The Edge - 03 Nov 2021

CARLSBERG CONFIRMS BEER, STOUT PRICES
FOR RETAILERS REVISED FROM NOV 15 p6

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2021 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m

ISSUE 275/2021

CEOMorningBrief
HOME: MITI drafting new National Investment Aspirations framework to attract strategic investments p2
Hartalega 2Q profit falls 60% q-o-q amid lower ASP, sales; warns prosperity tax could dent 2H earnings p4

SC seeks public assistance to locate former Asia Media CEO RickyWong p6
WORLD: China urges families to keep stocks of daily necessities ahead of winter p20

Govt expects at least
RM3b from prosperity
tax collection — Deputy

Finance Minister II

Report on Page 3.

wednesday November 3, 2021 2 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): The Min- MITI drafting ion, the products exported must comply
istry of International Trade and Industry new National with the environmental, social and gov-
(MITI) is drafting a new National Invest- Investment ernance (ESG) standards.
ment Aspirations growth framework to at- Aspirations
tract strategic investments that have high framework to In this regard, he said, the government
economic impact value. attract strategic would strengthen the approach based on
investments ESG standards in line with the sustaina-
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri bility and green growth agendas.
Yaakob said this was aimed at ensuring by shazni Ong
that Malaysia remains relevant as a trad- theedgemarkets.com “We will be left behind if we take a care-
ing partner and investment destination of less attitude and delay our efforts towards
choice. regional and global supply chains,” he said the implementation of such ESG stand-
in his speech at the Industry Excellence ards,” he said.
“Malaysia is competitive in world trade Award 2020 ceremony on Tuesday.
and as such the country must be open Ismail Sabri also hailed the effectiveness
Ismail Sabri said the government is of the Public-Private Partnership Covid-19
to explore and imple- aware that if Malaysia intends to increase Industry Immunisation Programme (PI-
ment initiatives to access to international markets, especially KAS) led by MITI.
increase the mar- the United States and the European Un-
ketability of local He noted that PIKAS has contributed
products. significantly to the government’s efforts
“This capabil- to improve the immunization of industrial
ity will support workers thereby reducing the risk of work-
and encourage in- place clusters.
tegration between
local industries and “The government greatly appreciated
the cooperation of the industry in mak-
Zahid Izzani Mohd Said/ ing the vaccination program a success as
The Edge a measure to improve protection and pre-
vention,” he added.
Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob
In this regard, Ismail Sabri expressed
his commitment in achieving the sustain-
ability of the economic recovery agenda
for the well-being of Keluarga Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2):The num- Covid: 5,071 were identified onTuesday: three of them
ber of Covid-19 recoveries exceeded new new cases, 97.6% workplace clusters, and one education
Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, with 5,372 category one, two, and community cluster each.
recoveries recorded compared to 5,071 says Health DG
new cases. On the infectivity rate, he said the
Bernama Rt value for the country was 0.96, with
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Putrajaya recording the highest value at
Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a state- 4,815 Malaysians and 241 foreigners with 1.06 and Labuan with a zero value.
ment that the latest development brings the remaining 15 cases being import cases.
the total Covid-19 recoveries so far to Detailed information about the cur-
2,385,432 or 96.1% of total new cases Also, 557 cases required intensive care rent situation of Covid-19 infections in
of 2,481,339. treatment along with 300 cases requiring Malaysia will be uploaded on the COV-
respiratory support. IDNOW website at https://covidnow.
“4,950 cases or 97.6% of the 5,071 moh.gov.my and the data would be up-
new Covid-19 cases reported today are Dr Noor Hisham said five new clusters dated at midnight every day, he added.
category one and two cases, while 121 Read also: EMCO in Kampung
cases or 2.4% are category three, four Orang Asli Satak, Raub from
and five,” he added. Wednesday Click here

He said 5,056 cases from Tuesday’s
total were local infections, involving

wednesday November 3, 2021 3 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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Govt expects income up to the first RM100 million will Govt still studying
at least RM3b be subject to income tax at a rate of 24%, number of foreign
from prosperity while their remaining taxable income will workers allowed
tax collection — be taxed at a rate of 33% for the year of
Deputy Finance assessment 2022. for permitted
sectors, Dewan
Minister II “Even though the increase is generally
9%, it is a ‘one-off’ tax and quite affordable Rakyat told
Bernama as the companies still made high profits in
the previous two years. Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2):The govern-
ment expects to collect at least RM3 bil- “It will be implemented fairly and KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2):The govern-
lion through the implementation of “Cukai does not target any specific industries ment is still studying the number of for-
Makmur” (the prosperity tax) announced or sectors,” he said during an oral ques- eign workers who will be allowed to enter
in Budget 2022, said Deputy Finance Min- tion-and-answer session in Parliament on the country for the sectors permitted to
ister IIYamani Hafez Musa. Tuesday (Nov 2). employ the workers, the Dewan Rakyat
was told on Tuesday.
He said the tax was proposed as a re- He said this when answering a supple-
sult of suggestions from many parties who mentary question from Datuk Seri Ah- Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah
wanted companies not affected by the Cov- mad Maslan (Barisan Nasional-Pontian) Zainudin said the ministry and other rel-
id-19 pandemic to participate in efforts who asked about the estimated amount evant agencies were conducting a detailed
to revive the country’s economy.Through that the government will get through the analysis on the matter.
the prosperity tax, companies with taxable implementation of the prosperity tax.
“This is to ensure that the government
Meanwhile,Yamani said the govern- has a strategic direction in achieving a bal-
ment had not yet implemented the capi- ance between economy and health while
tal gains tax comprehensively, including the country is still fighting the Covid-19
imposing a tax on capital market profits. pandemic,” he said.

“The government also has no plans Hamzah was replying to a question
to reintroduce the inheritance tax as a from Steven Choong Shiau Yoon (Inde-
measure to increase national revenue,” pendent-Tebrau) on the sectors allowed to
he added. take new foreign workers and the number
of foreign workers allowed for each sector.
Dr M calls for review of Budget 2022, says many
allocations can be reduced to lighten country’s He said the Special Committee on
Covid-19 Pandemic chaired by Prime
debt burden Minister Datuk Seri Ismail SabriYaakob
on Oct 22 agreed with the proposed
Bernama standard operating procedure (SOP) for
the entry of foreign workers into Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Former Dr Mahathir asks government to review for all permitted sectors, with plantation
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mo- Budget 2022 being the first sector to be approved.
hamad onTuesday requested the govern-
ment to review the 2022 Budget. Meanwhile, Semporna MP Datuk Hamzah said the government had pre-
Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal suggested that viously agreed to allow the entry of 32,000
He said there were many allocations the government consider introducing a foreign workers with special exemptions
in the budget that could be reduced so luxury tax for every purchase of non-es- to meet the manpower needs of the plan-
that the country's debt burden could be sential luxury goods and services that tation sector, especially oil palm.
lighter in the future. exceed a certain price.
Meanwhile, he said 212,926 foreigners
“I am aware that a lot of money is “Luxury items that can be taxed are and 11,751 employers applied to participate
needed to overcome the crisis the coun- such as super cars, yachts, private jets, in the Labour Recalibration Programme,
try is facing, but at the same time, the high value jewellery and others,” he said, which will be implemented until Dec 31.
government needs to be careful so that adding that this would help increase the
the spending is reduced and the debt government’s revenue, as well as reduce Replying to a supplementary ques-
burden is not passed on to future gener- the economic gap between the low and tion from M Kulasegaran (PH-Ipoh
ations,” he said when debating the 2022 high income groups. Barat), Hamzah denied that there are
Supply Bill in the Dewan Rakyat. any problems with the system used for
the recalibration programme.
The Langkawi MP said government More Parliament stories:
spending could be reduced in the fields Digital Nasional Bhd well regulated by
of education, agriculture and telecommu- MCMC — deputy minister Click here
nications by using new technologies and MPs make use of opportunity to get
privatisation. Covid-19 vaccine booster shots
Click here
For example, Dr Mahathir said af-
ter the telecommunications sector was
privatised, the government took over
the latest technology which would re-
quire billions of ringgit to be supplied
to customers.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2021 4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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Hartalega 2Q profit falls 60% q-o-q amid
lower ASP, sales; warns prosperity tax
could dent 2H earnings

BY JUSTIN LIM Hartalega quarterly earnings since 1QFY19 Net pro t (RM mil)
theedgemarkets.com
Revenue (RM mil) 4000
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Hartale-
ga Holdings Bhd’s net profit contracted 4000 3000
59.55% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) to
RM914 million in the second quarter end- 3000
ed Sept 30, 2021 (2QFY22) from RM2.26 706.35
billion. 2000 714.24 2000
723.39
Notably, Hartalega’s latest quarterly 1000 683.89 1000
profit dropped below RM1 billion for the 640.10 0
first time after surpassing the mark for 709.42
three straight quarters, joining the down- 796.55
trend in earnings witnessed by the other 777.90
big four glove companies.
920.09
As a result, its earnings per share fell 1,346.02
to 26.74 sen in 2QFY22 from 66.08 sen 2,129.90
in 1QFY22. Revenue almost halved to 2,299.86
RM2.01 billion in 2QFY22 from RM3.9 3,902.83
billion in 1QFY22. 2,011.33
914
Hartalega blamed the drop in earnings 124.87
on decreased sales revenue, coupled with
higher operating costs from lower plant 0 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q
utilisation rate and lower profit margin as
the drop in raw material prices was not in FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
tandem with the drop in the average selling
prices (ASPs) of gloves. Financial year ends on March 31
Data compiled on Nov 2, 2021 Source: Bursa Malaysia
Its sales volume has also dropped 31%
q-o-q as its plants were shut down due to the Hartalega said the increase in profita- On prospects, the group anticipated that
enhanced movement control order (EMCO) bility was due to higher sales revenue and the one-off special tax or prosperity tax
in July 2021 and subsequently were oper- ASPs compared to the same period a year announced in Budget 2022 could have a
ating at only 60% workforce restriction to ago. material impact on the group’s earnings
comply with the National Recovery Plan, the in the second half of the current financial
group’s filing with Bursa showed. Meanwhile, the board has declared a sin- year (2HFY22) when the prosperity tax
gle-tier first interim dividend of 35.2 sen per is gazetted.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, howev- share in respect of the financial year ending
er, Hartalega’s net profit jumped 67.72% March 31, 2022 (FY22).The payment date Meanwhile, the group said the ASP for
from RM544.96 million in 2QFY21.This falls on Dec 2, 2021, while the entitlement gloves has been declining from its peak in
resulted in higher earnings per share com- date has been fixed for Nov 18, 2021. the first half of the financial year moving into
pared with 3.85 sen in 2QFY21. Quarterly the second half of the financial year.
revenue rose 49.43% from RM1.35 bil- This brings the total dividend for the
lion a year ago. cumulative six months ended Sept 30, Hartalega attributed the tapering of ASPs
2021 (6MFY22) to 54.95 sen per share, in recent months to increasing supply from
which is 49 sen or 824% higher than the major glovemakers as well as moderating
5.95 sen dividend paid in 6MFY21. demand because of customers adjusting in-
ventories in view of declining selling prices.
Hartalega’s net profit for 6MFY22 ex-
panded four-fold to RM3.17 billion from Notwithstanding that, it said post-pan-
RM764.68 million in 6MFY21, while rev- demic, the sector is expected to undergo a
enue also rose 169.98% y-o-y to RM5.91 structural step-up in demand on the back of
billion from RM2.27 billion previously. increased glove usage from emerging markets
with low gloves consumption per capita and
heightened hygiene awareness.

To support the government’s initiative to
increase the vaccination rate among the Ma-
laysian workforce, Hartalega said over 90%
of its workforce have been fully vaccinated.

“Moving forward, the group will continue
to focus on improving efficiency and automa-
tion level across our operations.We remain
optimistic of the longer-term prospects under-
pinned by growing demand for rubber gloves
and ongoing expansion plans,” it added.

Hartalega shares fell four sen or 0.71% to
RM5.63 at noon break onTuesday, valuing
the group at RM19.3 billion.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2021 5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

wednesday November 3, 2021 6 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Carlsberg Carlsberg “It is up to the retailers to determine
Brewery Malaysia Bhd has confirmed that confirms beer, consumer prices according to their busi-
the prices of some of its drinks will be re- stout prices for ness needs,” it added in an email statement.
vised from the middle of this month to retailers revised
account for rising costs, as per a leaked from Nov 15 In an appendix marked private and con-
letter that had been making the rounds fidential, Carlsberg provided a list of prices
on WhatsApp. by syafiqah salim to retailers in Peninsular Malaysia.
theedgemarkets.com
Carlsberg Malaysia has confirmed with The list showed that the price of a crate
theedgemarkets.com that the contents of a “The contents of the letter are meant of 24 320ml cans of Green Label will be
letter dated Oct 14 is an official commu- to be treated with strict confidentiality be- RM182.88, while a crate of Smooth Draught
nication from the company to its trade tween us as a manufacturer and our trade will be RM188.16, Asahi (RM213.36),
partner. partner. As such, we regret that the letter K1664 Blanc (RM228.96), Somers-
and information contained therein have by (RM185.28), Connor’s (RM203.76),
Responding to queries on Tuesday, been circulated publicly in an irrespon- Royal Stout (RM189.36), Special Brew
Carlsberg Malaysia said: “We would also sible manner. (RM229.20), Skol (RM154.80), Jolly Shan-
like to reiterate that the price adjustments dy (RM44.88) and Nutrimalt (RM45.60).
are to our trade partner and we do not de-
termine retail (consumer) prices, which Meanwhile, Corona (24 pints) will be
are set independently by our customers.” priced at RM366.72 and Brooklyn (24
pints) at RM339.84.
The letter, signed by the group’s sales
director Gary Tan, said the new pric- For its latest quarterly financial results
es for beer and stout would take effect ended June 30, 2021 (2QFY21), Carlsberg’s
from Nov 15. net profit tripled to RM37.14 million against
RM10.65 million in the same quarter of the
previous year, thanks to higher sales coming
from a low base due to the first lockdown in
2020 as well as an absence of bill of demand
of RM6.4 million incurred last year.

