The Edge - 27 July 2022

IMF CUTS WORLD GDP OUTLOOK A THIRD TIME
AS INFLATION, RATES JUMP p18

W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 7 , 2 0 2 2 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m

ISSUE 416/2022

CEOMorningBrief
HOME: Dewan Rakyat approves Sosma’s extended detention for another five years p2
Ringgit relatively stable compared with currencies of key trading partners — BNM p6

Kossan 2Q earnings tumble 96% p7
WORLD: EU nations back 15% gas-cut target as Russia set to reduce flows p22

Alibaba seeks primary Hong Kong listing as US expulsion looms p23

PHOTOS BY LOW YEN YEING /THE EDGE FILE PHOTO

Hisyam Teh
replaces Shafee

as Najib’s
lead counsel
in SRC appeal

Reports on Pages 3 & 4.

Hisyam Teh Poh Teik Tan Sri Muhammad
Shafee Abdullah
IN
OUT

wednesday juLY 27, 2022 2 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): A five-year Dewan Rakyat available under the Act allows investi-
extension of a provision under the Securi- approves Sosma’s gators to negotiate and convince the of-
ty Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 fenders to assist investigations, Hamzah
(Sosma) that allows for a 28-day deten- extended said.
tion by the police has been passed by the detention for
Dewan Rakyat. another five years Opposition to the Sosma Act ques-
tioned its wide-ranging powers, which
Motion for the extension, which was by adam aziz has resulted in the arrest of politicians in
tabled by Home Minister Datuk Seri theedgemarkets.com the past under the alleged involvement in
Hamzah Zainudin, came after an initial activities that are deemed detrimental to
rejection by the House on March 23. In tabling the motion, Hamzah touched Parliamentary democracy.
on the difficulty faced by the police
The extension, which would apply from force to arrest criminal leaders, which at The bloc voting, initiated byTeluk Intan
July 31, involves Subsection 4(5) of the times required the statement of under- MP Nga Kor Ming, saw 111 Members of
Act, which allows a police officer of or lings-turn-witness. Parliament (MPs) voting in support while
above the rank of superintendent of police 88 MPs voted against.
to extend the period of detention beyond The additional detention period made
28 days for investigation purposes. Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun
also said that 21 MPs did not attend the
Under Subsection 4(11) of the Act, voting.
the extended detention clause shall be re-
viewed every five years and shall cease to Previously in March 2022, the Dewan
have effect unless extended with the nod Rakyat rejected the motion after 86 MPs
from Parliament. voted against, compared with 84 support-
ing MPs, while 50 did not attend.

KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Malay- Malaysia’s of 2022 versus 0.7% a year ago.
sia’s economy appears to be firmly on a inflation inflicting Therefore, the Monetary Policy
recovery path, but ongoing inflation is
inflicting hardship on certain segments, hardship on Committee judged that it was the right
including low-income households, who low-income time to withdraw the excess monetary
have been disproportionately affected by households, says support by raising the overnight poli-
rising price pressures, said Bank Negara BNM governor cy rate in May and July this year, said
Malaysia (BNM). Nor Shamsiah.
by chester tay
“There is some unevenness in the eco- theedgemarkets.com “What’s important is that by acting
nomic recovery… The rise in food pric- pre-emptively, we will be in a position to
es in particular, has affected this group “Inflation developments in Malaysia undertake adjustments to the monetary
(low-income households) to a larger ex- this year reflect the pass-through of some policy settings in Malaysia in a measured
tent,” the central bank’s governor Tan of these costs, as well as the strengthening and gradual way to avoid hindering eco-
Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said in of domestic demand,” she said. nomic recovery,” she said.
her keynote address at the Internation-
al Conference on Financial Crime and Consequently, she said although “Let me emphasise that monetary poli-
Terrorism Financing 2022 on Tuesday headline inflation is still projected to cy in Malaysia continues to be accommo-
(July 26). remain low and stable, ranging between dative to support a sustainable economic
2.2% and 3.2% this year, core inflation growth in an environment of price stabil-
Although the direct impact from ele- averaged higher at 2.2% in the first half ity,” she added.
vated oil prices on headline inflation has Read the full story
largely been dampened by price controls Read also: BNM governor: Domestic ac-
on fuel and essential food items, Nor tivities, external demand to continue sup-
Shamsiah said there are still indirect ef- porting Malaysia’s firm economic recovery
fects from high global commodity prices,
as they are a key driver of the rise in pro-
ducers’ input costs.

wednesday juLY 27, 2022 3 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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HisyamTeh appointed as Najib’s lead
counsel in final SRC appeal

Patrick Goh/The Edge Pic taken from Niru & Co’s website Pic taken from the Asian
International Arbitration

Centre’s website

v

Hisyam is a renowned lawyer in Liew Teck Huat Rueben Mathiavaranam
the field of criminal litigation.

Najib was found guilty theedgemarkets.com On March 16, 2022, the Federal Court
on all 7 charges and dismissed Najib’s appeal against the appel-
sentenced to: KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Former prime late court’s Dec 7, 2021 decision to reject his
minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has appointed application to adduce more evidence to the
• 12 years in prison lawyer HisyamTeh PohTeik as his lead coun- SRC case to overturn his conviction.
• RM210 mil fine sel in his final appeal in the SRC International
For one count of Sdn Bhd graft case. The Federal Court is scheduled to hear
abuse of power Najib’s appeal in two stages over 10 days. It
It is learned by The Edge that Hisyam will was reported that the first stage is scheduled
• 10 years in prison be flanked by lawyers Liew Teck Huat and for Aug 15 to 19, while the second stage has
For each of the CBT and Rueben Mathiavaranam from Zaid Ibrahim been fixed for Aug 22 to 26.
money laundering charges Suflan TH Liew and Partners.
Hisyam is also acting as lead counsel in the
As the sentences will run In addition, lawyers Sidharth Luthra and criminal trials of UMNO president Datuk Seri
concurently, he faces 12 years Kavin Gulati from India will be assisting Na- Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
jib’s team in the appeal.
in jail and a fine of RM210 Hisyam is a renowned lawyer in the field
mil. Najib has been granted It is also learned by The Edge that the new of criminal litigation.
legal team will be seeking an adjournment of Na-
a stay of the conviction jib’s final appeal which is slated to start on Aug Notably, Hisyam represented Doan Thi
and sentence, pending the 15.They will bring up the matter during case Huong — the Vietnamese woman initially
management at the Federal Court later this week. accused of murdering Kim Jong-nam, the es-
disposal of his appeal. tranged half-brother of North Korean leader
Najib also has instructed his legal team to Kim Jong-un. She was eventually sentenced
withdraw the appeal at the Federal Court to to spend three years and four months in jail
allow Queen’s Counsel Jonathan Laidlaw to after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of caus-
represent the former premier in his final appeal. ing hurt to Jong Nam by a dangerous weapon
after prosecutors reduced the murder charge
Last week, High Court Justice Datuk Ah- against her.
mad Kamal Md Shahid had dismissed the ap-
plication for Laidlaw to be admitted to handle Sources told The Edge that the new counsel
the case at the Federal Court. will try to “engineer an adjournment” as they
would need time to go through documents
There is a case management on July 29 and facts of the case.
before the Registrar of the Federal Court to
confirm that Najib has changed counsel. How- It was reported on Tuesday (July 26) that
ever, the new counsel has requested that the Najib had discharged his former legal team
case management be held as soon as possible. led by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah
and Harvinderjit Singh.
On July 28, 2020, the High Court sen- Read also:
tenced Najib to 12 years in jail and fined him Shafee & Co discharged from representing
RM210 million after he was found guilty by Najib in SRC appeal, replaced by Zaid
Justice Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali Ibrahim’s law firm
of seven charges concerning SRC.
Najib says new legal team will bring fresh
The seven charges comprise one count of perspectives
abuse of power involving Retirement Fund Inc’s
(KWAP) RM4 billion loans to SRC,three counts
of criminal breach of trust involving RM42 mil-
lion, and three counts of money laundering.

