tehedge2605

RINGGIT WEAKENS PAST 3.2 AGAINST
SINGAPORE DOLLAR FOR FIRST TIME p2

T H U R S DAY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 2 2 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m

ISSUE 383/2022

CEOMorningBrief
HOME: Petronas Penapisan obtains leave to challenge RM2.8 bil tax bill p7
Zahid: ‘I did not receive RM13 mil bribes for MYEG contracts’ p13

WORLD: China’s economy worse off in some ways than 2020, says Premier p16
Two senior Grab executives quit as company rejigs unit to stem losses — sources p19

Terra blockchain to split, abandon collapsed UST Stablecoin p22

Affin Bank plans Malaysia’s
special dividend April 2022
after RM1.42 bil inflation
asset management accelerated
unit stake sale to 2.3% on
food price
Report on Page 3.
Report on Page 4.

THURSDAY MAY 26, 2022 2 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25):The ringgit Ringgit weakens The movement of SGD vs
weakened against the Singapore dollar past past 3.2 against MYR over the last 22 years
3.2000 for the first time when it opened Singapore dollar
at 3.2057 on Wednesday (May 25), but 2.0
later rebounded during the day to close for first time
at 3.1938. 2.1912
BY HAILEY CHUNG 2.5
The local currency traded between a theedgemarkets.com
low and high of 3.1936 and 3.2057. 3.0
try of Trade and Industry, reported that
Demand for the ringgit has risen as the city state’s economy, as measured 3.5 3.1938
the Singapore dollar strengthened. The by gross domestic product (GDP), grew May 26, 2000 May 25, 2022
Straits Times reported on Wednesday that 3.7% year-on-year in the first quarter
consumer demand for the ringgit rose on of 2022. Source: Bloomberg
Tuesday as the Singapore dollar continued
to strengthen against regional currencies, It was reported that the 3.7% print was also better than expected, and expecta-
and queues were spotted at money chang- “higher than the government’s advance tions of another unscheduled tightening
ers in the afternoon. estimate of 3.4% but matching analysts’ by the Monetary Authority of Singapore
forecasts in a Reuters poll”. had receded for now.
“This prompted queues at money
changers as Singaporeans prepare for OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey “That may bring some relief to the ring-
their upcoming travel,” The Straits Times Halley wrote in a note on Wednesday fol- git, which has fallen to 3.2000 against the
reported, quoting money changers and lowing Singapore’s GDP announcement Singapore dollar,” Halley said.
their customers. that with the city state’s inflation data was

The ringgit-Singapore dollar exchange
rate is closely watched against Singapore’s
2022 first-quarter economic performance,
which was announced on Wednesday.

Reuters, quoting Singapore’s Minis-

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Cypark Cypark hits share price had fallen to its current level
Resources Bhd’s share price fell as much record low on at 38 sen from its closing share price at
as 16 sen or 32% to its record low of 34 resumption of 89.5 sen on Jan 3, 2022.
sen on Wednesday (May 25), while its short selling
trade volume spiked after proprietary day At 38 sen, Cypark has a market cap-
traders (PDT) short selling and intraday BY SULHI KHALID italisation of about RM220.41 million,
short selling (IDSS) of the renewable en- theedgemarkets.com based on the company’s 580.02 milllion
ergy company’s shares on Bursa Malaysia outstanding shares.
resumed, following a suspension onTues- On Wednesday, Cypark’s share price
day (May 24). closed down 12 sen or 24% at 38 sen with Based on the group’s latest annual report,
116.73 million shares traded. The stock Cypark’s net debt has soared to RM1.06
OnWednesday, Cypark’s share price drop was traded between 34 sen and 52 sen billion in FY21 from RM859.69 million in
had led Bursa to again suspend the PDT on Wednesday, after closing at 50 sen on the preceding financial year.The group has
short selling and IDSS of Cypark shares. Tuesday, when the stock saw 22.7 million a gearing ratio of 47% as in FY21.
shares transacted.
Bursa said in a special announcement Meanwhile, in a separate local bourse
on its website: “Please be informed that OnTuesday, Cypark’s share price closed filing onWednesday, Cypark clarified that
short selling under PDT and IDSS for down at 50 sen from 66 sen on Mon- it is not aware of any significant or unusual
stock CYPARK (5184) has been suspend- day (May 23), when 1.59 million shares developments relating to its business and
ed for the rest of the day (Wednesday), as changed hands. affairs which contributed to the reduction
the last done price of the approved secu- in its share price.
rities dropped more than 15% from the Since the beginning of 2022, Cypark’s
reference price.” “The board is not aware of any rumour
or report concerning the business and af-
“The short selling under PDT and fairs of the Group that may account for the
IDSS will only be activated the following unusual trading activity,” the group said.
trading day, Thursday, 26 May 2022 at Click here for the full story
8:30am,” Bursa said.

thursDAy MAY 26, 2022 3 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Affin Bank Affin Bank the end of 2022 after it obtains BNM’s
Bhd intends to pay a special dividend to plans special approval for the special dividend.
shareholders upon completion of its entire dividend after
63% stake sale in Affin Hwang Asset Man- RM1.42 bil asset “Once we have BNM’s approval, then
agement Bhd by Affin Bank’s 100%-owned management we will announce to shareholders the spe-
subsidiary Affin Hwang Investment Bank unit stake sale cial dividend.We told shareholders we in-
Bhd for RM1.42 billion to Starlight Asset tend to pay the [special dividend] before
Sdn Bhd. by Izzul Ikram the end of the year,” he said.
theedgemarkets.com
“The divestment will result in a gain Affin Bank intiallly announced the Af-
of RM1.063 billion for Affin Bank,” Affin approval for the transaction, and then we fin Hwang Asset Management stake sale
Bank president and group chief executive need to complete the deal. on Jan 28, 2022.
officer DatukWan Razly AbdullahWan Ali
said at a press conference on Wednesday “We expect the deal to [be] complet- In a Bursa Malaysia filing then, Affin
(May 25) after Affin Bank’s extraordinary ed sometime in July-September [2022], Bank said the purchaser — Starlight As-
general meeting (EGM) which was held and once that deal is completed, we need set — was an investment holding company
virtually. to submit an application [for the spe- incorporated by funds managed by CVC
cial dividend] to Bank Negara Malaysia Capital Partners.
Wan Razly said Affin Bank shareholders (BNM), because we are a financial insti-
during the EGM approved the sale by Af- tution,” he said. Affin Bank said the RM1.42 billion sell-
fin Hwang Investment Bank of the latter’s ing price for the 63% stake in Affin Hwang
entire 63% stake comprising seven milion He said Affin Bank intends to pay its Asset Management was based on the pur-
shares in Affin Hwang Asset Management. shareholders the special dividend before chaser’s offer for 100% equity interest in
Affin Hwang Asset Management at an eq-
He however said Affin Bank is unable, uity value of RM2.25 billion.
for now, to comment on the quantum of
the special dividend, as the group has to “The proposed divestment provides an
allocate capital towards the financial ser- avenue for Affin Bank to unlock and realise
vices provider’s future growth. the value of its investment in Affin Hwang
Asset Management at an attractive premi-
According to him, proceeds from the um,” Affin Bank said.
Affin Hwang Asset Management stake sale
is intended to fund Affin Bank’s core busi- Affin Bank said its original date of in-
ness of moneylending and finance Affin vestment in Affin Hwang Asset Manage-
Bank’s working capital needs. ment was April 7, 2014, when the sev-
en million shares in Affin Hwang Asset
The Securities Commission Malaysia’s Management were acquired for RM282.13
(SC) approval is still required for Affin million from Hwang-DBS (M) Bhd and
Hwang Asset Management’s stake sale fol- Tunku Datuk Seri Nadzaruddin Ibni Al-
lowing Affin Bank shareholders’ consent marhum Tuanku Ja’afar.
for the transaction, according toWan Razly.
On Wednesday (May 25, 2022), Affin
“We do intend to reward shareholders Bank’s share price closed down one sen or
for their support and the growth of our 0.46% to RM2.16, which gives the bank
business plans going forward. We need a market capitalisation of about RM4.58
shareholders’ approval for the divestment. billion.
After that, we will have to go to the SC for
Affin Bank has 2.12 billion outstanding
shares, according to its latest annual report.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Malaysia’s Malaysia’s As for Indonesia, Nikita said the coun-
Islamic banking sector could experience Islamic banking try is expected to see NPL ratio hikes of
an increase of 100 basis points in non-per- gross NPL ratio 100-150 basis points by the end of 2023,
forming loan (NPL) ratio in the next 12 to rise 100 bps coupled with elevated credit costs.
to 24 months, from 1.3% as of February once moratorium
2022. She said regulatory forbearance allow-
period ends, ing restructured loans to be classified as
This will be following the expiry of var- says S&P performing is set to expire in March 2023.
ious moratorium and relief programmes
in mid-2022, said S&P Global Ratings as- Bernama
sociate director, South & Southeast Asia,
Nikita Anand.

“As far as profitability is concerned, the
banks have been building provisions be-
cause they have had time to kind of smooth
out the effect of these potential impact.

“We believe that earnings should be able
to absorb these credit costs. In fact, we
have forecast a higher or elevated credit
costs for the banking system this year as
well,” she said during S&P Global Ratings’
Southeast Asia Islamic Banking Outlook
webinar.

thursDAy MAY 26, 2022 4 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Malaysia’s in- Food price rise affected the maturity of vegetables and
flation, as measured by the consumer price accelerated caused a decline in supply in the market.
index (CPI), increased 2.3% in April 2022 Malaysia’s
from a year earlier, led by higher food prices, “In addition, the [increase] in the price
according to the Department of Statistics Ma- April 2022 y-o-y [of vegetables] was attributed to the in-
laysia (DOSM) onWednesday (May 25,2022). inflation to 2.3% crease [in] fertiliser prices, logistics costs
and labour shortages at agricultural sites,”
“The increase in food inflation, which by tan siew mung the DOSM said.
contributed the highest [weightage] to the theedgemarkets.com
overall weight of [the] CPI, remained to The DOSM said the government be-
be a major contributor to inflation. Low Yen Yeing/The Edge tween April 26, 2022 and May 10, 2022
implemented the maximum price scheme
“Inflation for this group increased 4.1% According to the DOSM, the CPI’s com- for goods in conjunction with the recent
in April 2022 as compared to the same bined milk, cheese and eggs group increased Hari Raya Puasa celebration.
month of the previous year,” DOSM chief at a faster pace of 7.2% in April 2022 com-
statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Ma- pared with 7% in the previous month. The implementation of the scheme is
hidin said in a statement. expected to ease Malaysia’s inflation in
The DOSM said the meat and vege- May 2022, especially for the CPI’s food
Mohd Uzir said food inflation in April tables groups increased 6.2% and 4.5% group, according to the DOSM.
2022 was higher year-on-year (y-o-y) at respectively while the combined fish and
4.1% with 89.1% of food items in the seafood group climbed 3.8%. On the CPI transport component’s y-o-y
CPI’s food and non-alcoholic beverages 3% rise in April 2022, the DOSM said the
group recording increases. “The increase in vegetable prices was rise was largely due to the increase in the
due to weather uncertainties that have average price of unleaded petrol RON97 at
Among other CPI components, the res- RM3.84 a litre from RM2.55 a year earlier.
taurants and hotels segment rose 3.2% while
the transport portion climbed 3%, he said. “This was in line with the 63.3% increase
in Brent crude oil prices to US$105.78 per
“The increase in food & non-alcoholic bev- barrel in April 2022,” the DOSM said.
erages group was largely due to an increase
in the component for food away from home On a monthly basis, the CPI increased
which [increased] 4.4% as compared to 4% 0.2% in April 2022 from March 2022, ac-
as recorded in March 2022. For instance, cording to the DOSM.
both satay and rice with side dishes recorded
higher increase of 7.1% (March 2022: 6.6%). Malaysia’s y-o-y inflation of 2.3% in
April 2022 accelerated from 2.2% in
“Cooked vegetables and cooked beef March 2022.
increased 6.9% (March 2022: 5.7%) and
5.7% (March 2022: 5.2%) respectively. The country’s CPI increased 2.2% in
Meanwhile, food at home which refers to March 2022 from a year earlier, mainly
raw materials for cooking preparation at driven by the 4% increase in the CPI’s food
home increased 4.1% as compared to a and non-alcoholic beverages segment as
year ago,” he said. prices of food items including chicken and
vegetables spiked more than 10%, accord-
ing to the DOSM.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Recovering Recovering food and non-alcoholic beverages group
domestic economic activities and higher domestic activities, recording increases.
private-sector wages amid ongoing labour
shortages are expected to pose upside risks higher wages to Among other CPI components, the res-
to inflation, according to UOB Global Eco- pose upside risks taurants and hotels segment rose 3.2% while
nomic & Markets Research. the transport portion climbed 3%, he said.
to inflation,
In a note on Wednesday (May 25), the say economists Meanwhile, UOB pointed out that
research house opined that overall price backed by the government’s non-mone-
pressure is expected to pick up on the back by sulhi khalid tary interventions to tame the broaden-
of persistent global supply shortages, high- theedgemarkets.com ing inflation risks, it continues to believe
er commodity prices, the lapse of favour- that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will
able base effects and currency weakness. Earlier onWednesday, the Department remain mindful of raising rates aggressively
of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) highlighted in lockstep with the US Fed.
UOB also maintained its headline in- Malaysia’s inflation, as measured by the
flation forecast at 3% after taking into ac- consumer price index (CPI), increased “We keep to our current projections for
count the government’s short-term meas- 2.3% in April 2022 from a year earlier. the next 25bps rate hike in 3Q22, bringing
ures to tackle the rising cost of living and the overnight policy rate (OPR) to 2.25%
supply shortage issues. DOSM chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr by year-end.The Monetary Policy Com-
Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that food in- mittee (MPC) will next meet on July 5-6,”
“Headline inflation reverted higher to flation in April 2022 was higher at 4.1% it said.
2.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in April after y-o-y with 89.1% of food items in the CPI’s Click here for the full story
moderating for its fourth straight month Read also: Malaysia’s recovery continues
to 2.2% in March. to be resilient as March’s LI up to 111.3
points — DOSM Click here
“The small uptick in April inflation was
mainly attributed to costlier food & non-al-
coholic beverages, transportation, recreation
services & culture, expenditure in restaurants
& cafés, as well as education,” it said.