Quarterly revenue stood at RM349.21
million, a 21.6% increase from RM287.27
million registered previously.

For the first half ended June 30, 2021
(1HFY21), the group’s net profit grew
23.9% to RM103.59 million against
RM83.6 million, while revenue remained
flat at RM881.2 million against RM877.15
million reported previously.

At the time of writing, shares of Carls-
berg were down by 0.54% or 12 sen at
RM22 apiece, giving it a market capitali-
sation of RM6.73 billion.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2):The Securi- SC seeks public The SC noted that previously, on
ties Commission Malaysia (SC) said it is assistance to Dec 27, 2019, a warrant of arrest was
seeking information and assistance from locate former issued against Wong by the Magistrate’s
the public to locate the whereabouts of Court after he repeatedly failed to ap-
former Asia Media Group Bhd (AMGB) Asia Media CEO pear before the SC’s investigating of-
managing director and chief executive of- RickyWong ficer, pursuant to a notice issued un-
ficer Ricky Wong Shee Kai. der Section 32(3)(a) of the Anti-Money
by shazni ong Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financ-
In a statement onTuesday, the SC said theedgemarkets.com ing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activi-
a warrant of arrest was issued for Wong ties Act 2001.
by the Magistrate’s Court on Sept 29 for
offences under the Capital Markets and Subsequently, on April 3, 2020, the
Services Act 2007 (CMSA). regulator sought Interpol’s assistance to
find Wong.
“Wong had furnished a false statement re-
lating to AMGB’s revenue of RM11.13 mil- The SC urged members of the public
lion to Bursa Malaysia. He has been at large who have any information on the wherea-
since December 2019,” said the regulator. bouts of Wong to notify the commission at
017-3608328/012-9170738/012-6108275 or
It noted thatWong is facing charges un- email the SC at [email protected].
der Section 369(b)B of the CMSA and if
convicted, would be liable to a fine not ex- Wong’s identity card number is
ceeding RM3 million and imprisonment 811212-14-5957, and his last known
not exceeding 10 years. business/employment address is: Asia
Media Group Bhd, No. 35, First Floor,
On Sept 30, the SC had charged former Jalan Bandar 16, Pusat Bandar Puchong,
AMGB group accountant Ong Kar Kian 47100 Puchong, Selangor.
at the Sessions Court for the same offence.

wednesday November 3, 2021 7 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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Nestle Malaysia financial performance Revenue (RM bil) MR DIY says store
1.5 growth strategy
Net pro t/loss (RM mil) intact, posts lower
200 1.44 3Q profit

1.43 1.39 1.45 1.4 by Adam Aziz
150 1.38 theedgemarkets.com

100 105.53 1.37 1.3 KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): MR DIY
Group (M) Bhd said its third quarter net
50 1.22 132.49 175.16 134.53 148.02 1.2 profit fell 20.36% due to higher operating
186.31 128.39 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q expenses from higher store count, while out-
lets remained closed during the Covid-19
0 2Q 3Q FY2021 movement restriction measures.
1Q FY2020
Net profit fell to RM90.35 million or
Source: Bursa Malaysia 1.44 sen per share in the quarter ended
Sept 30, 2021, from RM113.45 million or
Nestlé Malaysia markets, which grew by 3.4% and 4.5% 1.86 sen per share a year earlier.
warns of rising respectively.The growth was driven by the
group’s F&B business which recorded a Meanwhile, revenue came in 3.75%
commodity growth of 5.5% in 3QFY21. higher at RM768.02 million from
costs, declares RM740.23 million previously, mainly
70 sen dividend Nestlé also said it recorded lower mar- driven by contribution of new stores.The
keting expenses as marketing activities were group has 841 stores under its operations,
for 3QFY21 limited due to enhanced movement control up 22.2% on-year.
order (EMCO) restrictions in place during
by Tan Siew Mung 3QFY21 as compared to 3QFY20 when The home improvement retailer declared
theedgemarkets.com restrictions were eased during the recov- a dividend of 0.65 sen per share or RM40.8
ery MCO. million, with the ex-date on Nov 29.
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Nestlé (Ma-
laysia) Bhd warned of rising commodity On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the MR DIY said the group also recorded
food prices in its latest quarterly result an- group’s net profit expanded 10% from lower income due to the timing of rental
nouncement. RM134.53 million, while its revenue rose concessions. “The group expects to receive
4.3% from RM1.38 billion. additional rental concessions in the next
The food and beverage (F&B) manu- few months,” it said.
facturer named high commodity prices as For the nine months ended Sept 30,
the key challenge ahead. “We expect the 2021 (9MFY21), the group’s net profit For the nine months ended Sept 30, MR
impact to be more pronounced in the com- climbed 8.9% to RM457.71 million from DIY’s net profit rose 29.87% to RM297.28
ing months and especially in 2022. Nev- RM420.23 million a year earlier, while its million, from RM228.9 million in the same
ertheless, we are confident that we will be revenue increased by 6.04% to RM4.27 period last year, after a strong first quarter
able to maintain our positive momentum billion from RM4.02 billion. helped by contribution from new stores.
and deliver another year of solid results in
2021,” it said. Looking ahead, Nestlé remains positive Nine-month revenue rose 33.89%
on its prospects in Malaysia. to RM2.4 billion from RM1.79 billion
Nestlé announced that its net profit previously.
grew 15.3% to RM148.02 million from “With the national vaccination pro-
RM128.39 million a year ago for the third gramme having surpassed 90% of the On prospects, MR DIY said it remains
quarter ended Sept 30, 2021 (3QFY21) country’s adult population (fully inocu- confident of its ability to deliver long-term
due to improved top line growth and lower lated against Covid-19), we are hopeful sustainable growth.
marketing expenses. that Malaysia’s economic recovery will
progress further and intensify in the com- This is premised on the underlying
Quarterly revenue grew 3.62% to ing months,” it said. strength of the business, strong unit eco-
RM1.44 billion from RM1.39 billion a year nomics of flagship MR DIY stores, and the
ago, its filing with Bursa Malaysia showed. It also pointed out that its sustainability progress it is making on new store growth.
journey continued to advance in 2021 and
Nestlé has declared an interim divi- will further accelerate in 2022. The latter “remains a core growth strat-
dend of 70 sen per share, amounting to egy and remains intact for immediate fu-
RM164.15 million, for the financial year “We are accelerating our drive to shape ture and medium to long term”, it said.
ending Dec 31, 2021 (FY21).The dividend a waste-free future and have expanded our
will be paid on Dec 15. door-to-door collection and recycling pro- “We remain steadfast in our commitment
gramme to new cities and aim to continue to delivering exceptional value and conven-
The group said the higher quarterly scaling it up to reach more communities. ience to our customers, supported by our
revenue was achieved on the back of sales nationwide network of more than 840 out-
growth in both the domestic and export “In the fourth quarter of 2021, we are lets, breadth of about 18,000 product SKUs
also scaling up planting activities under (store-keeping units), and our promise of
Project RELeaf as we overcome the pan- unbeatable value, all of which continue to
demic limitations of recent months,” it said. resonate with the masses,” the group added.

At Tuesday’s (Nov 2) noon break, Shares of MR DIY fell 12 sen or 3.26%
Nestlé’s share price settled 90 sen or 0.67% to RM3.56 onTuesday, valuing the group
higher at RM134.40, valuing the group at at RM22.34 billion.
RM31.54 billion.Year to date, however, the
counter had fallen 3.1%.

wednesday November 3, 2021 8 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): DufuTech- Dufu’s 3Q profit rose 3.14% from RM88.22 million.
nology Corp Bhd’s net profit jumped jumps 57% as For the nine months ended Sept 30
57.51% in the third quarter ended Sept revenue climbs,
30, 2021 (3QFY21) to RM20.25 million, (9MFY21), Dufu’s net profit climbed
from RM12.86 million in the same quar- group sees strong 50.92% to RM55.69 million from
ter a year ago, as it enjoyed higher reve- orders visibility RM36.9 million in 9MFY20, as revenue
nue, economies of scale and a favorable rose 21.85% to RM258.71 million from
product mix. by Syafiqah Salim RM212.31 million.
theedgemarkets.com
Revenue rose 19.8% to RM90.99 mil- On prospects, the group said it is seeing
lion from RM75.95 million, mainly due a healthy flow of orders from existing cus-
to the higher volume loading by custom- tomers, as well as new customers.
ers related to Hard Disk Drives (HDD)
components, Dufu said in a bourse filing “The demand from the HDD business
Tuesday. remains robust, with cloud demand lead-
ing the charge to fuel the group’s growth.
“On top of this, the group also reg- We are also positive on the group’s non-
istered strong double-digit growth fol- HDD segment as the semiconductor and
lowing the enormous demand for sheet tech hardware capital spending remains
metal welded assembly components and strong from domestic equipment exporters.
parts and the buoyant orders coming from
control and sensors in the non-HDD seg- “All-in-all, we are seeing strong visibil-
ment,” said Dufu, which is engaged in the ity of orders for the final quarter of 2021,
manufacturing of industrial products and which should contribute positively towards
the trading of computer disk-drive related the group’s full-year earnings,” it added.
components.
Dufu shares closed five sen or 1.14%
Compared with the immediate preceding higher at RM4.42 apiece on Tuesday,
quarter of 2QFY21, its net profit increased bringing its market capitalisation to
27.2% from RM15.92 million, as revenue RM2.93 billion.Year to date, the counter
has climbed 35.6% from when it was trad-
ing at RM3.26 on Dec 31, 2020.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Malaysia Ma- MHB eyes For the cumulative nine months end-
rine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd new business ed Sept 30, 2021, the company narrowed
(MHB) fell into the red with a net loss of segments as it its net loss to RM162.61 million from
RM23.88 million for the third quarter ended slips into the RM388.25 million a year ago, as rev-
Sept 30, 2021 (3QFY21) from a net prof- enue climbed to RM1.04 billion from
it of RM2.64 million a year earlier, as the red in 3Q RM871.21 million.
company’s heavy engineering and marine
units registered operating losses amid Cov- by Sulhi Khalid MHB said it remains cautious about
id-19-driven movement restrictions. theedgemarkets.com prospects for the heavy engineering seg-
ment as high prices of steel and uncertainty
MHB’s heavy engineering unit builds oil Compared with the immediate preced- over a new wave of global Covid-19 infec-
and gas structures, while the marine segment ing quarter of 2QFY21, the group’s total tions are expected to continue to result in
offers ship-repair services. operating loss fell to RM20.2 million from modest spending by oil majors.
RM26.3 million, while revenue climbed
“The group aims to replenish its order 28.7% from RM302.4 million. On the marine segment, MHB said un-
book through diversifying into new segments til international borders reopen, foreign
and new regions. Furthermore, ongoing ef- clients are likely to continue sending their
forts focusing on cost management, safe ex- vessels to shipyards in countries with more
ecution and timely delivery of ongoing pro- relaxed border restrictions until interna-
jects remain key priorities,” MHB said in a tional borders reopen.
bourse filing, but did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, liquified natural gas (LNG)
For 3QFY21, MHB’s revenue rose to demand from consumers in Far East coun-
RM389.29 million from RM369.46 million tries is expected to remain high during the
the year before, mainly as its heavy engineer- upcoming winter despite the global gas
ing segment registered a higher revenue of price hike, hence increasing LNG trade
RM330.6 million compared with RM270.9 will result in more LNG vessel owners de-
million previously on increased activities for ferring dry-docking, it said. “This would
an ongoing project. in turn lead to greater competition among
shipyards for the limited dry-docking op-
The segment, however, posted an op- portunities. As such, the group expects the
erating loss of RM13.1 million against an marine business to remain challenging,”
operating profit of [about] RM200,000 in MHB said.
the previous corresponding quarter due to
lower contributions from post-sail-away pro- MHB is 66.5%-owned by MISC Bhd,
jects. Its marine segment also swung into an which in turn is a 51%-owned subsidiary
operating loss of RM9.1 million against an of Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).
operating profit of RM1.2 million previously,
as segmental revenue fell 40.5% to RM58.7 MHB’s share price closed one sen or
million in the absence of conversion works. 2.4% higher at 43 sen, giving the company
a market value of RM688 million.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2021 9 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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AirAsia’sTeleport Perodua hits “We are now working to further improve
to seek US$50- record monthly production especially for the rest of the year.
US$100m in first Of the 27,858 Perodua vehicles registered,
external funding sales and 8,761 were Myvis, 5,973 were Axias, 5,257
production Bezzas, 3,973 Ativas, 2,553 Alzas and 1,341
by Yantoultra Ngui & Elffie Chew numbers in Oct Aruz units,” he added.
Bloomberg
by Izzul Ikram For production, Zainal Abidin said the
KUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE (Nov theedgemarkets.com 29,803 unit achievement was beyond the car
2): Teleport, AirAsia Group Bhd’s logis- manufacturer’s current production capacity.
tics venture arm, is looking to raise about KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Compact car
US$50 million to US$100 million in a se- manufacturer Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua “Yet the staff [were] able to boost their
ries A funding round, according to Chief Sdn Bhd (Perodua) records its highest num- productivity with the same level of quali-
Executive Officer Pete Chareonwongsak. ber of monthly vehicle sales and vehicles ty without new people, equipment or ma-
produced with 27,858 vehicles sold and chinery.
The transaction will mark the compa- 29,803 units produced in October 2021.
ny’s first external funding, he told Bloomb- “We also are always mindful of both the
erg on Tuesday by email; Teleport was In a statement on Tuesday, Perodua — safety and health aspect of our entire oper-
founded in 2018 with US$3 million in the associate company of listed UMW Hold- ations by ensuring that all our employees
seed funding from AirAsia Digital, Cha- ings Bhd — said this new record came on follow the Covid-19 prevention guidelines
reonwongsak added. the back of improved production and swift while at the same time ensuring that we go
deliveries of vehicles to customers as it aims beyond all quality requirements,” he added.
Teleport is valued at US$300 million, to deliver as many vehicles as possible in the
following its recent acquisition of Malay- fourth quarter of 2021. From a year-to-date perspective, Perodua
sian online delivery platform Delivereat sold 146,951 vehicles from January to Oc-
for US$9.8 million. In terms of vehicle sales, Perodua presi- tober 2021, 14.5% lower than the 171,861
dent and chief executive officer (CEO) Da- achieved in the same period in 2020.
The company has a presence in Malay- tuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad said the achieve-
sia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, ment is the company’s commitment towards Additionally, Zainal Abidin noted that
India, Singapore and China, according to its customers and represents a 90.67% in- the recently announced extension of the
its website. sales tax exemption is most welcomed as it
crease from the 14,160 units will allow the automotive ecosystem more
It is set to launch its first dedicated 737- sold in September 2021. room to recover from the recent lockdown
800F freighter on Wednesday, as part of as well as catch up with demand.
its plans to further expand its fleet for its
all-cargo operation, according to a press “The extension of the [sales tax] ex-
invite. emption will also benefit everyone, from
consumers to original equipment manu-
facturers to suppliers who are also affected
by the global semiconductor supply short-
age,” he said.