The Court of Appeal on Dec 8, 2021 up-
held the High Court’s decision.

wednesday juLY 27, 2022 4 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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Najib can change lawyers but won’t escape
perception it’s a delaying tactic

KUALA LUMPUR (July 27):While Da- by Hafiz Yatim the appellant (Najib) to get a postpone-
tuk Seri Najib Razak’s move to discharge theedgemarkets.com ment by pretending to change lawyers,”
Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah the senior counsel added.
from handling his final graft conviction Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, an-
appeal in the SRC International Sdn Bhd other criminal practitioner, said Najib’s Another former senior judge, who also
case may have raised questions, it is nev- sudden change of counsel right before his spoke on condition of anonymity, said
ertheless a legitimate move as Article 5 of final appeal is legal and “perfectly alright while Najib is free to change his lawyer,
the Federal Constitution provides that a on paper”. it should not be at the expense of causing
person can be represented by the counsel a delay to the scheduled hearing.
of his choice. “There’s nothing wrong [with it]. How-
ever, when seen from the circumstances “The newly-engaged lawyer should be
However, the former premier will un- in which it is made and the time frame of able to carry on with the hearing [on] the
likely be able to escape the perception that this move — remember it’s only less than scheduled dates. There is no automatic
this eleventh-hour manoeuvre is nothing three weeks from the scheduled appeal (at right to an adjournment, just because an
more than a delay tactic, some law prac- the Federal Court), which had been fixed accused has changed his lawyer,” the for-
titioners told The Edge. much, much earlier — the public cannot mer judge added.
be faulted when snide remarks are made,
The final appeal is set to start at the especially when some label it as a tactic They were asked to comment on Na-
Federal Court in less than three weeks. to delay the case. jib’s sudden move to discharge Shafee and
appoint Hisyam and other lawyers from
Criminal lawyer CheowWee said clients “The ball is in the court of the prose- the firm of Zaid Ibrahim, SuffianTH Liew
are entitled to change lawyers at the last cution, as they are the guardians of public and Partners on Tuesday (July 26).
minute, as long as there are valid reasons. interest and can press for any urgent dis-
posal of the hearing,” he added. Besides seeking an adjournment of the
“What is valid or not will depend on final SRC appeal that is slated to begin on
the circumstances and justification by the Rafique also highlighted that there are Aug 15, Najib’s new defence counsels have
client. Also, the new lawyer will only take guidelines from the Bar Council, which also written to the apex court to withdraw
on the brief (case) if he is able to proceed stipulate that a lawyer who takes on a case Najib’s appeal against the High Court’s
with the dates fixed.” can only do so if he/she is prepared to pro- decision in refusing to grant admission
ceed with the trial dates that were allot- to Queen’s Counsel Jonathan Laidlaw to
Cheow described HisyamTeh PohTeik, ted. However, it does not become an issue represent him in the case.
who has replaced Shafee as Najib’s lead that warrants disciplinary action, even if
counsel, as a highly regarded legal prac- the lawyer seeks postponement to better On July 28, 2020, the High Court sen-
titioner, and opined that Hisyam would prepare for the case. tenced Najib to 12 years in jail and fined
have considered the case and known the him RM210 million after he was found
likelihood that he may not be granted ‘Changing lawyers does not grant guilty by Justice Datuk Mohd Nazlan
postponement of the final SRC appeal the appellant an automatic Mohd Ghazali of seven charges concern-
— which his team has asked for, to famil- right to an adjournment’
iarise themselves with the case, according A senior lawyer who ing SRC. The seven charges comprise
to court documents sighted — and that wanted to remain one count of abuse of power in-
he would have to go on with the case re- anonymous opined volving Retirement Fund
gardless. that the Federal Inc’s (KWAP) RM4 bil-
Court does not usu- lion loans to SRC, three
“So, I think the defence is banking ally allow postpone- counts of criminal
on Hisyam being given sufficient time to ments in such cases. breach of trust involv-
study and argue the case. ing RM42 million,
“The client runs and three counts of
“Of course, the perception is that Na- the risk (conse- money laundering.
jib is attempting to delay. Against that, quences) [when] His conviction and
the court has to weigh giving his respect- changing his law- sentence were upheld
ed lawyer every opportunity to argue his yers. But the law- by the Court of Ap-
case, so that justice is seen to be done,” yers who come on peal on Dec 8 last
Cheow said. board must be ready, year, resulting in
willing, and able to this final appeal.
“Perhaps they (the Federal Court) may conduct the appeal.
meet them halfway by giving Hisyam a Otherwise, this the edge file photo
short adjournment nevertheless, so that is seen as a
Najib can never argue otherwise [that he tactic by
was not treated fairly in his adjournment
application] later.

“That could very well be Najib’s reason
to delay the proceedings. But the docu-
ments to this case are quite voluminous
and it does take time to go through them.
And if we give Hisyam the benefit of the
doubt, then we should at least give him
that chance,” Cheow added.

WEDNESDAY JULY 27, 2022 5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

Transforming the nation
30 years and beyond.

OPUS Consultants raises the bar with
its new award conferment by the
Institution of Engineers Malaysia.

A country’s economic ad- Ir. Dr. Tony Chan, Managing Director of OPUS Consultants receiving the esteemed award from
vancement is often seen Ir. Prof. Dr. Norlida bt Buniyamin, President of IEM.
through its infrastructure
development in contrib- “ I believe that this award is a The market leader in engineering nance, as well as asset performance
uting to the betterment of testament to OPUS Consul- and asset management consultan- optimisation, asset refurbishment
its people as well as to convey poten- tants’ dedication in delivering cy currently manages the lifecycle and upgrades. The Edgenta brand has
tial growth to foreign investors. OPUS and managing mega infra- of more than 4,000 km (four thou- operational presence and footprint in
Consultants is reputed to have deliv- structure projects over the sand kilometres) of toll expressways, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Tai-
ered projects which contributed to years and its commitment to and road construction and upgrad- wan, India and United Arab Emirates
the infrastructure landscape change stay at the forefront of asset ing projects in Sabah and Sarawak.
in Malaysia with its legacy imprint- management infrastructure Their methodical approach and full “ It is an honour
ed on the North-South Expressway, ”in contributing to the nation suite of services are de- to receive this
PUTRA LRT2, Kelana Jaya and building agenda in Malaysia. signed to enhance clients’ esteemed con-
Ampang Line LRT Extension, KTMB - Syahrunizam Samsudin, assets by facilitating clients in making ferment and
Electrified Double Tracks which Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of better and more informed decisions by together with my
stretches from Rawang-Ipoh and UEM Edgenta. providing innovative yet practical team at OPUS Consultants, we
Ipoh-Padang Besar, the Malaysia-Sin- solutions for large-scale infrastruc- will continue to contribute to the
gapore Second Crossing, the Cyber- deliver mega projects worth over ture and transportation projects advancement of Engineering in
jaya Development and the list goes on. RM100 billion namely,major highways which positions them at the forefront Malaysia as well as Internation-
and roads,airports,urban transit,built of the Project Management and Asset ally. Staying true to our tagline
OPUS Consultants, Malaysia’s environment, consisting of Malaysia’s Consultancy industry. “Delivering with Distinction”, we
leading engineering and asset man- key infrastructure projects. This new have been veritable to our words
agement consultancy firm, a wholly accolade places OPUS Consultants a Guided by UEM Edgenta’s full by successfully delivering national
owned subsidiary of UEM Edgenta notch above market players in the suite of services that are driv-
Berhad was recently conferred the Asset Management realm. en by technological advance- ”infrastructures, both road and rail
Institution of Engineers Malaysia ments to suit the business asset life
(IEM) Award 2022, for their contribu- cycle including project management projects for the nation.
tion to the Engineering Industry in Ma- consultancy,procurement & construc-
laysia within the Asset Management- tion planning, operations & mainte- - Ir. Dr. Tony Chan,
Industries category. Through strin- Managing Director of OPUS Consultants.
gent ratings and judging of its
capabilities and its significant con-
tribution to nation-building and
to the progress of engineering over
three decades as well as its ability to

20220725 - FA The Edge CEO Morning Brief.indd 1 25/07/2022 7:02 PM

wednesday juLY 27, 2022 6 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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KUALA LUMPUR (July 26):The ringgit Ringgit relatively ed by the associated economic downturn.
has remained relatively stable when com- stable compared “Financial crimes have a direct and im-
pared with the currencies of Malaysia’s with currencies
major trading partners, while the coun- portant effect on our economic prospects
try’s nominal effective exchange rate reg- of key trading and we are now at a new frontier of com-
istered a marginal decline of about 0.1%, partners — BNM pliance.The fight against financial crimes
said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Gov- is one fought on multiple fronts and the
ernorTan Sri Nor Shamsiah MohdYunus. Bernama chain is only as strong as the weakest link.

