TheEdge 100222

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m

ISSUE 328/2022

CEOMorningBrief

DISPUTE BETWEEN AXIATA AND TUNE TALK SHAREHOLDERS
ON STAKE SALE PENDING ARBITRATION IN AIAC p4

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m

ISSUE 328/2022

CEOMorningBrief
HOME: Combination of Sinovac and Pfizer proven less effective to fight Omicron, says Pharmaniaga p2
Maxis in talks with govt to determine 5G roll-out — CEO p5

DOSM: Malaysia’s wholesale, retail trade record highest monthly sales
value at RM120.5b in December 2021 p7

Govt agrees to subsidise 60 sen per kg for chickens, 5 sen per egg for poultry farmers p7
WORLD: UK’s Johnson plans to end Covid-19 isolation rules this month p16

Najib to ‘strongly challenge’ Mareva
injunction freezing his assets

Report on Page 3.

SUHAIMI YUSUF/THE EDGE

Three office towers
formerly owned by
Telekom are for sale

Report on Page 3.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022 2 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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[email protected] Selangor, Malaysia

Combination primary two doses of Sinovac Covid-19 vac- Malaysia’s daily
of Sinovac and cine with the booster shot of Pfizer produced Covid-19 cases rise
Pfizer proven less an antibody response similar to a two-dose to 17,134; average
effective to fight mRNA vaccine. hospital occupancy
Omicron, says rate reaches 70%
Pharmaniaga The country’s sole distributor of Sinovac
vaccine also noted thatYale University School BY SYAFIQAH SALIM
BY SULHI KHALID of Medicine Immunobiology ProfessorAkiko theedgemarkets.com
theedgemarkets.com Iwasaki, in her officialTwitter account said,
“Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine’s two-dose recip- KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9):The new wave
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Pharmania- ients boosted with Pfizer mRNA vax, prior of infection is gaining strength in Malaysia.
ga Bhd, citing a study conducted by Yale infection made no difference to the neutral- The daily new infection figure has stayed above
University, said that two doses of Sinovac isation capacity against Omicron.” 10,000 for four consecutive days.
Covid-19 vaccine with a Pfizer-BioNTech
booster dose are less effective and produces Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical company The country’s daily number of new Cov-
a lower immune response against the Omi- pointed out that separate research by Sino- id-19 cases climbed further to 17,134 on
cron variant compared with other strains. vac Biotech Ltd shows that three doses of Wednesday (Feb 9) — the highest level since
Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine produced higher Sept 17 last year when there were 17,577 cases.
On the other hand, Pharmaniaga, which neutralising antibodies in 95% of recipients It is almost 23% from 13,944 the day before.
is the licensed distributor of Sinovac vaccine compared with 3.3% by the second dose
in Malaysia, highlighted that a separate re- against a variant of concern (VOC), includ- Of the 17,134 daily cases reported on
search by Sinovac Biotech Ltd shows that ing Omicron. Wednesday, 86 cases (0.5%) are in Categories
three doses of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine 3, 4, and 5; while 17,048 more cases (99.5%)
produced higher neutralising antibodies in “As the world continues to combat the consist of Categories 1 and 2, according to
95% of recipients compared with 3.3% by emergence of new Covid-19 variants, the Health directorTan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Ab-
the second dose against a variant of concern results support a three-dose immunisation dullah in a statement.
(VOC), including Omicron. regimen to ensure greater protection against
Covid-19, a finding which aligns with the Daily Covid-19 recoveries stood at 5,681.
Based on these findings, the pharmaceu- advice of the World Health Organization This brought the latest tally of recoveries so
tical company stressed that getting a Sinovac (WHO) and local health authorities around far to 2.829 million versus 2.956 million con-
Covid-19 booster is highly recommended the world for all types of Covid-19 vaccines,” firmed coronavirus infections.
for those who have completed their prima- its spokesperson, Pearson Liu said.
ry vaccination, which offers better protec- Click here to read the full story
tion by creating an antibody response and Recently, Khairy said the Ministry will
providing good protection, especially against now allow all Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine re- Covid-19 cases and vaccination
severe disease. cipients to choose their preferred booster progress in Malaysia
shot, but still highly recommends Pfizer or
Pharmaniaga’s statement contradicts AstraZeneca. On Feb 8, 2022
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s re-
mark made in November last year to the According to him, a total of 3.5 million Daily Covid-19 deaths 13
Malaysian public that “for Sinovac recipi- Sinovac recipients have yet to receive booster Active cases 83,071
ents, a Pfizer booster is the best choice to shots. Currently, some 12.616 million adults Daily vaccine doses administered 152,358
increase your level of protection”. or 53.9% of the adult population in Malaysia Daily booster administered 140,381
have received their booster shots. % of adult population received
“Many who (are) already qualified for two-dose vaccination 98.0
the booster are waiting for a Sinovac booster Shares in Pharmaniaga settled five sen or % of adult population received 53.9
to be approved. Don’t wait.Take the Pfizer 0.67% higher at 75 sen onWednesday, giving booster shots
booster that is being offered. It’s very effective it a market capitalization of RM982 million.
and safe” said Khairy onTwitter on Nov 16. On Feb 9, 2022
Number of new cases 17,134
In a statement, Pharmaniaga said the Local cases 17,004
research conducted byYale University, the Imported cases 130
Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Health Category 1 and 2 patients 17,048
and other institutions, demonstrated that the (no symptoms, mild symptoms) (99.5%)
Category 3, 4 and 5 patients 86
(0.5%)
(with pnemonia, pneumonia requiring

oxygen therapy, critical and requiring

assisted ventilation) 5,681
Number of new recoveries

Source: Ministry of Health

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022 3 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Menara ABS Three office properties — on behalf of the sukukholders,
Bhd (MABS), a trust-owned special-pur- towers formerly CBRE|WTW was in early June last year
pose entity sponsored byTelekom Malaysia engaged to plan and drive asset leasing to
Bhd, intends to sell three of the four office owned by dispose of the unsold properties on the open
buildings that it owns. Telekom are market, according to RAM Ratings.

The three office buildings are MenaraTel- for sale CBRE|WTW noted that Menara TM,
ekom Malaysia (TM), MenaraTM Semarak an iconic building that serves as TM head-
andWismaTMTaman Desa, according to a BY SULHI KHALID quarters, has undergone a capital expendi-
press statement issued by RealtorWTW Real theedgemarkets.com ture (capex) of RM17.25 million in the past
Estate Sdn Bhd (CBRE|WTW), which has three years, with upgrades made to the me-
been appointed as the exclusive marketing Under the sale & purchase agreement chanical and electrical systems — including
agent offering the office towers for sale via an signed in January 2008, MABS bought over an improved and modernized building lifts.
Expression of Interest andTender exercise. the Menara TM,Wisma TM Taman Desa
and Cyberjaya Complex at a total consid- It is one of the top 10 tallest buildings
“The properties form part of the portfolio eration of RM850 million. On top in Malaysia and it has an established En-
of Islamic Sale and Leaseback transactions in- of that, under a separate agreement, ergy Management System (EMS) which
volved in the issuance of Islamic Asset Backed MABS also acquired Menara Cel- includes having an Energy Management
Sukuk Ijarah (known as “ABS Fund”). com,which is known as MenaraTM team and Energy Policy to increase build-
Semarak, from Telekom Malaysia ing efficiency, reduce operational costs and
“The ABS Sukuk holders have signed for RM150 million. reduce environmental impact.
a Master Ijarah Agreement and invested
into the ABS fund which is due to expire Under MABS, the RM1 bil- Menara TM Semarak is a 22-storey
on Jan 15, 2023,” CBRE|WTW said in lion Sukuk was raised via three building with an annexed six-storey of-
the statement. tranches, tranche A of RM345mil,
tranche B of RM185mil and an un- fice building and five levels of base-
The original owner of these properties is rated tranche C of RM500mil. Both ment car park.
Telekom Malaysia. MABS was formed to Tranche A and C Wisma TM Taman Desa is
facilitate the securitisation of four proper- will be maturing in a 12½-storey office building
ties — Menara TM, Menara Celcom,TM January 2023. together with two levels of
Taman Desa andTM Cyberjaya. basement car park situated
As Telekom in the commercial area of
To recap, in 2008, Telekom Malaysia Malaysia decid- Taman Desa.
raised RM1 billion from the off-balance ed not to exer- The closing date for
sheet based asset securitisation that in- cise its rights to the first stage of the sale
volved the sale and leaseback of four of buy back the four for Menara TM is 12pm
its buildings to MABS. on March 18 while the
deadline for the other
The major holders of the sukuk issued two properties (Menara
by MABS are Lembaga Tabung Haji, the TM Semarak andWis-
Employees Provident Fund and Kumpulan maTMTaman Desa)
Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan), with the is 12pm on March 31.
pilgrim fund subscribing to RM500 million
of the sukuk, based on news report.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Datuk Seri Najib to ‘strongly allows him to withdraw RM100,000
Najib Razak’s lawyer said the former Prime challenge’ monthly from his bank accounts to
Minister will “strongly challenge” the in- Mareva meet his expenditure or living expens-
junction granted by the High Court that injunction es. Should he require more, he has to
effectively freezes his assets. apply to 1MDB’s solicitors.
freezing his assets
The ex-parte Mareva injunction, ob- 1MDB and its subsidiaries had in May
tained by 1Malaysia Development Bhd BY SHAZNI ONG last year filed a multi-billion dollar suit
(1MDB) and four of its subsidiaries on theedgemarkets.com against the former Prime Minister and
Tuesday (Feb 8), freezes Najib’s assets in several other defendants who were for-
relation to their claim of US$681 million. son where legal action is before the court. mer directors or advisers in the company.
It is to prevent the transfer of assets that
The injunction limits Najib’s monthly may include money held in banks or fi- 1MDB and its subsidiaries claim that
bank withdrawals to RM100,000. nancial institutions. US$681 million was misappropriated and
transferred to Najib’s accounts.
“He (Najib) will without a doubt 1MDB along with Global Diversified
strongly challenge the injunction,” Mu- Investment Company Ltd (previously FollowingTuesday’s Mareva injunction,
hammad Farhan Shafee, a member of Na- known as 1MDB Global Investment Ltd the court fixed Feb 21 to hear Najib should
jib’s legal team, told The Edge. or 1MDBGIL) and three other units, filed he contest the injunction
the injunction through Messrs Skrine.
Farhan said his firm has received the Najib had filed an application to stay
court order but understands that it has A file search online revealed that the the hearing of the 1MDB suit, and that
yet to be served on the former premier. Mareva injunction against Najib only application has been fixed for Friday.

The Edge is given to understand that Court documents sighted byThe Edge
the injunction applies worldwide and cov- indicate that Najib’s conviction in the SRC
ers only Najib even though other former International Sdn Bhd case — which had
directors and advisers are also named in him sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined
the 1MDB suit. RM210 million — was one of the rea-
sons that prompted 1MDB to apply for
A Mareva injunction is a court order the Mareva injunction.
that effectively freezes the assets of the per-

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022 4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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Apex court It was reported that CAT had allowed Dispute between
confirms RM10m MAS and AirAsia’s appeals to lift the fine, Axiata and
fines on AirAsia while MyCC filed a judicial review at the TuneTalk
High Court, where it reversed the CAT
and MAS to be decision.The appellate court however, as shareholders on
set aside mentioned, overturned the High Court stake sale pending
decision, resulting in this appeal.
BY HAFIZ YATIM arbitration
theedgemarkets.com Earlier, MyCC counsel Datuk Seri Go- in AIAC
pal Sri Ram, who appeared with Datuk
PUTRAJAYA (Feb 9) :The Federal Court Lim Chee Wee and Kwan Will Sen said BY ADAM AZIZ
on Wednesday (Feb 9) rejected an appeal MyCC as a regulatory body is able to take theedgemarkets.com
by the Malaysia Competitions Commission action and hence, also file a judicial review.
(MyCC) to re-impose a RM10 million fine KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): The
each on AirAsia Bhd and Malaysian Airline Sri Ram added that the Court of Ap- shareholder dispute on the divest-
System Bhd (MAS), which had been levied peal bench that heard the MAS and AirA- ment of Celcom Axiata Bhd’s 35%
in 2014 after the commission found that the sia appeal was wrong as it had considered stake inTuneTalk Sdn Bhd has been
two airlines had violated competition laws the formation of the Malaysian Aviation brought to the Asian International
during their short-lived collaboration in 2012. Commission in 2016, and applied it ret- Arbitration Centre (AIAC).
rospectively after the fine was imposed.
A three member bench led by Court of A group of Tune Talk sharehold-
Appeal presidentTan Sri RohanaYusuf unan- “As MyCC is a regulatory authority, it ers, who collectively hold 30.02%
imously dismissed the appeal by MyCC. has the power to sue and also initiate judicial stake, is trying to block Celcom Ax-
review. It does not comprehend that a regu- iata from selling its 35% stake in the
“The bench agreed with the respond- latory authority cannot review an earlier de- mobile virtual network operator.The
ents (MAS and AirAsia) that this is not cision by CAT to remove the fine,” he said. sale of 35% inTuneTalk forms part
an appropriate case for this apex court of Axiata Group Bhd’s merger plan
to grant leave to meet the requisite (re- Lim concurred, saying the questions of with Digi.Com Bhd. However, the
quirements) of Section 96 of the Courts law posed to the apex court are novel issues remaining 65% stake in Tune Talk
of Judicature Act. Hence, we dismiss both that should be considered and help MyCC held by the other shareholders is left
applications for leave,” she said. as a regulatory authority for future cases. out in the merger talks.