(Nov 2): Carsome Sdn Bhd, an on- Carsome seeking Deliberations are ongoing and the fund-
line used-car marketplace in Southeast US$200m in ing size and timing could change, the peo-
Asia, is seeking to raise about US$200 ple said. A representative for Carsome said
million in a funding round ahead of a pre-IPO funding the company continuously evaluates po-
potential listing in the US next year, round — sources tential financing and strategic transactions
according to people with knowledge based on market conditions, but declined
of the matter. by Elffie Chew & Manuel Baigorri to comment further.
Bloomberg
Malaysia’s most valuable unicorn is Carsome, founded in 2015, has expand-
working with an adviser for the planned ed into Indonesia,Thailand and Singapore.
fundraising and aims to complete it as The company works with more than 8,000
soon as in the coming weeks, said the dealers, according to its website.
people, who asked not to be identified
as the process is private. The startup In July, Carsome agreed to acquire 19.9%
said in a September statement that it of Australia-listed automotive portal iCar
raised US$170 million in a series D2 Asia Ltd from Catcha Group in a share swap.
round at a US$1.3 billion valuation. Carsome has also offered to buy the remain-
ing stake in iCar from existing shareholders.

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Another New Covid-19 tute’s distinguished professor of economics
wave of Covid-19 infections in Malaysia infection wave Datuk Dr Rajah Rasiah and former finance
appears to be the main concern for em- the main concern minister IITan Sri Nor MohamedYakcop.
ployers in the country at a time when pan- — Malaysian
demic-driven movement restrictions are Rajah said a concern he had is wheth-
less stringent now to support the rejuve- Employers er the Malaysian government’s proposed
nation of the nation’s economy. Federation Budget 2022 had taken into account the
potential emergence of another variant of
Malaysian Employers Federation by adam aziz the virus which causes Covid-19 and the
(MEF) executive director Datuk Sham- theedgemarkets.com possibility of another surge in the number
suddin Bardan said: “The main worry is of new cases.
of course another wave of infections, es-
pecially after the coming festive seasons “I’m not sure if we have the capacity to
and holidays. recalibrate the budget,” he said.

“If we are able to keep down the num- “If we are in full control of the [Cov-
ber of infections, then the confidence lev- id-19] situation and if current trends [of
el will come back,” Shamsuddin said on cases] are anything to go by, I believe the
Tuesday (Nov 2) at UOB Kay HianWealth right measures can help [sustain the eco-
Advisors’ public policy economy webinar. nomic recovery],” he said.
Read also: Extension of lower EPF contri-
Shamsuddin was one of the webinar’s bution rate positive for M’sian economy
six guest speakers, which included Member — MEF Click here
of Parliament for Damansara Tony Pua,
University of Malaya’s Asia Europe Insti-

Analysts: National budget
Reintroduce should be seen as
enabler of economic
localised
consumption tax growth, says
Tony Pua
at lower rate
bbyyssuhlahzi nkihoanligd
by adam aziz Meanwhile, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute theedgemarkets.com
theedgemarkets.com senior fellow Dr Hwok-Aun Lee suggest-
ed a consumption-based tax at state level. KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2):The na-
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2):The govern- tional budget should not be designed
ment should consider bringing back con- “It makes a lot more sense because con- to give short-term boosts to the local
sumption-based tax, like goods and servic- sumption takes place at the local level and it can bourse but it should be seen as the en-
es tax (GST), in order to raise its revenue be recycled within the state, whereas income abler for the economy to grow, whether
base while also providing some room to and profit are derived more from federal gov- in the short, medium or longer term,
manoeuvre on other taxes such as personal ernment infrastructure and services,” he said. according to Member of Parliament
and corporate income taxes. for Damansara Tony Pua.
This also doubles to address the issue of
This is also on the back of mounting con- states’ over-reliance on land-based revenue Speaking in the virtual UOB Kay
cerns that Malaysia’s federal government which resulted in issues like deforestation Hian’s Post-Budget 2022 Roundtable
revenue, which will continue to expand, is in the past, he added. discussion on Tuesday (Nov 2), Pua
forecasted to trend lower to 13.9% of GDP reiterated that there should not be any
in 2022-2024, from 15.9% in 2020. In Budget 2022, one of the measures to short-term measures specifically de-
beef up federal government coffers was the signed to artificially boost valuation by
“I’m still rooting for GST but of course proposed one-off “Cukai Makmur” where lowering taxes or to give discounts on
at a much lower rate. Rather than 6%, for any profit beyond RM100 million for the stamp duties for small transactions.
a start it can be around 3%,” said Trident assessment year 2022 will incur a higher
Analytics chief research officer Peter Lim tax rate of 33%, from 24%. “If it’s done that way, it’s just a pop-
Tze Cheng during UOB KayHian’s Post- ulist measure that is detrimental in the
Budget 2022 Virtual Roundtable. On this, Lim argued that the year of longer term.
assessment should be 2021 to better re-
“A big chunk of our [federal govern- allocate profits from companies that had “Specifically for Cukai Makmur
ment] revenue is derived from income tax done well during the pandemic. (the prosperity tax) in this case, the
and corporate tax. government has no choice but to try
“Of course [that is] the intention… but and boost revenue in the short term.
“The only way that we can actually technically those who did good [in the pan-
re-adjust and be more competitive com- demic had a showing] in 2021,whereas this tax “I think the government has come
pared to our neighbours [in terms of in- is for 2022 [when] everything has normalised. up with a rather creative prosperity tax
come tax rate] especially Singapore is a “Technically it should be [imposed for] 2021 instead of a windfall profit tax on a
new stream of consumption tax,” said Lim. [when] you can see a lot of sectors who did
extremely well during the pandemic,” he said. continues on Page 12

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): DBS Bank Malaysia headed Government’s borrowings to stay
said Malaysia’s economy is starting to re- for economic elevated
cover gradually from the Covid-19 crisis Chua and Tan said Malaysia’s govern-
following a tumultuous 2020 and 2021, recovery, says DBS ment borrowings are expected to stay ele-
but is maintaining its growth forecasts of vated in 2022 with net domestic borrow-
4% for 2021 and 5% for 2022. by justin lim ings projected to be at RM97 billion, very
theedgemarkets.com close to 2021’s estimated size of RM98.8
“An emerging recovery is helped by billion.
vaccinations reaching critical mass and Regarding fiscal policy, they said the
falling infection rates, allowing for a safer government’s medium-term fiscal deficit “Based on details of the 12th Ma-
and wider domestic reopening, and con- consolidation path has been adjusted to a laysia Plan and recent increase to the
siderations to relax international border gentler trajectory compared to last year’s Covid-19 fund size, bond markets likely
restrictions. In our view, supportive eco- plans, in an effort to provide economic already expect that government financ-
nomic policies — as seen from the ex- support, they said. ing needs would remain high in 2022,”
pansionary Budget 2022 — should also they said.
bode well for growth prospects going into On monetary policy, the expectations
2022,” the bank’s research team said in a are for Malaysia to take the first step in However, duration supply pressures
note on Tuesday. raising its overnight policy rate by 25 basis could be higher in 2022 compared to 2021
points (bps) in the second half of 2022, due to likely lower reliance on financing
While the domestic economy is start- from 1.75% currently, they said. via Treasury Bills, they said.
ing to recover, economist Chua Han
Teng and rates strategist Duncan Tan “The timing of the hike is contingent On bond demand dynamics, they
cautioned that favourable external dy- on the pace of recovery but any tightening said there is much uncertainty at this
namics that have been observed earlier is likely to be less aggressive,” they added. juncture.
in the year have shifted rapidly, and are
more complicated to gauge. “As the economy continues to reopen,
lending growth (to the private sector)
“On one hand, oil prices have risen to would be expected to recover and con-
multi-year highs amid tight supply, which sequently weigh on banks’ demand for
should benefit Malaysia — the only econo- bonds.That said, it is difficult to forecast
my among ASEAN-6 that ran a very mod- the timing and strength of such a recov-
est oil trade surplus in 2020. ery,” they said.

“On the other, China’s growth slow- They added that foreign buying would
down is a dark cloud that would prevent also be dependent on the global macro and
Malaysia from expanding at a faster pace. liquidity backdrop in 2022, even though
Malaysia bonds’ much improved FX-
“We therefore maintain our real growth hedged yields should provide some sup-
forecasts of 4.0% for 2021 and 5.0% for port for foreign interest.
2022,” said Chua and Tan.
On the other hand, they have some con-
Fiscal, monetary policy to normalise, fidence the Employees Provident Fund’s
albeit at modest pace buying capacity will materially improve
The DBS research team opined that pol- ahead.
icy will start to normalise, but is likely to
be modest and drawn-out, staying suffi- “We expect i-Citra to be the last of
ciently loose to avoid derailing the nas- member withdrawal facilities introduced
cent recovery. and see some prospects for the EPF con-
tribution rate to be normalised to 11% in
mid-2022,” they added.

from Page 11 believes that the goods and services tax is the position of the government of de-
regressive and would disproportionately pending on new loans to finance the
particular sector, which to me victim- burden the middle income and low in- repayment of loan principals which
ises specific sectors and is not good for come groups. have matured.
economic policymaking in the longer
term,” he elaborated. “So [the prosperity tax] is the only “Every country is financing their
choice the government actually has with- existing debts with new debts. I don’t
Under Budget 2022 announced last out trying to step on too many toes. think there’s any country out there that
Friday, the government proposed to doesn’t do that.
impose the prosperity tax on compa- “That’s the problem with the gov-
nies (other than micro, small and me- ernment and this is not unique only to “Your debt is mentioned as a percent-
dium enterprises) that generate high Malaysia. [In] every part of the world, age of GDP (gross domestic product).
income during the Covid-19 period if you don’t want to step on too many So theoretically, as long as your country
effective year of assessment 2022. toes, you take the measures that are the continues to grow, your debt will actu-
Chargeable income above RM100 least objectionable, so to speak,” Pua ally in absolute terms grow.
million will be taxed at 33%, while shared.
a 24% tax rate applies to chargeable “What you want is that the debt grows
income of up to RM100 million. Separately, he also pointed out that at a slower pace.That’s the measure that
he disagrees with the concern raised we should look at as far as whether the
Meanwhile, Pua said he is a strong by Auditor-General Datuk Nik Az- absolute debt is going up or down,” he
proponent of the capital gains tax and man Nik Abdul Majid recently over stressed.