thursDAy MAY 26, 2022 5 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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thursDAy MAY 26, 2022 6 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Hibiscus Hibiscus interest in Fortuna International Petrole-
Petroleum Bhd’s net profit in the third Petroleum 3Q um Corp from Repsol for a purchase price
quarter ended March 31, 2022 (3QFY22) net profit soars of US$212.50 million (about RM890.06
soared nearly 10-fold to RM307.54 million nearly 10-fold to million).
from RM32.03 million a year ago, support- RM307.54 mil,
ed by the newly acquired assets, high aver- declares one sen The company noted in a Wednesday
age realised oil price, coupled with careful statement that the financial performance
management of costs and efficient opera- dividend of the group has been boosted significantly
tional performance. by the acquisition with the newly acquired
by Sulhi Khalid assets contributing RM390.1 million and
Earnings per share surged to 15.32 sen theedgemarkets.com RM334.9 million to the group’s EBITDA
from 1.76 sen. and PAT respectively. It also added that
the coming months against a backdrop of the fair value when compared against the
In a Bursa Malaysia filing onWednesday strong oil prices. final purchase consideration for the acqui-
(May 25), the oil and gas company said its sition resulted in a negative goodwill of
quarterly revenue jumped by 37.54% to “Our objective in recent months has RM317.3 million.
RM297.06 million from RM215.98 mil- been to focus on understanding the new-
lion a year earlier. ly acquired Repsol assets so that we can Meanwhile, moving forward, the group
operate these safely and efficiently. said it has seen oil prices at various price
The group also declared a single interim levels, on some occasions lower and at oth-
dividend of one sen per share. “We are also very pleased to be able to er times higher than at the current time.
continue to reward our loyal shareholders
For the cumulative nine months end- with an interim dividend for the current “Through these fluctuations, the group
ed March 31, 2022, the group’s net prof- financial year. has managed to remain profitable.This is
it increased more than seven times to primarily because our average unit pro-
RM397.55 million from RM54.08 million. “With the relatively high crude oil prices duction costs for our producing assets have
that we currently see, we hope to be able to been below the average realised oil price at
Revenue, on the other hand, came in close FY22 on June 30, 2022 on a positive the relevant times.
50.09% higher at RM828.15 million com- note,” Kenneth said.
pared with RM551.76 million. “The careful management of costs to
In January this year, Hibiscus through maintain low operational expenditure and
On a quarterly basis, the group’s net its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Pen- the successful execution of production en-
profit jumped six-fold from RM48.49 mil- insula Hibiscus Sdn Bhd successfully com- hancement projects are, therefore, key to-
lion reported in the immediate preceding pleted the acquisition of the entire equity wards achieving low unit production costs.
quarter while revenue increased by 4.45%
from RM284.4 million in 2QFY22. “Overall, we remained focused on de-
livering optimal performance in a strong
Commenting on the group’s financial oil price environment,” it said in aWednes-
performance, the group’s managing direc- day statement.
tor Dr Kenneth Pereira said this is the first
quarter for which the group is reporting At noon break, shares in Hibiscus settled
operational and financial metrics which three sen or 2.1% lower at RM1.40, giving
include the newly acquired assets and it it a market capitalisation of RM2.82 billion.
expects its numbers to further improve in

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Offshore Bumi Armada Our focus on operational excellence and cost
energy facility and service provider Bumi Ar- sees stable 2022 efficiencies underpinned the solid financial
mada Bhd saw its net profit increase 14.1% as 1Q net profit performance over the same period.We will
to RM185.76 million for the first quarter continue to focus on safety, sustainability,
ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY22), from up 14% operational excellence and financial disci-
RM162.79 million a year earlier, on lower pline. Our improved financial position is
depreciation of property, plant and equip- by Sulhi Khalid enabling us to turn our attention to pursu-
ment, tax expense and finance costs. theedgemarkets.com ing new opportunities in targeted markets,”
he noted.
This resulted in higher earnings per share ing the floating offshore solutions segment.
of 3.14 sen for 1QFY22 from 2.76 sen for “The group expects our existing busi- At noon break, shares in Bumi Armada
1QFY21. were unchanged at 42 sen, with 4.13 mil-
ness to be stable for the rest of 2022 and lion shares traded. Its market capitalisation
Revenue for 1QFY22, however, fell by is pursuing new opportunities in targeted stood at RM2.45 billion.
a marginal 2% to RM529.01 million from markets,” it added. More corporate results:
RM539.74 million a year ago, on the back of Velesto registers lower net loss of RM46.2
the provision of one-off engineering servic- In a separate statement on Wednesday mil in 1QFY22 on higher revenue
es relating to a floating, production, storage (May 25), Bumi Armada chief executive Click here
and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the previ- officer Gary Christenson said the future UEM Sunrise returns to profit as revenue
ous year. firm order book at the end of March 2022 jumps on land sale gain, higher property
amounted to RM13.2 billion, with addition- sales Click here
On a quarterly basis, net profit rose al optional extensions of up to RM9 billion. Dutch Lady 1Q net profit rises 22% to
57.4% from RM118.01 million for RM20.6 mil Click here
4QFY21, while revenue grew 3.1% from “The FPO fleet continued to deliver sta-
RM513.05 million. ble operations in the first quarter of 2022.

On its prospects, the group said the
strong oil price augurs well for the oil and
gas sector, which has witnessed increased ac-
tivities across the entire value chain, includ-

thursDAy MAY 26, 2022 7 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25) : Petro- Petronas is being watched closely, as it is perceived
nas Penapisan (Terengganu) Sdn Bhd on Penapisan obtains to be the largest transfer pricing dispute
Wednesday (May 25) was granted leave leave to challenge in Malaysia and the region.
by the High Court to commence judicial RM2.8 bil tax bill
review of a RM2.8 billion tax assessment in closely watched “Petronas Penapisan is challenging the
issued by the Inland Revenue Board, pro- transfer pricing methodology employed
ceedings which are being closely moni- transfer pricing by the IRB, where the IRB insisted on
tored by corporations over the court’s in- dispute applying the profit split method without
terpretation of the application of transfer providing any comparability analysis.
pricing law. by hafiz yatim
theedgemarkets.com “The IRB in raising the tax assess-
Moreover, the Petronas Penapisan case ment invoked Section 140A of the Income
is said to be the largest transfer pricing dis- Tax Act 1967, on the basis that Petronas
pute in Malaysia and the region. Penapisan’s transactions with its related
parties were not at arm’s length,” he ex-
Justice Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan plained.
Salleh, who heard the application, dis-
missed the IRB’s objection and gave Pe- Saravana Kumar said he told the court
tronas Penapisan — which is a unit of in his submissions that leave should be
Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) — a granted as the matter is a legal issue re-
stay order from paying the disputed tax volving around the application of transfer
amount until the disposal of the judicial pricing law.
review hearing. A date will be fixed by the
High Court to hear the full merits of the He added that as there was no transfer
application. pricing report produced by the IRB to re-
but the transactional net margin method
In judicial review cases, leave or per- applied by Petronas Penapisan, the IRB
mission has to be gained in order to avoid had acted arbitrarily in raising the large
applications deemed frivolous, vexatious tax assessment.
and an abuse of the court process.
He also highlighted that the existence
The court’s decision was confirmed by of the domestic tax remedy in the form
counsel S Saravana Kumar from Messrs of the Special Commissioner of Income
Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership to th- Tax (SCIT) does not prohibit Petronas
eedgemarkets.com. Saravana Kumar ap- Penapisan from commencing the judicial
peared withYap Wen Hui in the matter. review which was filed in April last year.

He told theedgemarkets.com that this case The IRB was represented by Ashrina
Ramzan Ali and Kwan Huey Shin.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25):The High Serba Dinamik Counsel Mak Lin Kum appeared for
Court (commercial division) was told on will send further Serba Dinamik Holdings as well as its
Wednesday morning that the syndicated draft of terms of three subsidiaries — Serba Dinamik In-
borrowers to the winding up petition filed consideration to its ternational Ltd based in Labuan, Serba
against Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd and debt to creditors Dinamik Sdn Bhd and Serba Dinamik
its subsidiaries could not report wheth- later onWednesday, Group Bhd.
er they are agreeable to the scheme of ar-
rangement proposed by the company. says counsel Last month, theedgemarkets.com report-
ed that Serba Dinamik Holdings and its
Datin Jeyanthini Kannaperan informed by hafiz yatim three subsidiaries were served with wind-
Justice Nadzarin Wok Nordin that Serba theedgemarkets.com ing up petitions from six financial institu-
Dinamik and its subsidiaries will be send- tions involved in providing RM1.2 billion
ing a further draft of terms of consideration also relate the outcome,” he added in pro- in syndicated term financing.
later on Wednesday. ceedings that were held online that was
attended by theedgemarkets.com. The creditors are of the view that Ser-
“Hence, there is no real report that we ba Dinamik Holdings is unable to pay
could give on this matter. I propose that the Besides Jeyanthini who appeared for its debts as per Section 465(1)(e) and
dates fixed for the handover of submission the six syndicated creditors — AmBank Section 466(c) of the Companies Act
[to appoint an interim liquidator and for Islamic Bhd, UOB (M) Bhd, Standard 2016, taking into account the compa-
Serba Dinamik to cross-examine the wind- Chartered Bank (M) Bhd, Bank Islam ny’s current, contingent and prospective
ing up petition] remains,” she proposed. (M) Bhd, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank liabilities.
Bhd, HSBC Amanah (M) Bhd — the oth-
“If parties come to an arrangement ers present wereTan KahWeng for HSBC Last week, Nadzarin fixed the June 8
(agreement) we will inform the court ear- Amanah, one of the bilateral lenders, and hearing date as mentioned.
lier,” she added. Karen Tan for Hong Leong Islamic. Read also: Serba Dinamik MD Abdul Karim
forced to sell more shares Click here
Justice Nadzarin agreed that the dates More court story: Court gives six-month RO
that he had fixed for hearing on June 8 extension to EATechnique, and permission
should remain. to dispose of two vessels Click here

“Should parties come to an arrange-
ment, please inform the court. Be that as
it may, we will keep the dates. I believe
we have another case management date
on June 1, before me, where parties could

thursDAy MAY 26, 2022 8 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25):Telekom Ma- TM records extensive Digital Malaysia becomes a reality.
laysia Bhd’s (TM) net profit rose 4.42% to higher 1Q profit “Into the second year of our Transfor-
RM339.84 million for the first quarter ended of RM339.84 mil
March 31, 2022 (1QFY22) from RM325.46 mation, we are focused on strengthening
million in the same quarter last year — de- despite Cukai our core business while investing into new
spite having to apply the Prosperity Tax or Makmur, thanks to growth areas to meet customers’ demands.
Cukai Makmur — thanks to lower finance lower finance cost In ensuring sustainability in the long run, we
costs subsequent to the group’s early redemp- continue to grow our profitability to invest
tion of its RM2 billion sukuk in March 2021. by Syafiqah Salim and seize opportunities arising from digital
theedgemarkets.com acceleration.
The group also recorded lower foreign
exchange translation losses on borrowings, the quarter under review. “One of these opportunities is in the ex-
while revenue for the quarter grew 2.95% Compared with the immediate preceding citing space of digital solutions and services
to RM2.89 billion from RM2.81 billion, for enterprises. Building onTM One’s exist-
driven primarily by increased demand for quarter of 4QFY21, TM’s net profit soared ing capability and relationships with enter-
voice, Internet and multimedia, its bourse 325% from RM79.94 million, though reve- prises and the public sector, we will deliver
filing showed. nue declined 8.27% from RM3.15 billion, on speed and agility through our new digital
lower revenue from voice, data and other tele- arm Credence: a corporate start-up led by
Earnings per share for 1QFY22 improved communication services, though Internet con- technology leaders.
to 9.01 sen, up from 8.62 sen for 1QFY21. tinued to record quarter-on-quarter increase.
“Unifi continues to better its fixed broad-
“Entering into the 2nd year of the Group’s The improved q-o-q earnings was due band and Fixed-Mobile Convergence value
3-Year Transformation Programme, the to corresponding lower operating costs in proposition to improve customer experience
group continues with its manpower optimi- the current quarter, which led to an 87.8% while expanding our offerings to provide
sation initiatives to enable early realisation (RM258.7 million) increase in operating quality entertainment to customers at home
of expected benefits to the group. Expenses profit before finance costs to RM553.5 mil- or on-the-go,” he said.
from the programme together with lower for- lion from RM294.8 million previously.
eign exchange translation gains on settlement TM shares dropped 11 sen or 2.28% to
and placements in the current quarter con- TM’s group chief executive officer Imri close at RM4.71 on Wednesday, giving the
tributed to the net increase in operating costs Mokhtar said the group is powering Malay- telecommunications company a market val-
between the two comparatives quarters.This sia’s journey on its road towards recovery, ue of RM17.77 billion.The stock has fallen
led to a 5.1% (RM29.8 million) decrease in by ensuring the vision of an inclusive and 14.67% year to date from RM5.52.
operating profits before finance cost, which Click here for the full story
was RM553.5 million for the first quarter of Read also: Axiata plunges to red in 1Q on
2022, compared with RM583.3 million in RM477 mil forex loss Click here
the same quarter last year,”TM said.