Sitting with her were Federal Court However, AirAsia counsel Datuk Am- The shareholder dispute has
judges Justice Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli biga Sreenevasan said so far, this is the only turned into a court tussle which is
and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan. case where a regulatory authority has chal- now pending arbitration in AIAC.
lenged a decision on its own tribunal that
On April 27, 2021, the Court of Ap- already comprises a High Court judge, a Three shareholders, who are at-
peal had overturned a High Court deci- former Chief Justice, Bank Negara deputy tempting to block the sale of the 35%
sion upholding the decision of MyCC to governor and others. stake in Tune Talk, had earlier filed
impose the fines. an injunction to block the sale.
She added that prior to their collabora-
Justice Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, who tion, both airlines had approached MyCC Lawyer K Shanmuga, who is one
led the appellate bench, had ruled that to ensure they had complied with compe- of the lawyers representing the plain-
MyCC should have abided with the Com- tition law which had been formulated only tiffs — Padda Gurtaj Singh, East Pa-
petitions AppealTribunal (CAT) decision in 2010, and enforced in 2011. cific Capital Pte Ltd andTune Stra-
to lift the fines and not filed a judicial re- tegic Investments Ltd — told The
view to challenge the CAT findings. Hence,she saidAirAsia should not be pun- Edge that the parties involved will
ished when it had consulted with the newly be discussing if the injunction could
The appellate court further ruled that formed regulatory authority in the first place. be amicably resolved.
MyCC cannot challenge its appellate author- Ambiga added that MyCC wanted to use
ity and that the commission is not considered the new law to challenge the airline industry. The plaintiffs will be asking Axi-
an aggrieved party under Order 53 Rule 2, to ata/Celcom to propose suitable un-
initiate a legal challenge against CAT. Logan Sabapathy, who appeared for MAS, dertakings, in lieu of an injunction,
argued that in the collaboration, the nation- to assuage the group of disputing
al carrier did not abandon the four routes shareholders’ concern regarding the
to East Malaysia as claimed but maintained proposed sale and its impact onTune
them when the collaboration did not work out. Talk, Shanmuga said.

He also argued that it was not proper “These injunctions are to last un-
to impose the fine as MAS had undergone til the conclusion of the arbitration,
liquidation. which is now pending a hearing in
the AIAC,” the lawyer added.

Click here to read the full story

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022 5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Maxis Bhd Maxis in talks 1,100 of their base stations are connect-
chief executive officer (CEO) Gokhan with govt to ed via satellite-based very small aperture
Ogut said that the telecommunications determine 5G terminal connectivity.
group is still in the midst of talking with roll-out — CEO
the government to determine the roll-out Meanwhile, its fibre coverage has
of its 5G network to consumers. BY SEAH EU HEN reached more than 21,000km and 5.5 mil-
theedgemarkets.com lion premises, which helped Maxis push
Ogut was fielding questions from the its mobile post-paid and fibre broadband
press at Maxis’ “Rangkaian Kita, Rangka- ZAHID IZZANI MOHD SAID/THE EDGE bundle over the past few years.
ian Malaysia” (RKRM) brand campaign
on Wednesday (Feb 9). Maxis CEO Gokhan Ogut launching the As a result, the company saw a 30%
company’s brand campaign ‘Rangkaian Kita, increase year-on-year to 4.8 million con-
“5G for us is another new technol- verged subscribers in 2021 on both its mo-
ogy which has been coming in the past Rangkaian Malaysia’ in Kuala Lumpur on bile and fibre networks.
25 years like the other [technologies]. It Wednesday (Feb 9).
will definitely be part of our ‘Rangkaian The telecommunications group also
Menyeluruh’ campaign, but it will just be stations currently providing more than 93% expanded its service offerings to include
a part that complements the whole com- 4G network coverage across the nation. a slew of digital solutions for enterprises
prehensive network [strategy]. while being involved in community efforts
According to Maxis, 30% of the group’s to improve digital adoption and connectiv-
“We are looking forward to 5G.We have 4G network saw upgrades in 2021, in line ity for entrepreneurs, youths and students.
been working with our regulators and the with the ongoing National Digital Network
Ministry [of Communications and Multi- (JENDELA) initiative — while more than Maxis highlighted that it wants to pro-
media]. I cannot tell you a time right now vide the most reliable Internet experience
because the discussions are still ongoing. on the go with the most reliable indoor net-
work that offers zero downtime and zero
“What I can tell you is though we are blind spots, as well as promises to offer a
ready to launch 5G anytime that our reg- world-class enterprise-grade network for
ulators and ministry decide that it is the businesses.
right time,” Ogut said.
At the noon break onWednesday, Maxis
Meanwhile, he added that Maxis will shares were trading six sen or 1.41% higher
release its financial results for the fourth at RM4.32, giving it a market capitalisation
quarter ended Dec 31, 2021 (4QFY21) of RM33.8 billion based on 7.83 billion
in two weeks’ time on Feb 23. outstanding shares.

Maxis invested RM27bil over 26 years Based on that share price, the telecom-
Maxis said it had invested RM27 billion in munications group’s dividend yield stood
capital expenditure over the last 26 years in at 3.94%, with its dividends for FY21 so
its network, with over 10,000 mobile base far totalling 12 sen while trading at 25.27
times earnings.

PUTRAJAYA (Feb 9): The Federal Apex court On May 3 last year, the Court of Ap-
Court has upheld the RM9.64 million upholds peal bench upheld the fine imposed by the
fine imposed on MyEG Commerce Sdn RM9.64m High Court and the Competition Appeal
Bhd and MYEG Services Sdn Bhd by Tribunal (CAT) on the two companies.
the Malaysia Competition Commission penalty imposed
(MyCC) for violating competition law on MyEG by Justice Datuk Zabidin Md Diah (now
and having a dominant position in the MyCC Federal Court judge), who led the Court
market. of Appeal bench, had ruled that there
BY HAFIZ YATIM was no irregularity in the High Court
This is in relation to the sale of man- theedgemarkets.com judge’s findings which upheld the deci-
datory insurance for online applications sion by CAT made in 2017.
of Temporary Employment Visit Pass the proceedings which were conducted
(PLKS) for foreign workers. online. “MyEG has abused its position and
not entered a level playing field as their
The unanimous decision on Wednes- They had initially sought to pose five action can harm competition.
day (Feb 9) was made by a three-mem- questions of law regarding the case for
ber panel led by Court of Appeal their appeal to be heard on its merits. “The financial daily penalty imposed
president Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf and by MyCC was not manifestly excessive,”
comprising Federal Court judges Datuk Zulkefli, who was Rohana’s predeces- said the appellate court bench, which
Abdul Rahman Sebli and Datuk Mary sor as Court of Appeal president, had included Justices Datuk S Nantha Balan
Lim Thiam Suan. also argued that the daily penalty im- and Datuk Lee Heng Chong.
posed on his clients for not paying the
The panel agreed with the submis- fine was excessive. MyCC imposed the fines on June 24,
sions by MyCC’s lawyers Datuk Lim 2016, and CAT upheld the decision on
Chee Wee and Kwan Will Sen, who ar- Dec 28, 2017.The High Court dismissed
gued that the case was fact sensitive. MyEG’s judicial review application on
Jan 24, 2019.
The bench ordered the companies to
pay RM30,000 in costs to MyCC. The companies were required to pay
RM2.27 million in 2017, RM4.14 mil-
The two companies were represented lion in 2018 and RM3.23 million in
by Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin 2019, which came to RM9.64 million.
and Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun in They have paid the fines.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022 6 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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AGEING IN A
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In the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic, new
challenges and opportunities have emerged as the
Third Age generation now has to navigate the
new normal of rising interest rates, a growing
need for healthcare and the fast-paced
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THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022 7 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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DOSM: Malaysia’s Govt agrees
wholesale, retail to subsidise
trade record 60 sen per kg
highest monthly for chickens, 5
sales value at sen per egg for
RM120.5b in poultry farmers
December 2021
Bernama
BY ADAM AZIZ
theedgemarkets.com KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9):The Cab-
inet agreed onWednesday to provide a
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Malaysia’s “Expansion of distributive trade sales subsidy of 60 sen per kilogramme (kg)
December 2021 wholesale and retail trade among others [was] fuelled by modest re- to poultry farmers, by taking into ac-
sales value increased 3.5% to a record covery in the labour market and reopening count the farm-level price of live chick-
high of RM120.5 billion from a year ear- of domestic economic activities,” said the ens at RM5.90 per kg and the retail
lier, the Department of Statistics Malaysia research house. price of standard chicken at RM8.90/kg.
(DOSM) said on Wednesday (Feb 9).
“The dragging factors could be due to Agriculture and Food Industries
The previous high of RM117.6 billion high inflationary pressure perception and Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Ki-
was recorded a month earlier in November. flood effects,” it added. andee in a statement said the Cabi-
net also agreed to provide a subsidy
“The increase of 3.5% for wholesale and On the outlook, MIDF Research said of 5 sen per egg from all categories.
retail trade in December was attributed to that consumer spending is set to stay on an
the retail trade sub-sector which recorded upward trajectory for 2022 underpinned “The subsidy period is from Feb
a positive growth with an increase of RM3 by significantly high vaccination rates, im- 5 to June 4, which is during the im-
billion or 3.5% to register RM48.5 billion,” proving labour market, fiscal incentives and plementation of the Keluarga Malay-
DOSM chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr stable inflationary pressure. sia Maximum Price Control Scheme
Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement. (SHMKM),” he said.
“We forecast retail trade to expand by
“Wholesale trade also expanded by 5.5% in 2022. Relaxations of containment According to Ronald, the purpose
4.1% or RM2.3 billion to RM57.6 billion. measures, economic reopening and pro- of the subsidy is to ease the burden of
gressive improvements in macroeconom- farmers following the increase in costs,
“Within the same period, (sales value ic data are staging for a strong consumer especially for feed, which covers 70%
of) motor vehicles went up 1.5% or RM0.2 spending in 4QCY21 as well as for 2022. of production costs apart from logis-
billion to RM14.5 billion,” Mohd Uzir said. tics, labour, utilities and medicines.
“We forecast private consumption to
However, while the wholesale and retail expand by 6% for 2022. With interstate He also hoped that the govern-
trade volume index rose 0.6% year-on- travels allowed, we project the services sec- ment’s intervention through the pro-
year for December, the seasonally adjusted tor to benefit and increase by 7.1% for vision of subsidies to farmers would
volume index fell 0.4% month-on-month 2022,” it said. stabilise the supply and ensure that
from November 2021 as wholesale and re- the people could buy chicken and
tail trade seasonally adjusted volume fell, MIDF Research said the Omicron wave eggs at affordable prices.
offset by improved motor vehicles season- and inflation risks will continue to influ-
ally adjusted volume. ence consumption activities. He said the estimated financial
cost to the government to implement
The latest data brings 4Q2021 sales “Nevertheless, we opine the fading away chicken and egg subsidies nation-
value y-o-y growth to 5.1%, and full-year base effects and the developments in the wide over the four-month period was
2021 growth to 4.4% from the year before global supply chain bottlenecks as reflect- RM528.52 million.
— the latter underpinned by improvement ed in the improving Baltic Dry Index and
in wholesale trade (6.4%) and retail trade Global Supply Chain Pressure Index will He said his Ministry through the
(4.4%) although motor vehicles figures eventually reduce the pressure on general Department of Veterinary Services
dropped (-8.2%). consumer prices going forward,” it said. would also continue to hold engage-
ment sessions with the industry to
As for pre-pandemic comparison, the Additionally, the looming border reo- ensure it remains sustainable and
motor vehicle sector remained below the pening could be a catalyst for the tourism able to meet the local demand.
2019 figure with a contraction of 2%. industry.