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Moody’s Moody’s raises bunch (FFB) production and FFB yields
Investors Service has raised its price sen- CPO price outlook (metric tons of FFB per hectare of plan-
sitivity range for crude palm oil (CPO) tation), it added.
to RM2,800 to RM3,200 per metric ton to RM2,800-
(MT), from RM2,200 to RM2,600 per RM3,200 per According to Moody’s, average
MT, through 2022, on the back of sup- month-end inventories in Malaysia so
ply disruptions, low inventory levels and metric ton far in 2021 are lower versus 2020.
strong prices of competing oils. for 2022
Month-end inventory levels in Indo-
While CPO prices will not fall sub- by Tan Siew Mung nesia, too, have decreased as of August
stantially any time soon, they are unlikely theedgemarkets.com 2021 to 3.4 million MT from 4.4 mil-
to be sustained at current spot market lion MT in August 2020 as exports and
levels over the longer term, said Moody’s Mohd Suhaimi Mohamed Yusuf/The Edge domestic consumption outpaced pro-
in a statement on Tuesday. duction, it noted.
While CPO prices will not fall substantially any
“CPO prices are continuing a rally time soon, they are unlikely to be sustained at “Meanwhile, strong prices of compet-
that started in mid-2020. Supply-side current spot market levels over the longer term, ing vegetable oils, as well as for crude oil,
constraints, including labour shortages will also support CPO prices,” it said.
in major producer Malaysia (A3 stable), said Moody’s.
will keep CPO prices elevated through Soybean oil and CPO are substitute
2022,” said Moody’s vice president and oils and their prices are strongly corre-
senior analyst Maisam Hasnain. lated. Prices for CPO and crude oil are
also positively correlated because CPO
The third month CPO futures con- is a biodiesel feedstock.
tract fell RM111 to RM4,850 on Bur-
sa Malaysia Derivatives in the morning Moody’s uses its CPO price range in
session on Tuesday. its financial projections for rated com-
panies to assess their projected perfor-
Although Malaysia plans to allow the mance over the next 18 to 24 months.
return of 32,000 foreign workers for the The RM3,000 midpoint of the updat-
plantation sector, Moody’s opined that ed price range is 25% higher than the
the ramp-up in work will take time and RM2,400 midpoint of the previous
supply constraints will likely persist for range.
the next six to 12 months.
According to the Malaysian Palm
Insufficient labour to maintain and Oil Board, palm oil spot price stood at
harvest crops is also hurting fresh fruit RM5,372.50 as of Nov 1.Year-to-date,
it has risen 41.83%.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): The Ma- Food In order to effectively monitor and con-
laysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said on manufacturers trol export and import of palm oil prod-
Tuesday (Nov 2) food manufacturers must must demand ucts, all transaction activities are fully mon-
demand palm oil containing lower levels palm oil with lower itored via physical inspections on bulking
of potential carcinogens 3-monochloro- levels of potential installations and vessels, he said.
propane-1,2-diol esters (3-MCPDE) and
glycidyl esters (GE) from suppliers, so that carcinogens The MPOB’s statement onTuesday was
their food products can be accepted by — MPOB issued in response to alleged acrylamide
consumers. and glycidol contamination issues involving
by Tan Siew Mung 60 brands of flour-based confectioneries,
A carcinogen is a cancer-causing sub- theedgemarkets.com including biscuits sold in the Hong Kong
stance. market following a recent report by the
to be the most effective approach in re- Hong Kong Consumer Council’s CHOICE
In a statement, MPOB director-gener- ducing chloride content in CPO, which in magazine which claimed that the 60 prod-
al Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said turn allows processed palm oil with low- ucts contained acrylamide and glycidol.
palm oil refineries should be firm by re- er 3-MCPDE [to be produced],” Ahmad
questing palm oil mills to supply crude Parveez said. According to news reports, the Hong
palm oil (CPO) with lower chloride con- Kong Consumer Council’s list included
tent to enable palm oil refineries to reduce According to him, the MPOB main- Hup Seng, Jacob’s and Julie’s-branded bis-
3-MCPDE in refined palm oil. tains high-quality standards throughout cuits manufactured in Malaysia.
the palm oil supply chain through the im-
“Alternatively, refineries could pay less plementation of strict quality-enforcement On Tuesday, Ahmad Parveez said the
for CPO with high [chloride levels] as it procedures, which include regular inspec- Hong Kong Consumer Council should
(the money saved) will [be] used to pay tions, spot checks, and routine sampling also consider the overall content of GE and
the cost of washing CPO in [the] refinery. and testing. 3-MCPDE in the food products based on
the amount of palm oil used in the biscuit
“The issues of 3-MCPDE and GE in formulation instead of measuring the lev-
palm oil will no longer [be] a concern if els of contaminants solely from palm oil.
all parties understand their roles in ensur-
ing palm oil meets high quality and safety “The release of such an article [by the Hong
standards. Kong Consumer Council’s CHOICE maga-
zine] must be taken seriously by food manu-
“The presence of chloride in CPO is facturers in Malaysia as well as [the] palm oil
found to be the precursor of 3-MCPDE industry to start mitigating 3-MCPDE and GE
when the oil undergoes refining at elevat- [levels in palm oil] as soon as possible,” he said.
ed temperatures. CPO washing has shown

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Local tour Domestic tourism holidays and as people’s lives resume to
and travel agents expect domestic tourism to bounce back some sort of normalcy,” he said.
in Malaysia to rebound faster than earlier faster, though
anticipated as more people become confi- full recovery On the upcoming two-day MATTA
dent to travel, with 95% of Malaysia’s adult only in 2025, Fair, which will be held on Nov 20 and
population fully vaccinated against Cov- says MATTA 21, Wong said the association expects to
id-19 as of Oct 19 and as new cases con- receive good response to the fair in terms
tinue to fall. However, they see domestic by Shazni Ong of visitor numbers.
tourism demand returning to its pre-pan- theedgemarkets.com
demic levels only in 2025. “[In the past,] the MATTA Fair held a
“At the moment, we don’t have much good reputation [for] being a crowd-puller
“Given the current situation as borders of a choice given the way borders are still and we expect nothing less, although with
start to reopen and travel restrictions are re- not fully open and flights are not fully back the standard operating procedures in place,
laxed, we may actually see more internation- to normal. People’s preferences for safety there will be some limitations in how many
al travel, perhaps beginning with intra-Asia will also lead them to travel domestically.” people can fit into the hall at any given time.
travel given its short distance and later to
destinations further,” Malaysian Associa- Wong added that there had been a lot “We would [also] like to encourage the
tion of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) of demand for a travel fair to be held, espe- public to make use of the travelling incen-
secretary-general Nigel Wong said during cially since interstate travel had resumed, tive and again the MATTA Fair is going to
the virtual MATTA Fair 2021 press con- with MATTA looking forward to domes- be the one place where they can buy val-
ference on Tuesday (Nov 2). tic tourism kicking off in a big way to help ue-for-money packages and that will offset
jump-start the local economy. the RM1,000 incentive they have to travel
Citing the United Nations World Tour- domestically in Malaysia,” he said.
ism Organization and many other experts “The recent tourism bubble in Lang-
that are predicting that domestic tourism kawi, for example, had already proven that When tabling Budget 2022 in Parlia-
will return to pre-pandemic levels only in there is pent-up demand and this should ment last Friday, Finance Minister Teng-
2025,Wong noted that there is a concerted be extended with the approaching school ku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz
push by governments around the world for said a special individual income tax relief
the reopening of international borders given for domestic tourism expenses of up to
the high vaccination rates of many countries. RM1,000 will be extended until the year
of assessment 2022.
“The industry is of course hoping that Read also: MATTA announces return of
[a full recovery] will come a lot sooner than MATTA Fair, to be held on Nov 20-21
2025 and we are looking forward to more Click here
border reopenings in 2022,” he said.

SINGAPORE (Nov 2): Nadiah Wan, a NadiahWan valued at over US$100 million,” she said.
37-year-old Malaysian businesswoman, youngest CEO Nadiah, the only Malaysian who made
is listed in Forbes Asia’s Power Business- listed in Forbes
women 2021, which recognises 20 out- Asia’s Power it to this year’s list, is a group and execu-
standing female business leaders in the Businesswomen tive director of TMC Life Sciences, a role
Asia-Pacific region. she took in 2019.
2021
According to Forbes, Nadiah, who She is also a chief executive officer of its
holds two chief executive officer titles, is Bernama flagship Thomson Hospital Kota Daman-
the youngest to make this year’s list. sara, a position that she has held since 2017.
Nadiah Wan
“Businesswomen across the Asia Pacif- She introduced a Covid-19 task force at
ic region continue to break barriers and, in the hospital and launched a mobile app, pro-
many cases, expand their businesses despite viding remote end-to-end patient care from
the lingering pandemic,” said RanaWehbe appointments, screening, and assessments
Watson, the editor of the 2021 Asia’s Pow- to rehab services and medication delivery.
er Businesswomen list, in a media release
issued here on Tuesday. Border closures impacted medical tour-
ism and a fertility division that accounts for
Watson said Forbes Asia’s Power Busi- 20% of TMC’s revenue.
nesswomen list this year recognises 20 out-
standing leaders who managed to adapt and Still, the Malaysia-listed company post-
thrive in industries including technology, ed revenue of RM201 million, up 6%, for
healthcare, banking, and manufacturing. the year ended in June while profit after tax
was RM20 million, up 86% year-on-year,
“They are leading the way as the world mainly due to deferred tax liability.
struggles with the post-Covid reality,” she
said. TMC’s expansion plans include tri-
pling capacity at its hospital to 600 beds
Watson said all the businesswomen high- and adding two catheterisation labs, 154
lighted this year are newcomers to the list, outpatient clinics, 11 delivery suites, and
further expanding Forbes Asia’s network of ten operating theatres.
prominent businesswomen in the region.
The complete list of these 20 women,
“They have been selected for their in their 30s to their 70s from around the
achievements in managing either a busi- Asia-Pacific region, can be found at www.
ness with sizable revenues or a startup forbes.com/asiapowerbusinesswomen2021
and in the November issue of Forbes Asia.

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2):Both Maybank Analysts keep lysts who maintained theirTP at RM8.05.
Investment Bank and PublicInvest Research earnings forecasts The TP is pegged at 49 times FY22
maintained their “buy” call on Greatech
Technology Bhd with a target price (TP) of for Greatech, price-earnings (P/E) ratio based on an es-
RM8.05 and RM7.70 respectively. valuing it at timated annual net profit of RM205 million
P/E ratio above or 16.5 sen per share.
Greatech’s share price was trading at
RM7.15 as at 11.15 am on Tuesday (Nov 40 times Maybank Investment Bank projected a
2), up six sen, after it announced a nearly core net profit of RM157 million for Great-
25% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in quarterly BY TAN SIEW MUNG ech for FY21.
net profit of RM28.97 million for the third theedgemarkets.com
quarter ended Sept 30, 2021 (3QFY21). Meanwhile, PublicInvest Research ana-
With its key photovoltaic customer First lyst Chong Hoe Leong also kept his “out-
Year to date, the counter had climbed Solar aggressively expanding capacity in perform” call on Greatech with an un-
51%. the US and India, Greatech has been in- changed TP of RM7.70.
tent on supporting the former’s growth and
Maybank Investment Bank research house recently commenced construction of its HisTP is pegged at a P/E multiple of 45
analysts Anand Pathmakanthan and Arvind 265,000 sq ft Batu Kawan III plant, which times FY22 forecast earnings per share of
Jayaratnam said in a note Greatech’s latest is expected to be operational by mid-2022. 17 sen or an annual net profit of RM212.4
quarterly results for 3QFY21 were broadly in million. Chong’s FY21 earnings estimate
line with their core earnings estimate for the The company’s capacity is expected to for Greatech stands at RM161.9 million.
financial year ending Dec 31, 2021 (FY21). more than double to one million sq ft by
FY22 given its plans for a fourth factory “Including foreign exchange gains to-
“Excluding exceptional items amount- in the works. talling RM11.4 million, Greatech posted a
ing to RM900,000, its 3QFY21 recurring strong 9MFY21 profit growth of 92% y-o-y
net profit came in at RM28.1 million.With “Greatech’s future is bright and we re- to RM114 million mainly due to a higher rev-
its 9MFY21 (nine months ended Sept 30, main bullish; [we] maintain ‘buy’,” said enue contribution from its production line
2021) core net income of RM118.2 million the two Maybank Investment Bank ana- system segment, and supported by its elec-
at 75% of our full-year forecast, the results tric vehicle battery pack assembly line order.
were largely within estimates,” they said.
“The results were broadly in line with
Having secured RM163 million in new our and the consensus full-year earnings
orders in August, they said, Greatech’s ex- estimates, making up 70% and 69% re-
isting order book as at Sept 30, 2021 had spectively,” he said.
ballooned to RM426 million from RM206
million at end-June. Chong noted that Greatech’s order
book replenishment for the quarter came
in strongly as it doubled to RM426 million.

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As critical climate talks begin,
company boards told to act swiftly

by Rash Behari Bhattacharjee
theedgemarkets.com

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): A global net- sations at COP26, now is a critical time CGM co-founder Dr Kalanithi Ne-
work of board directors has made a call for for boards to engage with the impact of saretnam, an independent non-executive
company boards worldwide to act on the climate change, guide long-term plans and director of IOI Corp Bhd, said: “The ur-
climate emergency as the leaders of all na- translate these into immediate, practical gency for action is now. Inaction will cost
tions gather in Glasgow for pivotal climate action,” the CGI said. us our planet! We don’t have to run fast
negotiations. alone; let us run far together! At Climate
This includes ensuring a business strat- Governance Malaysia, we believe Malay-
The Climate Governance Initiative egy that is resilient in a low-carbon future, sia can and must do its share to contrib-
(CGI), a global network of directors’ fo- led by the board of directors, whose com- ute to the global initiative to address the
rums comprising over 100,000 board di- mitment and leadership are essential for climate crisis.”
rectors, called on board directors across the success of a company’s transition to a
the world to place the climate transition at net-zero economy, it said. CGM member Dr Tunku Alina Alias,
the heart of corporate strategy and board who is an independent non-executive di-
decision-making. The CGI’s members can influence tril- rector of Nestlé (Malaysia) Bhd, Malay-
lions of dollars of capital and the emis- sian Pacific Industries Bhd, IJM Corp Bhd
The CGI pointed to warnings from sions of thousands of companies through and Batu Kawan Bhd, said: “We are liv-
former Bank of England governor Mark the boards on which they serve, the state- ing through climate change now. Wheth-
Carney and others that the climate crisis ment said. er directors believe that human and cor-
poses the “single greatest threat to global porate activity have any bearing on this,
financial stability” and urged board direc- “At COP26, governments will commit one thing is sure — climate change has an
tors to rapidly skill up in order to confront to targets that will need to be fulfilled by impact on human and corporate life. Are
the climate emergency, it said in a state- businesses and as long-term stewards, we we ready? Have we asked ourselves how
ment on Tuesday (Nov 2). directors are committed to facilitating a we will meet the physical, transition and
smooth transition for the collective good,” legal ramifications?”
Climate change poses major short-, said Climate Governance Malaysia (CGM)
medium- and long-term risks, requiring founder and chairman Datin Seri Sunita Datuk Seri Ahmad Johan Mohammad
boards to put climate considerations at the Rajakumar. She is an independent non-ex- Raslan, another CGM member who is an
heart of their strategy, risk management ecutive director of Bursa Malaysia-listed independent non-executive director on the
and disclosure processes, the CGI said. Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, where boards of Sime Darby Property Bhd, the
she is the chairman, and Berjaya Corp Bhd, Institute of Corporate Directors Malay-
“As a result, businesses are under un- MCIS Insurance Bhd and Zurich General sia and the Audit Oversight Board, said:
precedented pressure from their inves- Insurance Bhd. “The looming threat of climate change
tors, regulators, financiers and custom- puts all businesses at risk.To address this,
ers to demonstrate their climate resilience CGM — the Malaysian chapter of the corporate world needs to work in part-
against the backdrop of a warming world the World Economic Forum’s Climate nership with NGOs (non-governmental
to demonstrate their ability to transition as Governance Initiative — is a network of organisations) and government bodies to
aligned with commitments made in Paris non-executive directors who aim to help develop nature-positive economic models
in December 2015,” it said. steer their companies through an effective that address the climate crisis and restore
climate transition strategy that addresses the balance in nature and society.”
COP26, the United Nations climate financial stability, increased resilience and
conference, began in Glasgow on Mon- sustainability.
day with all eyes on world leaders for them
to act in concert to avert the worst effects
of the climate crisis.