TM said it has applied the 33% Cukai
Makmur statutory tax rate accordingly for

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25):Sunway Con- SunCon kicks “We are actively pursuing opportunities
struction Group Bhd’s (SunCon) net profit off FY22 with in the private and public sectors, including
for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 stronger 1Q profit private funding initiative projects.
(1QFY22) jumped 70.54% to RM34.52 mil- on improved
lion from RM20.24 million in the same pe- construction “We believe that we are well positioned
riod last year, mainly due to its construction to participate in the tender for any large in-
segment’s increased profit margin. margin frastructure projects based on the group’s
solid financial position and strong track re-
Earnings per share rose to 2.68 sen from by Izzul Ikram cord locally and abroad in highway projects
1.57 sen last year, according to the con- theedgemarkets.com as well as urban rail transit projects, such as
struction firm’s bourse filing. Revenue grew MRT (mass rapid transit) 1 & 2, LRT (light
37.23% to RM624.66 million from RM455.2 duced the segment’s PBT margin to 2.7% rail transit) 2 & 3 and BRT (bus rapid tran-
million, on improved contributions from both from 10.3%. sit),” he added.
its construction and precast businesses. No
dividend was declared. The construction firm noted that its out- SunCon shares closed one sen or 0.64%
standing order book stands at RM4.4 billion higher at RM1.58 onWednesday, valuing the
Its construction business reported a 39.5% compared with RM4.8 billion in December group at RM2.04 billion.
rise in revenue to RM587.8 million from 2021, with RM265.6 million worth of new
RM421.3 million, as operations normalised orders secured up to March 2022. More corporate results:
in line with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Chin Hin’s 1Q net profit grows 73%
This led to a 95% jump in profit before tax SunCon managing director Liew Kok to RM26 mil amid gain on disposal of
to RM46.2 million from RM23.7 million, as Wing said the group is “cautiously optimis- Solarvest shares Click here
margin rose to 7.9% — due to the final ac- tic” that it is well positioned to register com- Hong Leong Industries 3Q net profit
count for completed projects — from 5.6%. mendable growth in this financial year based narrows 37%, declares 35 sen dividend
on its existing order book. Click here
Meanwhile, the group’s precast segment MBM Resources 1Q net profit jumps on
reported an 8.9% increase in revenue to disposal gain Click here
RM36.9 million from RM33.9 million, as
a result of a higher outstanding order book.
However, the segment’s PBT fell 71.4% to
RM1 million from RM3.5 million due to the
impact of higher steel bar prices, which re-

THURSDAY MAY 26, 2022 9 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Sime Darby Sime Darby exposed to volatility in raw material prices.
Property Bhd said on Wednesday that the Property says “At the end of the day, we need to make
group’s profitability in the financial year end- profitability could
ing Dec 31, 2022 (FY22) may be affected by be affected by sure that we are making profits. We noted
margin erosion brought by higher building higher building that consumers are price sensitive and we
material costs and labour shortage. material costs need to deal with this quite carefully,” he said.

“I guess we will be profitable, we will and labour Sime Darby Property announced on
grow, but our profitability may be affect- shortage Tuesday that its net profit for the first
ed if we do not solve the issues (of higher quarter ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY22)
building material costs and labour short- by Tan Siew Mung & Hailey Chung fell 21.51% to RM51.84 million from
age),” its managing director Datuk Azmir theedgemarkets.com RM66.04 million a year ago, as its reve-
Merican said in a virtual press briefing on nue slipped 18.42% to RM480.33 million
Wednesday (May 25). “If the industry is able to resolve the la- from RM588.77 million.
bour problem, I am quite positive that all
He also noted that the group’s financial of us will still do well even though we are In a note onWednesday, AmInvestment
performance for FY22 will be underpinned facing rising raw material prices because Bank analyst Khoo Zing Sheng said it main-
by unbilled sales which remain strong at we are clever in how we manage raw ma- tained the “hold” recommendation on Sime
RM2.9 billion and gives the company rev- terial prices,” he said. Darby Property with a lower fair value of 66
enue visibility. sen per share from 67 sen per share.
According to him, the company is ex-
According to him, 60% to 70% of the ploring ways to protect its margins, such “Sime Darby Property’s 1QFY22 core
unbilled sales will be reflected in FY22. as looking at alternative materials and de- net profit of RM52 million was below ex-
sign simplification to minimise the costs. pectations, making up only 15% of our
He also said the group is on track to meet FY22 earnings while it accounted for 21%
the FY22 sales target of RM2.6 billion, un- He also noted most of its contracts are of consensus estimate,
derpinned by new launches worth RM2.8 non-variation of price (VOP), which are less
billion in gross development value (GDV). “We lower our FY22/FY23/FY24 fore-
cast core net profit by 27%/35%/14% to
“We are quite optimistic that we will grow reflect margin compression from higher
because of the sales we have secured. But I building material costs and slower pro-
think it is a bit too early to predict today how gress billings due to labour shortage,” the
margins will be affected (by higher building analyst said.
material costs and labour shortage),”he added.
Sime Darby Property closed one sen or
He noted that the shortage of labour is 1.82% lower at 54 sen, valuing the group
an industry-wide issue and indicated his at RM3.7 billion.
hope that the government will solve it as
soon as possible. Year to date, the counter has fallen
11.48%.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Matrix Con- Matrix Concepts lion bonus shares on the basis of one bonus
cepts Holdings Bhd posted a net profit of declares 3.75 sen share for every two existing shares, on an en-
RM61.08 million for the fourth quarter ended titlement date to be announced later.
March 31, 2022 (4QFY22), a year-on-year dividend after
decline of 22.17% from RM78.47 million in closing FY22, For illustration purposes, based on the
line with lower revenue as well as higher ad- plans 1-for-2 five-day volume weighted average price of
ministrative and general expenses. bonus issue Matrix Concepts’ shares up to and including
the latest practicable date of RM2.2943, the
Earnings per share decreased to 7.32 sen by Syafiqah Salim theoretical ex bonus price after the proposed
from 9.41 sen a year earlier, the group said theedgemarkets.com bonus issue of shares would be RM1.5295.
in a bourse filing.
for FY22, surpassing the group’s initial target “Barring any unforeseen circumstanc-
Quarterly revenue dropped 35.4% to of RM1.2 billion. es, the application to the relevant authori-
RM250.81 million in 4QFY22 compared ties will be made within two months from
with RM388.25 million in 4QFY21 on lower “The group is cautiously optimistic of the date of this announcement,” said the
recognition from residential and commercial maintaining healthy performance in FY23, company.
products amid slower construction progress supported by encouraging demand for on-
caused by the Covid-19 restrictions. going developments, continued economic re- At the time of writing on Wednesday,
covery, and a low interest rate environment Matrix Concepts’ share price was trading at
The property developer declared a fourth despite a revision in overnight policy rate of RM2.34, down 0.85%. It had a market cap-
interim dividend of 3.75 sen per share, to be 2%,” said Matrix Concepts. italisation of RM1.95 billion.
paid on July 7. 1-for-2 bonus issue
In a separate filing,the company has proposed More corporate results:
For full FY22, the group’s net profit fell to undertake an issuance of up to 417.12 mil- E&O returns to the black in FY2022
21.81% to RM205.02 million compared with Click here
RM262.22 million in the previous year. FY22 Tropicana sinks into the red in 1Q, dragged
revenue also declined 21.35% to RM886.82 down by hotel business Click here
million from RM1.13 billion. IOI Properties 3Q net profit drops 67%
y-o-y but revenue grows Click here
Despite the challenges faced by the prop-
erty market, the company recorded encour-
aging property sales of RM346.9 million as it
focused on the affordable premium segment
which continued to see healthy demand.

Total new sales reached RM1.34 billion

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Hap Hap Seng On its prospects, Hap Seng Planta-
Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd report- Plantations 1Q net tions noted that its results for FY22 will
ed a net profit of RM101.67 million for profit more than be influenced by movements in commod-
the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 triples y-o-y amid ity prices, rising production costs, geo-
(1QFY22), up more than three-fold year- higher CPO and political tensions in Europe, and uncer-
on-year from RM29.37 million, mainly tainties in global economies as the world
on the back of higher average selling pric- PK prices shifts from the Covid-19 pandemic to
es (ASPs) of crude palm oil (CPO) and the endemic stage.
palm kernel (PK). by Izzul Ikram
theedgemarkets.com “Palm oil industry analysts expect CPO
Earnings per share spiked to 12.71 sen prices to remain buoyant at the current
from 3.67 sen, the planter’s bourse filing “CPO and PK production for the current level in the near term, supported by the
on Wednesday (May 25) showed. quarter were higher by 6% and 7% respec- global shortages of edible oils and geopo-
tively, as compared to the preceding year’s litical tensions in Europe but expect prices
Likewise, its quarterly revenue was corresponding quarter,benefitting from high- to moderate in the second half of 2022, as
carried by ASPs 99.56% higher y-o-y to er fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production, as CPO production enters its peak produc-
RM242.15 million from RM121.32 mil- well as higher CPO and PK extraction rates. tion cycle, subject to the resolution of the
lion, but was also supported by a higher labour shortage situation in Malaysia with
sales volume of all palm products. “FFB production for [the] current the re-entry of migrant workers.
quarter was 5% higher than the preced-
The ASP of CPO increased by 56.18% ing year corresponding quarter, with higher “The favourable impact from the
to RM6,019 per tonne compared to FFB yield due to seasonal yield trends and strong CPO prices will however be damp-
RM3,854 per tonne a year earlier, while changes in cropping patterns,” it added. ened by the rising prices of fertilisers
the ASP of PK stood at RM4,702 per and fuel, coupled with the increase in
tonne, 81.9% higher from RM2,585 per The planter did not declare any divi- the minimum wage under the Malay-
tonne. dends for the quarter. sian MinimumWage Order 2022 effective
May 2022, which will push production
CPO sales volume stood at 33,607 costs higher,” it said.
tonnes in 1QFY22, while PK sales vol-
ume was at 7,319 tonnes — an increase Hap Seng Plantations shares finished
of 28% and 8% respectively compared to down two sen or 0.68% to RM2.90 on
a year prior — mainly attributed to higher Wednesday (May 25), which translates to
CPO and PK production and favourable a market capitalisation of RM2.32 billion.
inventory movements.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Genting Genting substitute oils and fats, backed by a con-
Plantations Bhd’s first quarter net profit Plantations’ 1Q net fluence of factors such as the unresolved
ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY22) surged profit jumps 83% labour shortage in Malaysia, drought in
83.02% to RM116.64 million, compared key soybean producing areas and the pro-
with RM63.73 million the prior year, on to RM116.64 mil tracted Russia-Ukraine conflict.
higher palm products selling prices. amid higher palm
products selling Meanwhile, the uncertainties surround-
As a result, earnings per share for the ing Indonesia’s export policy will contribute
quarter under review rose to 13 sen, from prices towards volatility in palm oil prices, it said.
7.1 sen previously.
by Syafiqah Salim “The group expects a moderate growth
Revenue, on the other hand, dipped theedgemarkets.com in FFB production for the year, sustained
marginally to RM530.43 million from by additional areas coming into maturity
RM536.58 million a year earlier, due to The AgTech segment narrowed its loss- and progression of existing mature areas
lower sales volume for the downstream es for 1Q2022, in line with higher reve- into higher yielding brackets in Indonesia.
manufacturing segment. nue achieved year-on-year,” said Genting On the other hand, the ongoing replant-
Plantations in a statement filed with Bursa ing activities in Malaysia may constrain
“[The fresh fruit and bunch] FFB pro- Malaysia on Wednesday (May 25). the group’s production growth,” Genting
duction in 1Q2022 was marginally lower Plantations added.
year-on-year, as the heavy rainfall during According to Genting Plantations, the
the quarter disrupted estate operations in prospects for the rest of the year will track Genting Plantations shares closed un-
Indonesia, mitigated by a strong recovery the performance of its mainstay plantation changed at RM8.18 on Wednesday, giv-
in Malaysian estates against a drought-in- segment, which is in turn dependent prin- ing the company a market capitalisation
duced low production a year ago. cipally on the movements in palm products’ of RM7.34 billion.
prices and the group’s FFB production. Read also:
“The group achieved crude palm oil FGV expects to benefit from Jakarta’s
and palm kernel prices of RM4,797 per For the short term, the group said it decision to lift palm oil export ban
metric tonne (mt) and RM4,114 per mt expects palm oil prices to be supported Click here
respectively. Reflective of the higher palm by supply tightness of palm oil and other
products selling prices, 1Q2022 EBITDA Malaysia open to collaborations
[earnings before interest, taxes, deprecia- to ensure sustainability of agri-
tion and amortisation] for the Plantation commodities, says Zuraida Click here
segment improved year-on-year, on account
of better margins.