MIDF Research sees retail trade up However, the research house does not see
5.5% in 2022 borders to be fully reopened in 1H2022 as
The December 2021 distributive trade sales the Ministry of Health has forecast daily in-
value growth of 3.5% y-o-y was a moderation fection cases to peak at 22,000 by end-March
from 6.5% in November 2021. In a research 2022 while the vaccine roll-out for children
note, MIDF Research said that despite the aged 5 to 11 only started in February 2022.
moderating growth, all three components
improved on a sequential month basis. It may take at least one and a half
months for that demographic to be fully
vaccinated, it said.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022 8 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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CPO futures MPOC: Malaysian She also said the campaign will promote palm
end higher as sustainable oil products by Malaysian manufacturers,where-
Indonesia expands by Lulu Hypermarket will directly source the
export curbs palm oil-based products from participating Malaysian manu-
products to be facturers for promotion at selected Lulu outlets.
Bernama available in Dubai
The MPOC,she said,together with the Min-
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9):The crude BY NURUL HANIS IZMIR istry of Plantation Industries and Commodities
palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bur- Bernama (MPIC) is spearheading Malaysia’s week-long
sa Malaysia Derivatives snapped two trade and business programme — Sustainable
straight days of losses to close higher DUBAI (Feb 9): Malaysian palm oil-based Agricommodities (FoodAgricommodities)Week
on Wednesday, lifted by a news report products will be made available at LuLu Hy- — at the world expo from Feb 7-12, 2022.
that Indonesia, the biggest supplier, is permarkets in Dubai for three months beginning
expanding its palm oil export curbs to Wednesday (Feb 9), following a collaboration The programme highlights Malaysia’s com-
include all palm oil products. sealed between the Malaysia Palm Oil Council modities of palm oil, pepper and cocoa.
(MPOC) and Lulu International Group.
Palm oil trader David Ng said the “MPOC is showcasing the Malaysian palm
news would lift sentiment and push de- The MPOC and the Indian multinational oil industry’s sustainable initiatives and manage-
mand for Malaysian CPO. conglomerate, which operates 224 retail stores ment.Both aspects are vital in ensuring that palm
in 22 countries worldwide, has signed a mem- oil remains the main pillar of the domestic econ-
“We locate support at RM5,450 a orandum of understanding (MoU) during the omy, as well as a globally accepted food source.
tonne and resistance at RM5,800 a opening of the Sustainable Agricommodities
tonne,” he told Bernama. (Food Agricommodities)Week at the Malaysia “The initiatives include a mandatory cer-
Pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai. tification scheme, regulatory guidelines, good
Meanwhile, Singapore-based Palm agricultural practices, and the development
Oil Analytics owner and co-founder Dr As part of the partnership, MPOC’s glob- of cutting-edge technology by the upstream,
SathiaVarqa said the CPO futures made al consumer campaign, called the Malaysian midstream and downstream sectors of the in-
a strong comeback, derailing correction Palm Oil Full of Goodness campaign, was dustry,” she said.
for now, after the Indonesian govern- launched at the Lulu Hypermarket at Silicon
ment expanded the list of export con- Oasis here on Wednesday. The concept of sustainable agri-commodity
trol items covering all palm products. further provides a strong platform for Malay-
“The promotional campaign is an exten- sia in expanding the global market for palm
At the close, the CPO futures con- sion of our activities to promote and spread oil exports,Wan Aishah explained.
tract for February soared RM199 awareness on Malaysia’s sustainable palm oil
to RM5,765 a tonne, March 2022 at Expo 2020 Dubai. “The sector has contributed significantly
increased RM168 to RM5,704 a in providing a continuous inflow of earnings
tonne, April 2022 gained RM145 to “We are happy to partner with Lulu Inter- through the export of the raw commodity and
RM5,594 a tonne, May 2022 climbed national Group, which is a major retail chain value-added products,” she said.
RM117 to RM5,458 a tonne, June in Asia and the Middle East to promote Ma-
2022 was RM99 firmer at RM5,315 a laysia’s sustainable palm oil,” MPOC chief In 2021, palm oil exports earned US$24.6
tonne, and July 2022 improved RM80 executive officerWan AishahWan Hamid said. billion (US$1=RM4.19) for Malaysia.
to RM5,159 a tonne.
Malaysian palm oil exports in 2021 were
Total volume surged to 115,730 recorded at 15.56 million tonnes, while pro-
lots from Tuesday’s close of 102,995 duction was at 18.14 million tonnes.
lots, while open interest expanded to
318,979 contracts from 302,239 con- This also accounted for 24% of the world’s
tracts previously. palm oil production and 31% of exports.
Click here to read the full story
The physical CPO price for Febru-
ary rose RM100 to RM5,820 a tonne. Indonesia set permit The new rules takes effect on Feb 15,
requirements for according to the regulation signed onTues-
all palm product day, and apply to products such as marga-
exports — rine and kernel oils. The permit require-
document ment was previously only set for exports of
crude palm oil (CPO), olein, used cooking
BY FRANSISKA NANGOY & oil and residue.
BERNADETTE CHRISTINA
Indonesia moved to restrict exports of
Reuters palm oil to try to cool down soaring pric-
es of cooking oil at home, which had sent
JAKARTA (Feb 9): Indonesia, the world’s global prices on a rally.
top palm oil maker, had expanded its ex-
port permit requirement for palm oil prod- Late in January, it imposed a so-called
ucts to include other derivatives, a Trade Domestic Market Obligation (DMO),
Ministry regulation reviewed by Reuters on where exporters must sell 20% of their
Wednesday (Feb 9) showed. planned exports at home and with a price
cap to ensure lower retail prices.

Under the new regulation, to secure ex-
port approvals for all palm products, com-
panies must show proof of their domestic
sales of CPO and/or refined, bleached and
deodorised palm olein in accordance with
the DMO requirements.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022 9 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

|P R E S E N T E D B Y |M A I N P A R T N E R |S U P P O R T I N G P A R T N E R |S U P P O R T E D B Y

ENDORSED BY

MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND
LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Best Managed & Sustainable Property Awards (BMSPA) introduced by EdgeProp Malaysia in 2017 to
benchmark Malaysian property management practices against the best-in-class globally, has not only
raised the bar for the industry, but also kick-started the urgently-needed conversation among property
stakeholders for Malaysian real estate to be designed, built and maintained sustainably.
To step up the efforts to promote the awards and its objectives, the awards will now be hosted by
The Edge Malaysia and will assume the name, The Edge Malaysia Best Managed & Sustainable Property Awards.

AWARDS OBJECTIVE HOW TO ENTER Enntoewr !
Promote sustainable real estate in Malaysia Download entry forms on
through recognition of: bmspa.theedgemarkets.com
• Malaysia’s best property management
For enquiries, contact
practices The Edge Corporate Communications at:
• Property in Malaysia designed and built [email protected]

for sustainability SUBMISSION DEADLINE
All entries must reach The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd,
NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES Lobby Level, Menara KLK, No. 1 Jalan PJU 7/6,
Mutiara Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
(NO FEES REQUIRED) by 5pm, Friday, 11 March 2022

• All Residential, Office, Mixed Development, Awards results audited by Deloitte
Specialised and Retail properties managed
in-house/by property building managers

• Strata and Non-strata buildings
• Re-purposed buildings

ALSO OPEN FOR SUBMISSION

(NO FEES REQUIRED)

• The Edge Malaysia’s Responsible Developer:
Building Sustainable Development Award

• The Edge-ILAM Malaysia’s Sustainable
Landscape Award

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HLIB, Kenanga potential smoking ban to have any significant Jerasia Capital
see challenges for impact on our financial year ending Dec units default on
BAT Malaysia in 31, 2022 (FY22) and FY23 forecasts,” said loan repayments
light of smoking HLIB analyst Sophie Chua Siu Li in a note.
BY SULHI KHALID
ban for those HLIB maintained its “hold” recom- theedgemarkets.com
born after 2005 mendation on BAT Malaysia, with a low-
er target price (TP) of RM12.14 from KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): PN17
BY SYAFIQAH SALIM RM14.16 previously due to a lower long- company Jerasia Capital Bhd (JCB)
theedgemarkets.com term growth rate. said three of its wholly-owned sub-
sidiaries have defaulted in their re-
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Hong Leong The government’s recent announcement payment of financing facilities total-
Investment Bank (HLIB) Research and of the plan to prohibit all tobacco and ciga- ling RM74.62 million.
Kenanga Research expect further challeng- rettes products for those born after 2005 will
es for British AmericanTobacco (Malaysia) curb sales, which will likely boost demand The apparel manufacturer and
Bhd (BAT Malaysia) in light of the pro- for illicit products, according to Kenanga. fashion retailer said Canteran Appar-
posal to ban all types of cigarette products el Sdn Bhd (CASB), Jerasia Fashion
for those born after 2005 (a generation “We also view that challenges will be Sdn Bhd (JFSB) and Jerasia Apparel
smoking ban), as well as renewed illegal aplenty given that contraband remains a Sdn Bhd (JASB) have defaulted on
activities as a result of the proposed ban. significant threat as syndicates continue to the repayment of principal and in-
find new avenues to smuggle illicit goods. terest on Tuesday (Feb 8).
The Ministry of Health plans to ban Enforcement activities will likely be lower
the sale of smoking products in order to given the easing of travel restrictions,” said JCB is the corporate guarantor
permanently stop the younger generation Kenanga analyst Ahmad Ramzani Ramli. for the financing facilities granted
from smoking. Minister Khairy Jamaluddin by United Overseas Bank (Malay-
has announced that a new Tobacco and Kenanga cut its TP to RM13.10 from sia) Bhd (UOB), the group said in
Smoking Control Act will be submitted to RM16.70 previously, but maintained its a Bursa Malaysia filing.
Parliament for this purpose, which will also “outperform” recommendation on BAT
regulate the use of vapes and e-cigarettes. Malaysia due to its consistent enticing div- It added:“JCB and its subsidiaries’
idend yields of more than 7%. retail and manufacturing segments in
Although the ban is not expected to Malaysia have been operating under
take effect immediately, HLIB believes that At the midday break on Wednesday adverse financial and operational con-
gradual shrinking of the customer base will (Feb 9), BAT Malaysia had risen by 2.74% ditions since the Covid-19 pandemic.
be detrimental to BAT Malaysia. or 34 sen to RM12.74, giving the group a
market capitalisation of RM3.64 billion. “Due to the prolonged different
“With that, we lower our long-term Read also: phases of Movement Control Order,
growth rate [forecast] for BAT from 2.5% Malaysia plans to outlaw sale of coupled with the temporary closure
to 1%, [but] we make no changes to our tobacco products to those born after of stores, the group’s overall sales
earnings forecasts as we do not foresee the 2005 Click here have plummeted and it was unable to
generate sufficient revenue to meet
Malaysia wants to also ban the sale its repayment requirements.”
of vapes to those born after 2005 —
report Click here JCB said the group, together with
its solicitors, are working towards en-
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): TMC Life TMC Life Sciences gaging with UOB to resolve a debt
Sciences Bhd’s net profit grew 27.85% to net profit up 28% settlement arrangement.
RM6.91 million for the second quarter ended on higher revenue
Dec 31,2021 (2QFY22),from RM5.4 million “In the longer term, a satisfactory
a year prior, on the back of higher revenue. BY IZZUL IKRAM restructuring of the group’s finan-
theedgemarkets.com cial arrangement through a regular-
Earnings per share increased to 0.4 sen isation plan will be implemented to
from 0.31 sen, the group’s bourse filing of Omicron infection in Malaysia. comprehensively address the compa-
showed. “Meanwhile, the group’s expansion pro- ny’s current PN17 status,” it added.

Quarterly revenue rose 21.36% to ject atThomson Hospital Kota Damansara On Jan 21, Jerasia said CASB had
RM59.22 million, from RM48.79 mil- is targeted to begin operations in 3QFY22, defaulted on its repayment of princi-
lion in 2QFY21. which would add significant capacity to pal and interest in financing facilities
the hospital,” the group said. worth RM26.395 million.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net prof-
it surged 70.66% from RM4.05 million in Shares of TMC Life Sciences closed A week prior, JFSB and JASB had
1QFY22, underpinned by higher revenue half a sen or 0.92% higher at 55 sen on defaulted on the repayment of princi-
and lower depreciation, while revenue in- Wednesday (Feb 9), giving the group a pal and interest in two financing facil-
creased 12.41% from RM52.68 million due market capitalisation of RM949.33 million. ities worth RM57.05 million granted
to an increase in hospital and fertility revenue. by HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd.