The climate change agenda and green
technology are priorities for Malaysia,
which are reflected in the just-launched
12th Malaysia Plan’s theme of advancing
sustainability.

At COP26, Malaysia is expected to
highlight its intent to reduce the green-
house gas (GHG) emission intensity by
45% across the economy based on gross
domestic product by 2030.The prime min-
ister has also announced that the country
aspires to achieve net-zero GHG emissions
as early as 2050.

“With the intense momentum built
across continents for potentially ambi-
tious policy commitments by governments
and global and local civil society organi-

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news In brief

Rubber production incentive Suhaimi Yusuf/The Edge PRG’s unit to acquire 37.25% of
deactivated for October 2021 — Singaporean energy services company
Malaysian Rubber Board per kg. “The average farm price of scrap
rubber in October 2021 for Peninsular KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): PRG Holdings
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): The Malaysian Malaysia was RM2.90 per kg, while in Bhd’s 54.19%-owned Furniweb Holdings
Rubber Board (MRB) has announced Sabah and Sarawak, it was RM2.55 per kg. Ltd has inked a sale and purchase
that the Rubber Production Incentive “Therefore, no IPG payment was made for agreement with Energy Solution Global
(IPG) for smallholders was deactivated the month,” the MRB said. — Bernama Ltd (ESGL) to acquire 37.25% of the latter’s
for October 2021 in Peninsular Malaysia, issued and paid-up capital for about
Sabah and Sarawak. In a statement on Ibraco clinches RM375m construction RM5.11 million. Through the acquisition,
Tuesday, the MRB said that the IPG job in Sarawak PRG Group is making its first foray into
would only be activated if the average KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Property the energy efficiency industry, in line
monthly price of SMR 20 free on board developer Ibraco Bhd has secured a contract with the global push for sustainability
is at RM6.10 per kilogramme (kg) or if for construction works in Kuching, Sarawak, through environmental, social and
the farm gate price falls below RM2.50 worth approximately RM375 million. The corporate governance (ESG) efforts, it
company said in a filing Tuesday it has said in a statement on Tuesday. “ESGL’s
Ramssol, Impiana ink two-year accepted the letter of award from Lestari wholly-owned subsidiary Measurement &
partnership to provide HRD- Asiabina Sdn Bhd as turnkey contractor for Verification Pte Ltd and Measurement &
certified training the construction of various components, Verification Sdn Bhd (collectively known
including road and drain reserve, as M&V) will be able to leverage both PRG
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Ramssol Group condominium, apartment and shophouses, and Furniweb’s listing status as a platform
Bhd and Impiana Hotels Bhd have entered on Lot 6036 Block 26 Muara Tuang Land for regional expansion opportunities, both
into a two-year partnership to provide district. The various construction works organically and inorganically. Collectively,
Human Resources Development Corp are expected to start from the third quarter both parties would be able to collaborate
(HRD Corp) certified training programmes of 2022 and be completed by the fourth in scaling business opportunities in energy
for Malaysia’s workforce that supports quarter of 2026. — by Syafiqah Salim efficiency and resource efficiency projects,”
economic recovery through upskilling and PRG said. — Bernama
reskilling for post-pandemic recovery. UMW Toyota sees higher vehicle sales
The two parties are targeting, together, in October, starts taking orders for Trive Property plans another cash call
approximately RM100 million in training locally-assembled Toyota model to fund upgrading of office building
value over the collaboration period, through KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): UMW Toyota
these specialised training programmes and Motor Sdn Bhd said it sold 8,500 units of KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Trive Property
technology packages tailored to address Toyota and Lexus vehicles in October, an Bhd plans to raise up to RM19.89 million
the skill gaps caused by the adoption of increase of 6% compared with September. via a private placement to upgrade its office
technology and implementation of new The UMW Holdings Bhd subsidiary’s building, Persoft Tower. The placement
business models and strategies. — Bernama cumulative sales in the first 10 years of involves the issuance of 342.93 million new
2021 was 54,618 units, 25% more than the shares or up to 20% of the group’s issued
NCT Alliance to revive abandoned January-October 2020 sales volume. “With shares to third party investors who have
project with RM500m GDV in Selangor almost complete resumption of business yet to be identified. The issue price of the
activities, the auto sector continues to see placement shares will be fixed at a later
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov. 2): NCT Alliance improved sales performances, reflected by date, Trive Property said in a bourse filing.
Bhd (formerly known as Grand-Flo Bhd) rising orders and deliveries each month. Based on an illustrative price of 5.8 sen per
said it has been appointed to revive two UMW Toyota has been among companies placement share, the placement is expected
phases of an abandoned project in Batang that have gained with the rapid recovery of to raise up to RM19.89 million. The group
Kali, Selangor with an estimated gross the market,” the company said in a statement had previously earmarked RM20 million for
development value of RM500 million. on Tuesday. It has also started taking orders the refurbishment and renovation of Persoft
The development involves 168 units of for the first locally-assembled Toyota model Tower via a rights issue with warrants
bangalow on 80 acres of freehold land, NCT with hybrid-electric technology. “The new that was completed on Feb 4. Including
Alliance said in a bourse filing. The company model will be the Toyota Corolla Cross the latest placement and the rights issue,
said it has been proposed by the liquidator Hybrid, which is estimated to be priced from the group has made four cash calls in the
to undertake the scheme proposal to RM137,000. Customers also have the option past two years. It completed two private
revive the development of phases 2 and 3 of two other variants — the Corolla Cross placements in May and June last year, which
of the Genting Valley project. The project 1.8V and 1.8G — which come with 1.8-litre raised RM4.1 million and RM2.5 million
was initiated in 2000 and involved 665 DOHC 16-valve Dual VVT-i engines,” it respectively, mainly to repay borrowings and
bungalow lots, but was abandoned by added. — by Syafiqah Salim for working capital. — by Justin Lim
the initial developer in 2004. Since the
rehabilitation scheme commenced in 2020,
NCT Platinum undertook a bond with the
initial purchasers of phases 2A and 2B via a
court sanctioned appointment to complete
the refund process for the rehabilitation
exercise. Phases 2A and 2B are now
targeted for launch by end-2021.
— by Tan Siew Mung

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): There was Melaka state “The compounds were issued under Reg-
no gathering or social event related to election: ulation 16 of the Prevention and Control
the Melaka state election held with the of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the
involvement of two former prime minis- Organisers of Infected Local Areas) Regulations (National
ters, namelyTan Sri MuhyiddinYassin and programmes Recovery Plan) 2021,” the ministry said.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak, according to the
Ministry of Health (MoH) on Tuesday involving According to the Act, organisers who
(Nov 2). Muhyiddin, Najib fail to comply with the standard operat-
ing procedures (SOPs), such as ensuring
In a statement, the MoH said the inves- compounded physical distancing, wearing of face masks
tigation carried out by the Melaka Health and scanning the MySejahtera QR code
Department found that the recent pro- Bernama for checking in, can be compounded.
grammes involving Muhyiddin, who is the
Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman, and Zahid Izzani/the edge The MoH issued the statement in re-
Najib as the Barisan Nasional advisory sponse to the viral issue of SOP violation
board chairman, in Melaka were more of related to the Melaka state election in-
a walkabout. volving Muhyiddin and Najib.

However, the organisers of the pro- The ministry said it will not hesitate
grammes were compounded in accord- to issue a compound to any individual or
ance with the Prevention and Control of organisation violating the SOPs as set by
Infectious Diseases Act 1988 for failure to the National Security Council.
comply with the physical distancing rule
among the attendees. “The MoH, Melaka Health Depart-
ment and the police will continue monitor-
“A compound of RM20,000 was is- ing SOP compliance to prevent the spread
sued to Melaka PN as the organiser of the of Covid-19 during the Melaka polls.
programme involving Muhyiddin, while
the organiser of the programme involv- “The MoH also advises the public to
ing Najib was issued with a compound continue complying with the SOPs and
of RM4,000. playing their roles to fight Covid-19 in
Malaysia,” the ministry added.
The MoH issued the statement in response
to the viral issue of SOP violation related to On Oct 24, Health Minister Khairy
Jamaluddin was reported as saying that
the Melaka state election involving all activities, gatherings and social events
Muhyiddin and Najib (pic). related to the Melaka polls are not allowed
from Oct 25 to Nov 27 to reduce the risk
of another spike in Covid-19 cases.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): The High Six students of In addition, five of the accused, togeth-
Court here on Tuesday (Nov 2) found National Defence er with 12 other UPNM students, were
six students of the National Defence sentenced to another three years in prison
University of Malaysia (UPNM) guilty University of for assaulting the deceased to force him to
of causing the death of the university’s Malaysia found confess to stealing a laptop.
navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain guilty of causing
four years ago, and sentenced all six to For this crime, the 12 other UPNM stu-
18 years in jail. cadet’s death dents were granted a stay of execution pend-
ing their appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The six were Muhammad Akmal Zu- by Timothy Achariam
hairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad theedgemarkets.com All 17 were charged under Section 330
Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Mu- of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing
hammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Moham- hurt for the purpose of extorting informa-
ad Shobirin Sabri and Abdoul Hakeem tion from the victim, read together with
Mohd Ali. Section 34, which states that each of several
people committing a crime with a common
High Court Judge Datuk Azman Ab- intention is liable for that Act in the same
dullah found the six guilty of culpable manner as if it were done by him/her alone.
homicide not amounting to murder, and
sentenced them under Section 304(a) of For the five sentenced to 18 years in
the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail, they will serve the additional three
sentence of 30 years in jail and a fine. years concurrently.

The judge, who said he did not find the Before the judgement was meted out,
six having the intent to murder, said the Zulfarhan’s mother Hawa Osman took the
prosecution had proved that the accused stand to read her victim impact statement.
caused grievous bodily harm to the victim
by using a steam iron to hit the latter’s She asked for a sentence for the ac-
sensitive parts. cused that fits the crime, one that serves
as a lesson to all so that such an incident
The judge also did not grant a stay of would never be repeated.
execution to the six, and ordered them to
serve their jail sentences from the date of The offence was allegedly committed in
their arrest in 2017. room 04-10, the accommodation block of
the Jebat hostel of UPNM between 4.45am
and 5.45am on May 22, 2017.

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Anwar admits KJ’s ‘main belakang’
remark also carries lesser,

non-defamatory connotation

PUTRAJAYA (Nov 2): Opposition leader BY HAFIZ YATIM the Federal Court judgement in 2004 in
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim himself had ad- theedgemarkets.com Anwar’s first sodomy case by former Fed-
mitted that then UmnoYouth chief Khairy eral Court judge Tun Abdul Hamid Mo-
Jamaluddin Abu Bakar’s remark that he REUTERS hamad, who later become CJ, which while
‘main belakang’ at a political ceramah in acquitting the politician of sodomy, had
2008 also has a lesser connotation com- Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stated that the court believed the incident
pared with what the High Court found to (sodomy) did actually happen.
be defamatory. said the appellate court should set aside the
High Court decision, and find the minister He said his client also argued there was
Khairy’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad had not defamed the PKR president. justification in what he had said based
Shafee Abdullah said his client, who is now on that Federal Court judgement.What’s
the Health Minister, told a three-member He told the Court of Appeal bench this more, he added that Justice Abdul Ha-
Court of Appeal bench on Tuesday that in the long-standing appeal of the 2008 case. mid’s judgement still stands despite An-
the PKR president had admitted this in his war’s application to review it in 2017.
testimony for the defamation trial against Justice Datuk Lee Swee Seng led the
the minister. bench, whose other members are Justices “Our main defence that the meaning
Datuk Darryl Goon Siew Chye and Datuk given by the plaintiff (Anwar) is such and
“Anwar himself admitted in his testimony Ghazali Cha. such and we are justified (in saying this)
the lesser meaning of those complaint words, High Court ordered KJ to pay due to his previous conviction, his pur-
that political parties playing each other out RM150,000 damages to Anwar ported homosexual behaviour. All these
bring a different or non-defamatory con- On Sept 29, 2017, Anwar won his civil suit are admissible by virtue of Section 43 of
notation to what the veteran politician is against Khairy. The former Umno Youth the Evidence Act 1950.
claiming in his statement of claim. chief was ordered by the High Court to
pay RM150,000 in damages, with another “Perhaps it is timely that the bench also
“We say the High Court was wrong or RM60,000 as costs for remarks he made considers the provisions in Section 43,”
erred in not taking this into consideration in 2008. he implored.
when it found that Khairy had defamed the
PKR leader. Khairy himself admitted un- Shafee further said the High Court judge Section 43 stipulates judgements, orders
der oath when cross-examined that what he also took into consideration the audience or decrees other than those mentioned in
said does not have any sexual connotation at the ceramah had laughed after Khairy’s Sections 40, 41 and 42 are irrelevant unless
as political parties cannot sodomise each remark but his client replied that he could the existence of such judgement, order or
other. It does not mean that (the sexual al- not control the thoughts of the audience. decree is a fact in issue or is relevant under
legation),” the senior lawyer said. some other provision of this Act.
While Justices Lee and Goon pointed
Pointing to both Anwar’s and Khairy’s out that Khairy’s statement at the political Shafee said judgements are considered
testimonies at the High Court, Shafee said ceramah taken as a whole could also mean opinions of the court, and it shows that
the court was wrong in finding his client the sexual element alleged by Anwar, when such an opinion (sodomy) exists.
had defamed the former deputy prime the minister was referring to ‘mutaah’ (mar-
minister as both the plaintiff (Anwar) and riage via syiah way) that had sexual conno- This resulted in Justice Goon inter-
the defendant (Khairy) themselves admit- tations, Shafee argued that the court should jecting that it does not mean that it is a
ted the complaint words also carried the not over analyse those words. proven point.
lesser connotation.
“There is no far-reaching impact to the Shafee responded that then the court
“Khairy said under cross-examination public. Sodomy does not mean homosex- should consider this as partial justifica-
and when I re-examined him that the con- ual under the proper context,” he added. tion based on the common law principle,
text in what he said to those complaint which the High Court judge had himself
words was a marriage of convenience At the same time, Shafee also said the failed to consider.
between political parties. He reiterated court should also take into consideration
during cross-examination that one can- As the senior lawyer concluded his sub-
not sodomise political parties.” mission, he applied to the appellate court
for the case to continue on another day as
The senior counsel added that the High it was already early morning in NewYork
Court was wrong in considering defamation and he was suffering from jet lag from his
was committed when what was said itself trip there on Oct 29.
carries a lesser different meaning, which was
not defamatory. After a short deliberation, Justice Lee al-
lowed the case to be postponed and fixed Jan
“The High Court never took into ac- 17 for Anwar’s counsels Datuk Seri Gopal
count that these words also carry a non-de- Sri Ram and J Leela to respond to the sub-
famatory or lesser defamatory meaning to missions and hear Shafee’s reply.
what is alleged,” he said. Read also: Court hearing of Najib’s appli-
cation for stay of SRC’s US$1.18 bil suit
For these reasons, Shafee, who was sub- fixed for Dec 3 Click here
mitting in NewYork via online proceedings,