“EBITDA from the Property seg-
ment for 1Q2022 declined year-on-year,
in tandem with lower sales and revenue.

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Supermax Supermax back of the Covid-19 pandemic and is now
Corporation Bhd’s net profit in the third 3Q net profit drops entering a more challenging phase as the
quarter ended March 31, 2022 (3QFY22) coronavirus becomes endemic.
fell by 98.71% to RM13.01 million from 99% as gloves
RM1.01 billion, as average selling prices ASP and demand “ASP for gloves has been on the decline
(ASPs) and demand continue to come off subside; declares and demand is also on a downturn.
the highs of a year ago when the Covid-19
pandemic was at or near its peak. 3 sen dividend “Many of the large buyers seen at the
height of the pandemic, such as the gov-
Earnings per share dropped significantly by sulhi khalid ernments and large hospital chains are full
to 0.49 sen from 38.83 sen. Still, the group theedgemarkets.com or near full in terms of their PPE stocks
declared a single-tier interim dividend of after a period of aggressive sourcing and
three sen per share, to be paid on June 28. Moving forward, the group expects to buying. Buying activities have moderated
see a continued normalising in the rubber in tandem with reduced consumption lev-
In a Bursa Malaysia filing on Wednes- glove business as ASPs and demand con- els,” the group revealed.
day (May 25), the glove manufacturer tinue to decline from the pandemic highs.
said its quarterly revenue tumbled by Supermax said that it officially started the
78.95% to RM407.80 million compared “The rubber glove industry is coming ground-breaking of the US plant in May this
with RM1.94 billion as sales continue to off a period of exponential growth on the year as part of its effort to address concerns
be adversely impacted because the With- on the vulnerability of disruption of PPE sup-
hold Release Order (WRO) imposed by ply chains or over dependence on imports.
the US Customs and Border Protection
(USCBP) and the Canadian government Shares of Supermax closed unchanged
had led to suspended orders and deliveries at RM1.03, giving it a market capitaliza-
by Supermax. tion of RM2.8 billion.
More corporate results:
For the full nine months, net profit de- Pos Malaysia trims 1Q net loss
clined by 75.5% to RM699.37 million from to RM30.37 mil on effective cost
RM2.85 billion in the same period last year. management measures Click here

Revenue fell by 54.87% to RM2.39 bil- Mega First 1Q profit jumps 11% on
lion from RM5.29 billion. higher contribution from renewable,
packaging divisions Click here
On a quarterly basis, net profit de-
creased by 72.81% from RM47.84 mil-
lion registered in the immediate preced-
ing quarter (2QFY22) while revenue slid
22.11% from RM523.54 million.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Latex Latex goods “... we do not need to merely leverage
goods accounted for 83.1% of total ex- remained on a pandemic as the industry has grown
ports of rubber products in the first quar- exponentially over the past decades. The
ter of 2022 (1Q22) with gloves generat- Malaysia’s top world will not wait for us so the rubber
ing the largest rubber export revenue, the rubber product players must ensure that we move in tan-
Malaysian Rubber Council (MRC) said export in 1Q22, dem with the ever-evolving world,” he said.
on Wednesday (May 25).
says MRC Nor Hizwan urged glove manufactur-
However, the export for latex goods re- ers to delve into the non-medical industry
duced by 63.72% from RM18.31 billion to by hailey chung players as their potential and key clients to
RM6.65 billion for 1Q22 compared with theedgemarkets.com make the industry more lucrative.
1Q21, according to MRC’s infographic.
est export with an increase of 4.5% from “After all, disposable non-medi-
The agency under the Ministry of RM429.9 million to RM449.1 million cal-grade gloves come in various ranges
Plantation Industries and Commodities compared with in 1Q21. of sizes, colours, thicknesses, and textures.
released the data for rubber export perfor- Applications for such gloves exist in busi-
mance for 1Q22 onWednesday (May 25). The industrial rubber goods, which com- nesses from tattoo parlours to laboratories
prise products for the automotive, mining and even childcare centres,” he said.
In a statement, MRC added that the and construction sectors,recorded RM377.2
gloves sub-sector documented a decrease million (23.2%), while the general rubber The government agency is currently fa-
of 66.2% equalling to RM6.04 billion in goods saw RM375 million (9.7%) and foot- cilitating local manufacturers in securing
1Q22. It further listed that surgical gloves wear saw RM150.1 million (4.1%). new markets and “spreading their wings”
remained the highest earner with export to the non-medical sectors.
revenue of almost RM561.7 million, an MRC chief executive officer Nor Hizwan
increase of almost 13.3% from 1Q21. Ahmad believes that the competitiveness of “The growth of the rubber industry is
the Malaysian rubber industry can be en- not only the interest of the council, but it
Meanwhile, latex threads recorded a hanced by focusing beyond healthcare. also stands as a national interest. As long
21.8% increase to RM240 million from as the rubber industry survives, the nation
RM197.1 million, catheters recorded an will also prevail.
increase of 66.5% to RM113 million and
foam products recorded an increase of “My mission is to ensure the rubber
204.2% to RM106.1 million. industry is deemed sexy and appealing in
the eyes of the beholder globally and no
For dry rubber products export per- longer be limited as a sunset industry,”
formance in 1Q22, tyres were the larg- Nor Hizwan said.

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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): The High Court strikes Besides Ikhwan Hafiz and Nur Anis,
Court on Tuesday (May 24) struck out a out suit by JJ’s the grandchildren named as defend-
purported fraudulent suit by the late Tan mother against ants, the others named were Liza Chan
Sri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis’s mother, Aminah five including two Sow Keng, who was Jamaludin’s law-
Abdullah, against her two grandchildren, grandchildren yer and now a JC, law firm Wong Lu
his former lawyer who is now a judicial Peen & Tunku Alina and Commissioner
commissioner (JC), a commissioner for and a JC for Oaths Tengku Fariddudin Tengku
oaths and a law firm. Sulaiman.
by hafiz yatim
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd theedgemarkets.com The decision on Tuesday was con-
Arief Emran Arifin in his decision stated firmed by Ikhwan Hafiz’s counsel K
that the suit discloses no reasonable cause Shanmuga to theedgemarkets.com. Shan-
of action, is scandalous, frivolous, vexatious muga appeared with Datuk Malik Imti-
and an abuse of the court process. az Sarwar. Separately, the firm of Wong
Lu Peen was represented by Datuk DP
The JC also ruled res judicata, namely Naban of Rosli Dahlan Saravana Part-
the issues that have been raised could have nership.
and should have been raised in Aminah’s
earlier litigation between her and her two Last August, in Aminah’s main suit to
grandchildren that had been decided by seek shares in three companies to be de-
another High Court last year. clared as part of Jamaludin’s estate, the
High Court only ruled that one of them,
Mohd Arief also ruled that the letters namely Rantai Wawasan Sdn Bhd, is part
of administration granted to Ikhwan Hafiz of his late son’s estate.
Jamaludin and Nur Anis Jamaludin, the
two grandchildren, are valid and that the The matter is now on appeal and
deficiencies in the document of Aminah’s cross-appeal by Aminah and Ikhwan Hafiz
renunciation were held to be a mere ir- and Nur Anis in the Court of Appeal.
regularity. Click here for the full story

The court ordered Aminah to pay
RM20,000 costs to each of the five defendants.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Datuk Seri Zahid:‘I did not “I declare that I never promised any
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi denied that a pay- receive RM13 mil MYEG projects to Junaith, any donation
ment of RM13 million made to him was bribes for MYEG given as MYEG is not under the purview of
for a bribe for MYEG projects. the Home Ministry and this was confirmed
contracts as by Junaith when he took the stand,” he said.
The person who paid was textile whole- MYEG was not
saler Junaith Asharab Md Shariff who, under my Ministry’ Junaith had also previously testified that
through his company Mastoro Kenny IT the cheques were for building a mosque
Consultant & Services, in 2016 and 2017 by Timothy Achariam and a tahfiz school in Bagan Datuk.
had paid RM8 million in 13 cheques to theedgemarkets.com
the accounts of Lewis and Co who were He also reiterated that MYEG has noth-
acting as trustees for Zahid. ing to do with him personally.

Junaith, through his company Berani & “It (the company) has got nothing to
Jujur Trading, had also given Zahid RM5 do with me personally but as far as I know,
million in 10 cheques to Lewis and Co. MYEG was awarded contracts by the Min-
istry of Finance,” he said.
These transactions make up two out of
Zahid’s 47 charges whereby he is accused Zahid was reading from a witness state-
of receiving a grand total of RM21.25 mil- ment he gave to the Malaysian Anti-Cor-
lion in cheques as an inducement by enti- ruption Commission (MACC) in October
ties for his assistance in awarding contracts 2018 while under investigation and was
in his role as then Home Minister. also answering questions put to him by
his lawyer.
Zahid onWednesday said that the mon- Click here for the full story
ey from Junaith was for the construction More court stories:
of mosques and tahfiz schools in his Par- Rosmah, jewellery firm make claim
liamentary constituency of Bagan Datuk. over a single bracelet in forfeiture
application Click here
He then denied ever giving out govern- Mareva injunction against Jho Low
ment contracts to Junaith especially MYEG. and father stands, required to disclose
assets and whereabouts Click here
“I never promised (his) the company
anything in return. I deny having received
the money as a bribe,” he said before Jus-
tice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

He added that the MYEG projects to
supply passport chips and be the operator
of the migrant visa one-stop centres in Pa-
kistan and Nepal was not even under the
purview of his Ministry back then.

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RM800 mil He said four incidents had occurred since Co-operatives
for ‘mid-life May 2, causing the disruption of the Kelana Jaya involved in
refurbishment’ LRT service and among issues identified per-
of Kelana Jaya taining to the problem were emergency brakes plantations can
and brake caliper damage. take on foreign
LRT line workers, says
“From the data obtained,this disruption is due to
Bernama several factors, especially the ‘tachometer’ problem Noh Omar
which accounts for 47% of the total cases, electronic
PUTRAJAYA (May 25): The Kelana Jaya Light units:32%,antennas:6%,and other problems:15%. Bernama
RailTransit (LRT) line, which has been operating
since 1998, is undergoing mid-life refurbishment “Therefore, Prasarana is replacing 140 tachom- KUALA LUMPUR (May 24):The Cab-
involving RM800 million, saidTransport Minister eters, costing RM5 million,” he added. inet agreed on Monday (May 23) that
Datuk Seri DrWee Ka Siong. co-operatives involved in the plantation
On the temporary disruption of the Kelana Jaya sector will be given the opportunity to re-
He said it involved level four maintenance, LRT service onTuesday (May 24), which was due cruit foreign workers, effective immediately.
repair and overhaul (MRO) of the 28 sets of to power supply problems at two Traction Power
818 series trains, which is an important process Sub Stations (TPSS) at the Kelana Jaya station and This was to enable co-operatives to be
to extend the life span of the trains. Universiti Station,Wee said investigations were un- involved in the cultivation of food products
derway and initial findings found technical errors that such as corn, which is currently needed
Apart from that, he said the government would require further discussion with relevant contractors. by the country to overcome the issue of
receive 19 new types of trains in the fourth quarter shortage of chicken supply in the market.
of next year for the Kelana Jaya route. Following the incident,Wee said Prasana took
several initiatives to improve its crisis management Entrepreneur Development and Co-op-
The reason being that it is a popular route with operations to reduce the impact on passengers eratives Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar said
350,000 passengers a day and is expected to be during disruption of the train service. under the existing regulations set by the
busier when phase 1 of the Putrajaya Mass Rap- Human Resource Ministry, a company
id Transit (MRT) line began operation this June This included placing several buses at major and must be registered with the Companies
16, he told a press conference on steps taken by strategic stations such as at Bangsar and Pasar Seni, Commission of Malaysia (SSM) if they
Prasarana Malaysia Bhd to improve its services, which will be activated in the event of an emergency wanted to apply to recruit foreign workers.
here on Wednesday (May 25). if the delay of the train service exceeds 15 minutes.
“However, the co-operatives are not
During the maintenance period, which will be The number of Prasarana auxiliary police per- registered under SSM because they are
for about six months, he said the Kelana Jaya train sonnel will be increased at busy stations such as under the Co-operative Commission of
service will operate at a four-minute frequency, Masjid Jamek, Pasar Seni and KLCC during peak Malaysia (SKM).
instead of 2.5 minute. hours, as well as improve crowd control manage-
ment by improving communication efficiency to “But the Cabinet yesterday had agreed
passengers during disruptions, he added. that co-operatives involved in plantations
Read also:Wee: Seven initiatives to improve can apply to recruit foreign workers and
Kelana Jaya LRT services to be completed the confirmation process on the existence
by year end Click here of these co-operatives will be referred to
SKM,” he told reporters at the launch of
PUTRAJAYA (May 24):The Home Ministry Home Ministry to the Co-operative Commission of Malaysia
(KDN) will hold discussions with the Philip- discuss with new Strategic Plan 2021-2025 (PS SKM 2021-
pines, Indonesia and Bangladesh on the pro- source countries 2025), which is part of the National Co-op-
posal to recruit workers from these new source erative Day Celebration Pre-Launch and
countries for the security sector. on recruiting Co-operative Movement Friendly Gath-
security workers ering at Dewan Perdana Felda onTuesday
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah (May 24).
Zainuddin said a decision at the policy level Bernama
had been agreed upon to bring in foreign la- Through the effort, Noh said his min-
bour from other countries, apart from Nepal. Mohd Zubil Mat Som said the agency made 63 istry hoped that many co-operatives would
arrests through Op Pagar Laut conducted from come forward and respond to the govern-
“However, to bring in these workers, they will April 19 to May 17 against several maritime ment’s call to cultivate food products as
have to meet the criteria (set), that is, the foreign criminal offences including illegal entry into the currently there were over 20 co-operatives
workers need to have the work experience in the country,smuggling of contraband and controlled nationwide which were reported to have
security sector in their own countries,” he told goods, and intrusions by foreign fishing boats. over 1,000 hectares of plantation land.
reporters after attending a Malaysian Maritime
Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Hari Raya cel- He said the total value of the seized items “In the 2021-2030 Malaysian Co-op-
ebration here onTuesday (May 24). was about RM23 million. erative Policy, we have asked the co-oper-
atives to get involved in helping the people
He said the applications for foreign workers Op Pagar Laut, which is in its seventh year, take on the problem of hikes in the prices
can be submitted after discussions on the mat- is held each year in conjunction with the Ai- of goods, especially chicken.
ter had been held but their entry would depend dilfitri celebration as a special operation that
on the decision of the source nations involved. focuses on curbing cross-border criminal ac- “Therefore, an agricultural federation
tivities throughout the festive season. has already been established under SKM to
Hamzah was previously quoted as saying help and encourage co-operatives to be in-
that the government had considered the pro- volved in the agricultural sector,” he added.
posed recruitment of foreign workers in the
security sector from new source countries to
balance out the shortage of Nepal and local
workers in this sector.