TMC Life said it foresees continued Shares in Jerasia ended five sen
recovery in the healthcare sector and is or 6.3% lower at 7.5 sen onWednes-
cautiously optimistic of its mid and long- day (Feb 9), valuing the group at
term growth, despite the predicted wave RM5.77 million.

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Hartalega’s target “We [also] downgrade our FY23E net Petronas plans
prices, ratings profit by 8% taking into account: ASP re- new clean
suffer on lower duced from US$27 (RM112.99) to US$26
ASPs, one-off per 1,000 pieces and EBITDA [earnings energy business
prosperity tax before interest, taxes, depreciation and am- in global shuffle
ortisation] margin from 23% to 22%,” said
BY SYAFIQAH SALIM its analyst Raymond Choo Ping Khoon in BY YANTOULTRA NGUI &
theedgemarkets.com a note on Wednesday (Feb 9). GEOFFREY MORGAN
Bloomberg
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Some equi- Kenanga reiterated its “outperform”
ty analysts have lowered their target pric- call for Hartalega, but trimmed its TP to KUALA LUMPUR/TORONTO (Feb
es (TPs) for Hartalega Holdings Bhd while RM7 from RM7.50 based on unchanged 9): Malaysia’s national oil company
others downgraded their ratings as average 17 times calendar year 2022 (CY2022) Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is
selling prices (ASPs) for gloves are expected revised earnings per share (at discount setting up a business unit focusing on
to continue declining, coupled with the one- to five-year pre-Covid forward historical clean energy solutions as part of a global
off prosperity tax from Budget 2022. mean of 26-28 times). operational shuffle.

This came after the glove maker reported Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Petronas chief executive officer (CEO)
a 74.6% drop in net profit to RM259.06 mil- Research left its FY22 forecasts unchanged Tengku Muhammad Taufik announced
lion in the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2021 at RM3.24 billion, but cut its FY23-FY24 the changes in a two-hour long internal
(3QFY22), from RM1 billion a year ago, forecasts by 10-36%. Following the earn- townhall on Tuesday (Feb 8), according
due to lower ASPs and glove sales volume. ings restatement, HLIB has lowered itsTP to recording of the meeting reviewed by
Quarterly revenue fell 52.8% to RM1.01 to RM5.05 from RM6.10 but still rated Bloomberg. He said the launch of the clean
billion from RM2.13 billion. “hold” for the stock. energy solutions business is aimed for as
early as the middle of this year.
Hartalega’s net profit rose 94.3% to “ASPs are expected to continue trending
RM3.46 billion in the nine months ended lower and management expects the ASP for Petronas is also divesting assets in
Dec 31, 2021 (9MFY22) from RM1.77 bil- 4QFY22 to be at circa US$28 level. Mar- Myanmar, Chad and Azerbaijian, ac-
lion,while revenue climbed 57.4% to RM6.92 gins should also continue to narrow, given cording to the people.
billion from RM4.4 billion a year ago. the inflationary pressures (i.e. higher energy
and labour costs), and could potentially dip “Petronas regularly and pro-actively
Kenanga Research said the group’s below that of pre-Covid levels,” according to reviews its business strategy and portfo-
9MFY22 profit after tax and minority in- HLIB analyst Sophie Chua Siu Li. lio in its entirety to ensure that the group
terest (PATAMI) was below the research remains resilient given the continuous-
house’s expectation.With ASPs no longer JF Apex Securities Research also con- ly evolving energy landscape,” Petronas
lofty, the research house said expectations curred with the view, adding that the glove said in an emailed reply to questions on
for disappointment in subsequent quarters sector is experiencing a paradigm shift giv- Wednesday, adding that it is “not in a po-
are expected to be capped. en oversupply conditions stemming from sition to provide details”.
Chinese glove makers.
“9MFY22 PATAMI of RM3,433 mil- The changes announced Tuesday in-
lion (+94% y-o-y) came in below expecta- “We understand that Chinese manufac- clude a shuffle at the helm of Petronas En-
tions, at 91%/96% of our/consensus full- turers’ ASP is about 7% lower than Harta’s ergy Canada, which partnered with Shell
year forecasts. The variance is due to the ASP on average. Chinese manufacturers Plc’s Canadian unit on the LNG Cana-
anticipated one-off prosperity tax in FY22 have received rising orders from overseas da export project on the country’s west
from Budget 2022. markets, benefiting from cheaper glove coast and has proposed a C$1.3 billion
prices offerings. Additionally, the group (RM4.29 billion) petrochemical plant in
“We lowered our FY22E net profit by is also experiencing shortage of foreign the oil and gas-rich province of Alberta.
6% after imputing [a] higher effective tax workers due to closure of international bor-
rate of 30%, compared to 26% previously, ders. Furthermore, raw material costs are Petronas Energy Canada CEO Mark
taking into account the one-off prosperity still sticky thus hampering the group’s op- Fitzgerald will move from Calgary to
tax in Budget 2022. erating margin moving forward,” said its Kuala Lumpur to become Petronas
analyst Nursuhaiza Hashim. Global’s vice president for international
assets, the Canadian unit said by email.
The research house tweaked down its The Canadian unit’s current chief fi-
FY22 and FY23 net profit estimates by nancial officer, Izwan Ismail, will take
7.5% and 52.6% to RM3.7 billion and on the CEO role in Calgary.
RM900 million respectively, by lowering
its margin assumption coupled with lower
sales volume due to delay in commence-
ment of NGC1.5 (Plant 8-11) to fourth
quarter of 2022.

“We maintain ‘hold’ [call] with a low-
er target price of RM5.05 (from RM5.66
previously) following our earnings down-
grade. Our valuation is now pegged at
19.4x FY23 EPS of 0.26 sen (0.56 sen
previously), which is below its mean PE of
33x but higher than -1 standard deviation
of mean PE of 14.2x,” said Nursuhaiza.
Click here to read the full story

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KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Petroliam Petronas appoints during his time as president and CEO has
Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is bringing the Canadian unit been instrumental in positioning Petronas
head of its Canadian subsidiary to Kuala chief asVP of Canada on a trajectory of steady growth,”
Lumpur to serve as its vice president of international Izwan said in the statement.
international assets. assets
“I am proud to have been tasked with
Petronas Energy Canada Ltd president BY ADAM AZIZ building on the solid foundation Mark has
and chief executive officer Mark Fitzgerald theedgemarkets.com established and leading the Petronas Can-
will assume the new position effective April ada team forward. I am keen to meet with
1, said Petronas in a statement. tional experience, Izwan currently leads our partners and stakeholders to discuss
the company’s financial activities and is a shared vision for the future,” he added.
The national energy group said Fitzger- also responsible for our commercial and
ald will be tasked with creating value across marketing functions,” the statement said. Petronas said Canada will “continue
its upstream international portfolio. to play a critical role” in the future of the
Izwan has been with Petronas Canada group globally.
Petronas’ international assets operation is since November 2020, having worked in a
currently led by Mohd Jukris AbdulWahab, series of progressively senior roles within “As a cornerstone for upstream, Petro-
who has held the position since June 2019. Petronas over the last 20 years, it added. nas Canada is well-positioned to provide
global markets with clean and respon-
The group’s upstream operation spans “The leadership that Mark has provided sibly-developed Canadian energy while
across Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe supporting local jobs, working with In-
and Australia, according to its 2020 inte- digenous communities and protecting the
grated report. environment.

Fitzgerald, who has served as Petronas “We continue to be a leader in natural
Canada’s president and CEO since No- gas development and a progressive ener-
vember 2016, will be replaced by the firm’s gy and solutions partner for a sustainable
chief financial officer Izwan Ismail. future,” the group added.

“With more than 20 years of interna-

APHM:
Reopening of
borders will allow
medical tourists to
return to Malaysia

Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): The full re- “We will accept fully vaccinated medical out-sourced patients from 49 Ministry of
opening of the country’s border will allow tourists with a booster dose (preferably) so Health hospitals.
medical tourists to return to Malaysia for that there is less risk of them falling very ill
their medical care which has been halted should there be a Covid-19 infection dur- “We are confident to continue our sup-
since early 2020, president of Association ing the course of treatment and further to port to the government to ease the bur-
of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) protect our local health care providers,” he den as mentioned by the Health Minister
Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said. said in a statement onWednesday (Feb 9). Khairy Jamaluddin in his speech on the
Feb 7. Private hospitals have been included
While welcoming the National Recovery On Tuesday, MPN chairman Tan Sri in the National Covid-19 Rapid Response
Council’s (MPN) recommendation for the MuhyiddinYassin suggested to the govern- Task Force (RRTF) to facilitate this pro-
country’s borders to be fully opened from ment to fully reopen the country’s interna- cess,” he said.
March 1 without the need for mandatory tional borders as early as March 1 without
quarantine, he said it would also help re- the mandatory quarantine requirement. Dr Kuljit said APHM also urged the
vive the medical tourism industry which public to get their booster doses at the
generated RM1.7 billion to the country Meanwhile, Dr Kuljit also noted that earliest.
in 2019. private hospitals in the country are ready to
accept decanted patients from public hos- “It is evident worldwide, complete
He said the association has 151 mem- pitals should there be an unlikely surge of vaccination with boosters has brought
ber hospitals throughout the country with Omicron patients in government facilities. the severity of the pandemic down and it
a majority of them treating medical tour- has encouraged economic recovery with
ists, particularly from the neighbouring He said during the Delta Covid-19 peak the opening of international borders,” he
countries. last year, 113 private hospitals received added.

“However, private hospitals will strictly
adhere to all standard operating procedures
(SOPs) set by the Ministry of Health on
the screening of medical tourists before
accepting medical tourists for treatment.

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KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): The Ma- Mara case: On Tuesday (Feb 8), Bernama had re-
laysian Anti-Corruption Commission MACC records ported MACC Chief Commissioner Tan
(MACC) on Wednesday (Feb 9) record- statements from Sri Azam Baki as saying statements had
ed statements from three more individu- been recorded from seven individuals for
als regarding its investigation into alleged three more the investigation into the case.
wrongdoing and integrity issues involving individuals
several senior officers of Majlis Amanah On Saturday (Feb 5), the MACC con-
Rakyat (Mara). Bernama firmed receiving a report on alleged integ-
rity issues involving several senior officers
MACC Senior Director of Investiga-
tions Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hashim of MARA, who are being investigated
said another 10 individuals had been iden- internally by the agency.
tified to be called in to give statements
pertaining to the case.

“The investigation is expected to take
two weeks starting this week and all the
individuals being called consist of board
members and senior Mara officials.

“This is for us to know whether the pro-
vision of allowances as had been alleged
(in a report received by MACC) had been
approved by the board members or not,”
he told Bernama.

Hishammuddin said MACC also ob-
tained all the necessary documents during
the raids it conducted on both the Mara
and Mara Corporation headquarters, as
well as a corporate secretarial company
on Monday (Feb 7).