She highlighted that the dollar index Meanwhile, on financial crime and “Our success requires all parties, the
has increased by 11.5% this year, which is terrorism financing, Nor Shamsiah said private sector, regulators, law enforcement
the highest in two decades, and that most reported financial crimes during the agencies and other government bodies,
regional currencies, including the ringgit, pandemic increased significantly as the and consumers alike, to do their part and
have devalued relative to the US dollar. criminals exploited the conditions creat- to adapt to these new threats, to transform
themselves to deal with these challenges
“Malaysia’s economic recovery is well and to collaborate to safeguard the in-
underway, and at the same time, the bank tegrity of our country’s financial system,”
will continue to use tools at our disposal to she said.
ensure the movement of the ringgit [is] or- Read the full story
derly in an [environment of] aggressive mon-
etary policy tightening [by the] US Federal
Reserves,” she said in her keynote speech
at the 12th International Conference on
Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing
(IFCTF) 2022, here, onTuesday (July 26).

She also said it was essential for Malaysia
to build its resistance to future crises in or-
der to maximise the country’s full potential.

“We must address long-term vulnerabil-
ities and strengthen our resilience against
future shocks, while also attracting quality
investment, increasing economic complex-
ity, and creating quality jobs for Malaysia,”
she added.

KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Assessment Ringgit should production, and national trade.
of the ringgit’s position and growth needs be valued “In the second quarter of 2022, all four
to be done holistically to determine the holistically,
local currency’s actual performance, in- indicators showed good performance.
stead of merely measuring it against the US not just versus Therefore, the overnight policy rate (OPR)
currency, which is on the rise compared to dollar — MOF was raised gradually, not suddenly like in
most world currencies. the US, where it was raised by 150%.
Bernama
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Mohd “During the pandemic, we reduced
Shahar Abdullah said the local note had the sharp drop in the value of the ringgit, and the OPR by 125 basis points (bps), and
declined by 6.2% versus the greenback the significant increase in the cost of living. to date, we have gradually raised it by 50
since early 2022, which was in line with bps because the OPR hike will also help
the performance of regional and developed Mohd Shahar said the position of the the nation’s economic growth,” he said.
countries’ currencies, which had depreciat- ringgit is very important to ensure that
ed between 2.8% and 16.4% as of July 22. the country’s economic journey is at an He said this in reply to a supplementary
optimal level, but it is unfair for it to be question by Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar
“The overall strengthening of the US compared to the US dollar alone. Mohd Akin (Pakatan Harapan-HangTuah
dollar was driven by aggressive rate hikes Jaya), who asked about the Ministry of Fi-
in the US, the global risk-off sentiment fol- He noted that year-to-date, the ringgit had nance’s (MOF) strategies to ensure that
lowing the conflict in Ukraine, and modest increased in value compared to several major the ringgit remains competitive.
growth expectations in China. currencies, such as the Japanese yen (+12.2%), Read also:
British pound (+6%), euro (+4.6%), the Phil- Ringgit-Singapore dollar rate hits
“The government will continue to man- ippine peso (+3.5%), andThai baht (+3.3%). record intraday low of 3.2182
age risks from domestic and external de- Ringgit near five-year low amid
velopments, and Bank Negara Malaysia is Additionally, Mohd Shahar said the growth risks
also prepared to use its operational policy country’s economic growth should also be Ringgit to trade between support level
instruments to prevent significant fluctua- evaluated through economic performance of 4.450 and 4.470, says AmBank
tions in the ringgit exchange rate,” he said indicators, namely retail and wholesale
during the question-and-answer session in trade, the unemployment rate, industrial
the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (July 26).

He said this in reply to a question by
Tengku Zulpuri Raja Puji (DAP-Raub), who
enquired about the effective measures taken
to address the nation’s economic downturn,

wednesday juLY 27, 2022 7 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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Kossan 2Q Quarter-on-quarter, the group’s net CTOS 2Q
earnings profit slid by 48.9%, down from RM90.1 bottomline
tumble 96% million in the immediate preceding quarter almost doubles
(1QFY22), while revenue came in lower
by Sulhi Khalid by 14.5% q-o-q, from RM69.06 million by Justin Lim
theedgemarkets.com in 1QFY22. theedgemarkets.com

KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Kossan Kossan is ultimately controlled by glove KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): CTOS
Rubber Industries Bhd saw its net profit tycoon Tan Sri Lim Kuang Sia. Digital Bhd’s net profit for the second
plunge by 95.6% to RM45.99 million quarter ended June 30, 2022 (2QFY22)
in the second quarter ended June 30, Moving forward, Kossan concedes that jumped 89.86% to RM22.48 million
2022 (2QFY22), down from RM1.06 the glove industry will be confronted by an from RM11.84 million a year ago, un-
billion a year ago, on the back of lower oversupply situation in the near term, as a derpinned by a substantial jump in
revenue and average selling price (ASP) result of overstocking and subsequent in- other income and share of profits of
for gloves. ventory adjustments from customers, forc- associates.
ing the ASP to come down.
As a result, earnings per share dropped CTOS Digital recorded other in-
significantly to 1.8 sen in 2QFY22, as com- “In addition, surplus installed capaci- come of RM1.28 million for 2QFY22
pared with 41.72 sen a year earlier. ty arising from existing and new entrants, versus expenses of RM133,000 a year
higher energy costs as a result of the Rus- ago. Share of profits of associates —
In a Bursa Malaysia filing on Tuesday sia-Ukraine conflict, and the increase in contributed by JurisTech, which was ac-
(July 26), the Klang-based glove manufac- minimum wages will continue to impact quired in March 2022, and its associ-
turer said its revenue declined by 73.6% the glove industry,” it elaborated. ate inThailand, Business Online Public
to RM589.86 million in 2QFY22, as com- Company Ltd — more than tripled to
pared to RM2.24 billion last year, amid As such, Kossan expects strong head- RM5.73 million from RM1.77 million
decrease in revenue from its gloves and winds in the second half of FY22. previously, its Bursa filing with Bursa
clean-room divisions. Malaysia showed.
“Over the longer-term, global glove de-
For the half year period, the group’s mand is expected to remain on a growth The better year-on-year profitability
net profit tumbled by 93.5% to RM136.1 path, as a result of a shift in glove usage in 2QFY22 was also due to the lower tax
million, down from RM2.11 billion a year due to higher healthcare standards and expenses of RM266,000 (from RM2.46
before. hygiene awareness in both the medical and million) and a decrease in finance costs
non-medical sectors,” it said. to RM775,000 (from RM1.62 million).
Revenue, on the other hand, fell by
71.1% to RM1.28 billion in 2QFY22, Kossan, however, remains positive on Hence, its earnings per share in-
against RM4.43 billion registered in the the glove industry and will continue to creased to 0.9 sen in 2QFY22 from
same period last year. focus its efforts on accelerating its trans- 0.6 sen in 2QFY21.
formation and reinvestments into digital-
isation and automation to increase pro- Revenue for the quarter rose 22.89%
ductivity and efficiency. to RM46.51 million from RM37.85 mil-
lion a year before.
Shares of Kossan finished two sen or
1.5% higher to RM1.33 on Tuesday, val- The company declared a second sin-
uing the company at RM3.4 billion. gle-tier interim dividend of 0.59 sen per
share, to be payable on Sept 13.
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Globetron- Globetronics
icsTechnology Bhd’s second quarter end- 2Q profit For the cumulative six months ended
ed June 30, 2022 (2QFY22) net profit rose up 79% June 30, its net profit surged 79.03% to
79% to RM11.19 million from RM6.25 RM34.96 million from RM19.53 mil-
million a year ago, thanks to higher foreign by Chester Tay lion during the same period last year,
exchange gains, while a better product mix theedgemarkets.com while revenue expanded by 17.66% to
led to slightly higher sales. RM89.19 million from RM75.8 million
manpower shortages. previously.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Globe- Globetronics said it has taken meas-
tronics said revenue was 2.7% higher “Normalised PATAMI (profit after
at RM47.64 million in 2QFY22, from ures to minimise any potential exposures tax and minority interest) increased by
RM46.4 million a year ago. or disruptions arising from these chal- 25.9% or RM8.1 million to RM39.5
lenges. million in the current period from
Earnings per share (EPS) rose to 1.67 RM31.4 million in the corresponding
sen from 0.93 sen in 2QFY21. “The business outlook is challenging period of the previous financial year,
with the unpredictable market conditions. attributed mainly to the growth in our
For the first half of this year, net profit The group cautiously expects the finan- segment profit and the higher share of
was 9.8% higher at RM20.64 million from cial performance to remain satisfactory profits of associates. Excluding the nor-
RM18.79 million in the previous corre- for year 2022 amidst the uncertainties malisation of interest expenses on bor-
sponding period, despite an 11% reve- ahead,” it said. rowings, the normalised PATAMI grew
nue contraction to RM90.27 million from by 45.4% or RM11.9 million,” it added.
RM101.8 million. Read also: Tasco’s 1Q profit jumps 55%
on higher revenue, better margin Read the full story
EPS grew to 3.08 sen from 2.81 sen
a year ago.