Meanwhile, MMEA director-general Datuk

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news In brief

Amway posts flat 1Q net profit, declares five sen dividend Solution Group inks MoU for human
vaccines development
KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Bhd’s net profit for the first KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Solution
quarter ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY22) rose marginally to RM20.17 million from Group Bhd has inked a memorandum
RM20.11 million a year ago, according to its bourse filing on Wednesday (May 25). of understanding (MoU) for the
This was despite a 10.63% increase in revenue to RM391.23 million from RM353.65 collaboration on research and
million a year ago, mainly driven by stronger demand for health and wellness products development of human vaccines,
amid pre-price increase buy up, good responses for overall promotion and growth in the group said in a statement on
the buyer base due to increased Amway Privileged Customer (APC) count. The multi Wednesday (May 25). The MoU was
level marketing company’s profit before tax was almost unchanged at RM26.66 million signed between the group’s wholly-
compared to RM26.75 million in the previous corresponding quarter on higher “core owned unit Solution Biologics Sdn Bhd
plus” sales incentive due to the timing of “true up” adjustment only taking place in the (SOLBIO) with National Institutes of
second half of the prior year for higher incentive accrual. It declared a first single tier Biotechnology Malaysia (NIBM) and
interim dividend of five sen per share, payable on June 24 to shareholders registered CanSino Biologics Inc (CanSinoBIO),
as at June 13. — by Syafiqah Salim to jointly develop human vaccines,
namely for Meningococcal, Dengue,
FMM welcomes strengthening of US- XOX, Ipoh City Council ink MoU for Human Papillomavirus, Hand Foot and
Malaysian investment ties via IPEF strategic technology partnership Mouth, as well as Zika. Solution Group,
the ASEAN manufacturing partner of
KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): The KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): XOX Bhd CanSinoBIO, said this MoU will enhance
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers has entered into a memorandum of the Solbio capability in vaccine research,
(FMM) said on Wednesday that new understanding (MoU) with the Ipoh City as well as manufacturing which will
high-quality investments from the United Council to solidify the parameters and lay contribute to the Malaysian bio-based
States in the manufacturing sector, the foundation for the formalisation of a economy. — by Syafiqah Salim
including electrical and electronics and strategic technology partnership. In a filing
medical devices, will not only generate with Bursa Malaysia, the company said the MOT can suspend, revoke licences of
jobs but help develop local manufacturers purpose of the partnership is to collectively e-hailing operators for overcharging
to become part of their supply chains enhance the current infrastructure and passengers
through technology transfers in services provided by the Ipoh City Council KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): The licences
production and distribution and industrial to the residents of Ipoh by digitalisation, of e-hailing operators can be revoked
upgrading. FMM said in a statement that augmented reality applications, cashless or suspended if they violate the allowed
it welcomes further strengthening of applications, and automation. Pursuant surcharge amount which is set at 200%
investment ties between Malaysia and to the MoU, MBI will appoint XOX as its of the base fare, said Transport Minister
the US through the Indo-Pacific Economic technology partner and will pave the road Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong. He said
Framework (IPEF), which will involve 13 for the latter to provide technical proposals the Land Public Transport Agency
member countries including Malaysia. — for MBI to consider implementing based on (APAD) has been ordered to investigate
by Tan Siew Mung public needs’ basis. — Bernama the matter as the surcharge rate had
been agreed on in 2019. “Regarding
the base fare, the e-hailing operators
are charging between 70 sen and 90
sen per kilometre. They are also given
the flexibility to impose surcharges
according to the rule, based on demands
and dynamic pricing,” he said, adding
that however, the fare should not be
more than 200% of the base fare. —
Bernama

Transport Minister
Datuk Seri Dr
Wee Ka Siong

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(May 25): China’s economy is worse off China’s economy issued by the end of this month. He said
to a “certain extent” than 2020 when the worse off in some that economic data for the second quarter
pandemic first emerged, Premier Li Ke- ways than 2020, would be released “accurately.”
qiang said, urging efforts to reduce the un-
employment rate. says Premier The State Council outlined 33 support
measures on Monday to help businesses
“Economic indicators in China have Bloomberg struggling to cope with the lockdowns, in-
fallen significantly, and difficulties in some cluding extra tax rebates, relief on social
aspects and to a certain extent are great- bloomberg insurance payments and loans, and addi-
er than when the epidemic hit us severely tional funding for aviation and rail con-
in 2020,” Li said Wednesday following a duce the impact of its strict Zero-Covid struction. Local governments were told to
meeting with local authorities, State-owned policy on the economy. “At the same time spend most of the proceeds from special
companies and financial firms to discuss as controlling the epidemic, we must com- bonds — used mainly for infrastructure
how to stabilize the economy. plete the task of economic development,” — by the end of August.
he said. Li stressed implementation of cur-
The premier called on officials to make rent support policies, and said more de- The Central Bank and banking regula-
sure the unemployment rate falls and the tailed implementation measures would be tor also held a meeting with major finan-
economy “operates in a reasonable range” cial institutions on Monday to urge them
in the second quarter of this year, State me- to boost loans.
dia cited him as saying. Earlier this month,
he warned of a “complicated and grave” Li met with local authorities in April,
employment situation after the nation’s when Shanghai was in the middle of a lock-
surveyed jobless rate climbed to 6.1% in down, telling them to “add a sense of ur-
April, the highest since February 2020. gency” as they rolled out policy. During
a trip to Yunnan province last week, he
The meeting is the latest in a series of said they should “act decisively” to sup-
calls by Li to shore up the economy, which port growth.
has come under enormous pressure from Read also:
Covid outbreaks and lockdowns in recent China stocks gain on economic support
months, threatening a government growth vows, growth concerns linger Click here
target of about 5.5%. President Xi Jinping’s
commitment to Covid Zero means it’s al- China protesters demand back billions
most certain to miss that goal this year: invested in suspected scam Click here
Economists now forecast gross domestic
product growth will hit just 4.5%, accord-
ing to a new Bloomberg survey.

Li indicated that China will try to re-

WASHINGTON (May 25): “Significant ‘Significant reuters
issues remain” in reaching a deal with Chi- issues remain’
na over a long-running dispute around au- in reaching deal off US exchanges if they are not compliant
diting compliance of China-based compa- over US-listed by the beginning of 2023.
nies listed on US stock exchanges, a US Chinese company
Securities and Exchange Commission audits — SEC Unlike many countries, China has not
(SEC) official said on Tuesday. allowed the accounting regulator to inspect
official Chinese company auditors due in part to
The SEC’s international affairs chief,YJ national security concerns. US regulators
Fischer, told an audience that the agency’s by Katanga Johnson worry the lack of US oversight is putting
accounting body, the US Public Company Reuters investors at risk.
Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB),
would need to complete China audit in- In December, the SEC mandated that Several media outlets including Reu-
spections by Nov 22 to meet a US deadline Chinese companies listed on US stock ex- ters had previously reported that there had
that will require non-compliant Chinese changes must disclose whether they are been progress on the talks.While Fischer
companies to delist by early 2023. owned or controlled by a government en- confirmed that, she warned time was nev-
tity, and provide evidence of their auditing ertheless “running out” to reach a workable
Fischer added that Chinese author- inspections. deal before next year.
ities should consider delisting from US
exchanges a “subset of issuers” that it Under the rule, which implements a law
deemed “too sensitive to comply” with passed by Congress in 2020, more than
US rules. 200 companies — including Alibaba, Baidu
Inc, and Weibo Corp — could be kicked
“While there has certainly been progress
in the discussions on audit inspections in
China and Hong Kong, significant issues
remain,” said Fischer. “Even if an agree-
ment is signed between the PCAOB and
Chinese authorities, it will only be a first
step,” she said, since the United States
would then need to commence on-the-
ground inspections.

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NEW YORK (May 24): Demand for Record US Sept. 30, analysts said.
the Federal Reserve’s reverse repurchase reverse repos “A sharp decline in bill supply will
(RRP) facility has surged in the last few highlight problem
weeks, as the U.S.Treasury Department’s of investing push much of the money fund cash into
reduced supply of short-term bills left in- excess cash the Fed’s RRP, draining bank reserves by
vestors few options to park excess cash. more than $1 trillion this year,” said Jo-
by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss seph Abate, managing director, fixed in-
Reverse repos are conducted by the Reuters come research, at Barclays.
New York Fed’s Open Market Trading
Desk. In a reverse repo, market partici- longer maturity carries more risk. He expects bill supply to shrink 15%
pants lend cash to the Fed, usually over- On Tuesday, the RRP volume slipped between April 1 and Sept. 30.
night, at an interest rate of 80 basis points,
in exchange for Treasuries or other gov- to $1.987 trillion amid the outflow of cash “It’s really a double whammy on the
ernment securities, with a promise to buy from government-sponsored enterprises front end because of too much demand
them back. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The repo and not enough supply, leaving the RRP
market is largely affected by the flow of facility as the option of last resort for many
“We continue to see a grind higher in cash from GSEs. investors,” said TD’s Goldberg.
RRP balance,” said Gennadiy Goldberg,
senior rates strategist at TD Securities in Cash from Fannie Mae and Freddie The soaring RRP volume does not
New York. Mac typically enters the repo market on seem to be a concern for the Fed given
the 18th of each month when they receive that quantitative tightening will only be-
“That’s a function of two things: first, principal and interest mortgage payments gin next month. But it could be a problem
the extreme high demand for front-end from home lenders. GSEs then pay mort- if demand persists even after the Fed’s
assets, and second, the amount of bills gage-backed security holders around the asset portfolio starts to shrink, said Lou
outstanding has continued to decline as 24th to the 25th of the month, withdraw- Crandall, chief economist at money mar-
Treasury has cut back supply because of ing that cash from the repo market to pay ket research firm Wrightson.
fairly strong tax collections,” he added. MBS holders.
Shrinking bills supply He noted that a number of Fed hawks
The Fed’s reverse repo window at- As the U.S. budget deficit shrinks amid last winter cited the bloated RRP facility
tracted a record $2.045 trillion on Mon- robust tax revenues, theTreasury will have as a reason to start cleaning up the Fed’s
day, as financial institutions continued to aggressively shrink bill issuance through balance sheet through asset runoffs sooner
to flood the facility with liquidity in ex- rather than later.
change for Treasury collateral. Monday’s
volume was one of a string of record “Individual FOMC (Federal Open
highs for RRPs. Market Committee) members might start
to weigh in on the topic if RRP volumes
Investors are guaranteed 80 basis points move north of $2 trillion this summer,”
for overnight cash without counterparty Crandall said.
risk. Read also: Wall Street rises on growth
stocks ahead of Fed minutes Click here
This compares with the current 51 basis
point yield of U.S. one-month bills , whose