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): UMNO UMNO youth of nepotism or cronyism,” he said.
Youth chief Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki was chief AsyrafWajdi “To date the issue of the defamatory
ordered to enter his defence by the KL to file defence in
High Court on Wednesday (Feb 9) in a defamation suit statement specifically regarding nepotism
RM5 million libel suit filed by former and cronyism published by the defendant
health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly BY SHAZNI ONG and/or agents and/or representatives and/
Ahmad, who had also taken a similar legal theedgemarkets.com or administrators of the defendant’sTwit-
action against former premier Datuk Seri ter account is still referred to and used to
Najib Razak, after he alleged nepotism in In the case of AsyrafWajdi, he had com- disprove the credibility of the plaintiff as
the appointment of Dzulkefly’s daughter mented on the issue in a tweet dated Aug a politician by parties concerned.”
to the board of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia. 24, 2020 at 1:13pm. A screenshot of the
tweet was taken in which AsyrafWajdi ap- The former health minister said Nurul
An aide to Dzulkefly, who is also Kua- peared to be referring to a Sinar Harian Iman’s appointment was made before he
la Selangor member of Parliament, told article dated Jan 28, 2019. became a minister, and that her appoint-
theedgemarkets.com that the court ordered ment as director was retained even after the
AsyrafWajdi to file his defence by Feb 23, Dzulkefly complained the content of the Pakatan Harapan government collapsed
and that an extension of time could be libelous tweet was meant to personally at- in 2020.
sought from the court if needed. tack and humiliate the Amanah politician,
who is also the party’s strategic director. Dzulkefly is seeking an injunction from
“Today is the first case management the court to stop AsyrafWajdi or his agents
before senior assistant registrar Nurul Iz- He further claimed that it was political- from publishing and repeating the defam-
zah Hassan Basri. ly motivated, and clearly intended to de- atory statements, general damages of RM5
fame and damage his reputation without million, aggravated and exemplary dam-
“Dzulkefly was represented by Farhana any verification. ages, costs of the action and other relief
Halim from Messrs Farida & Company deemed fit by the court.
and the defendant was represented by Mo- “Prior to publishing the defamato-
hamed Baharudeen Mohamed Arif from ry statement, the defendant had failed Najib has reportedly also been asked
Messrs Shahrul Hamidi & Haziq. and/or neglected and/or deliberately to enter his defence by the High Court.
failed to confirm the truth of the allega- Read also:
“The court has directed the defend- tions made against the plaintiff where- Ex-health minister files RM5m libel
ant to file his defence by Feb 23, and has as the plaintiff had openly denied any suit against Najib Click here
fixed a further case management on Feb wrongdoing and had proved that the
28,” he said. plaintiff did not engage in any practice Najib told to file defence in libel suit
brought on by former health minister
Dzulkefly sued AsyrafWajdi for libel in Dzulkefly Click here
December 2021.The Kuala Selangor law-
maker had also sued Najib over a Facebook
posting he made regarding the appoint-
ment of the former’s daughter Nurul Iman
to the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia board.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

WCE’s CFO Lyndon Alfred Felix to take over as CEO

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): WCE Holdings Bhd has named its chief financial officer
Lyndon Alfred Felix as the highway construction group’s new chief executive officer
(CEO), effective Feb 17. Lyndon will replace Datuk Neoh Soon Hiong, who will retire
as the group’s CEO effective Feb 16, after fulfilling his service contract. The group said
Sisie Lim Shee Shee will be appointed as the general manager of finance and accounts
with effect from Feb 17. According to WCE’s 2021 annual report, Lyndon was
appointed as the group’s chief financial officer on Feb 17, 2014. — by Syafiqah Salim

IPT students to return to campus Two govt agency officials among Eight National Anti-Corruption Plan
in stages beginning March 1 four remanded over graft probe into initiatives successfully implemented
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): The RM300m road slope maintenance
government will allow students of higher project PUTRAJAYA (Feb 9): Eight out of the 82
learning institutions (IPT) under the initiatives outlined in the mid-term review
Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) PUTRAJAYA (Feb 9): Two government of the National Anti-Corruption Plan
to return to campus in stages from agency officials and two company owners (NACP) 2019-2023 have been successfully
March 1, Senior Defence Minister have been remanded for six days to implemented up to the output stage by the
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein assist in an investigation into soliciting lead agencies as of Dec 31, 2021, according
said. However, the numbers will range and receiving bribes for a road slope to the National Centre for Governance,
from 70% to 100%, depending on their maintenance project worth RM300 Integrity, and Anti-corruption (GIACC).
capacities, he said. According to the million. According to Malaysian Anti- GIACC director-general Datuk Seri Mohd
standard operating procedures (SOPs) Corruption Commission (MACC) sources, Sallehhuddin Hassan said 14 out of the
set by MOHE and the MOH, students the four individuals aged between 39 remaining 74 initiatives were in the process
and staff with complete and incomplete and 42 were detained when they turned of being implemented and were expected
vaccination status are allowed to be on up at the MACC headquarters here to to be completed by the middle of this
campus. However, those with incomplete give their statements. The sources said year. In a statement issued by GIACC on
vaccination status are required to obtain the two government agency officials Wednesday (Feb 9), Mohd Sallehhuddin
negative results of RT-PCR tests three are suspected of soliciting and receiving said the successful implementation of the
days prior to returning to the campus. bribes as inducement to help the two initiatives was the result of the positive
They also need to take the RTK-Ag test company owners obtain work related momentum shown by the 27 lead agencies
once a week. As for existing and new to the maintenance of slopes on federal involved. Mohd Sallehhuddin also urged
international students, Hishammuddin and state roads. One of the government all heads of the lead agencies to focus
said only those who had completed officials is attached to an agency in Negeri on the implementation of important
their vaccinations are allowed to enter Sembilan, while the other is based at the initiatives in line with the country’s recovery
Malaysia, and they must undergo Kuala Lumpur headquarters, the sources efforts. Among the agencies involved in
mandatory quarantine for seven or five added. The remand order was issued implementing the NACP initiatives are the
days if they have already received their by magistrate Ahmad Asyraf Mohamed Election Commission, Malaysian Anti-
booster dose.He said IPTs needed to have Kamal in the Putrajaya Magistrate’s Court Corruption Commission, Prime Minister’s
the required capacity to accommodate following an application by the MACC on Department, National Audit Department,
students who attend their classes Wednesday morning (Feb 9). MACC special Finance Ministry and Public Works
physically with strict adherence to the operations division senior director Tan Department. — Bernama
SOPs for teaching and learning (PdP) Kang Sai confirmed the arrests and said the
sessions, while adding they were also case is being investigated under Section 16 Revenue Group to transfer to Main
allowed to conduct the sessions in a (a) (A) of the MACC Act 2009. — Bernama Market on Feb 14
hybrid manner or online. — Bernama
Dr Mahathir close to full recovery, KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Revenue
BERNAMA able to carry out daily activities Group Bhd is slated to transfer to the
Main Market of Bursa Malaysia from the
Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Former Prime ACE Market on Feb 14. In a filing with
Hishammuddin Tun Hussein Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday (Feb 9),
close to full recovery after being discharged the electronic payments firm said its
from the National Heart Institute (IJN) on entire share capital of 466.23 million
Saturday (Feb 5). He said in a video clip shares, together with 156.628 million
uploaded to his Facebook page that he warrants (Warrants 2019/2024), will
could now carry out various daily activities be transferred to the Main Market next
and hoped to fully recover. Meanwhile, Dr Monday.The stock short name, stock code
Mahathir thanked everyone who had prayed and international securities identification
for his health until he managed to recover number (ISIN) code remain unchanged.
from an illness that he described as very Revenue Group was listed on the ACE
bad. Dr Mahathir was previously admitted Market on July 18, 2018 and had proposed
to the IJN to undergo an elective medical the listing transfer on Nov 5, 2020. —
procedure. — Bernama Bernama

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US solar firm solar equipment using raw materials orig- Colony inks co-
seeks tariff action inally from China-based Hoshine Silicon working space
against key Asian Industry Co in an effort to confront al- deal to house
leged human-rights abuses in the Xin-
nations jiang region. Carsome’s
expanded HQ
BY JENNIFER A DLOUHY & BRIAN ECKHOUSE Biden’s measure has led to blocks on
Bloomberg imports of solar modules from key global BY IZZUL IKRAM
producers including Longi Green Energy theedgemarkets.com
(Feb 9): Auxin Solar Inc is asking the Technology Co.
US Commerce Department to inves- KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Colony
tigate possible efforts to circumvent US renewable power advocates have Space Asia Sdn Bhd has signed a six-year
tariffs with the imports of equipment warned that expanded trade barriers co-working space deal with integrated car
from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and threaten to slow the energy transition e-commerce platform Carsome, involv-
Cambodia. and solar installations inside the coun- ing 41,860 sqft of office space across four
try, particularly new curbs on equipment floors of KYMTower in Mutiara Daman-
The company alleges the solar imports produced in Malaysia,Thailand and Vi- sara.
use parts or components from China, etnam.Those countries account for most
and that producers are assembling equip- solar imports by the US. In a statement, Colony labelled the deal
ment in the Southeast Asian nations as as the biggest in Malaysia’s co-working
a way of skirting duties, according to a “This is yet a new risk for the US so- space industry.
filing made to the department in Wash- lar industry,” analysts at Roth Capital
ington, D.C. It follows the department’s Partners said in a note Tuesday. A deci- The office space to house Carsome’s
decision in November not to investigate sion by the Commerce Department on expanded headquarters will be built and
related allegations. whether to initiate an investigation could managed by Colony, said the coworking
likely take months. space provider, adding that Carsome has
Tariffs on Chinese solar products were been one of its anchor tenants in Colony@
first imposed in 2012, while President Joe Chinese firms dominate the manu- Mutiara Damansara since 2019.
Biden’s administration last year banned facture of photovoltaic panels, which is a
multi-step process often done in separate Carsome co-founder and chief exec-
factories that can be located in different utive officer Eric Cheng said the compa-
provinces or even countries. Several sup- ny decided to extend its relationship with
pliers have opened plants in other nations Colony towards keeping up with its office
in recent years for the last stage, assem- needs and growing workforce.
bling the solar modules.
The expansion of Carsome’s headquar-
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9):The Organ- OECD, ASEAN ters follows the company’s achievement
isation for Economic Cooperation and to work on of becoming Malaysia’s first technology
Development (OECD) and ASEAN accelerating unicorn — a start-up company valued at
inked a memorandum of understanding at least US$1 billion — on the back of a
(MoU) aimed to accelerate the region’s region’s digital swap-share deal with internet investment
digital transformation by better manag- transformation firm Catcha Group in 2021.
ing some of the associated and growing
risks, challenges and disruptions. Bernama Colony said that in addition to this deal,
it has also provided Carsome with an op-
The MoU was signed in conjunction gy remained uneven across and within tion to further increase its workspace by
with the Ministerial Conference on the countries in Southeast Asia. 33% during the six-year period of the deal.
OECD Southeast Asia Regional Pro-
gramme (SEARP) in Seoul, South Ko- “Broadband for example remains “We’re honoured to be a trusted partner
rea, which was held in hybrid format on more accessible and faster in urban en- in Carsome’s journey of growth.Working
Wednesday (Feb 9). vironments than in rural and remote ar- with them behind the scenes to build out
eas,” he said. their offices, I’ve been able to witness what
Through the MoU, OECD and ASE- makes them who they are,” said Colony
AN will assess the connectivity divides Building a digital future would require executive director Timothy Tiah.
in Southeast Asia to facilitate improve- a coordinated whole of government ap-
ments in the quality of broadband ser- proach, he said adding that this would
vices across the region. also include investing in communication
infrastructure and digital skills to narrow
According to the OECD Secretary existing digital divides among people, re-
General Mathias Cormann, during the gions and businesses.
pre-pandemic era, Southeast Asia was one
of the fastest growing digital economies He stressed the importance of in-
with the number of digital consumers vesting in digital skills which will ensure
growing from 90 million in 2015 to 250 everyone has the best possible opportu-
million in 2018. nity to participate in and benefit from
the digital economy.
It increased further to 300 million dig-
ital consumers in 2020, turbocharged by
the Covid-19 related lockdown.

Nevertheless, he noted that uptake,
penetration and infrastructure in com-
munication and information technolo-

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REUTERS

UK’s Johnson
plans to end

Covid-19
isolation rules

this month

Opedal: We are capturing value from high prices for gas and liquids with excellent BY EMILY ASHTON & ALEX MORALES
performance and increased production. Bloomberg

Equinor turnaround last year as markets overcame LONDON (Feb 9): UK Prime Min-
shareholders the pandemic-driven slump of 2020, with ister Boris Johnson said he plans to
to get US$10b the price of European natural gas quad- end the legal requirement for people
payout as energy rupling and North Sea crude rising more in England to self-isolate if they test
prices soar than 50%. positive for Covid-19 this month.