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China urges families to keep stocks
of daily necessities ahead of winter

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Nov 2):The Chi- by Brenda Goh & Dominique Patton Last week, prices of cucumbers, spinach
nese government has told families to keep Reuters and broccoli had more than doubled from
daily necessities in stock in case of emer- early October. Spinach was more expen-
gencies, after Covid-19 outbreaks and un- China also plans to sive than some cuts of pork at 16.67 yuan
usually heavy rains that caused a surge release vegetable (US$2.60) per kg, a vegetable price index
in vegetable prices raised concerns about reserves “at an in Shouguang, a trading hub in Shandong,
supply shortages. indicated.
appropriate time” to
The commerce ministry directive late counter rising prices. Although prices have eased in recent
on Monday stirred some concern on do- days, economists expect a significant year-
mestic social media that it may have been The ministry’s statement late on Mon- on-year increase in consumer price infla-
triggered by heightened tensions withTai- day urged local authorities to do a good tion for October, the first in five months.
wan, while some said people were rushing job in ensuring supply and stable prices,
to stock up on rice, cooking oil and salt. and to give early warnings of any supply The pandemic has brought an increased
problems. focus on food security, with the govern-
“As soon as this news came out, all the Extreme weather ment drafting a food security law and out-
old people near me went crazy panic buy- The government typically makes extra lining new efforts to curb food waste.
ing in the supermarket,” wrote one user efforts to boost fresh vegetable and pork
on China’s Twitter-like Weibo. supplies before China’s most important The commerce ministry said local au-
holiday, Lunar New Year, which in 2022 thorities should buy vegetables that can be
Local media has also recently published falls in early February. stored well in advance and also strengthen
lists of recommended goods to store at emergency delivery networks. Information
home including biscuits and instant noo- But this year, those efforts have become about prices and supply and demand of
dles, vitamins, radios and flashlights. more urgent after extreme weather in early commodities should be released in a timely
October destroyed crops in Shandong — manner to stabilise people’s expectations,
The public response forced state me- the country’s biggest vegetable growing it added.
dia on Tuesday to try to soothe fears and region — and as outbreaks of Covid-19
clarify the ministry’s statement. cases stretching from the northwest to the China also plans to release vegetable re-
northeast of the country threaten to dis- serves “at an appropriate time” to counter
The Economic Daily, a Communist rupt food supplies. rising prices, according to a stateTV report
Party-backed newspaper, told netizens late on Monday. It is not clear which veg-
not to have “too much of an overactive etables China holds in reserves and how
imagination” and that the directive’s pur- big those reserves are.
pose was to make sure citizens were not
caught off guard if there was a lockdown The state planning body has called for
in their area. the timely replanting of vegetables, urging
local governments to support fast-growing
The People’s Daily said the ministry is- produce, according to the report.
sues such notices every year, but had issued
its instruction earlier this year because of China has about 100 million mu (6.7
natural disasters, the surge in vegetable million hectares) planted with vegetables,
prices and recent Covid-19 cases. the agriculture ministry has said.

reuters

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Singapore’s month amid signs that supply-chain and Australia’s central
central bank labor-market disruptions were driving up bank opens door
‘ready to act’ consumer prices. to earlier rate rise,
against inflation pledges patience
The longer that supply-side disrup-
risks tions last, Menon said, there’s a risk that BY Wayne Cole
inflation becomes entrenched as inflation Reuters
BY Haslinda Amin & Ramsey Al-Rikabi expectations build up. “That’s a big un-
Bloomberg known, and that’s a risk factor,” he said. SYDNEY (Nov 2): Australia’s central
bank on Tuesday took a major step to-
(Nov 2): Singapore’s top central banker Last week, in its twice-yearly macro- ward unwinding extraordinary pandemic
said the monetary authority is watching economic review, the MAS flagged that stimulus policies by abandoning an ul-
for signs of accelerating inflation and is supply-chain disruptions and upward tra-low target for bond yields and opening
ready to act, underscoring how policy pressure on wages could linger longer the door for an earlier hike in cash rates.
makers globally are refocusing attention than anticipated.
on rising prices after their extraordinary Wrapping up its November policy
efforts to weather the pandemic. The central bank has said its measure meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia
of core inflation, which removes private (RBA) kept the cash rate at a record low
“Overall, I’d say the balance of risk transport and accommodation costs, will of 0.1% but dropped its 0.1% target for
has shifted toward inflation,” Ravi Me- average near the upper end of its 0%- the April 2024 government bond.
non, managing director of the Monetary 1% range this year and accelerate to 1%-
Authority of Singapore, said in an inter- 2% next year. It sees headline inflation The central bank also omitted its pre-
view with Bloomberg Television broadcast around 2% this year and expected to av- vious projection that rates were unlikely
Tuesday. “We will be very watchful of any erage 1.5%-2.5% next year. to rise until 2024, reflecting an improving
risk of escalation in prices, and we stand economy and a recent surprisingly high
ready to act.” In September, the latest month of reading for inflation.
available data, inflation came in at 2.5%
Like its counterparts globally, Singa- and core prices rose 1.2%, both slightly It would, however, continue to buy gov-
pore’s central bank is watching closely above estimates. ernment bonds at a pace of A$4 billion
for signs that rising prices will become (US$3.00 billion) a week until at least
a persistent issue rather than a transito- Analysts at Citigroup Inc. including mid-2022 and emphasised that inflation
ry problem caused by pandemic snags. Wei Zheng Kit and Kai Wei Ang, said in was still too low.
The MAS tightened monetary policy last a report last week that they see room for
further policy tightening next year as cost “The Board is prepared to be patient,
pressures intensify.They expect the MAS with the central forecast being for under-
to steepen the slope of its currency band lying inflation to be no higher than 2.5%
— the bank’s main policy tool — again at the end of 2023 and for only a gradual
in April after October’s surprise move. increase in wages growth,” Governor Phil-
Click here to read the full story ip Lowe said in a brief statement.

SEOUL (Nov 2): South Korea’s consum- South Korea’s The bank had already given up any
er inflation accelerated to a near 10-year inflation hits pretence of defending the bond target as
peak in October on higher costs of oil near decade- yields flew to 0.73% after the market suf-
products, housing rentals and outdoor high, raising rate fered one of its worst monthly drubbings
dining, putting pressure on policymakers in decades.
ahead of the last monetary policy meet- hike bets
ing of the year. The RBA has been under intense pres-
BY Joori Roh sure to alter course since data out last
The consumer price index (CPI) Reuters week showed core inflation had jumped
jumped 3.2% from a year earlier in Octo- back into its 2-3% target band two years
ber, government data showed onWednes- Governor Lee Ju-yeol last month earlier than forecast.
day, the fastest growth since January 2012 flagged further tightening could come
and up from a 2.6% rise in September. as soon as November to curb rising in- That is just part of a global sea change
flation and household debt. as surging energy costs and supply bot-
That matched a 3.2% increase tipped tlenecks force central banks from Europe
by analysts in a Reuters survey and re- The BOK currently sees inflation to North America to consider bringing
mained above the central bank’s 2% tar- standing at 2.1% for the whole of 2021 forward tightening.
get for a seventh straight month. and 1.5% for 2022, but the revision of
forecasts will be announced at the No- The shift has been abrupt for the RBA,
The breakdown of data showed the vember meet. which had spent the past year vowing rates
cost of petroleum surged 27.3%, while would not rise until 2024 and only recently
that of housing rentals rose 1.8% on year. Click here to read the full story chastised markets for thinking otherwise.
Costs of outdoor dining increased 3.2%,
while other services including accommo- And investors were still wagering the
dation also rose 2.3%. central bank was behind the curve as fu-
tures were almost fully priced for a rise
That puts the Bank of Korea’s (BOK) to 0.25% by May next year.
monetary policy board under pressure to
raise the base rate further at the Nov. 25 Click here to read the full story
meeting, following its first rate hike in
almost three years in August.

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NEW YORK (Nov 2): Pfizer Inc raised Pfizer raises 2021 additional orders, D’Amelio added. The
its forecast for the year on the strength forecast; shot partners anticipate being able to make up
of sales of its Covid-19 vaccine, although to 4 billion doses next year.
the company sees revenue from the shot sales seen falling
falling next year. next year Quarterly profit was US$1.34 a
share, trouncing analysts’ expectation of
Annual revenue from the shot devel- by Riley Griffin US$1.08. Pfizer booked US$13 billion in
oped with BioNTech SE will be US$36 Bloomberg third-quarter sales from the vaccine, beat-
billion, up from an earlier forecast of ing analysts’ expectation of US$11.5 bil-
US$33.5 billion, and the companies now bloomberg lion.The company said it expects to have
have agreements to supply 2.3 billion doses made a total of 3 billion doses by the end
in 2021, NewYork-based Pfizer saidTues- company presentation.That’s higher than of 2021.
day in a statement. the averageWall Street estimate of US$23
billion, and the companies could contin- Excluding the vaccine, drug revenues
That will help raise yearly adjusted ue to clinch deals with governments for grew 11% in the quarter from a year ago.
profit to US$4.13 to US$4.18 a share, The company slightly decreased the upper
up from the earlier view that topped out end of its forecast for non-vaccine prod-
at US$4.05. Revenue will be US$81 bil- ucts to US$46 billion, after a recall of to-
lion to US$82 billion, compared with an bacco-cessation drug Chantix. Investors
earlier forecast as much as US$80 billion. are closely watching demand for Covid
The shares rose 3.2% in premarket trading. booster doses and shots for kids. Pfizer
expects to report early data from a trial
Pfizer’s vaccine has become a major of its vaccine in those 2- to 4 years old
driver of profit and revenue, as it contin- this quarter, and anticipates getting data
ues to lead rivals in clearances. US public from those 6 months to less than 2 years
health experts will consider recommend- old next quarter.
ing the shot as the first for use in young
children later Tuesday. Already, some additional supply agree-
ments being reached to serve these groups.
Still, revenue from the vaccine will taper The US to date has purchased 115 million
in 2022, bringing in about US$29 billion pediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vac-
from sales of about 1.7 billion doses, ac- cine, more than enough to vaccinate every
cording to prepared remarks from Chief child in the country.
Financial Officer Frank D’Amelio in a

LISBON (Nov 1): In her first public ad- Facebook whistle- Commenting on the rebranding, Hau-
dress since she leaked a trove of damag- blower Haugen gen said it made no sense given the se-
ing documents about Facebook’s inner curity issues that have yet to be tackled.
workings, whistle-blower Frances Haugen urges Zuckerberg
urged her former boss, Mark Zuckerberg, to step down “Over and over Facebook chooses ex-
to step down and allow change rather than pansion and new areas instead of stick-
devoting resources to a rebrand. by Catarina Demony ing the landing on what they’ve already
& Clara-Laeila Laudette done,” Haugen told an animated crowd
“I think it is unlikely the company which frequently burst into applause as
will change if [Mark Zuckerberg] re- Reuters she spoke.
mains the CEO,” Haugen told a packed
arena on Monday at the opening night reuters Facebook’s announcement came amid
of the Web Summit, a tech fest drawing strong criticism from lawmakers and regu-
dozens of thousands to the Portuguese Facebook’s inner workings, lators over the corporation’s business prac-
capital, Lisbon. whistle-blower Frances Haugen. tices — particularly its enormous market
power, algorithmic decisions and the po-
The former Facebook product manager licing of abuses on its services.
replied in the positive to the question of
whether Zuckerberg should resign, and The social media network, which oper-
added: “Maybe it’s a chance for someone ates a dual class share structure through
else to take the reins... Facebook would be which Zuckerberg and a small group of
stronger with someone who was willing investors control the company, has hit back
to focus on safety.” saying the documents leaked by Haugen
were being used to paint a “false picture.”
The social network, with nearly 3 bil-
lion users, changed its name to Meta last Haugen told British and American law-
week, in a rebrand that focuses on building makers last month that Facebook would
the “metaverse,” a shared virtual environ- fuel more violent unrest worldwide unless
ment that it bets will be the successor to it curbed its algorithms which push ex-
the mobile internet. treme, divisive content and prey on vulner-
able demographics to keep them scrolling.
But early adopters of the virtual worlds
known as the metaverse blasted Face- “A key problem is that the founda-
book’s rebranding as an attempt to cap- tion of the platform’s security is based
italise on growing buzz over a concept it on monitoring content language by lan-
did not create to deflect from recent neg- guage, which does not scale to all the
ative attention. countries where Facebook operates,”
Haugen noted.