(May 25): President Joe Biden mourned Biden demands shooting since a gunman killed 26 peo-
the killing of at least 19 children and two US ‘stand up’ to ple, most of them first graders, at Sandy
teachers in a mass shooting at a Texas gun makers after Hook elementary school in Newtown,
elementary school on Tuesday, decrying Connecticut, in 2012.
their deaths as senseless and demanding Texas attack
action to try to curb the violence. The shooter, an 18-year-old, was
by Jenny Leonard, Laura Litvan killed Tuesday by responding officers.
“I hoped, when I became president, I & Al exis Shanes Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez,
would not have to do this again,” Biden Bloomberg a Democrat from the region, said in an
said at the White House, in sometimes MSNBC interview that the man had
halting, emotional remarks. “Another reuters bought his weapons legally on or short-
massacre in Uvalde, Texas. An elemen- ly after his 18th birthday.
tary school. Beautiful, innocent second,
third and fourth graders.” Across the US, anger overflowed
among Americans who have long de-
“As a nation,” he said, “we have to ask: manded, to no avail, that federal law-
When are we going to stand up to the makers do anything to prevent gunmen
gun lobby?When are we going to do what from perpetrating horrific violence, es-
we know in our gut needs to be done?” pecially against children. After the Sandy
Hook slayings, President Barack Obama
Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Ele- and Senate Democrats sought to pass
mentary School is the latest in a string new gun-control measures only to see the
of mass shootings that have rocked the legislation blocked by Republicans, who
country. Just 10 days ago, a gunman in have suffered no electoral consequences
Buffalo, New York, opened fire at a su- for their opposition to even modest re-
permarket, killing 10 people in a racist strictions on civilian weaponry.
attack.
Click here for the full story
The attack in Uvalde, which is about
80 miles (130 kilometers) west of San
Antonio, is the deadliest US school

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(May 25): The shockwaves from Russia’s Shockwaves ity of them is restricted because the OPEC
invasion of Ukraine are spreading ever fur- from Russia’s nations of the Persian Gulf sell mostly on
ther through global oil markets. aggression spread long-term contracts, and are intent on
further through cautiously drip-feeding supplies into the
European refiners have been shunning global oil markets market.
cargoes of Russia’s Urals grade, a crude
variety useful for making gasoline, diesel by Sherry Su, Sharon Cho, Sheela As a result, European operators have
and jet fuel yet cheapened by its content Tobben, Grant Smith & Julian Lee switched to lower-density, low sulfur va-
of corrosive sulfur.With similar blends in rieties. Yet supplies of these in the sur-
short supply, they’re being forced to chase Bloomberg rounding region have become scarce,
higher quality crude — the industry’s most with Libya plagued by recurrent dis-
prized barrels, known as light sweet. bloomberg ruptions and North Sea oilfields poised
for maintenance.
But output of these blends is also un-
der pressure, triggering a furious contest As a result, price differentials forthese
for premium crudes from Azerbaijan to high quality consignments — often relative
Malaysia. to the global physical benchmark Dated
Brent — are flaring around the world.
“Europe’s main task is to replace Urals
from somewhere,” saidViktor Katona, an Azeri Light, a grade predominantly
analyst at energy analytics firm Kpler in used by European refiners, is now traded
Vienna. “Where could Europe get hold of at premiums of US$7.50-US$8.50 a barrel
anything akin to Urals? We’re starting to more than Dated Brent, a level not seen
realize the answer is nowhere. But people for years, according to traders.
still need to buy something — margins are
insanely good. So people buy light-sweet.” In Asia, Malaysia’s state oil company
Petroliam Nasional Bhd, also known as
The intensifying competition couldn’t Petronas, managed to sell a cargo of light-
come at a worse moment. sweet Labuan crude at around Dated Brent
plus US$12 a barrel, which is the highest
Oil prices near US$110 a barrel are al- level that’s been spotted in recent years,
ready inflicting pain on motorists, fanning according to traders.
the inflationary pressure that’s threatening Click here for the full story
to tip the global economy into recession, Read also:
and could surge further when the US sum- Oil climbs as report shows tightening US
mer driving season arrives. For Europe, gasoline stockpiles Click here
the discomfort could become even more Natural gas tops US$9 in US as supply
acute, as governments mull a full ban on crunch concerns mount Click here
oil imports from Russia in protest over its
aggression.

Imperfect match
To substitute Russia’s ‘medium sour’ va-
riety, refiners would most logically turn
to blends from the Middle East. But even
these aren’t a perfect match, and availabil-

NEW DELHI (May 25): India has allowed India allows months, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
duty-free imports of two million tonnes duty-free imports has made it even more difficult for the
each of crude soyoil and crude sunflower government to tame vegetable oil prices.
oil for the current and the next fiscal year of crude soyoil,
to March 2024, a government order said crude sunflower India imports more than two-thirds
on Tuesday (May 24), as part of efforts to of its edible oil needs and a sharp drop
keep a lid on local prices. oil in the supplies of sunflower from the
Black Sea region has further stoked lo-
Trade and government officials earli- by Rajendra Jadhav, Aftab Ahmed cal prices.
er said India could cut an import tax on & Neha Arora
crude soyoil and crude sunflower oil as Reuters The Black Sea accounts for around 60%
the world’s biggest vegetable oil importer of the world’s sunflower oil output and
tries to tame food inflation. Industry body the Solvent Extractors’ 76% of exports, while Argentina, Brazil
Association of India had requested the gov- and the US are the key soyoil suppliers
Traders need to seek their import quota ernment to also consider cutting or abol- to India.
from the government. ishing the 5% AIDC on crude palm oil.
India has been trying to step up soyoil
India, the world’s biggest importer of New Delhi has been struggling to con- imports even as palm oil shipments fell
edible oils, had already abolished the ba- tain a rally in local edible oil rates in recent because of top exporter Indonesia’s deci-
sic import tax on crude palm oil, crude sion to curb overseas sales.
soyoil and crude sunflower oil, but con-
tinued with a 5% tax known as the agri- “India’s soyoil imports will rise in the
culture infrastructure and development coming months, but sunoil imports are
cess (AIDC) on these three grades of unlikely to rise as Russia and Argentina
edible oils. have limited stocks,” said a Mumbai-based
dealer with a global trading firm.

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Grab was listed Tencent-backed
on the Nasdaq in ride-hailing firm
December after a T3 seeks at least
record US$40 billion
merger with a blank US$750 mil
in round
check firm.

Two senior Grab Vision Fund and Uber as its biggest share- by Bloomberg News
executives quit as holders, are serving their notice periods, said Bloomberg
the sources, declining to be identified as they
company rejigs were not authorised to speak to the media. (May 25): The operator of Chinese
unit to stem ride-hailing platform T3 Mobility is
The news of their exits and the rejig seeking to raise at least 5 billion yuan
losses — sources of GrabFin have not been made public (US$750 million) in its latest funding
previously. round, according to people familiar with
by Anshuman Daga the matter.
Reuters The departures at GrabFin come a
month after Grab’s head of lending, for- Nanjing Linghang Technology Co,
SINGAPORE (May 25):Two top executives mer banker Ankur Mehrotra, who played as the company is formally known, is
at Grab Holdings’ fintech business have quit, a key role in the fintech unit’s expansion, working with advisers to gauge investor
adding to other senior departures in recent quit after a six-year stint. interest in the round, the people said,
months, as the Southeast Asian ride-hailing asking not to be identified discussing a
and delivery firm rejigs the key unit of the This year, one of Grab’s senior tech ex- private matter.
loss-making group, two sources said. ecutives also departed to lead a cryptocur-
rency gaming firm, while Grab’s head of in- T3 raised 7.7 billion yuan from its
ChrisYeo, who heads Grab’s payments surance and wealth left to form a start-up. Series A round funding in October
and rewards business and has been with 2021, led by Citic Investment Hold-
the company for nearly six years, is leav- Grab declined to comment specifically ings, according to the ride-hailing firm’s
ing along with Jeffrey Goh, who leads the on the executives’ departures. There was official WeChat account. The compa-
payments gateway business, the sources no immediate response fromYeo and Goh ny will seek a significant premium to
familiar with the matter told Reuters. to a Reuters query. the roughly 24 billion yuan valuation
it achieved after that round, though it
BothYeo and Goh worked at the Grab In an email response to Reuters, Grab said hasn’t set a precise target, one of the
Financial Group’s GrabFin unit, which it is focused on expanding its regional fintech people said.
provides digital payments, financing, in- ecosystem and sees significant opportunities
surance, rewards and wealth management in Southeast Asia across all its businesses. Discussions are ongoing and de-
services, and is an important plank of Gr- tails of the fundraising could change,
ab’s regional growth strategy. It said its fintech operations would now the people said. A representative forT3
be led by its country teams. declined to comment.
The latest executive departures come as
Grab’s losses rose to US$3.6 billion (about Growth potential The fate of T3’s biggest rival, Didi
RM15.82 billion) in 2021 from US$2.7 Grab last week forecast a rebound in its Global Inc., and the broader crack-
billion a year earlier, while revenue rose mainstay ride-share and food delivery busi- down-driven stock slump after its ill-
44%, with investors focusing on how the nesses as Southeast Asian economies re- starred US initial public offering last
firm plans to stem losses. cover from a pandemic-led slump. year, looms over China’s technology
companies. Didi investors voted on
Grab narrowed its loss in the first quarter. Anthony Tan, Grab’s co-founder and Monday to delist its shares in New
Since listing on the Nasdaq in Decem- chief executive officer, told analysts that York, ending an 11-month ordeal that
ber after a record US$40 billion merger Grab is driving towards profitability wiped out around US$70 billion of its
with a blank check firm, Grab shares have through disciplined cost management. market value.
shed three-quarters of their value against
a backdrop of plunging tech stocks and GrabFin is streamlining its regional Founded in 2019,T3 operates in over
the group’s continued losses. and country teams with a view to focus 80 cities across China with more than
“Many business groups within Grab- on lucrative areas, the sources said. One 95 million registered users and nearly
Fin have been put on notice with signif- of the sources said the company is seeking 600,000 registered drivers on its plat-
icant performance metrics,” said one of to cut losses in the many areas GrabFin form. Its daily orders have surpassed 3
the sources. “There’s an intense focus on operates in. million, the company said on itsWeChat
getting to profitability.” account in April.
Yeo and Goh, managing directors at Grab, which operates in 480 cities in
Grab, which counts SoftBank Group Corp’s eight countries in Southeast Asia, has more Its investors include carmakers China
than five million registered drivers and two FAW Group Co, Dongfeng Automobile
million-plus merchants on its platform. Co, Chongqing Changan Automobile
The company sees GFG as a business with Co, and internet giants Tencent Hold-
huge growth potential. ings Ltd and Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd, according to its website.The com-
Grab’s regional digital banking busi- pany is also working to develop auton-
ness, which includes a digital banking joint omous driving technologies.
venture in Singapore and Malaysia, is also
part of GFG. Grab also acquired a minor-
ity stake in an Indonesian bank this year.

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LONDON/BOSTON (May 25):Amazon. Amazon.com backing of 30% to 40% of votes cast.
com Inc faces 14 investor resolutions chal- faces record Top proxy adviser Institutional Share-
lenging its policies at its annual shareholder challenges at
meeting onWednesday, a record for the re- shareholder holder Services has recommended investors
tail and cloud computing giant, as socially vote for eight of the proposals, while Glass
minded investors scrutinise its treatment meeting Lewis has backed seven of them.
of workers.
by Simon Jessop & Ross Kerber Royal London Asset Management Ltd,
The increase in the number of resolu- Reuters Britain’s largest mutual life, pensions, and
tions underscores the rise of environmental, investment company, plans to vote in fa-
social, and governance (ESG)-based invest- reuters vour of at least six of the shareholder reso-
ing, which is spurring more shareholders lutions at the Amazon meeting, its head of
to push for corporate accountability. Amazon has recommended that its responsible investment, Ashley Hamilton
investors vote against all 14 resolutions, Claxton, told Reuters.
It also reflects changes under securities saying in its proxy statement that it often
regulators appointed by US President Joe has already acted to address the underly- Britain’s biggest asset manager, Legal
Biden that have made it easier for inves- ing concerns of a proposal.While the res- & General Investment Management, and
tors to file proposals and more difficult olutions are non-binding, companies often British asset manager Schroders plc have
for companies to convince regulators that take some form of action if they receive also declared ahead of Amazon’s sharehold-
these resolutions should not go to a share- er meeting they will back at least some of
holder vote. the investor resolutions.

A fresh record for such resolutions at Amazon is a popular holding among
an S&P 500 company will be chalked up ESG-focused funds. About 32% of funds
next week, when Google parent Alphabet classified as promoting the environment or
Inc faces 17 on June 1, said research firm social justice under European Union rules
Insightia, the most since it began tracking are invested in Amazon, according to Jef-
them comprehensively in 2014. feries Financial Group Inc. Only Microsoft
Corp constitutes a more popular holding,
Roughly 10 of the shareholder resolu- found in 39% of such funds.
tions that Amazon investors will vote on
pertain to worker rights and other “so- Brandon Rees, a deputy director for the
cial” issues, such as calls for the compa- AFL-CIO, the largest US labor organisa-
ny to report on worker health and safety tion, said he hoped ESG funds holding
or the treatment of its warehouse workers. Amazon will more often support labor-fo-
The others call for things like a review of cused resolutions.
Amazon’s use of plastic or changes to the
company’s process for board nominations. “It’s my belief that worker rights and
workers have been buried in the ‘S’ of
ESG,” Rees said.