Reuters Governments across Europe are rush- The move will be part of the gov-
ing to announce measures aimed at sof- ernment’s strategy for “Living with
OSLO (Feb 9): Norway’s Equinor will pay tening the blow of soaring energy costs Covid” to be announced Feb 21,
out US$10 billion (RM41.85 billion) to on households. Johnson told the House of Commons
shareholders this year after it reported re- on Wednesday, as long as “the cur-
cord fourth-quarter pretax profits, joining Majority state-owned Equinor, which rent encouraging trends in the data
European rivals in cashing in on a boom celebrates 50 years this year, said it would continue”.
in oil and gas prices and sending its shares pay a quarterly dividend of US$0.20 per
to a new high. share, up from the US$0.18 per share paid Regulations forcing people to
in the third quarter, and will pay an addi- self-isolate at home for five days are
Adjusted earnings before tax leapt to tional extraordinary dividend of US$0.20 due to expire on March 24 but John-
US$15 billion in the October-December for a period of four quarters. son said he expects to be able to lift
quarter, up from US$756 million a year these “a full month early”.
earlier and beating the US$13.2 billion The company also plans to increase its
predicted in a poll of 23 analysts compiled share buybacks in 2022 to US$5 billion The announcement will be wel-
by Equinor. from US$1.3 billion in 2021, up from a comed by many lawmakers in the
previous plan of US$1.2 billion. ruling Conservative Party who have
Thanks to high energy prices and dis- long called for Johnson to ease the
ciplined spending, Equinor generated European oil industry peers have also Covid-19 restrictions early, amid
US$25 billion of free cash flow last year posted soaring profits in recent days, with concerns over individual freedoms
— equivalent to Senegal’s GDP in 2020, BP promising to increase its share buy- and the impact on businesses, the
according to World Bank data. backs and Shell saying it will raise both health service and in schools.
dividends and stock purchases.
“We are capturing value from high pric- Johnson has been seeking to bol-
es for gas and liquids with excellent perfor- The company said it expected capital ster his support amid growing calls
mance and increased production,” CEO spending to reach US$10 billion this year, for his resignation over his handling
Anders Opedal said in a statement. versus the US$9 billion to US$10 billion of allegedly rule-breaking parties in
seen previously. Downing Street during the pandem-
The oil and gas industry saw a massive ic that are being investigated by the
Equinor cut the 2023 capital spending police.
forecast to US$10 billion from US$12 bil-
lion, but kept the 2024 estimate unchanged The UK recorded 66,183 con-
at US$12 billion and said it would remain firmed Covid-19 cases and 314
at that level in 2025. deaths on Tuesday, while the sev-
Click here to read the full story en-day average of cases has fallen
by 20% in the last week.

BLOOMBERG

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(Feb 9):The US should negotiate a digital Business lobby “Export opportunities for digitally
trade deal with like-minded countries to urges Biden to tradeable services are expanding rapidly,
guarantee protection on issues including negotiate digital and the US is well positioned to build on
the movement of data across borders, the trade agreement its formidable advantages in these areas,”
nation’s biggest business lobbying group the Chamber said. “However, these op-
said. BY ERIC MARTIN portunities are endangered by the spread
Bloomberg of digital protectionism and the accumu-
In a report set to be released Wednes- lation of discriminatory digital rules that
day, the US Chamber of Commerce out- Export opportunities often target American firms.”
lines the case.The organisation identifies for digitally tradeable
a group of countries that it dubs the “Dig- services are expanding The Biden administration has been
ital Dozen” that would be good partners. rapidly, and the US working on an economic framework agree-
They include Australia, Canada, Chile, is well positioned to ment with Asian nations and plans to share
Colombia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, build on its formidable more details in the coming weeks.The US
New Zealand, Peru,Taiwan, the UK and advantages in these areas. is aiming for the pact — known as the In-
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. do-Pacific economic framework — to in-
BLOOMBERG clude digital issues like data localisation
Information and communications tech- and cross-border data flows, deputy US
nology exports supported an estimated Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi said
317,000 jobs in 2020, similar to US air- last week.
plane and aerospace exports, the Chamber
said. The US digital economy, valued at Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo,
US$2 trillion in 2019, is growing almost who is leading the US’ work with USTR
three times as fast as the broader economy, KatherineTai, announced the plan in No-
the Chamber said. vember after talks with Australia, New Zea-
land, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.The
US exports of services that could poten- Biden administration has made clear that
tially be offered digitally — such as manage- it isn’t rejoining the Comprehensive and
ment and consulting, and financial advisory Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific
services — have more than doubled in the Partnership (CPTPP), after then-Presi-
past decade, with developed economies in- dent DonaldTrump abandoned an earlier
cluding Europe and the Asia Pacific the top version of the deal.
markets, theWashington-based group said.

MUMBAI (Feb 9): India’s retail investors Retail-trading 31 million stock-trading accounts during
opened a record amount of new accounts boom in India 2021 — more than Australia’s entire pop-
last year, even as an exodus of foreign in- stays strong as ulation — according to data released at
vestors began to weigh on the multi-year foreigners flee the end of January by the Securities &
rally in the nation’s stocks. Exchange Board of India. The pace ac-
BY ASHUTOSH JOSHI & ISHIKA MOOKERJEE celerated to over 3 million per month in
While volatility has battered the US Bloomberg the last quarter, even as selling by over-
retail horde of late, Indian market watch- seas traders pushed the S&P BSE Sensex
ers including Dharmesh Mehta, chief ex- BLOOMBERG toward a technical correction.
ecutive of Mumbai-based DAM Capital
Advisors Ltd, expect the torrid inflow Foreigners have continued to sell Indi-
of local moms and pops to continue. an stocks, with their withdrawals totaling
nearly US$10 billion since the end of Sep-
Individuals opened an all-time high of tember. The outlfow comes as concerns
have grown over valuations after a series
of all-time highs for local indexes and the
epic flop of the initial public offering for
digital-payments firm Paytm.

“Indian markets will continue to gain
momentum, be it in terms of new listings
or new account openings,” said DAM
Capital’s Mehta. The IPO manager ex-
pects new listings in India, which raised
a record US$18 billion in 2021, to keep
attracting retail investors as more indi-
viduals seek exposure to stocks as an as-
set class.

Arijit Malakar, head of retail equity re-
search at Kolkata-based Ashika Group, ex-
pects individual account openings to pick
up even further on strong interest in the
upcoming listing of Life Insurance Corp
of India, which is expected to the nation’s
largest-ever IPO.

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TOKYO (Feb 9):Toyota Motor and Honda Toyota and Honda uncertainty will continue into the next busi-
Motor were upbeat about their full-year prof- upbeat on profits ness year,” he added.
it prospects on Wednesday (Feb 9) as tight
vehicle supplies caused by a chip shortage as customers Toyota cut its annual production target
allowed Japan’s two biggest automakers to pay more for by a half a million more to 8.5 million vehi-
charge their customers more. scarce cars cles, while Honda kept its 4.2 million target,
though that was below the 4.85 million it was
The Japanese carmakers are also bene- BY SATOSHI SUGIYAMA & TIM KELLY aiming for at the start of the business year.
fiting from a weaker yen that raised the yen Reuters
value of their overseas earnings. Toyota’s ¥784.4 billion operating profit
about RM101.51 billion), while Honda up- for the three months to Dec 31 was higher
Toyota and Honda like other carmakers graded its operating profit forecast for the than an average forecast of ¥716.8 billion
are cutting output because they cannot find year to March 31 by 21% to ¥800 billion. based on estimates from nine analysts, Re-
enough semiconductors amid Covid-19-re- finitiv data showed.
lated supply chain disruptions and compe- Still, supply chain disruptions and chip
tition for the key component from other in- shortages will continue to affect operations, Meanwhile, Honda reported ¥229 billion
dustries, such as electronics. Japan’s No. 1 and No. 2 automakers said, in operating profit for the quarter, also above
prompting them to cut costs in a bid to an average forecast of ¥166.2 billion based
Lower production, however, means their squeeze out more profit per vehicle. on estimates from nine analysts, Refinitive
customers are more willing to buy cars with data showed.
fewer financial incentives that carmakers typ- “We don’t expect the imbalance in chip
ically offer to lure them. supplies to be resolved quickly and the course On Tuesday, Japan’s No. 3 automaker
of the coronavirus pandemic is unclear,” a Nissan Motor reported that its third-quarter
“We are seeing a further 10% reduction Toyota official told reporters.“We think that operating profit almost doubled to ¥52.2 bil-
in incentives in North America during the lion as shrinking incentive payments helped
second half of the business year after they it squeeze more profit out of fewer cars.
halved to US$1,000 earlier,”KoheiTakeuchi, Read also:Toyota cuts output target by half
Honda’s senior managing executive officer, a million more vehicles amid chip crunch
told a news briefing. Click here

Toyota stuck with its full-year profit fore-
cast of ¥2.8 trillion (US$24.25 billion or

Bosch says chip
crunch, costs to
weigh on carmakers

also in 2022

Global silicon wafer serve as the substrate material on which BY STEFAN NICOLA
area shipments in most semiconductor devices, or chips, are Bloomberg
2021 topped US$12b fabricated.
to hit new record (Feb 9): Robert Bosch GmbH expects the semi-
high, says SEMI In a statement on its website on Tues- conductor shortage and materials-cost increases
day (Feb 8), SEMI said the SEMI Silicon that have weighed on automakers to continue
BY SURIN MURUGIAH Manufacturers Group (SMG) reported hampering vehicle output this year.
theedgemarkets.com in its year-end analysis of the silicon wa-
fer industry that silicon shipments totalled While the biggest auto-parts maker sees glob-
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Global sili- 14,165 million square inches (MSI), com- al production rising to around 85 million units
con wafer area shipments in 2021 increased pared with 12,407 MSI shipped in 2020, in 2022, that’s still about 8% below pre-pan-
14% while wafer revenue rose 13% as to meet surging broad-based demand for demic levels, it said onWednesday. Bosch plans
compared to 2020, topping US$12 billion semiconductor devices and a wide variety to spend 400 million euros (US$457 million)
(about RM50.23 billion), to reach new all- of applications. to expand chip facilities in Germany and Ma-
time highs, said the US-based Semiconduc- laysia to help ease the bottleneck.
tor Equipment and Materials International It said the 300mm, 200mm and 150mm
(SEMI). wafer sizes all saw strong demand. “There’s great uncertainty,” Chief Execu-
tive Officer Stefan Hartung said on a call with
Silicon wafers are the fundamental build- Wafer revenue reached US$12.62 bil- reporters. Bosch expects to grow revenue again
ing material for the majority of semicon- lion, surpassing the previous record of this year,from 78.8 billion euros in 2021,provid-
ductors, which are vital components of all US$12.13 billion set in 2007. ed there are “no major additional disturbances.”
electronic devices.
Neil Weaver, the outgoing chairman of Hartung, who took over as CEO at the
The highly engineered thin disks are pro- SEMI SMG (2018-2021) and vice-presi- start of the year, is pushing to make Bosch fit
duced in diameters of up to 12 inches and dent of product development and applica- for the industry’s shift toward battery power
tions engineering at Shin Etsu Handotai and digital services. Last month, the supplier
America, said the robust year-on-year announced it’s partnering with Volkswagen
growth in silicon wafer area shipments and AG to develop a common software platform
revenue reflected heavy dependence of the to bring hands-free driving functions to the
modern economy on silicon wafers. carmaker’s entire fleet in a bid to catch up
to Tesla Inc.
“Wafers are the engine of digital trans-
formation and new technologies that are
reshaping how we live and work,” he said.

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(Feb 9): GlaxoSmithKline Plc expects Glaxo expects are less than 5% of total revenue.
profit to rise this year as the UK drugmaker profit to rise The company expects revenue for
prepares to spin off its consumer-health as drugmaker
business, its biggest shake-up in more than prepares for split Shingrix, the vaccine against shingles, to
two decades. rebound after the pandemic disrupted
Bloomberg immunisations last year and sees strong
Earnings for the pharma and vaccines double-digit growth and record annual
businesses are expected to rise 12% to 14% discussion after Unilever Plc made three sales based on demand in existing mar-
in 2022 on an adjusted basis, Glaxo said bids for the business in recent months. kets and expansion.
Wednesday (Feb 9). The shares rose as GSK rebuffed the offers, the last of which
much as 1.4% in London. was £50 billion (RM283.9 billion), and Sales of the Xevudy antibody treatment
Unilever dropped the pursuit. rose to £828 million in the latest quar-
Glaxo, which is getting ready to split in ter. Glaxo said revenue from Covid prod-
two, is seeking to boost the performance Glaxo forecasts sales growth of 5% to ucts should match last year’s level, though
of those businesses as Elliott Investment 7% this year for the pharma and vaccines profitability will be lower because of an
Management puts pressure on chief exec- business.The company’s guidance includes increased contribution of lower-margin
utive officer EmmaWalmsley.The activist anticipated income from a settlement with Xevudy sales.
investor has raised questions about wheth- Gilead Sciences Inc and excludes contri-
er the company has the right management butions from Covid-19 products, which Walmsley has sought to narrow the
team in place. pharma company’s focus on cutting-edge
drugs and vaccines.
The drugmaker said it’s on track to sep-
arately list the consumer arm, which owns The effort to rejuvenate the pipeline
brands including Panadol painkillers and and find the next blockbusters will be led
Sensodyne toothpaste, in mid-2022.The by Tony Wood starting later this year fol-
consumer-health unit is dominating the lowing the announcement last month that
Hal Barron would step down.