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bloomberg

StanChart’s 3Q
profit doubles,
beats market

forecasts

Cash machine’ by Anshuman Daga & Lawrence White The London-headquartered bank,
BP boosts share Reuters which is focussed on Asia, Africa and the
Middle East, reported on Tuesday credit
buyback as SINGAPORE (Nov 2): Standard Char- impairment charges of $107 million versus
profit surges tered’s third-quarter pre-tax profit dou- $353 million a year earlier.
bled from a year earlier, beating market
by Ron Bousso forecasts, as the emerging markets-focused CEO Bill Winters, who took charge in
Reuters lender rode a recovery in pandemic-hit 2015, has tried to restore growth while
markets. creating a portfolio of digital assets in the
LONDON (Nov 2): BP added more than last few years, after repairing the bank’s
a billion dollars to its share buyback pro- Statutory pretax profit for the bank, which balance sheet and slashing thousands of
gramme onTuesday as it likened itself to earns most of its revenue in Asia, jumped to jobs in his early years.
a “cash machine” benefiting from higher $996 million in July-September, from $435
oil and gas prices and a strong trading million a year earlier.This compared with the Still, StanChart’s London-listed shares
performance in the third quarter. $942 million average estimate of 16 analysts have underperformed rivals since then, and
as compiled by the bank. are up 8% this year versus a 18% rise for
Natural gas and power prices around HSBC and 37% surge for Barclays.
the world surged this autumn as tight gas
supplies collided with strong demand in Maersk expands
economies recovering from the pandemic. air freight with

BP said it expected natural gas prices new Boeing
to remain strong in the coming months planes, logistics
of peak winter demand. firm acquisition

The company “is a cash machine at by Nikolaj Skydsgaard “The COVID situation has only acceler-
these sort of (oil and gas) prices and the Reuters ated the fact that we need to move on this,”
business is running very well,” Chief Exec- Maersk’s chief executive of ocean and logis-
utive Officer Bernard Looney told Reuters. COPENHAGEN (Nov 2): Denmark’s A.P. tics,Vincent Clerc, told Reuters.
Moller-Maersk said on Tuesday it will buy
Underlying replacement cost profit, freight-forwarder Senator International “Obviously we are making these acquisitions
the company’s definition of net earnings, along with two Boeing aircraft, the firm’s to flesh out a network that we hope to scale. So
reached US$3.32 billion in the third quar- latest move to boost its businesses beyond we trust that this will be growth generating.”
ter, exceeding analysts’ expectations for ocean shipping.
US$3.06 billion. On top of the acquisition, expected to
Maersk, which handles one in five con- close in the first half of 2022, Maersk will
That compares with US$2.8 billion in tainers shipped worldwide, will acquire the add two new Boeing 777 freight aircraft as
profit in the second quarter and US$86 German logistics firm, whose largest busi- well as three leased cargo planes to its ex-
million a year earlier, when energy de- ness is within air freight, for an enterprise isting fleet of 15 aircraft.
mand and prices collapsed due to the value of around $644 million, it said.
coronavirus epidemic. “Our target is to have about a third of our
During the pandemic, many airlines have capacity provided through own tonnage, and
Although the headline profit reflects a been forced to park unused passenger jets, two-thirds through belly-space on commer-
strong business, BP reported a loss attrib- driving up demand for cargo space on ded- cial airlines,” Clerc told Reuters.
utable to shareholders of US$2.54 billion icated freighters at a time when soaring de-
due to accounting effects and hedges as mand from lockdown-ridden consumers has While the leased planes will be operational
a result of fluctuations in LNG prices, put a strain on global trade. next year, the newly built Boeing planes are
which are nevertheless expected to un- expected to be delivered in 2024. Combined
wind in the coming quarter. With two-thirds of Maersk’s revenue still with Senator International’s six airplanes, this
coming from container shipping, the firm will roughly double Maersk’s air cargo capacity.
The company said it would repurchase is aiming to expand its services to include
a further US$1.25 billion of its shares by more air and land-based freight, hoping to “We feel this is the right mix to assure
early 2022, after buying US$900 mil- deliver door-to-door logistical solutions to a certain level of operational control where
lion during the third quarter. BP plans clients like Walmart and Puma. it’s necessary, but also still be able to have
to maintain buybacks at a rate of around the flexibility that we need by moving with
US$1 billion per quarter at oil prices of commercial airlines,” Clerc said.
US$60 a barrel.

Click here to read the full story

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world

Apollo asset sales record US$14 billion in proceeds in the ConocoPhillips
top US$8.8 bil third quarter. tops estimates
as dealmaking with decade’s
flourishes Apollo’s eighth flagship buyout fund highest profit
from 2013 and its ninth pool from 2017
by Sabrina Willmer were active sellers during the quarter, which by Kevin Crowley
Bloomberg allowed the firm’s private equity business Bloomberg
to post the highest quarterly realised per-
NEWYORK (Nov 2):Apollo Global Man- formance fees in more than eight years. (Nov 2):ConocoPhillips posted its highest
agement Inc handed investors US$8.8 bil- quarterly profit in a decade after the US
lion as a frenzied dealmaking environment Several companies, including OneMain oil producer benefited from a sustained
helped drive asset sales. Holdings Inc and Apollo Education Group rally in crude and natural gas.
Inc, contributed to the asset-sale proceeds.
The firm’s third-quarter earnings beat For the firm overall, realised performance Net income for the third quarter
analysts’ estimates.The private equity busi- fees rose 30% from the prior quarter. soared to US$2.4 billion, the highest
ness led the way with US$6 billion in such going back to 2011, the company said
sales, Apollo said in a statement Tuesday. Apollo Chief Executive Officer Marc Tuesday in a statement. Capital spending
Rowan has set ambitious goals to fuel fur- was just 32% of cash from operations in
Apollo and peers are benefiting from ther growth. He’s seeking to almost double the period, indicating that ConocoPhillips
the robust market for mergers and initial loan originations to US$150 billion to cap- has swathes of cash left over for debt re-
public offerings. Exits by private equity in italise on the retirement services market. duction and shareholder returns at these
the US reached a record US$638 billion Apollo also expects to double assets under price levels.
this year through September, according management to US$1 trillion in five years.
to data from Pitchbook. Carlyle Group The company also joins Exxon Mobil
Inc last week reported that it delivered a The New York-based firm is trying to Corp and Chevron Corp. in toppingWall
move past the events of the past year, which Street expectations with windfall prof-
saw the abrupt departure of co-founder its, with adjusted per-share earnings of
and CEO Leon Black, following revelations US$1.77 beating the US$1.52 average es-
about his business ties with Jeffrey Epstein. timate of analysts compiled by Bloomberg.
Click here to read the full story
ConocoPhillips was well positioned
NEWYORK/CHICAGO (Nov 2): Chem- DuPont to to benefit from higher commodity prices
ical company DuPont de Nemours Inc buy Rogers for after its January takeover of Concho Re-
agreed to buy engineering materials mak- US$5.2 bil to add sources,which made it a large player in the
er Rogers Corp for about US$5.2 billion auto materials Permian Basin, the biggest US oil field.
to expand into electric cars and driver as-
sistance systems. by Liana Baker & Kiel Porter “While we benefited from the con-
Bloomberg structive price environment, the quarter’s
The deal values Rogers shares at important feature was that our underlying
US$277 each, about a third more than Breen, who is also the executive chair- performance achieved our ‘new’ baseline
Monday’s closing price of US$208.23, ac- man of DuPont, returned to the CEO post for ConocoPhillips post-Concho,” Chief
cording to a statement Tuesday.The pur- last year. Earlier this year, DuPont acquired Executive Officer Ryan Lance said in the
chase will boost DuPont’s position in ad- Laird Performance Materials, a compa- statement.
vanced materials for key growth markets ny that specialises in advanced electronic
also including telecommunications and materials for autonomous vehicles, in a ConocoPhillips increased its footprint
clean energy, the company said. US$2.3 billion deal. in the basin substantially by agreeing to
Click here to read the full story buy Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s assets in
“We are sharpening our focus on high- September. Once the deal is completed,
growth, high-value opportunities in sec- ConocoPhillips will likely become the
tors with steady long-term secular growth second-largest oil producer in the basin.
trends,” DuPont Chief Executive Officer
Ed Breen said in the statement.The com- Lance has pledged that the US$9.5 bil-
pany planned to further invest “organically lion deal will immediately add to cash flow
and through strategic acquisitions to max- and won’t jeopardize shareholder returns.
imize our capabilities,” he said.
Click here to read the full story
The transaction would add to the
deal-making reputation of Breen, who
engineered the 2012 breakup of Tyco
International and oversaw the 2000
sale of General Instrument. Rogers,
based in Chandler, Arizona, develops
advanced electronic materials, accord-
ing to its website.

Breen led the 2017 tie-up of DuPont
and Dow Chemical Co, the largest-ever
chemicals industry merger, and the sub-
sequent breakup that formed a standalone
DuPont, Dow Inc and Corteva Inc.

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reuters

Messages from
Macron to

Morrison leaked
amid submarine

deal row

by Colin Packham French President Emmanuel Macron (left) and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Reuters

CANBERRA (Nov 2): Australian media tions, a unprecedented allegation among the day Canberra announced its deal with
on Tuesday published messages between allies. Morrison has denied the claim. the United States and Britain.
French President Emmanuel Macron and
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, According to a source familiar with the “There is no doubt Morrison needed
as Canberra seeks to push back against al- messages, when Morrison tried to set up a to put his front foot forward and convince
legations it lied to Paris about a multibil- call with Macron about the submarine con- Australians and allies that he wasn’t being
lion-dollar submarine contract. tract on Sept. 14, two days before the deal duplicitous and lying, but there was grave
with the U.S. and Britain was announced, concern that the project would not be com-
Australia in September cancelled a deal Macron responded with a message saying pleted,” said Haydon Manning, a political
with France’s Naval Group, opting instead “Should I expect good or bad news for our science professor at Flinders University in
to build at least 12 nuclear-powered sub- joint submarines ambitions?”The message South Australia.
marines after striking a deal with the Unit- with Morrison’s response was not leaked.
ed States and Britain. This month, the European Union post-
The source declined to be identified poned the next round of talks on a poten-
The cancellation caused a major bilater- because of the sensitivity of the matter. tial free trade deal for a second time, amid
al rift, and Macron on Sunday said Morri- simmering anger over Canberra’s decision
son had lied to him about Australia’s inten- France has said Australia did not at- to cancel the contract with France.
tempt to inform it of the cancellation until

bloomberg

Most UK retail
properties will
become obsolete
under net zero

by Ryan Hesketh & Jack Sidders
Bloomberg

LONDON (Nov 2): Landlords of most of The pressure to upgrade thousands of lords in cheaper locations, with fewer back-
the UK’s stores and shopping malls may buildings threatens to deepen the existen- ers ready to foot the high cost of retrofits.
struggle to find tenants by the end of this tial crisis facing Britain’s high streets, after
decade, as the properties don’t meet the the pandemic accelerated the years-long The net-zero plan, released prior to this
minimum energy standards of the govern- trend toward online shopping. Many own- week’s COP summit in Glasgow,aims to tack-
ment’s net-zero strategy. ers of malls and stores are already seeking le building pollution and a raft of other envi-
to convert them into mixed-use or resi- ronmental issues in the coming years. Real
That’s the finding of a new report dential properties, as the future of brick- estate accounts for 17% of the UK’s carbon
from property broker Savills Plc, which and-mortar retail looks increasingly bleak. emissions, according to government advisory
estimates that 1.4 billion square feet (130 bodyThe Climate Change Committee.While
million square meters) of retail space — Around a quarter of property emissions the target of a ‘B’energy rating for commercial
or 83% of all current stock — will need come from shopping centers, retail parks buildings by 2030 isn’t yet law, the industry
to be improved by 2030 to comply with and high street blocks mainly owned by is preparing for it to become binding.
proposals that are expected to become law large well-funded institutional landlords,
by then. and so should be relatively easy to improve, “We fully expect that the standards sign-
says Savills. However, the rest are from posted in the recent net-zero strategy will
Around 13% of those buildings could be smaller premises owned by private land- be brought into law,” said British Property
in trouble as soon as 2023 due to existing Federation Assistant Director Alex Green.
legislation that requires minimum energy
ratings for commercial properties by then,
but at a lower level then required by the far
stricter net-zero proposals, Savills added.