(May 25): State-backed investment fund Japan state- The company added JPMorgan Chase
Japan Investment Corp (JIC) is consid- backed fund JIC & Co and Mizuho Financial Group Inc
ering a bid for Toshiba Corp, according said to explore to help evaluate the submissions. It had
to people with knowledge of the matter. already hired Nomura Holdings Inc as
Toshiba bid an adviser. Bain Capital, Blackstone Inc,
JIC has signed a confidential agreement CVC Capital Partners and KKR & Co
with the Japanese conglomerate for access by Taro Fuse & Aaron Kirchfeld are among buyout firms that are weigh-
to detailed finances as it weighs an offer, Bloomberg ing bids for Toshiba, Bloomberg News has
said the people, who asked not to be iden- reported.
tified as the information is private. Some reuters
private equity funds had approached JIC JIC, founded in 2018, aims to en-
to explore a potential joint bid, the peo- put forward by the management to split hance Japan’s competitiveness through
ple said. the company.The conglomerate said this supporting the growth of next-gener-
month that 10 potential investors and ation industries and stimulating pri-
Deliberations are ongoing and JIC sponsors had signed confidentiality pacts vate-sector investment, according to
could decide against proceeding with an and non-binding offers are due by May 30. its website. The Japanese government
offer, the people said. is JIC’s majority shareholder with an in-
vestment of about ¥367 billion (US$2.9
Shares in Toshiba extended gains to as billion or about RM12.68 billion), while
much as 3.3% and touched their highest 25 investors including Asahi Kasei Corp
level since 2008 on Wednesday (May 25) and Canon Inc have contributed ¥13.5
after the Bloomberg News report. billion in total.

A representative of JIC declined to com- A buyout of Toshiba, which has a mar-
ment. A representative ofToshiba declined ket value of about US$19 billion, could
to comment on JIC’s interest and reiterated be private equity’s biggest-ever deal in the
that several partners had signed confidenti- country.The potential deal would add to
ality pledges.Toshiba will provide updates the US$105 billion worth of transactions
and announce the number of non-binding targeting Japanese companies announced
bids received before its annual shareholders over the past year, according to data com-
meeting, the representative said. piled by Bloomberg.

Toshiba is fielding take-private propos-
als after its shareholders rejected a plan

t h u r s D A y M A Y 2 6 , 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

news In brief

reuters France’s TotalEnergies agrees to buy 50% of US renewables company Clearway

Volkswagen settles UK emissions PARIS (May 25): TotalEnergies said on Wednesday it has agreed to buy 50% of Clearway
class action for £193 mil Energy Group, the fifth-largest renewables company in the United States, marking
(May 25): Volkswagen settled its UK class the French group’s largest US renewables energy acquisition. TotalEnergies has been
action lawsuit for £193 million (US$242 branching out into the fast-growing renewables energy sector and diversifying away from
million) with more than 90,000 drivers hydrocarbon-centred activities in recent years. The company said the acquisition would
impacted by the emissions scandal. No see it team up with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). As part of the deal, GIP will receive
admissions of liability have been made by US$1.6 billion in cash and an interest of 50% minus one share in the TotalEnergies subsidiary
Volkswagen and the terms and conditions that holds its 50.6% ownership in SunPower Corp. The transaction takes into account
are confidential, according to a statement valuations of US$35.10 per share for ClearWay Energy and US$18 per share for SunPower,
from the auto giant. A separate contribution TotalEnergies added. Clearway has 7.7 GW of wind and solar assets in operation through its
toward the claimants’ legal costs and listed subsidiary CWEN and a 25 GW pipeline of renewable and storage projects. — Reuters
other fees will be made by the company.
Volkswagen alongside law firms Slater & Prudential names Citi veteran KKR expands in Asia, armed with
Gordon, Leigh Day and PGMBM, who were Wadhwani CEO amid Asia pivot US$1.1 bil credit fund
representing the claimants in the case, said
Wednesday that both sides had come to (May 25): Prudential Plc named Anil SINGAPORE (May 25): KKR has raised US$1.1
the out of court settlement and as many Wadhwani as its next chief executive officer, billion in its inaugural Asia credit fund that
as 91,000 claims had been resolved. The underscoring the insurer’s ambitions in Asia. provides debt financing to companies, marking
automaker has faced numerous lawsuits Wadhwani will take on the CEO role next what the US private equity firm said was one
in what’s been dubbed the ‘dieselgate February and be based in Hong Kong, the of the largest such first-time fundraisings
litigation’ after the use of the software company said in a statement Wednesday. in Asia Pacific. Private credit funds have
designed to lower emissions when being Wadhwani was the head of Manulife Financial gained traction in Asia in the last few years
tested was exposed as fraudulent by a US Corp’s Asia region and previously spent 25 as companies tap into alternative sources of
investigation in 2015. That led to a recall years at Citigroup Inc. The London-based funding, though banks still account for the
throughout Europe that cost the company company is part of a growing number of global bulk of financing. Investors are drawn to credit
billions of euros and massive fines from asset managers and insurers seeking to win funds due to potentially higher returns. KKR
European regulators. “The settlement a bigger slice of Asia’s wealth business. The said in a statement on Wednesday that the
is another important milestone as the region’s estimated revenue pool of US$90 Asia Credit Opportunities Fund, which saw
Volkswagen Group continues to move billion for wealth management is luring its final close, received strong support from
beyond the deeply regrettable events more companies to offer everything from investors including sovereign wealth funds,
leading up to September 2015,” Philip insurance, mutual funds and pension products insurers and private investment groups. KKR
Haarmann, chief legal officer of Volkswagen, for the growing affluent. Asia contributed invested more than US$100 million alongside
said. — Bloomberg nearly 64% of revenue for Prudential for external investors through its balance sheet
2020. The company has operations in Hong and employee commitments. The fund aims
Kong, mainland China, Indonesia, Malaysia to target investments mainly in “performing
and Singapore. Chief Executive Officer Mike privately originated credit” and tap
Wells left at the end of March after more opportunities across three primary investing
than six years in charge of the insurer. Mark themes, including senior and unitranche
FitzPatrick, previously chief financial officer, corporate lending, subordinated corporate
has served as interim CEO in recent months. lending, and asset-based finance investments.
— Bloomberg — Reuters

Singapore sees 2022 GDP growth Bloomberg Apple’s iPhone development schedule
at lower end of forecast amid war, delayed by China lockdowns — Nikkei
supply chain woes poll. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally BENGALURU (May 25): Apple Inc has told its
adjusted basis, the economy expanded by suppliers to speed up iPhone development
SINGAPORE (May 25): Singapore’s economy 0.7%. The MTI maintained its 2022 GDP after China’s strict Covid-19 lockdowns
expanded more than initially estimated in growth forecast at 3% to 5%, but said growth hampered the schedule for at least one
the first quarter but annual gross domestic is more likely to come in at the lower half of of the new phones, Nikkei reported on
product (GDP) growth will likely be in the this range due to uncertainties stemming from Wednesday (May 25), citing multiple sources
lower half of the government’s forecast the Russia-Ukraine conflict and stringent with knowledge of the matter. Lockdowns
range, officials said on Wednesday (May Covid-19 measures in China. — Reuters due to China’s zero-Covid policy led iPhone
25), citing war in Ukraine and supply chain assembler Pegatron Corp to suspend
disruptions. The Southeast Asian financial operations at its Shanghai and Kunshan plants
hub is often seen as a bellwether of global last month. Apple last month forecast bigger
growth as international trade dwarfs its problems as Covid-19 lockdowns snarled
domestic economy. GDP grew 3.7% year- production and demand in China, with the war
on-year in the first quarter, the Ministry of in Ukraine adding to its woes. In the worst-
Trade and Industry (MTI) said, higher than case scenario, Apple expects the manufacturing
the government’s advance estimate of 3.4% schedule and initial production volumes of the
but matching analysts’ forecasts in a Reuters new phones to be hurt. — Reuters

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world

Terra blockchain to split, abandon
collapsed UST Stablecoin

(May 25) A proposal by the founder of by Sidhartha Shukla & day showed 65% in favor and 21% ab-
the troubled Terra ecosystem to salvage Emily Nicolle staining. Some 13% of votes were “no
the project was approved, averting a total Bloomberg with veto,” short of the 33.4% needed
collapse of one of the most-watched ex- to scuttle the proposal.
periments in decentralized finance. As UST began to lose its peg in the
days following May 7, TerraForm labs Terra also faced a questions over how
Under Do Kwon’s newly approved was forced to dramatically increase the it used a US$3.2 billion reserve it had
structure, the original blockchain will be supply of Luna coins to restore the link. built up in Bitcoin and other cryptoassets
known as Terra Classic, while its native That, in turn, caused the price of Luna to support UST, while major investors
token Luna, which plunged close to zero to collapse — ultimately dooming the ef- including Delphi Digital and Galaxy Dig-
this month, will be renamed Luna Clas- fort and wiping out some US$40 billion ital said they erred in blindly supporting
sic with the ticker LUNC.The new Terra in total market value. the ecosystem.
blockchain will start running a coin under Competing proposal
the existing Luna name and ticker, and Luna rose about 12% after the pro- A competing proposal from the Terra
won’t include the TerraUSD stablecoin. posal passed. The token has lost almost community, voted on before Kwon’s, sug-
all its value since the UST crash. gested deploying a so-called burn mecha-
Terra’s unraveling, which started ear- nism to effectively eradicate the overhang
lier this month with the implosion of the Kwon’s proposal was met with criti- in UST supply and ease the pressure on
algorithmic stablecoin Kwon had touted cism from many validators and investors, Luna.The proposal was passed but failed
relentlessly, marked one of the biggest who sought restitution from the project’s to execute due to a numerical error, and
busts in the crypto industry’s history. leadership after watching the value of was later replaced with a follow-up pro-
While the outcome of Wednesday’s vote their holdings disintegrate. A final tally posal for Terra Classic that’s still being
represents a victory of sorts for Kwon of the votes on the proposal on Wednes- voted upon.
and his supporters, doubts persist about
whether Terra can ultimately be revived. luna 2.0 will show On the Telegram channels of entities
the world just how like Orion.Money, aTerra validator wield-
The process means Terraform Labs truly dumb crypto ing 9.67% of the voting power, some in-
is effectively abandoning the stablecoin gamblers really are” dividuals were petitioning those with the
TerraUSD, or UST, which from now on most influence to vote against Kwon’s
will only trade on theTerra Classic block- — Shibetoshi Nakamoto proposal. In the end, Orion abstained
chain. Designed to maintain a 1-to-1 peg (@BillyM2k) from voting, while the second-largest val-
to the dollar, it traded at around 10 cents May 25, 2022 idator Stake Systems voted against the
on Wednesday. idea with veto rights.
bloomberg
Kwon, the crypto entrepreneur be- Some validators opposed Kwon’s pro-
hind Terra, had proposed to split the posal early in the seven-day voting pro-
blockchain in half, carrying out what is cess. Allnodes, which held 1.51% of the
known in the industry as a “hard fork” votes, said its research on Terra’s social
of the network. His suggestion was later networks showed that most of the com-
amended by Terraform Labs, the pro- munity preferred the burn mechanism
ject’s main operator, to instead forge an idea over building a second blockchain.
entirely new Terra blockchain and leave
the old network to be managed by users. “We didn’t like the fact that the whole
governance process of this proposal looks
Kwon said the new Luna tokens like a dictatorship model,” Allnodes Chief
would be distributed to previous hold- Executive Officer Konstantin Boyko-Ro-
ers of Luna and UST in a so-called “air manovsky said in an email. “It looks like
drop,” relying on a snapshot taken of the the launch of new chain is decided even
old Terra network to verify participants. before voting is finished. The way how
All decentralized applications and assets this voting is managed is against what
built on the old Terra chain will need to crypto stands for.”
migrate to the new one,Terraform Labs
said, with Luna and UST holders ad- Read also:
vised to transfer their tokens to native
Terra wallets rather than holding them
on exchanges.