The group said the semiconductor in-
dustry continues to experience challenging
macroeconomic and geopolitical issues
resulting in supply chain disruption, un-
certain end demand, rising inflation and

WEDNESDAY JULY 27, 2022 8 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

WEDNESDAY JULY 27, 2022 9 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

w e d n e s d a y j u LY 2 7 , 2 0 2 2 10 T h e E d g e C E O m o r n i n g b r i e f

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Palm oil prices a portion of output at home before issuing Bursa to build new
to fall more export permits, in a bid to control local markets with
cooking oil prices.This has led to a surge asset-backed
due to distress in stocks and a slump in prices. securities and
selling by Indonesia
Indonesia’s domestic crude palm oil tokenised assets
— LMC Int prices also suffered because of the im-
mense oversupply and difficulties in re- by Izzul Ikram
by Mei Mei Chu starting exports, said Julian McGill, LMC theedgemarkets.com
Reuters International’s head of the Southeast Asia
region at an industry conference. KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Bursa Ma-
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Palm oil laysia intends to proactively build new mar-
prices will weaken further in the short “You are going to see a weakness in kets to serve as fresh growth avenues or
term due to softer demand and “distress prices as Indonesia becomes a truly dis- solutions for its stakeholders, according
selling” by top producer Indonesia, com- tressed seller,” McGill added. to Bursa Digital Research.
modities consultancy LMC International
forecast on Tuesday (July 26). Last week,Indonesia said it was consider- In a note on Malaysia’s Islamic Capital
ing removing the domestic sales requirement Market (ICM) dated July 26 (Tuesday),
Malaysia’s benchmark crude palm oil for palm oil exports because high inventories Bursa Digital Research said examples of
prices rose to record highs earlier this year of the vegetable oil have been holding back the new markets include products such
as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a tem- a recovery of palm oil fruit prices. as asset-backed securities and tokenised
porary export ban by Indonesia tightened assets.
global edible oil supply. Clear signs of reduced demand and
upcoming peak production in Indonesia “Exciting initiatives in the pipeline in-
Despite lifting the ban, Indonesia’s ex- will further weigh on the market, he said. clude our work on establishing a voluntary
ports have not reverted to normal levels as carbon market with the first shariah-com-
the government required companies to sell “So you’re having to work with the fact pliant carbon credit product as well as the
that there is more and more oil coming, commercialisation of a Digital Gold Di-
how do you get rid of it. This is a disas- nar solution.
ter,” he added.
“Both new offerings are being developed
When Indonesian exports return to and designed to fulfil the needs of the real
normal levels, its palm oil supply will head market and drive the sustainability agenda
to Malaysia, the second biggest palm oil in the capital market,” it also added.
producer, he said.
This is in line with the bourse operator’s
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26):The Min- MITI maintains view on technology as an enabler, citing
istry of International Trade and Industry RM97.9 bil Malaysia’s finance industry as having ex-
(MITI) has maintained this year’s domestic perienced escalated progress because of
direct investment (DDI) target at RM97.9 domestic direct technology.
billion, which is the same as in 2021. investment
“On this front, Bursa Malaysia contin-
Senior Minister of InternationalTrade target this year ues to forge collaborations with various
and Industry Datuk Seri Mohamed Az- partners to enhance our capabilities and
min Ali is optimistic that Malaysia will be Bernama widen our pool of market participants,”
able to repeat the success and maintain it added.
the positive momentum. businesses in Asia.
He added that in 2021, Malaysia The research house noted that Malay-
“In the first quarter of 2022, we have sia’s ICM has doubled in size over a decade
recorded RM42.8 billion in investment, achieved RM306.5 billion in approved with shariah-compliant assets amounting
of which RM15 billion is DDI. investments in the manufacturing, servic- to RM2.26 trillion as at end-2020, having
es, and primary sectors, marking a spec- grown from RM1.1 trillion in 2010.
“Of course, we are increasing our ef- tacular growth of 83.1%.
forts to ensure that demand increases and It noted that Malaysia’s ICM also
[that it] can be met by small and medium Of this, 31.9% was in DDI indicat- weathered through Covid-19 with healthy
enterprises and local players,” he told re- ing therefore a robust contribution to growth having expanded from a total mar-
porters at the Domestic Investment Semi- the overall investment performance of ket size of RM2.04 trillion in 2019 to
nar Series I (Central Region) organised by the country. RM2.31 trillion in 2021, representing a
the Malaysian Investment Development compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
Authority (MIDA). Meanwhile, he revealed the top five of 6.5% for the period. “Presently, ICM
performing domestic investment sub-sec- accounts for more than 60% of the Ma-
Earlier during the luncheon speech, tors are real estate, utilities, hotel and laysian capital market.”
Mohamed Azmin said the government tourism, global establishments, and elec-
remains resolutely committed to nurtur- trical and electronics. As at May 2022, Malaysia’s ICM cap-
ing the Malaysian pro-business and in- Read also: Smart automation grants ital market size stood at RM2.28 trillion,
vestment environment towards acceler- worth RM138.5 mil approved by MIDA according to Bursa Digital Research.
ating the growth of not only foreign but as at June 30
domestic investments as well. Read the full story

He said with RM208.6 billion in for-
eign direct investment (FDI) and RM97.9
billion in DDI last year, Malaysia contin-
ues to retain the confidence of its investors
and stakeholders while strengthening its
reputation as a strategic profit centre for

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Malaysian, Chinese laysian partners include Benalec Holdings Five companies
firms in JV Bhd’s subsidiary Pengerang Maritime In- in Selangor have
dustries Sdn Bhd, and Sabah Oil and Gas
involving RM6 bil Development Corporation. potential to
FDI to make palm- become unicorns
“The joint venture (JV) is expected to
based products provide 1,000 job opportunities,” he said Bernama
in his speech at the launch of the Malaysia
Bernama International Agricommodity Expo and SHAHALAM (July 26):The Selangor
Summit (MIACES) 2022 here on Tues- State Legislative Assembly sitting was
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): China’s day (July 26). informed onTuesday (July 26) that five
state-owned companies will collaborate start-up companies in the state had
with Malaysian firms as well as the Ma- He said the development of the maid- been identified as having the potential
laysian Palm Oil Board to produce oil palm- en HVO and SAF plant in Malaysia is an to become “unicorns” in the future.
based products involving RM6 billion in initiative to drive the palm sector towards
foreign direct investment (FDI). high-tech and high-value industries. Chairman of the Standing Commit-
tee on Investment,Trade, Industry and
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Ismail Sabri said the government will Small and Medium Industries Datuk
Yaakob said the products are hydrotreated continue to encourage FDI to diversify agri- Teng Chang Khim said some “soon-
vegetable oil (HVO) and sustainable avia- commodity products with high added value. icorn” companies with the potential
tion fuels (SAFs). to become unicorns and are worth
He also expressed hope that the agri- US$100 million (about RM445.6
The companies from China are Shanxi commodity sector will help to rejuvenate million) are Aerodyne, Dropee, Fave,
Construction Investment Group Co Ltd the country’s economy, and restore the TheLorry and Naluri Hidup.
and the Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chi- people’s economic stability.
nese Academy of Sciences, while the Ma- “Finding more potential compa-
“The government is highly committed nies in the desire to foster unicorn
to driving the development of the agricom- companies in this state is important
modity sector to be stronger, more com- because it will contribute to innova-
petitive and market-oriented to fulfil the tion, job creation, and further wealth
nation’s socio-economic agenda,” he added. creation,” he said when answering a
question from Edry Faizal EddyYu-
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said that al- sof (Pakatan Harapan-DusunTua),
though palm oil production dropped to who asked how many companies in
a low level due to bad weather last year, Selangor come with the potential to
the agricommodity sector remained firm. become unicorns in the future.