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Bezos, IKEA and Rockefeller promise
billions for climate

(Nov 2): Global philanthropies dug into by Leslie Kaufman the kinks were worked out, India’sTata Pow-
their pockets to make a big statement on Bloomberg er agreed to expand the project to 10,000
the first full day of the United Nations cli- grids.That success drew the attention of the
mate conference. bloomberg IKEA Foundation, created by the founder
of the Swedish furniture giant, which had
The Rockefeller and IKEA foundations Even if rich countries been separately supporting microgrid work
on Monday announced plans to create a get to $100 billion, it in sub-Saharan Africa.
Global Energy Alliance for People and Plan- is nowhere close to the
et that will enable rich governments — as trillions that are needed.” Together, they decided to cooperate on
well as rich people — to make incremen- an effort that would combine their funds and
tal, efficient donations toward the energy That finding released last week enraged many experience, and allow others to make dona-
transition in poorer nations. developing nations. India, the third-largest tions. In the past few months, they brought
producer of carbon dioxide behind China on development organizations including the
The organization, which also includes and the U.S., has said explicitly that it can’t African Development Bank Group,Asian De-
eight multilateral and development-finance reach a net-zero goal without more aid. velopment Bank, European Investment Bank,
institutions, will start with $10 billion to test Inter-American Development Bank, U.S. In-
strategies and innovative technologies to sup- The Rockefeller-IKEA-Bezos plan isn’t the ternational Development Finance Corpora-
port renewable energy across the globe, es- only new funding available.On Monday,U.K. tion andWorld Bank, among others.
pecially in areas where private capital is still Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an
hesitating. Once prototypes are proven, the initiative to help developing countries access Bridgett-Jones said the new platform
hope is they will unlock $100 billion in pri- green technologies to grow their economies would be a no-fuss place where countries
vate and public investment to expand them. without polluting.The plan includes a dou- could make more modest donations that
bling of U.K. aid-funded green investments to wouldn’t necessarily count toward fulfilling
The Bezos Earth Fund said that it will give more than $4.1 billion over five years, John- their 2009 pledges. Italy, for example, has
$500 million to that joint initiative. At the son’s office said in a statement. already pledged 10 million euros, she said.
same time, it pledged $1 billion for landscape
restoration like tree-planting and revitalizing It can be politically difficult for govern- Rockefeller said it would have strict met-
grasslands, and an equal sum to transform ments to make big donations to other nations, rics that others can use to measure progress.
food systems by making agriculture more pro- said Sundaa Bridgett-Jones, who is moving Jennifer Layke, global director energy atWorld
ductive while reducing its greenhouse gases. from her role as a managing director at Rock- Resources Institute, aWashington nonprofit
efeller to be chief of new partnerships and that’s not party to the agreement, applauded
The programs, announced on the first advocacy for the Global Energy Alliance. Fur- that.“We’ve seen lots of announcements,” she
full day of the Glasgow, Scotland, confer- ther, the mechanism for making such dona- said. “We simply don’t know if they add up.
ence known as COP26, are meant to aug- tions isn’t particularly nimble. Nations could We need to be confident that we can track
ment rich nations’ 2009 pledges to fund the do it through their own development agencies implementation.”
energy transitions of poor nations with $100 or through targeted funds at the multilateral
billion annually. institutions such as theWorld Bank. The Bezos Earth Fund. which is a recently
established climate philanthropy of Amazon.
“Even if rich countries get to $100 billion, “What’s been missing is a way to aggregate com Inc. founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos,
it is nowhere close to the trillions that are donations in a way that is agile and flexible,” was vaguer about how it plans to spend its
needed,” said Joseph Curtin, director of the she said. “This provides an easy way to pool money. Besides outlining the two broad focus
power and climate team at Rockefeller. “We smaller donations.” areas, the foundation said it plans to spend
wanted to create the conditions for the private the $2 billion by 2030. That pledge comes
sector to invest at massive scale.” The Rockefeller Foundation, a NewYork in addition to a $1 billion pledge the fund
-based philanthropy with more than a cen- made in September to conserve 30 percent
The question of who pays is essential to tury of international experience, has already of pristine areas remaining on land and the
intensifying the effort to rein in temperatures. spent a decade funding 200 solar microg- sea by 2030.
Poor countries say they need funding to step rids to serve remote villages in India. Once
up carbon-cutting ambitions and invest in “Our commitment today supports a three-
new technologies to wean themselves off fos- fold imperative — we must conserve what we
sil fuels.The investment divide is particularly have, restore what we’ve lost and grow what
stark in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we need,” Bezos said in a prepared statement.
with rich countries investing trillions in re-
covery while poor nations struggle. Read also:
Over 100 global leaders pledge to end
Energy-poor countries are currently re- deforestation by 2030
sponsible for 24% of global carbon dioxide “More than 100 global leaders pledged to halt
and their share of emissions could grow to and reverse deforestation and land degradation
76% by 2050 unless they transition from by the end of the decade, underpinned by
coal, according to an analysis published by US$19 billion in public and private funds to
the Global Energy Alliance as part of its an- invest in protecting and restoring forests.”
nouncement. Click here

Richer nations will hit their $100 billion
target in 2023, three years late, according to a
report produced by Canada and Germany at
the request of COP26 PresidentAlok Sharma.

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MARKETS

CPO RM 4,979.0018.00 OIL US$ 84.900.19 RM/USD 4.1487 RM/SGD 3.0777 RM/AUD 3.0982 RM/GBP 5.6555 RM/EUR 4.8120

Top 20 active stocks

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

Kanger International Bhd 234696.0 0.000 0.040 -72.41 239.2

Dagang NeXchange Bhd 231094.0 0.055 0.825 266.67 2549.8

AirAsia X Bhd 120247.9 -0.020 0.055 -26.67 228.2

Top Builders Capital Bhd 116050.6 -0.030 0.025 -78.26 17.7

Ta Win Holdings Bhd 108977.0 0.000 0.155 106.67 529.1

KNM Group Bhd 69,046.10 0.010 0.200 -2.44 668.24

Mlabs Systems Bhd 67,852.40 0.000 0.040 -50.00 57.98

Benalec Holdings Bhd 36,275.80 0.005 0.150 0.00 127.36

GUH Holdings Bhd 35,827.40 0.085 0.745 63.74 206.96 World equity indices

NWP Holdings Bhd 35,460.5 -0.005 0.240 -4.00 126.3

YBS International Bhd 33,080.80 -0.020 0.520 181.08 128.39 CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
(%)
Pelikan International Corp 31,442.20 0.045 0.545 73.02 328.75 DOW JONES 35,913.84 94.28 0.26 (%)
INDONESIA 6,493.28 -59.61 -0.91
Hextar Industries Bhd 29,730.40 0.000 0.175 4.39 195.27

MMAG Holdings Bhd 29,613.10 -0.005 0.100 -78.26 131.25 S&P 500 4,613.67 8.29 0.18 JAPAN 29,520.90 -126.18 -0.43

Iris Corp Bhd 28,684.30 0.015 0.225 -48.28 711.43 NASDAQ 100 15,905.28 54.81 0.35 KOREA 3,013.49 34.55 1.16

Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd 27,746.50 0.030 0.375 -39.02 142.91 FTSE 100 7,252.41 -36.21 -0.50 PHILIPPINES 7,106.01 51.31 0.73

JAG Bhd 27,288.70 0.025 0.370 37.04 223.78 AUSTRALIA 7,324.32 -46.45 -0.63 SINGAPORE 3,232.37 13.32 0.41

Sarawak Consolidated 26,711.20 -0.005 0.205 -85.56 119.32 CHINA 3,505.63 -38.85 -1.10 TAIWAN 17,065.97 -2.27 -0.01

Sedania Innovator Bhd 25,665.10 0.035 0.630 334.48 218.73 HONG KONG 25,099.67 -54.65 -0.22 THAILAND 1,617.89 4.11 0.25

Bumi Armada Bhd 25,167.50 0.005 0.500 42.86 2,953.52 INDIA 60,042.28 -96.18 -0.16 VIETNAM 1,452.46 13.49 0.94

Data as compiled on Nov 2, 2021 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Nov 2, 2021 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)

Fintec Global Bhd 0.02 33.3 1637.4 -75.00 104.6 Top Builders Capital Bhd 0.025 -54.55 116050.6 -78.26 17.7

Talam Transform Bhd 0.03 25.0 198.2 -16.67 107.4 Daya Materials Bhd 0.010 -33.33 128.0 -33.33 20.4

Metronic Global Bhd 0.03 20.0 1,013.50 -70.00 65.06 AirAsia X Bhd 0.055 -26.67 120,247.90 -26.67 228.15

Key Alliance Group Bhd 0.03 20.0 901.5 -40.00 76.6 Nexgram Holdings Bhd 0.020 -20.00 440.2 -55.56 88.3

TAFI Industries Bhd 2.07 17.6 8067.1 243.31 256.6 Perak Corp BHD 0.330 -15.38 20.0 -2.94 33.0

Green Ocean Corp Bhd 0.04 14.3 245.0 -55.56 84.5 Dolomite Corp Bhd 0.035 -12.50 40.0 -69.57 20.7

GUH Holdings Bhd 0.75 12.9 35827.4 63.74 207.0 Malaysian Genomics Resource 2.310 -12.50 10900.2 126.47 286.9

Xidelang Holdings Ltd 0.05 12.5 4719.0 -35.71 95.2 Malaysia Pacific Corp Bhd 0.115 -11.54 105 -42.5 33.08

Alam Maritim Resources Bhd 0.05 12.5 1,127.90 -47.06 68.92 Lay Hong BHD 0.240 -11.11 4709.8 -36.00 158.5

Vizione Holdings Bhd 0.10 11.1 1722.8 -75.00 102.3 Focus Dynamics Group Bhd 0.045 -10.00 2390.1 -93.08 286.8

Bina Puri Holdings BHD 0.05 11.1 32.8 -54.55 79.5 Chin Hin Group Bhd 1.990 -9.13 8889.9 111.70 1760.6

RGT BHD 0.72 10.0 18034.1 28.83 477.2 M3 Technologies Asia Bhd 0.055 -8.33 90.6 -15.38 49.2

Y&G Corp Bhd 1.65 10.0 1210.1 194.64 360.5 Netx Holdings Bhd 0.120 -7.69 424.4 -11.11 100.3

AT Systematization Bhd 0.06 10.0 1927.4 -70.27 279.6 LB Aluminium BHD 0.500 -7.41 8871.9 25.00 217.4

CEKD Bhd 0.94 10.0 21289.2 0.00 181.9 Saudee Group Bhd 0.070 -6.67 1764.8 -83.21 50.1

Pelikan International Corp Bhd 0.55 9.0 31442.2 73.02 328.8 Priceworth International Bhd 0.070 -6.67 358 -76.67 34.97

Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd 0.38 8.7 27746.5 -39.02 142.9 Kim Teck Cheong Consolidated 0.145 -6.45 345.2 -14.71 97.2

Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd 3.84 8.5 10798.6 638.46 9802.6 Ayer Holdings Bhd 5.900 -6.35 0.7 5.36 441.63

Astral Asia Bhd 0.13 8.3 0.9 -3.70 85.8 Citra Nusa Holdings Bhd 0.075 -6.25 306 -16.67 54

Khee San BHD 0.21 7.7 12.1 -22.22 24.02 Minda Global Bhd 0.075 -6.25 1,042.20 25 99.14

Data as compiled on Nov 2, 2021 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Nov 2, 2021 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)

Genetec Technology Bhd 48.80 2.22 922.9 2720.81 2,529.63 Petronas Dagangan Bhd 20.020 -0.660 377.5 -6.45 19889.0

Nestle Malaysia Bhd 135.00 1.50 105.7 -2.81 31,657.50 Ayer Holdings Bhd 5.900 -0.400 0.7 5.36 441.6

Malaysian Pacific Industries 47.58 1.12 157.9 83.28 9,463.49 Malaysian Genomics Resource 2.310 -0.330 10,900.20 126.47 286.93

ViTrox Corp Bhd 20.00 0.64 161.5 36.05 9,445.35 Chin Hin Group Bhd 1.990 -0.200 8889.9 111.70 1760.6

Sam Engineering & Equipment 22.00 0.54 154.7 198.51 2,977.70 Bursa Malaysia Bhd 6.970 -0.120 5585.4 -15.27 5640.8

AEON Credit Service M Bhd 14.16 0.42 83.9 18.00 3,615.16 MR DIY Group M Bhd 3.560 -0.120 3258.5 14.10 22344.7

TAFI Industries Bhd 2.07 0.31 8,067.10 243.31 256.55 Riverview Rubber Estates BHD 3.100 -0.100 1 2.26 201.04

Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd 3.84 0.30 10,798.60 638.46 9,802.62 UPA Corp Bhd 2.310 -0.100 50.0 9.48 178.4

UWC BHD 6.30 0.26 1,986.20 28.57 6,933.99 Transocean Holdings BHD 3.360 -0.080 24.5 325.32 218.7

Sime Darby Plantation Bhd 4.25 0.25 4,062.00 -14.43 29,391.79 Amway Malaysia Holdings Bhd 5.580 -0.070 3.5 -2.22 917.3

HAP Seng Consolidated Bhd 7.98 0.25 318.7 -7.21 19,867.56 Ann Joo Resources Bhd 2.290 -0.070 3124.6 45.86 1242.9

British American Tobacco M’sia 15.12 0.22 340.7 7.39 4,317.21 Spritzer BHD 2.020 -0.070 22.5 2.54 424.1

Chin Teck Plantations BHD 7.64 0.21 9 16.03 698.02 Top Glove Corp Bhd 2.580 -0.070 11295.6 -57.10 20658.3

PIE Industrial BHD 3.99 0.20 1,336.80 66.38 1,532.33 Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd 8.280 -0.070 8073.1 11.44 66240.0

Batu Kawan Bhd 22.30 0.20 7.6 24.58 8,797.10 Hong Leong Financial Group 17.620 -0.060 213.5 -2.44 20179.2

Pentamaster Corp Bhd 5.55 0.16 1,767.90 9.90 3,953.36 Oriental Holdings BHD 5.240 -0.060 63.9 -3.08 3250.7

Y&G Corp Bhd 1.65 0.15 1,210.10 194.64 360.49 Heineken Malaysia Bhd 22.640 -0.060 53.9 -1.65 6839.5

KLCCP Stapled Group 6.76 0.15 45.1 -4.52 12,204.05 Magnum Bhd 2.050 -0.060 1280.0 -10.09 2946.2

TIME dotCom Bhd 4.43 0.12 3,237.80 1.75 8,087.49 PPB Group Bhd 17.900 -0.060 613.0 -2.50 25464.5

SCGM Bhd 2.70 0.12 3,043.20 23.29 519.91 Supermax Corp Bhd 1.820 -0.060 20102.1 -67.28 4,764.10

Data as compiled on Nov 2, 2021 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Nov 2, 2021 Source: Bloomberg