Doomed mechanism Do Kwon Once a crypto trailblazer, Estonia is
UST used a mix of algorithms and trader cracking down on risk Click here
incentives to adjust its supply in relation Turkey pushes for bigger say over
to its sister token Luna and maintain its crypto market with draft bills
dollar peg. In theory, those mechanisms Click here
were supposed to guarantee that UST
never deviated for long from its link.

t h u r s D A y M A Y 2 6 , 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

world

North Korea fires South Korea held combined live-fire drills, N E W S I n b r ie f
salvo of missiles, including surface-to-surface missile tests
including ICBM, involving the ArmyTactical Missile System reuters
hours after Biden of the US and the South’s Hyunmoo-2
SRBM, both militaries said. Philippine Congress proclaims
leaves Asia Marcos as next President
“Our military’s show of force was in- (May 25): Philippine Congress officially
by Hyonhee Shin tended to highlight our resolve to firmly proclaimed Ferdinand “Bongbong”
Reuters respond to any North Korean provoca- Marcos Jr as next president, formalizing
tions, including an ICBM launch, and his landslide election win. Marcos was
SEOUL (May 25): North Korea fired our overwhelming capability and readi- declared winner of the presidential
three missiles, including one thought to ness to conduct a surgical strike on the elections after lawmakers’ official count
be an intercontinental ballistic missile origin of the provocation,” the JCS said showed he garnered 31.6 million votes
(ICBM), on Wednesday after US Presi- in a statement. or 58.8% of the total. His closest rival,
dent Joe Biden left Asia following a trip in Vice President Leni Robredo, got 15
which he agreed to new measures to deter North Korea has conducted a flurry of million votes or 27.9% of the total. Davao
the nuclear-armed state. missile launches this year, from hypersonic Mayor Sara Duterte, the president’s
weapons to test-firing its largest ICBMs daughter, was proclaimed as next vice-
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff for the first time in nearly five years. It also president, winning 32.2 million votes or
(JCS) said the three missiles were fired appears to be preparing for what would 61.5% of the total. Marcos and Duterte
in less than an hour from the Sunan area be its first nuclear test since 2017. will assume office on June 30. Marcos,
of the North’s capital, Pyongyang, where the late dictator’s son, attended the
its international airport has become a hub US and South Korean officials had re- proclamation ceremony, with his mother
of missile tests. cently warned that North Korea appeared Imelda, and wife Liza. His candidacy is
ready for another weapons test, possibly still facing legal questions before the
The first missile launched on Wednes- during Biden’s visit, which was his first Supreme Court. — Bloomberg
day appeared to be an ICBM, while a sec- trip to Asia as president and included a
ond unidentified missile appeared to have summit with South Korean PresidentYoon Sri Lanka prime minister takes up
failed mid-flight, the JCS said. The third Suk-yeol in Seoul. finance minister portfolio
missile was a short-range ballistic missile COLOMBO (May 25): Sri Lanka’s Prime
(SRBM), it said. Yoon, who took office on May 10, con- Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will
vened his first meeting of the national se- hold dual charge as finance minister,
In response, the United States and curity council, which strongly condemned the president’s office announced on
the latest launch as a “grave provocation”, Wednesday, and will lead talks with
especially as it came before Biden returned the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
home. for a bailout for the crisis-hit nation.
Click here for the full story “Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
was sworn in as finance, economic
Soros says civilization may not survive it,” Soros told stabilisation, and national policies
Ukraine may Davos, according to a text of his speech minister before President Gotabaya
released by his office. Rajapaksa this morning,” the statement
be start of from the president’s office said. In an
WorldWarThree “The best and perhaps only way to pre- interview with Reuters on Tuesday,
serve our civilization is to defeat Putin as Wickremesinghe said he will present an
by Guy Faulconbridge soon as possible.That’s the bottom line.” interim budget within six weeks, slashing
Reuters infrastructure projects to reroute funds
Soros said that Putin, who says the “spe- into a two-year relief programme. Sri
DAVOS (May 25): Billionaire financier cial operation” in Ukraine is going to plan Lanka, an island nation of 22 million
George Soros said on Tuesday that Rus- and will achieve all the Kremlin’s aims, people, has been hit by its worst economic
sia’s invasion of Ukraine may have been now believed the invasion was a mistake crisis since independence in 1948, with
the beginning of World War Three so the and was preparing to negotiate a ceasefire. a severe shortage of foreign exchange
best way to preserve free civilisation was stalling imports, including essentials such
for the West to defeat President Vladimir “But the ceasefire is unattainable be- as fuel and medicines. — Reuters
Putin’s forces. cause he cannot be trusted,” Soros said.
“The weaker Putin gets the more unpre- Click here for the full story
Soros, 91, a legendary hedge fund man- dictable he becomes.”
ager who earned fame by betting against
the pound in 1992, cast the Ukraine war Click here for the full story
as part of a broader struggle between open
societies and closed societies such as Chi- Read also:
na and Russia which were in the ascent. China says it conducted military exercise
around Taiwan to warn US Click here
“The invasion may have been the be- Japan scrambles jets after Russian, Chinese
ginning of the Third World War and our warplanes near airspace during Quad
Click here

t h u r s D A y M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 2 2 24 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 6,395.00 -87.00 OIL US$ 115.21 1.65 RM/USD 4.3945 RM/SGD 3.1938 RM/AUD 3.1117 RM/GBP 5.5017 RM/EUR 4.6896

Top 20 active stocks

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

Cypark Resources Bhd 116.73 -0.120 0.380 -58.24 223.8

MNC Wireless Bhd 115.80 - 0.015 0.00 34.3

Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd 87.54 -0.060 1.370 68.10 2,757.0

Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd 80.23 - 0.100 -71.43 371.0

Sapura Energy Bhd 66.45 - 0.085 70.00 1,358.2

KNM Group Bhd 50.29 - 0.155 3.33 569.8

Bina Puri Holdings BHD 39.17 -0.005 0.060 33.33 95.9

Widad Group Bhd 34.82 - 0.360 -1.37 990.9

Kanger International Bhd 32.38 - 0.050 -75.00 30.2 World equity indices

Yong Tai Bhd 29.70 -0.010 0.065 -50.00 90.6

Dagang NeXchange Bhd 29.61 - 1.030 35.53 3,250.9 CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
(%)
Bumi Armada Bhd 28.29 0.020 0.440 -6.38 2,603.9 DOW JONES 31,928.62 48.38 0.15 (%)
INDONESIA 6,883.50 -30.64 -0.44
NWP Holdings Bhd 25.38 - 0.230 -6.12 121.1

Green Packet Bhd 22.24 - 0.080 0.00 127.6 S&P 500 3,941.48 -32.27 -0.81 JAPAN 26,677.80 -70.34 -0.26

Fintec Global Bhd 21.15 0.005 0.015 50.00 88.8 NASDAQ 100 11,769.84 -264.44 -2.20 KOREA 2,617.22 11.35 0.44

My EG Services Bhd 20.56 -0.025 0.850 -20.56 6,277.7 FTSE 100 7,513.71 29.36 0.39 PHILIPPINES 6,597.76 20.31 0.31

South Malaysia Industries 19.22 0.015 0.400 100.00 84.0 AUSTRALIA 7,155.24 26.41 0.37 SINGAPORE 3,179.58 -15.46 -0.48

TECHNA-X Bhd 17.89 -0.005 0.050 -33.33 110.7 CHINA 3,107.46 36.54 1.19 TAIWAN 16,104.03 140.40 0.88

Top Glove Corp Bhd 17.19 0.010 1.410 -45.56 11290.1 HONG KONG 20,171.27 59.17 0.29 THAILAND 1,627.06 0.83 0.05

Country Heights Holdings BHD 17.01 0.005 0.735 -58.47 216.7 INDIA 53,698.77 -353.84 -0.65 VIETNAM 1,268.43 35.05 2.84

Data as compiled on May 25, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on May 25, 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)

Key Alliance Group Bhd 0.010 100.00 1484.6 -33.33 36.8 Vsolar Group Bhd 0.005 -50.00 1,873.2 -66.67 24.2

AT Systematization Bhd 0.015 50.00 9509.6 -50.00 90.0 Nexgram Holdings Bhd 0.010 -33.33 1,589.0 0.00 44.2

EA Holdings Bhd 0.015 50.00 0.1 -25.00 96.8 China Automobile Parts HLDGS 0.010 -33.33 50.1 0.00 13.6

Fintec Global Bhd 0.015 50.00 21148.3 50.00 88.8 Trive Property Group BHD 0.055 -26.67 5,141.6 83.33 69.5

Xidelang Holdings Ltd 0.030 20.00 330.0 -14.29 63.5 Cypark Resources Bhd 0.380 -24.00 116,729.8 -58.24 223.8

Ea Technique M Bhd 0.040 14.29 1.1 -50.00 21.2 Talam Transform Bhd 0.020 -20.00 50.0 0.00 85.9

Emico Holdings Bhd 0.305 12.96 5808.2 -4.69 37.4 Idimension Consolidated Bhd 0.215 -18.87 375.6 -59.21 22.4

PDZ Holdings Bhd 0.045 12.50 275.4 0.00 26.2 Propel Global Sdn Bhd 0.145 -17.14 1,033.9 1350.00 87.6

Securemetric Bhd 0.110 10.00 86.2 0.00 63.4 Top Builders Capital Bhd 0.025 -16.67 1,580.0 -28.57 17.6

YB Ventures Bhd 0.460 9.52 11955.8 2.22 133.8 Iqzan Holding Bhd 0.030 -14.29 34.5 -40.00 6.7

Oversea Enterprise Bhd 0.115 9.52 287.5 -4.17 130.5 Jerasia Capital BHD 0.030 -14.29 215.4 -81.25 2.5

Computer Forms Malaysia Bhd 0.950 9.20 13078.4 52.00 194.8 Aldrich Resources Bhd 0.030 -14.29 50.0 -25.00 33.4

Malayan United Industries Bhd 0.060 9.09 13803.6 -14.29 186.5 Yong Tai Bhd 0.065 -13.33 29,698.0 -50.00 90.6

Dolphin International Bhd 0.065 8.33 5850.5 -7.14 68.6 Golden Land Bhd 0.425 -13.27 6.3 2.41 91.2

Vinvest Capital Holdings Bhd 0.150 7.14 10574.0 -67.39 145.4 Perak Corp BHD 0.350 -12.50 2.5 -16.67 35.0

SWS Capital Bhd 0.355 5.97 3356.0 -11.25 75.1 Ark Resources Holdings Bhd 0.265 -11.67 0.5 -18.46 18.4

Fitters Diversified Bhd 0.090 5.88 5096.1 -71.43 54.7 Netx Holdings Bhd 0.085 -10.53 4.6 -41.38 71.1

Ni Hsin Group Bhd 0.090 5.88 132.9 -25.00 48.0 Fast Energy Holdings Bhd 0.045 -10.00 11,128.8 -52.63 33.2

Eksons Corp BHD 0.650 5.69 48.0 0.00 103.9 Evergreen Fibreboard Bhd 0.610 -9.63 16,980.9 31.18 515.4

CN Asia Corp BHD 0.375 5.63 714.0 -21.05 68.0 Toyo Ventures Holdings Bhd 0.705 -9.62 1,151.8 -50.00 75.4

Data as compiled on May 25, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on May 25, 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)

Carlsberg Brewery M Bhd 22.72 0.620 410.6 13.15 6946.6 Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd 20.200 -0.520 607.2 -18.35 7408.9

Nestle Malaysia Bhd 133.90 0.600 56.2 -0.22 31399.6 Batu Kawan Bhd 27.060 -0.440 121.9 19.21 10654.1

Petronas Dagangan Bhd 21.30 0.400 211 3.40 21160.6 Sam Engineering & Equipment M 4.050 -0.430 339.5 -27.68 2192.7

Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd 26.30 0.400 3,006.3 20.75 28355.5 Hong Leong Capital Bhd 6.090 -0.380 3146.1 -16.35 1503.6

HAP Seng Consolidated Bhd 7.39 0.200 244.5 -4.03 18398.7 Heineken Malaysia Bhd 24.740 -0.260 215.9 18.71 7473.9

Dutch Lady Milk Industries BHD 33.78 0.180 1.5 0.78 2161.9 Favelle Favco Bhd 2.190 -0.210 883.4 -9.13 512.1

FAR East Holdings BHD 3.73 0.180 28.1 26.44 2215.0 Hengyuan Refining Co Bhd 6.400 -0.200 8423.4 65.37 1920.0

British American Tobacco M Bhd 12.88 0.120 150.4 -7.87 3677.6 Padini Holdings Bhd 3.100 -0.190 783.5 10.71 2039.5

IOI Corp Bhd 4.24 0.120 5732.1 13.67 26343.0 Petron Malaysia Refining & MKT 6.510 -0.190 1714.5 48.63 1757.7

Negri Sembilan Oil Palms BHD 3.97 0.120 0.6 28.90 278.7 Westports Holdings Bhd 3.630 -0.170 8580.1 -10.37 12378.3

Seni Jaya Corp BHD 2.49 0.110 18 -5.68 120.8 Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd 18.960 -0.140 467.7 9.34 21713.8

Ta Ann Holdings Bhd 5.26 0.110 702.6 49.86 2316.8 Texchem Resources Bhd 3.460 -0.140 598.5 198.28 406.7

Genetec Technology Bhd 2.39 0.100 8419.1 -21.26 1628.2 Bonia Corp Bhd 2.600 -0.140 465.0 171.00 521.1

Oriental Holdings BHD 7.00 0.100 217 33.33 4342.5 Kobay Technology BHD 3.130 -0.130 2942.2 -48.09 1014.7

AEON Credit Service M Bhd 15.20 0.100 242.4 11.60 3880.7 Chin Hin Group Bhd 3.800 -0.130 1933.3 45.59 3361.9

Choo Bee Metal Industries Bhd 2.31 0.090 468.6 23.53 302.0 Imaspro Corp Bhd 3.930 -0.120 5.0 58.47 314.4

Computer Forms Malaysia Bhd 0.95 0.080 13078.4 52.00 194.8 Cypark Resources Bhd 0.380 -0.120 116729.7 -58.24 223.8

YNH Property Bhd 3.37 0.080 25.8 27.17 1781.0 Hong Leong Bank Bhd 21.000 -0.120 1875.5 12.78 45522.1

DKLS Industries Bhd 1.92 0.070 8.9 9.71 178.0 Keck Seng Malaysia Bhd 3.840 -0.120 52.8 11.63 1379.7

D&O Green Technologies Bhd 3.77 0.070 2405.7 -36.10 4664.0 Telekom Malaysia Bhd 4.710 -0.110 2908.2 -14.36 17774.1

Data as compiled on May 25, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on May 25, 2022 Source: Bloomberg