“Up to February this year, commodity A unicorn refers to a private start-up
exports rose 5% or RM31.6 billion com- company valued at over US$1 billion.
pared with the same period last year.
Last year, the Ministry of Science,
“Last year, the sector achieved RM270.2 Technology and Innovation target-
billion in trade value or an increase of ed to have five unicorn companies
39.7% from the previous year,” he said. in the country in the next five years.
Read the full story
Teng said Carsome, an integrated
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26):All the iden- Identified car e-commerce platform, emerged as
tified 5G spectrum, namely the 700MHz, 5G spectrum the first unicorn company in the coun-
3.5GHz and 28GHz bands, have been al- allocated to DNB, try last year, with a value exceeding
located to Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) for Parliament told US$1 billion.It was established and has
the provision of 5G services throughout the been operating in Selangor since 2015.
country, according to Deputy Communi- Bernama
cations and Multimedia Minister Datuk He said as Malaysia’s population
Zahidi Zainul Abidin. spectrum specifically for the Sarawak gov- and market size are not as large as other
ernment to operate 5G services in the state. Southeast Asian countries, local entre-
He said this is in line with the govern- preneurs need to expand their market
ment’s decision on the implementation of For this year, Zahidi said a total of 339 to the region to achieve unicorn status.
the national 5G network and infrastruc- 5G sites are planned to be developed,
ture by DNB as the operator of the single namely 227 sites in Kuching and 112 sites
wholesale network. in Miri, with 17 sites having been complet-
ed in Kuching as of July 11.
“The implementation of 5G network Read also: Fintech will be increasingly
development in Sarawak started in the pushed out to rural regions of Malaysia,
second quarter of 2022. DNB is working says Fitch Solutions
with the Sarawak government and related
agencies to ensure development of the 5G
network runs smoothly,” he said during a
question-and-answer session in Parliament
on Tuesday (July 26).

He was responding to a question by
Lukanisman Awang Sauni (GPS-Sibuti)
on whether the government would offer 5G

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Hong Leong
Bank to deliver

stellar FY22
earnings,TA
Securities says

(From left) UMC independent non-executive director Tan Chye Suan, non-independent non- by Syafiqah Salim
executive director Lau Chee Kheong, executive director and chief executive officer Lim Taw Seong, theedgemarkets.com

non-independent non-executive chairman Datuk Ng Chai Eng, Ng Chin Liang, the alternative KUALA LUMPUR (July 26):TA Securities Re-
director to Chai Eng, as well as independent non-executive directors Lee Yee Wooi and Dr search expects Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLBB)
to report stellar results for the financial year end-
Pakirisamy Basakaran A/L P Thangavelu at the listing ceremony of UMC on the ACE Market of ed June 30, 2022 (FY22).
Bursa in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday (July 26).
In a note onTuesday (July 26), the research
UMediC debuts Johor Baru, while the remaining RM3.5 house forecast that the bank’s results improved
on ACE Market million will be used for the construction in the fourth quarter due to faster loan growth,
at 18 sen above of a new factory in Batu Kawan. whichTA believes will outperform the industry
and exceed the bank management’s forecast of
IPO price According to UMC, 80% of the 6% to 7%.
group’s revenue came from the distri-
by Sulhi Khalid bution of products such as patient mon- “We expect loan demand to remain high in
theedgemarkets.com itors, ultrasound machines, ventilators, key categories, such as residential properties,
cardiotocography and electric-powered loans for transport vehicles, and small and me-
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): UMediC 3D chest compressors. The other 20% dium enterprises.We also anticipate that growing
Group Bhd (UMC) opened 56.25% or an came from its manufactured products, loan activity, higher wealth management income,
impressive 18 sen above its initial public of- namely the HydroX Prefilled Humidifier and higher credit card fees will lead to higher
fering (IPO) price of 32 sen, upon its debut and AirdroX Spacer Anti-Static Valved fee income,” it said.
on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on Inhaler Chamber.
Tuesday (July 26). Based on the bank’s year-to-date perfor-
Meanwhile, Hong Leong Invest- mance,TA said, trading and investment income
Shares in the company, which is princi- ment Bank Research initiated coverage will likely be lower than in FY21.
pally involved in marketing and distribution of UMC at the IPO price of 32 sen, with
of various branded medical devices and con- a “buy” rating and target price (TP) of However, coming from a low base in the third
sumables, then rose further to hit a high of 61 sen. It said that a beneficiary of the quarter ended March 31, 2022 (3QFY22),TA
55 sen before gains were pared. It closed out pandemic, UMC saw its core earnings foresees the bank registering better trading and
the day at 44 sen, 12 sen or 37.5% above its grow at a compound annual growth rate investment income in 4QFY22.
IPO price, valuing the medical device man- (CAGR) of 103% from the financial year
ufacturer at RM164.52 million. ended July 31, 2019 (FY19) to FY21, “We believe HLBB would still be able to keep
due to a boost in demand for medical its FY22 NIM (net interest margin) above its
A total of 123.5 million shares were trad- devices and consumables. FY22 target of more than 2.1%.The NIM stood at
ed, making it the one of the most actively 2.16% in 9MFY22 (the nine months ended March
traded stock on the local bourse. In a note on Monday, the research 31, 2022) versus 2.12% a year ago,”TA noted.
house said that going forward, it is pro-
UMC raised RM31.11 million from jecting for UMC’s FY22/23/24 earnings “We envisage HLBB’s upcoming results to
the IPO exercise, and said that of the gross to grow by 31.7%/41%/18.1% respec- meet all of management’s FY22 key perfor-
proceeds, RM9 million will be allocated for tively, far exceeding the 12.1% CAGR mance indicator targets. Given the robust set
the repayment of borrowings, and RM8.66 projected by Protégé for the local medical of expected results and assuming a dividend
million for working capital to finance the device industry. payout ratio of 40%, we forecast the possibility
purchase of additional distribution prod- of a better-than-expected dividend of around
ucts, including ventilators, defibrillators and “We initiate coverage of UMC, with 40 sen this quarter.
infant care machines. a ‘buy’ recommendation and TP of 61
sen, based on a price-earnings multiple of “This would bring total DPS (dividends per
Another RM6.8 million will be allocat- 18 times (in line with its peers’ average). share) for the financial year to around 58 sen,trans-
ed for the setting up of new marketing and lating into a yield of approximately 2.8%,” saidTA.
distribution offices in Kuala Lumpur and “While we acknowledge that UMC’s
market capitalisation is considerably The research house reiterated its “buy” call
smaller, we deem the valuation justifi- on the stock, with a target price of RM25.20.
able, as we believe this is compensated
by the stronger earnings growth expect- Read also:
ed,” it said. Jetson poised for an uptrend rebound,
says RHB Retail Research

