and expects that retail sales will grow by a tenth. (BT)
Honda Malaysia targets to achieve sales of 46,500 units this year, 31% higher than last year‘s 32,482 units. The target was based on the continuity of buyers sentiment and exciting line-up of new models for both regular and hybrid vehicles in the pipeline. Honda estimates the total industry volume to reach more than 618,000 units and targeting to achieve 7.5% of the TIV. (Bernama)
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