Maersk buys
trucking firm,
warns ocean
freight boom is

waning

BY CHRISTIAN WIENBERG
Bloomberg

(Feb 9):A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S has agreed we had last year, which was record-breaking by 2% to 4% this year, “subject to high un-
to buy US Pilot Freight Services LLC for in every dimension”. certainties related to the current congestion,
US$1.68 billion (about RM7.03 billion), network disruptions and demand patterns”,
shoring up its road-transport business while Maersk shares slid as much as 5.6% and Maersk said. Last month, the company was
signalling that an unprecedented boom in were down 2% at 9.17am in Copenhagen. surpassed by Mediterranean Shipping Co
container shipping may be starting to fade. as the world’s largest shipping line in terms
Profit outlook of capacity, but remained the biggest owner
The deal announced onWednesday (Feb The company said it expects to report a of container ships.
9) coincides with a 2022 profit forecast that 2022 profit of about US$24 billion, meas-
falls well below analysts’ estimates. Maersk ured as underlying earnings before inter- Maersk has ample of cash for acquisi-
said it expects a strong first half before a est, tax, depreciation and amortisation.The tions.The company, which transports about
“normalisation in ocean” early in the sec- guidance compares with an average estimate a fifth of the world’s containers at sea, has
ond half. of US$28 billion in a survey by Bloomberg. set its sights on land-based logistics where
there’s more potential for growth and profit
Container firms have enjoyed mas- US-based Pilot Freight deal adds “big margins are higher.
sive profits over the past two years as port and bulky first, middle and last-mile logis-
backups and consumers buying goods from tics” to its landside transportation offer- In December, Maersk agreed on a
home drove up prices during the Covid-19 ings, Copenhagen-based Maersk said in US$3.6 billion deal to acquire Asian ware-
pandemic. Maersk and its peers have been an emailed statement. The transaction house specialist LF Logistics in the sec-
using the money to diversify, strengthen- price is equivalent to an enterprise value of ond-biggest takeover in its history.
ing in areas such as airfreight and logistics. US$1.8 billion post International Financial
Reporting Standard (IFRS 16) lease liabil- The shipping industry as a whole came
“We are guiding in an environment where ities, Maersk said. out of 2021 with record profits as global sup-
we are coming out of a pandemic and we ply-chain problems enabled shipowners to
don’t have much experience with that to be The global container market will expand charge higher freight rates for their services.
honest,” chief executive officer Soren Sko-
so said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
The result will be “very similar to the one

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(Feb 9): China came up more than one- China fell short couldn’t even keep those promises,” said
third short of its purchase commitments ofTrump trade- Scott Paul, the group’s president. “Un-
for goods in the trade deal that the world’s deal purchase til the fundamental issues are addressed
second-largest economy reached with the — things like China’s state-owned enter-
US during the Trump administration. promises prises, massive government subsidies, in-
tellectual property theft, lax labour and
The nation bought 62.9% of the ex- BY ERIC MARTIN, DOMINIC CAREY, environmental laws — the massive trade
tra goods that it had promised as part of JENNY LEONARD & JOSH WINGROVE gap will remain.”
US$200 billion in purchases in the so-
called phase one deal in the two years Bloomberg The annual goods-trade deficit with
through the end of 2021, according to a China grew US$45 billion to US$355.3
Bloomberg News analysis of data shared by The Alliance for American Manufactur- billion in 2021, December trade data
the Commerce Department’s Census Bu- ing, a group representing manufacturers showed.
reau on Tuesday. and the United Steelworkers, called Chi-
na’s performance “disappointing”. China had pledged to buy the extra
Energy was the area where China most US$200 billion in US agriculture, ener-
missed its targets, buying only about one- “Commodity purchases were never the gy, manufactured goods and services over
third of the exports that it pledged. The solution to fixing the lopsided US-China the 2017 level in the two years through
Asian nation was closest to achieving its trade relationship, and China’s government the end of 2021. USTrade Representative
targets for agricultural goods, meeting Katherine Tai has said repeatedly that the
about 83% of its commitments. In man- Biden administration’s concerns go beyond
ufacturing goods, where China had com- the purchase commitments and include
mitted to the biggest net increase, the na- Beijing’s state-centred industrial policy.
tion bought less than 65% of the amount
promised. The USTR has engaged China on the
shortfalls in its purchases for months, but
The Biden administration seesTrump’s hasn’t seen any real signs toward mak-
China deal as flawed, based on unrealis- ing good on the nation’s commitments,
tic commitments with no mechanism for spokesman Adam Hodge said.
holding the nation accountable, National
Economic Council Director Brian Deese The US is getting tired of waiting and
said on CNN onWednesday.While trying “regardless of how these negotiations con-
where feasible to make China live up to clude, the fact remains that the phase-one
pledges, the administration also is focusing agreement did not address the core prob-
on areas where Chinese actions pose a stra- lems” with China’s state-led economy”,
tegic threat, such as overcapacity in steel Hodge said. “The US will continue its
and intellectual-property theft, Deese said. efforts to shape the environment around
China by working with allies and partners
“We have reoriented toward a focus on and using the full range of tools to defend
those areas that are core to our national American economic interests, he said.
economic interest with an understanding Click here to read the full story
that we are going to reset this trading ap-
proach,” Deese said.

(Feb 9): Fitch Ratings Ltd slashed its eco- Fitch slashes which typically sees family and friends
nomic growth forecast for Hong Kong af- Hong Kong gather indoors.
ter the city imposed tough social distanc- GDP forecast on
ing rules to curb the spread of Covid-19. latest Covid-19 In its assessment, Fitch warned that
crackdown Hong Kong would likely stick to its ag-
The ratings company halved its esti- gressive Covid-zero strategy until 2023,
mate for gross domestic product growth BY ENDA CURRAN in line with the policy on mainland China.
for this year to 1.5% from 3.0%, making Bloomberg
the Hong Kong economy one of the worst That likely means plans for a reo-
performers globally. when Hong Kong was hit by an outbreak pening of the border with the mainland
of the highly infectious Omicron virus are now scuppered, with knock-on con-
“Our revised growth projections imply variant. sequences for tourism and consumer
that real GDP will not surpass its 2018 spending.
level — prior to both the onset of an- Tighter virus restrictions are set to
ti-government protests and the pandemic come into effect on Thursday, including Slowing global demand will also weigh
— until 2023, which would rank among an unprecedented rule that limits gather- on growth, Fitch said.The economy grew
the weakest recent growth performances ings on private premises to two families. 6.4% in 2021 after shrinking 6.1% in the
across all Fitch-rated sovereigns and terri- The city is seeing a surge in infections previous year, helped by Hong Kong’s
tories,” Andrew Fennell, head of Greater after last week’s Lunar NewYear holiday, role as a logistics hub and global trade
China sovereign ratings, said in a release. intermediary, it said.

Fitch’s outlook is more bearish than “With foreign demand expected to
downgrades by several banks, including gradually normalise this year, and with
Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Hong Kong’s aviation industry and car-
Stanley, in recent weeks and comes after go shipments crippled by flight bans and
data last month showed the economy al- strict quarantine requirements for person-
ready began slowing in the final quarter, nel, this trend appears unlikely to persist
throughout 2022,” Fennell said.

T H U R S D A Y F E B R U A R Y 1 0 , 2 0 2 2 21 T H E E D G E C E O M O R N I N G B R I E F

WORLD

Samsung kills Note and bets big
on foldables to take on iPhone

BY SOHEE KIM
Bloomberg

SEOUL (Feb 9): Samsung Electronics Co is mak- The company bet on cities, plant shutdowns and chronic supply chain
ing the biggest change to its smartphone strate- its foldables filling the disruptions. The company has worked around
gy in years by reorganizing around its big-selling void and saw the move component shortage issues so far and expects
Galaxy S and foldable Galaxy Z series of devices. pay off with its sales of the situation to improve this year, he said.
The company plans to discontinue its Note lineup the category growing
of stylus-equipped phones and instead distribute Samsung consolidated its mobile and consum-
that capability across its portfolio while pushing several times over. er electronics businesses into a single division late
premium foldables in its challenge to Apple Inc. last year as part of a companywide reorganization.
It did so in order to create a more cohesive eco-
“In the near term, our operation will focus on system of products, the company said. Making its
a two-track strategy: flagship S series in the first devices work seamlessly together is aimed at help-
half of the year and innovative foldable lineup ing Samsung fend off competition from Chinese
in the second half,”TM Roh, who took over as rivals like Xiaomi Corp. and Oppo while also ad-
Samsung’s mobile chief two years ago, said in a dressing the challenge of Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa
rare interview. “We will keep this strategy until voice assistant, which now spans everything from
there’s another major breakthrough and we are smart speakers to thermostats. Samsung will take
working hard to make it happen.” an approach closer to Amazon’s than Apple’s by
opening its ecosystem to external partners and
The world’s largest smartphone maker un- hardware makers.
veiled its latest Galaxy S22 lineup on Wednes-
day, equipping the Ultra model in the family The Suwon-based tech giant sees the growing
with a stylus.This effectively recreates the classic number of foldable devices from competitors this
Galaxy Note formula of a large-display handset year as confirmation that it made the right strategic
with a stylus and comes months after Samsung decision early on, according to Roh.The company
opted not to release a new Note in August.The expects the industry and app ecosystem to grow as
company bet on its foldables filling the void and a result. Many of the new models are likely to use
saw the move pay off with its sales of the cate- Samsung flexible displays in their designs, such
gory growing several times over and raising its as the Oppo Find N announced in December.
average selling price for mobile devices.
Samsung is also investing in artificial intelli-
Samsung will focus on the premium segment gence and augmented reality technology, having
as its growth engine and plans to expand the pledged to secure a leading position in the de-
Note experience across its Galaxy hardware eco- velopment of the metaverse at its most recent
system, spanning tablets and laptops as well as earnings call. Roh declined to provide specif-
phones, Roh said. Foldables will also grow into ics on those projects, but said the company is
new categories and the company plans to add spending aggressively.
one or two new smartphone form factors to its
lineup within the next three years, he added. “We may look like a graceful swan, but we’re
paddling furiously underwater,” he said.
“Under the Covid situation, the smartphone
industry raced through changes that might have
previously taken a decade,” Roh said. “We are
entering the second phase of market growth.
There’s growing demand for high-end premium
models as consumers are using smartphones
longer and in more ways than before.”

The pandemic drove the smartphone market
out of its stagnancy — growth had plateaued
and replacement cycles were growing longer —
and Samsung now sees people more willing to
upgrade their phones to get better video calls,
gaming and daily communications functions
as they rely on their devices for work and play.
Initial demand from carriers and partners for
the Galaxy S22 phones is up by double-digit
percentages relative to the prior year thanks to
the new Ultra model, according to Roh.

Since 53-year-old Roh’s appointment to the
post in January 2020, Samsung’s mobile busi-
ness has had to navigate lockdowns in major

T H U R S D A Y F E B R U A R Y 1 0 , 2 0 2 2 22 T H E E D G E C E O M O R N I N G B R I E F

WORLD

Buy now, pay later unicorn Klarna Bank
threatened by rising rates

BY ABHINAV RAMNARAYAN
Bloomberg

(Feb 9): Klarna Bank AB is Europe’s most While traditional financial institutions using this? Absolutely.”
valuable fintech unicorn, a payment pi- banks also borrow He hasn’t invested in Klarna’s com-
oneer in a booming sector that’s being to lend, Klarna is
wooed by London for its potential stock different because it mercial paper, but has positions in similar
listing. charges customers instruments by other European financial
little to no interest if institutions. Klarna’s debt is mostly held
It also has a funding model that’s going they pay on time. by local Swedish investors; Bloomberg at-
to be threatened by the rapidly emerging tempted to contact a selection of these
reality of higher interest rates. estimates that 80%-85% comes from cus- without success.
tomer deposits.
The Swedish “buy now, pay later” com- While traditional banks also borrow to
pany gives out effectively interest-free loans “The average maturity of Klarna’s cred- lend, Klarna is different because it charges
so online shoppers can stagger payments, it portfolio is around 40 days. As such, the customers little to no interest if they pay on
while it depends on merchant fees and late maturity profile of the funding overall is time. It reported a pretax loss of 3.1 billion
payment penalties for revenue. It was val- longer than that of the assets,” it said. krona in the first nine months of 2021.
ued at almost US$46 billion after a fund-
ing round led by Softbank Group Corp In a financial report last October, Klar- There’s also the fragility of commer-
last year. na said that loans to consumers totaled cial paper, where maturities typically range
about 52 billion krona. from a few days to a few months, which
It uses a mix of customer deposits — was exposed in the turmoil in the early
it offers conventional bank accounts in Deposits stood at 45 billion krona and days of the coronavirus outbreak.
Sweden and Germany — and short-term debt securities at 8.1 billion krona, about
debt to fund the loans.This is a model that 15% of the mix.While that ratio bynitself Access to commercial paper froze when
thrives in a low interest-rate world because isn’t a concern, the potential issue relates the pandemic first roiled markets, forcing
such debt tends to be very cheap, and rates to the nature of the debt. the Fed and the European Central Bank to
on deposits are still extremely low. step in to stabilize it. Several large corpo-
“Thanks to the ECB, short-term borrow- rations have since reduced reliance on it.
But things are shifting fast. Bank of ing costs will remain very low for the next
England interest rates are already rising, year or so. But eventually, rates will go up and “Understandably, companies such as
the US Federal Reserve is set to follow in companies using this will have to re-evalu- Klarna like to get as cheap funding as pos-
March, and there are bets that the Europe- ate their model,” said Pierre Boyer, head of sible, but the risks are when that debt turns
an Central Bank could also move this year. short-term debt at Belgian fund manager over and the markets do get volatile or seize
Candriam.“Will that mean a big change for up as it did during the pandemic,” said Mi-
Given the model behind Klarna’s rapid chael Taiano, an analyst at Fitch Ratings.
growth, the change coming in 2022 has “We tend to like longer-dated maturities
implications for funding costs. that are, in an ideal world, spread out over
a longer time frame.”
“The whole business model is based on
wafer thin margins — it doesn’t have the
buffer of high interests that credit card pro-
viders charge on usage,” said John Colley, a
professor atWarwick Business School and
a fintech expert. “Once the environment
turns nasty, which it is going to, it falls flat.”