Global Oriental set to rebound higher,
says RHB Retail Research

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news In brief

NWP to diversify into sand dredging Tee Yam raises stake in Caely to 11.4%
business
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): NWP Holdings KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Caely Holdings Bhd’s saw one of its substantial
Bhd is venturing into the sand dredging shareholders Datuk Seri Tee Yam @ Koo Tee Yam increase his stake in the company
business in a bid to expand its revenue from 7.46% to 11.38%, after acquiring 10.13 million shares through off market. In a
stream. In a statement on Tuesday (July filing with Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday (July 26), the lingerie maker said Koo owns a
26), the group said its unit, NWP Marine total of 29.38 million shares in the company now, up from 19.25 million as at June 2.
Sdn Bhd, has inked a joint venture (JV) Koo first emerged as a substantial shareholder of Caely on May 30 after he bought
agreement with OneOne Auro Marine Sdn 8.55 million shares, raising his shareholdings to 5.634% or 14.55 million shares. Koo’s
Bhd (OOA Marine) to undertake contractor daughter Koo Chen Yeng is an executive director in Caely. — by Chester Tay
work to dredge, transport and load marine
sand from the concession area onto mother PPB issues scam alert Pasukhas bags RM11.34 mil
vessel(s) for export purposes and/or to KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): PPB Group Bhd sub-contract
local reclamation site(s) for reclamation has issued a scam alert to warn people not
purposes. OOA Marine, a unit of OneOne to fall victim to the scam, as it discovered KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Pasukhas
Auro Sdn Bhd, is the holder of the service electronic messages and applications Group Bhd has clinched an RM11.34
contract for dredging marine sand from the impersonating those by PPB Group. “It million sub-contract from Salcon
concession area. Under the JV agreement, has come to our attention that there are Engineering Bhd for the execution
NWP Marine will own a 51% stake in the electronic messages and applications using and completion of electrical works
JV with OOA Marine owning the remaining the name and logo of PPB Group Bhd without including cabling, earthing, external
49%. — by Sulhi Khalid our authority or consent. We have reported lighting and equipment installation
this to the relevant authorities,” said the for Water Treatment Plant Telibong II,
Read the full story diversified conglomerate on its website. Tamparuli in Sabah. In a Bursa Malaysia
“Members of the public are strongly advised filing on Tuesday (July 26), Pasukhas
MHC Plantations 2Q net profit up to be cautious,” PPB warned. “Please verify announced that its wholly-owned
80% whether such messages or applications are subsidiary Pasukhas Sdn Bhd (PSB) has
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): MHC legitimate, and take other preventive or accepted a letter of confirmation of
Plantations Bhd posted an 80% year-on- protective measures,” it added. — by Justin Lim award (LCA) from Salcon Engineering
year increase in net profit to RM16.31 for the sub-contract works, which
million for the second quarter ended Read the full story shall be completed within five months.
June 30, 2022 (2QFY22) from RM9.07 “The LCA is in line with the company’s
million. Earnings per share (EPS) XOX proposes RM9.95 mil private expansion of business and strategy to
increased to 8.3 sen from 4.61 sen a placement increase the company’s revenue,” it
year earlier, the group’s filing with Bursa KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): ACE Market- said. — by Shazni Ong
Malaysia on Tuesday (July 26) showed. listed XOX Bhd plans to undertake a private
— by Syafiqah Salim placement exercise to raise RM9.95 million
to develop a digital media management
Read the full story application. In a filing on Tuesday (July 26),
the mobile services provider noted that
while it obtained shareholders’ approval to
issue up to 717.31 million shares — or 10%
of its issued share capital — it has opted to
only issue up to 552.86 million shares for the
placement exercise. — by Izzul Ikram

Read the full story

Techna-X plans free bonus warrants and RM24 mil private placement Read also:
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Techna-X Bhd, formerly Sino Hua-An International Tycoon Shamsuddin Abdul Kadir
Bhd, has proposed a private placement to raise up to RM24.05 million to fund new transfers all Sapura Industrial shares to
information technology (IT) contracts and orders, including a RM50 million project his wife
it is in the midst of bidding for to supply IT equipment and management system for
a local enforcement agency. In a Bursa filing, Techna-X said the private placement Astral Asia deputy MD resigns for
entails an issuance of up to 664.41 million new shares — 30% of its existing issued personal reasons
share capital — to independent investors and at an issue price to be both determined
at a later date. It is also planning a bonus issue of free warrants, on the basis of one Toyo Ventures seeks to justify force
warrant for every two Techna-X shares (one-for-two) held on an entitlement date to majeure event in US$3 bil Vietnam
be fixed, that will involve the issuance of 2.16 million warrants. — by Izzul Ikram power plant contract

Read the full story

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Prosecution to ful Activities Act 2001 (AMLATFPUA Zahid’s trial
show RM1 mil 2001), and that through the prosecution’s postponed as
deposited into witnesses, the prosecution will prove its witness has
Shahrir’s bank case from the direct and indirect testi-
account from monies given in court. Covid-19
Najib was not
The first witness Rosli Mat Jinun, as- by Tarani Palani
declared sistant senior administrative officer for theedgemarkets.com
Parliament affairs, testified to the income
theedgemarkets.com an MP receives. SHAH ALAM (July 26):The corruption
trial of former deputy prime minister Da-
KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): There is Rosli, 49, testified that all MPs receive tuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the
oral and documentary evidence to show a total of RM25,700 in monthly allow- award of a foreign visa system contract
that former Johor Bahru member of Par- ances and special payment. has been postponed as the prosecution
liament (MP)Tan Sri Shahrir Samad re- witness has Covid-19.
ceived RM1 million in his bank account “He was appointed in 1978 as an
from former prime minister Datuk Seri MP and that amount was paid directly Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Raja
Najib Razak on Nov 27, 2013, but did to Shahrir’s Public Bank account,” he Rozela RajaToran informed the court that
not declare the receipt of the sum to the added. a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commis-
Inland Revenue Board (IRB). sion investigating officer (IO) was set to
Shahrir’s defence team comprising testify. However, they were only informed
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Afif Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamalud- late on Monday night (July 25) that the
Ali in his opening statement at the Kuala din, Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad, and Da- officer had tested positive for Covid-19.
Lumpur High Court said, “The accused tuk Syed Faisal Al Edross Syed Abdullah
is charged with committing the offence at objected to the admission of some of the “We were told late last night. There-
the IRB office, JalanTuanku Abdul Halim documents comprising the income state- fore, we can’t call him today (Tuesday),”
on April 25, 2014.The prosecution will ment given by Parliament. she said, requesting for the matter to be
provide oral and documentary evidence adjourned until Friday, depending on the
from the prosecution witness that the Dzulkifli was former Malaysian An- IO’s health status.
accused received RM1 million that was ti-Corruption Commission chief com-
deposited into his Public Bank Islamic missioner. The IO is the prosecution’s 18th witness.
bank account, which he received from In the trial, Ahmad Zahid is facing 33
Najib via a cheque dated Nov 27, 2013. Following the objection, Rosli agreed charges of receiving bribes amounting to
to bring the required documentation on about S$13.56 million from Ultra Kira-
“There is also evidence from the ac- Thursday. na for, among others, the extension of the
cused who did not report this as his reve- contract involving the company’s foreign
nue in his income tax return for the year Shahrir is charged with money laun- visa system and one-stop centre services
2013, and this proves that he is directly dering by not stating his real income in in China.
involved in the illegal transaction.” the IncomeTax Return Form for Assess- For the remaining seven charges,Ahmad
ment Year 2013, which is a violation of Zahid, in his capacity as the then home min-
He said Shahrir, 72, is charged under Section 113(1)(a) of the IncomeTax Act ister, is alleged to have obtained for himself
the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Ter- 1967, over the RM1 million, believed to bribes denominated in different currencies
rorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlaw- be from unlawful activities, which he re- comprising S$1.15 million, RM3 million,
ceived from Najib through a cheque. €15,000, and US$15,000 from Ultra Kirana.
The trial is before High Court Judge
Also a former chairman of Felda, Datuk MohdYazid Mustafa.
Shahrir is alleged to have committed
the offence at IRB, Duta Branch, Gov-
ernment Office Complex, Jalan Tuanku
Abdul Halim on April 25, 2014.

The charge, framed under Section
4(1)(a) of the AMLATFPUA 2001, pro-
vides a maximum fine of RM5 million,
or imprisonment of up to five years, or
both, if found guilty.

KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Selangor Jamal loses “The court found in favour of the plain-
Barisan Nasional treasurer Datuk Seri Ja- defamation tiff as the defence had failed to put up his
mal MdYunos has been found by the High case, told to defence.
Court to have defamed Seputeh Mem- payTeresa Kok
ber of Parliament (MP) Teresa Kok Suh RM300,000 “I award RM300,000 in aggravated, ex-
Sim over his allegations made five years emplary and general damages, to be paid
ago that the DAP politician had misused by Hafiz Yatim by the defendant within 14 days from to-
YayasanWarisan Anak Selangor (YAWAS) theedgemarkets.com day (Tuesday), and costs of RM50,000,
funds. also within 14 days from today.

Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd “The court has also ordered that the
Arief Emran Arifin on Tuesday (July 26) injunction to this case still stands, and the
directed Jamal, who was not present in the defendant is not allowed to repeat the de-
court, to pay total exemplary, aggravated famatory words in any format,” Mohd Ar-
and general damages of RM300,000. ief Emran said in his brief grounds.
Read the full story
Jamal was also ordered to pay
RM50,000 costs.