Klarna is among a raft of “buy now, pay
later” companies attracting young consum-
ers and investor attention. It says it has 90
million active customers and processes 2
million transactions a day. Others includ-
ing Affirm, PayPal Holdings Inc’s In 3 and
Afterpay, which was bought by Jack Dors-
ey’s Square Inc for US$29 billion last year.

The firm’s debt includes 3.1 billion
Swedish krona (US$297 million) of bonds
coming due in the next two years and a 5
billion-krona commercial paper program,
a form of short-term debt that’s becoming
less popular because of market stress at the
onset of the Covid-19 crisis.

In response to questions from Bloomb-
erg, Klarna said that only a small portion
of its lending is funded through debt, and

T H U R S D A Y F E B R U A R Y 1 0 , 2 0 2 2 23 T H E E D G E C E O M O R N I N G B R I E F

MARKETS

CPO RM 5,596.00147.00 OIL US$ 90.60-0.18 RM/USD 4.1838 RM/SGD 3.1154 RM/AUD 2.9974 RM/GBP 5.6776 RM/EUR 4.7806

Top 20 active stocks

NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET
(MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)

VSOLAR GROUP BHD 251.90 0.005 0.015 0.00 72.5

DAGANG NEXCHANGE BHD 107.10 0.045 1.020 34.21 3218.4

MMAG HOLDINGS BHD 87.2 -0.005 0.080 6.67 105

CAPITAL A BHD 83 0.025 0.685 -13.29 2850.8

SEDANIA INNOVATOR BHD 67 0.105 0.505 -1.94 175.3

SMTRACK BHD 61.4 0.000 0.185 -2.63 126.6

DATAPREP HOLDINGS BHD 57.3 -0.015 0.430 -46.91 289.4

PUBLIC BANK BHD 36.1 0.090 4.300 3.37 83466

HIBISCUS PETROLEUM BHD 34 0.010 1.090 33.74 2188.2 World equity indices

VINVEST CAPITAL HOLDINGS BHD 33.7 -0.005 0.450 -2.17 436.1

SWIFT HAULAGE BHD 33.1 0.055 0.820 -15.03 729.6 CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE

NESTCON BHD 32.1 0.015 0.505 29.49 325.1 (%) (%)
DOW JONES 35,462.78 371.65 1.06 INDONESIA 6,834.61 45.08 0.66
TAFI INDUSTRIES BHD 31.6 -0.070 0.870 18.64 323.5

NWP HOLDINGS BHD 31.0 0.005 0.250 2.04 131.6 S&P 500 4,521.54 37.67 0.84 JAPAN 27,579.87 295.35 1.08

TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 30.3 -0.110 2.180 -15.83 17455.5 NASDAQ 100 14,747.03 175.78 1.21 KOREA 2,768.85 22.38 0.81

OPCOM HOLDINGS BHD 30 0.000 1.050 9.95 292.5 FTSE 100 7,609.18 42.11 0.56 PHILIPPINES 7,502.48 44.25 0.59

MY EG SERVICES BHD 29.6 -0.030 1.020 -4.67 7535.3 AUSTRALIA 7,268.33 81.64 1.14 SINGAPORE 3,420.04 18.30 0.54

HIAP TECK VENTURE BHD 27.4 -0.005 0.540 8.00 936.4 CHINA 3,479.95 27.32 0.79 TAIWAN 18,151.76 185.20 1.03

BSL CORP BHD 27 0.035 0.520 -49.02 113.7 HONG KONG 24,829.99 500.50 2.06 THAILAND 1,703.16 18.93 1.12

TA WIN HOLDINGS BHD 26.9 0.005 0.140 12 478 INDIA 58,465.97 657.39 1.14 VIETNAM 1,505.38 4.39 0.29

Data as compiled on Feb 9, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Feb 9, 2022 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by %) Top losers (ranked by %)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)

NEXGRAM HOLDINGS BHD 0.015 50.0 1939.1 50.00 66.3 DAYA MATERIALS BHD 0.005 -50.000 151.0 -50.00 10.2

KEY ALLIANCE GROUP BHD 0.015 50.0 1967.4 0.00 46.0 AT SYSTEMATIZATION BHD 0.025 -16.670 1294.5 -16.67 135.3

VSOLAR GROUP BHD 0.015 50.0 251850.1 0.00 72.5 GREEN OCEAN CORP BHD 0.025 -16.670 260.0 -16.67 52.8

EDUSPEC HOLDINGS BHD 0.020 33.3 228.60 33.33 60.9 MERIDIAN BHD 0.065 -13.330 304.3 0.00 58.8

SEDANIA INNOVATOR BHD 0.505 26.3 67032.6 -1.94 175.3 XOX NETWORKS BHD 0.035 -12.500 313.70 16.67 39.7

PASUKHAS GROUP BHD 0.025 25.0 5,569.60 0.00 37.1 ALDRICH RESOURCES BHD 0.040 -11.110 90.8 0 44.5

AGESON BHD 0.030 20.0 466.4 -25.00 46.8 IQZAN HOLDING BHD 0.045 -10.000 41.0 -10.00 10.0

BORNEO OIL BHD 0.030 20.0 2586.9 0.00 224.1 TPC PLUS BHD 0.180 -10.000 1.0 -5.26 55.5

DGB ASIA BHD 0.030 20.0 513.0 0.00 48.7 IMPIANA HOTELS BHD 0.045 -10.000 21164.0 -40.00 65.0

KUMPULAN JETSON BHD 0.225 18.4 14978.0 7.14 60.3 SAPURA ENERGY BHD 0.045 -10.000 14179.1 -10.00 719.1

AE MULTI HOLDINGS BHD 0.035 16.7 54.1 16.67 75.7 AHB HOLDINGS BHD 0.145 -9.380 13988.3 11.54 54.2

SANICHI TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.035 16.7 123.8 40.00 49.1 XOX TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.05 -9.09 210.9 0 44.7

PRIVASIA TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.115 15.0 4194.1 21.05 70.6 AIRASIA X BHD 0.055 -8.330 19919.8 -15.38 228.1

ASIA BRANDS BHD 0.525 11.7 5.2 5.00 122.1 TAFI INDUSTRIES BHD 0.870 -7.450 31590.3 18.64 323.5

CI HOLDINGS BHD 3.140 10.2 373.9 10.18 508.7 SOUTH MALAYSIA INDUSTRIES 0.250 -7.410 10604.2 25.00 52.5

PDZ HOLDINGS BHD 0.055 10.0 1705.9 22.22 32.0 HARTALEGA HOLDINGS BHD 5.160 -7.360 19019.9 -9.95 17634.1

FIBON BHD 0.445 9.9 1.0 8.54 43.5 MQ TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.065 -7.140 9,287.2 30.00 57.0

ROHAS TECNIC BHD 0.290 9.4 257.2 0 137.1 SC ESTATE BUILDER BHD 0.065 -7.140 533.3 -13.33 69.8

YTL POWER INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.655 9.2 14200.6 6.50 5306.9 TWL HOLDINGS BHD 0.065 -7.140 11682.2 30.00 168.4

DIGISTAR CORP BHD 0.06 9.09 105 0 46.9 LIEN HOE CORP BHD 0.335 -6.940 1.5 -8.22 111.4

Data as compiled on Feb 9, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Feb 9, 2022 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by RM) Top losers (ranked by RM)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)

SAM ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT 23.500 1.200 162.5 4.91 3,180.70 HARTALEGA HOLDINGS BHD 5.16 -0.41 19019.9 -9.95 17634.1

NESTLE MALAYSIA BHD 133.600 0.600 58.4 -0.45 31,329.20 AEON CREDIT SERVICE M BHD 14.70 -0.20 51.30 7.93 3753

PMB TECHNOLOGY BHD 17.860 0.460 515.6 45.44 3,798.80 FRASER & NEAVE HOLDINGS BHD 24.14 -0.16 187.0 -2.43 8854.0

MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES 39.000 0.400 274.5 -20.99 7,757.00 HONG SENG CONSOLIDATED BHD 2.83 -0.13 2408.2 5.20 7227.0

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO M’SIA 12.780 0.380 390.00 -8.58 3649.1 TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 2.18 -0.11 30330.9 -15.83 17455.5

HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP 18.800 0.320 264.10 8.42 21,530.60 RAPID SYNERGY BHD 8.43 -0.10 137.6 -15.28 901.1

CI HOLDINGS BHD 3.140 0.290 373.9 10.18 508.70 KOSSAN RUBBER INDUSTRIES BHD 1.73 -0.10 12024.4 -9.90 4414.3

QL RESOURCES BHD 4.970 0.280 1,171.80 8.75 12,095.30 CHIN HIN GROUP BHD 2.30 -0.09 1342.2 -11.88 2034.8

PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD 20.260 0.260 275.40 -1.65 20127.4 DKSH HOLDINGS MALAYSIA BHD 4.72 -0.08 2.1 -1.67 744.1

HONG LEONG BANK BHD 19.960 0.260 956.6 7.20 43,267.70 STELLA HOLDINGS BHD 1.00 -0.07 16.5 4.17 67

COMPLETE LOGISTIC SERVICES BHD 4.250 0.250 352.7 69.32 546.80 KHIND HOLDINGS BHD 3.53 -0.07 144.4 -7.35 141.4

KOBAY TECHNOLOGY BHD 4.780 0.240 1464.5 -20.73 1549.6 YINSON HOLDINGS BHD 5.60 -0.07 727.0 -6.67 5970.9

KUALA LUMPUR KEPONG BHD 22.060 0.200 1,200.30 1.29 23,778.20 TAFI INDUSTRIES BHD 0.87 -0.07 31590.3 18.64 323.5

PRESS METAL ALUMINIUM 6.490 0.190 22303.2 12.28 52,414.70 TEO GUAN LEE CORP BHD 1.04 -0.06 5 1.96 85.3

GREATECH TECHNOLOGY BHD 5.390 0.190 2313.3 -19.91 6749 UMS-NEIKEN GROUP BHD 1.07 -0.06 6 -6.96 84.2

TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD 5.270 0.180 2,399.20 -4.18 19887.4 KLUANG RUBBER CO MALAYA BHD 3.90 -0.05 6 -1.52 243.9

FRONTKEN CORP BHD 3.380 0.170 3709 -15.50 5,314.80 COASTAL CONTRACTS BHD 1.91 -0.04 2526.6 39.42 999.5

DIGI.COM BHD 3.99 0.16 3475.7 -8.49 31022.3 SAPURA INDUSTRIAL BHD 0.73 -0.04 11 -3.97 52.8

CIMB GROUP HOLDINGS BHD 5.4 0.16 17340.4 -0.92 55195.8 CORAZA INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY 0.81 -0.04 25809.9 0.00 346.9

MALAYAN BANKING BHD 8.500 0.150 10869.7 2.41 100967.4 LEON FUAT BHD 0.975 -0.035 2167.1 16.77 332.5

Data as compiled on Feb 9, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Feb 9, 2022 Source: Bloomberg