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KUALA LUMPUR (July 26):The Dewan Independent “Both the independent bodies only ex-
Rakyat on Tuesday (July 26) passed the Police Conduct ercise powers of investigation into wrong-
Independent Police Conduct Commission doing, and the findings will be submitted to
(IPCC) Bill 2020, which aims to improve Commission the relevant authorities for action,” he said.
integrity, reduce misconduct among police Bill passed in
officers and increase public confidence in Parliament Earlier during the debate on the Bill,
the security force. there was an uproar when some opposition
Bernama MPs were not satisfied with the decision
The Bill was approved after going of Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid
through several amendments and improve- “This Bill was drafted after comparisons Hasnon, who was said not to have taken
ments after being tabled for the first read- were made with the Independent Office for action against Datuk Seri Tajuddin Ab-
ing on Aug 26, 2020. Police Conduct (United Kingdom) and the dul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) for alleg-
Independent Police Complaints Council edly uttering obscene words in the House
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah (Hong Kong). on July 20.
Zainudin when winding up the debate
on the Bill said there were indeed cases Mohd Rashid, when explaining the mat-
of deaths in the lock-up, but it was not due ter said he had taken action againstTajud-
to injuries caused by the police, but rather din by ordering him to leave the hall on
illnesses faced by the detainees. the day of the incident (July 20).

“I wish to inform you that there are “I have checked, that I did give a warn-
(deaths in the lock-up) but it does not ing and in the hansard it is mentioned that
mean that it happened due to them (de- I said ‘Pasir Salak (Tajuddin), please leave’.
tainees) being beaten and so on,” he said. Regarding the obscene words (uttered), I
looked for them in the hansard and there
According to Hamzah, among the dis- were none. I ordered Tajuddin to leave, I
eases that the prisoners died from were didn’t say how many days but according to
asthma, HIV, heart disease, liver disease, rule 44 (2), Pasir Salak automatically got
ulcers and lung disease, while there were two days (of suspension),” he said.
also cases of detainees hanging themselves
and fighting in the lockup. The commotion caused Kasthuriraani
Patto (PH-Batu Kawan) to be ordered out
Meanwhile, he said the Bill focused on of the hall and suspended for two days
the establishment of a body to carry out when she continued to raise the issue and
investigations, while disciplinary actions disobeyed the Deputy Speaker’s order to
and punishments would still be vested with sit down, besides engaging in a heated ar-
the Police Force Commission (SPP), in gument with Tajuddin, which disrupted
accordance with the existing provisions in the debate session.
Article 140 of the Federal Constitution.

KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): The is- Medicine supply prices ahead, Khairy said the problem
sue of medicine shortages is expected to shortages to be that is happening now is a lack of supply
be resolved by the fourth quarter of this resolved in 4Q22, of medicines.
year (4Q22), with the Ministry of Health
(MOH) having also agreed that the min- says Khairy “Even though the stock [of medicines]
istry’s buffer stock of certain medicines is low, the government always monitors
be given permission to be sold to the pri- by Shazni Ong the price in the market. If it rises suddenly,
vate sector. theedgemarkets.com we will do something to ensure there is
price control, and it has been done before.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin is encouraging local pharmaceutical com-
said this was after a sudden increase in panies to produce their own medicines, “Nowadays, one of the drugs that is
demand for medicines for the treatment including for active pharmaceutical in- greatly in shortfall is paracetamol, so the
of diseases such as fever, cold and cough. gredients, through public-private part- government has agreed to release the buff-
nerships. er stock from the government itself to be
“For example, sales of the paraceta- sold on the market,” he said.
mol drug were found to have increased He was responding to a question by Read also: Health Ministry moots drug
by up to 238% in 1Q22, compared with Kota Belud Member of Parliament Is- price transparency mechanism, says
the first-quarter sales data for the previ- naraissah Munirah Majilis on whether Khairy
ous year. the government is planning to create a More parliament stories:
National Drug Security Policy, and to Opposition MPs committed to supporting
“The high demand has caused a short- what extent the government’s measures anti-party-hopping bill
age of supply for some types of medi- to create a buffer stock of drugs towards Special Select Committee to summon AG,
cines, even though the production of these controlling supply instability. foreign and law ministers on Sulu Sultanate
medicines has been increased by local claims, proceedings from Aug 11
manufacturers. In addition, the amount In reply to a supplementary question
of drugs imported from abroad has also by Isnaraissah Munirah on whether the
been increased,” he said in Parliament on government will control and monitor drug
Tuesday (July 26).

In the long term, Khairy noted among
the initiatives that had been planned to
ensure the country’s drug security and
self-reliance, especially in crisis situations,

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IMF cutsWorld GDP outlook a third
time as inflation, rates jump

(July 26): The International Monetary by Ana Monteiro, Eric Martin The growth-outlook downgrades were
Fund cut its global growth outlook for this & Rich Miller broad, but the projection for US expan-
year and next, warning that the world econ- Bloomberg sion took the biggest hit, with the IMF
omy may soon be on the cusp of
an outright recession. overwhelmingly tilted to the downside,” it cutting it by 1.4 percentage
said. Among the plethora of concerns is points relative to the April es-
Global economic expansion the potential for “a sudden stop” of Euro- timate to 2.3% because of lower
will likely slow to 3.2% this year, pean gas imports from Russia due to the growth earlier this year, reduced
less than the 3.6% forecast by war, more persistent inflation and a further household purchasing power
the fund in April and the 4.4% escalation of a property crisis in China. and tighter monetary policy.
seen in January, the IMF said in
an update to itsWorld Econom- The forecast for 0.6% growth
ic Outlook released on Tuesday. in the fourth quarter of 2023
on a year-over-year basis “will
The series of interest-rate in- make it increasingly challenging
creases that central banks have to avoid a recession”, according
unleashed to contain inflation “is to the IMF.
expected to bite” in 2023, with
global output growth set to slow The fund reduced the pro-
to 2.9%, it said. jection for Chinese expansion
by 1.1 percentage points to
While the crisis lender is still 3.3%, with the nation’s deepen-
forecasting positive growth, that ing property bust and mobility
will do little to quell rising con- restrictions to stem Covid-19
cern of receding expansion or outbreaks disrupting activi-
even outright recession in major ty and having global spillover
economies, as accelerating price effects into stressed supply
increases eat away at incomes, chains.
savings and profits. Policy priorities
Taming inflation through tight-
“The outlook has darkened er monetary policy should be
significantly since April. The the first priority for officials,
world may soon be teetering on the fund said.
the edge of a global recession,
only two years after the last one,” This “will inevitably have
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the real economic costs, but delay
IMF’s chief economist, said in will only exacerbate them,” it
a blog accompanying the release said.
of the update.
With emerging and de-
Consumer prices have con- veloping economies’ debt at
sistently climbed more quickly multidecade highs, the increase
than expected, with the fund see- in global borrowing costs and
ing inflation accelerating even exchange-rate depreciation is
further this year, as higher food making dollar-denominated
and energy costs couple with debt more difficult to service.
lingering supply-and-demand The World Bank says about
imbalances. It now projects the 60% of the world’s 75 poorest
global consumer-price gauge to countries are in or at risk of
increase 8.3% this year, which debt distress, and this is spread-
would be the biggest jump since ing to middle-income countries.
1996. The April estimate was
7.4%. The IMF said it’s placing an
“unusually strong emphasis” on
The risks the fund outlined downside-risk scenarios in its
in the April edition of theWorld update.
Economic Outlook are materi-
alising, the fund said. Such dan- “Should additional shocks
gers include a worsening of the hit the global economy, eco-
war in Ukraine, escalation of sanctions on nomic outcomes would be even worse,”
Russia, a sharper-than-anticipated slow- it said.
down in China, renewed Covid-19 flare-
ups and an inflation wave that’s forcing Read also: UK economy will have slowest
central banks to raise interest rates. growth in G-7 nextYear, IMF says

And the risks to the revised outlook “are

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(July 26): The Federal Reserve’s inter- Powell’s bond flation despite signs the US and European
est-rate hikes are wearing out their wel- market recession economies are slowing, and this should see
come in bond markets, with a measure of curves flatten further, he said.
the yield curve that Chair Jerome Powell indicator is
has highlighted as a recession indicator sending a Yields on US two-year notes have
sending out a warning message. warning climbed above those on five-year securi-
ties by the most since 2007, while the two-
The difference between rates on where by Garfield Reynolds to-10-year curve is most the most invert-
three-month bills are now and where they Bloomberg ed since 2000. Powell downplayed such
will be in 18 months has tumbled about inversions back in March by arguing the
95 basis points in July, the biggest month- Bloomberg three-month to 18-month forward curve
ly decline in data starting in 1996. A vast was the one that really mattered, and it
swathe of the US yield curve inverted in was steepening.
recent weeks, as recession fears spurred
investors to pile into longer maturities. That spread peaked soon after his com-
ments, and is now dropping fast enough
The conundrum for the Fed is that to fall below zero at some stage in the next
readings on inflation drivers — such as month.
wages — are elevated enough to sustain
pressure on policy makers to stay hawkish, While US gross domestic product data
even as measures of the broader economy due on Thursday may show the world’s
such as last week’s business-activity data biggest economy has already entered a re-
signal the US is heading for a severe eco- cession, bond investors could be about to
nomic slowdown. discover that that data point alone won’t
be enough to quiet Fed hawks, according
“Rates markets pricing in 2023 Fed toTD Securities’ Newnaha.The company
rate cuts imply the market is expecting is forecasting GDP to have contracted by
the Fed to pivot on rising recession risks,” 1% in the second quarter, he said.
said Prashant Newnaha, a strategist atTD
Securities in Singapore. However, with of- Jerome Powell Read also: Goldman strategists see infla-
ficial inflation data yet to confirm a peak, tion keeping Fed hawkish for longer
the Fed is likely to maintain its war on in-

(July 26): China’s Covid-19 infections re- China Covid-19 rounds of mandatory mass testing in nine
bounded, with an increase in cases in the cases rise as of its 16 districts between Tuesday and
south threatening the operations of indus- Shenzhen Thursday in order to reduce outbreak risks.
try giants including BYD Co and Huawei
Technologies Co. flare-up snares The compulsory testing, which has been
top firms conducted frequently since the city emerged
Nationwide, cases were 868 for Monday from a bruising two-month lockdown in ear-
(July 25), CCTV reported, up from 680 a Bloomberg ly June, comes on top of a requirement for
day earlier.Attention is shifting to the south- everyone in Shanghai to test every other day
ern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, where reuters in order to move around freely. Residents
19 local cases were detected and authorities are already required to hold a negative PCR
have ordered some of China’s biggest firms Medical workers in protective suits collect result done within the previous 72 hours to
to operate within a “closed loop” system for swabs from residents at a nucleic acid testing site get into public places like shopping malls,
seven days, raising concerns about disrup- office buildings and restaurants.
tions to global supply chains. following the Covid-19 outbreak in Shenzhen,
Guangdong province, China July 23, 2022. The city halted operations at warehous-
The city government asked its 100 big- es in Baoshan district, including those for
gest companies, including iPhone maker steel products, fromTuesday for three days
Foxconn and oil producer Cnooc Ltd to to contain Covid-19 cases, according to
restrict operations only to employees liv- commodities research firm Mysteel.
ing within a closed loop or bubble, with
little to no contact with people beyond The majority of China’s cases are cen-
their plants or offices. Authorities also tred in the hotspots of the Guangxi region
asked companies to reduce unnecessary in the south, which recorded 402 cases
interaction between non-manufacturing Monday, and the northwestern province
staff and factory floors to reduce infection, of Gansu, which had 343 new infections.
according to a government notice seen by
Bloomberg News. The outbreak in Gansu has coincid-
ed with the peak tourist season, dealing
The city had also shut three subway a heavy blow to the local industry, a key
stations as ofTuesday. Xiasha and Shawei source of revenue for the remote province
stations in Futian district are close to the that lies along the ancient Silk Road and
border with Hong Kong, and Hourui in is home to attractions such as the Dun-
Bao’an district is to the west of the city. huang grottoes, the official China Business
News reported.
Shanghai reported 19 local cases, in- Read the full story
cluding three found outside quarantine
areas.The financial hub will conduct two

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EU nations back 15% gas-cut target
as Russia set to reduce flows

by John Ainger & Alberto Nardelli
Bloomberg

BRUSSELS/LONDON (July 26): Euro- Concerns on cuts pose the emergency measure if it deemed
pean Union countries reached a political In the run-up to the meeting, a number of there’s a high risk of a shortage. Both sce-
agreement to cut their gas use by 15% countries including Italy, Hungary, Poland, narios would also need majority backing
through next winter as the prospect of a Portugal and Spain had raised concerns from member states to take effect.
full cut-off from Russian supplies grows over the reduction goals, citing demand
increasingly likely. cuts already achieved, lack of gas connec- Other tweaks included taking into ac-
tions to other countries and the fact that count the level of gas storage in a country
Energy ministers meeting in Brussels gave decisions on energy are usually a national as well as the possibility of excluding cer-
the green light to a proposal to voluntarily competence. tain key industries. The rules would also
cut their gas usage over the next months, only be set for one year, rather than two as
the Czech presidency of the EU said in a The Czech Republic, which holds the originally outlined. Member states could
post on Twitter. The plan makes the 15% EU’s rotating presidency, had proposed a ask for a lower mandatory reduction un-
target mandatory under an emergency situ- number of changes in recent days to the der certain criteria based on their inter-
ation — such as a severe disruption to flows commission’s plan from last week in a bid connections with other nations — island
from Russia — albeit with certain opt-outs to bring nations onside. countries like Ireland for instance.
for particularly vulnerable nations or those
integral to the bloc’s network as a whole. The revisions included a provision that A halt of Russian gas supplies to the
would increase the number of countries EU could potentially reduce its gross do-
Hungary was the only nation against that have to request that a 15% demand-re- mestic product by as much as 1.5% if the
the EU decision to cut gas use because it duction target be made mandatory to five winter is cold and the region fails to take
goes against the country’s interests, Foreign from three, according to a draft seen by preventive measures to save energy, the
Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a statement. Bloomberg.The commission could also pro- commission estimated.
Prime MinisterViktor Orban called the EU
move “alarming” and “another step toward
a war economy” on his Facebook page.

“The most crucial outcome is that we
will start saving gas now,” Kadri Simson,
energy commissioner, told reporters. “The
impact on GDP will be significantly small-
er if we start saving now and don’t wait
until Russia forces us to do so.”

Simson said work is ongoing to explore
“different options to design a gas price cap,
in particular in the case of market disruption
and rationing of scarce quantities of gas.”

The fast pace of the agreement, with the
European Commission first proposing the
regulation last week, reflects the rapidly de-
teriorating gas flows from Russia. Supplies
through the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline are
set to drop to around 20% of capacity from
Wednesday, with Gazprom PJSC saying that
one more turbine is due for maintenance
and will be taken out of service.

That’s made the chances that EU coun-
tries will be able to reach their 80% gas
storage filling target even more unlikely,
raising the stakes for cutting gas demand.
Following the agreement, the rules should
enter into EU law over the coming days.

The new rules are “an unprecedent-
ed step in European solidarity,” said Sven
Giegold, a deputy German economy min-
ister. “Member states that do not import
any Russian gas are showing support and
have committed to reducing consumption.
This has never happened before.”

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world

Alibaba seeks primary Hong Kong
listing as US expulsion looms

by Coco Liu & John Cheng
Bloomberg

(July 26): Alibaba Group Holding Ltd will Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler emerging as an alternative path. Bilibili
seek a primary listing in Hong Kong, en- said this month that it’s unclear if American Inc in July won shareholder approval to
trenching the financial hub’s status as an and Chinese authorities will reach a deal convert its secondary Hong Kong listing
alternative to US markets ahead of a po- to avoid a congressionally imposed 2024 status to dual-primary, while Zai Lab Ltd
tential exodus of Chinese companies from deadline for kicking businesses off the New completed the procedure in June before
New York. York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. joining the Stock Connect scheme in July.

The switch could provide a template for The threat of losing direct access to US A dual-primary listing on the Hong
the roughly 200 US-traded Chinese com- investors has weighed on Chinese stocks. Kong Exchange is often more costly and
panies from JD.com Inc to Baidu Inc that Alibaba itself has shed some two-thirds of requires stricter reporting rules than a sec-
face delisting should Washington and Bei- its value since a 2020 peak, pummeled by a ondary listing. Companies need to provide
jing fail to agree on allowing US regulators regulatory crackdown that sought to rein in to the exchange an expected date when
to review their financial audits. It also paves anti-competitive behaviour across the inter- they will fulfill requirements, and a de-
the way for investors in China to directly net sector. It currently has a secondary listing tailed plan for and arrangements on how
buy shares of the country’s most prominent on the Hong Kong bourse, but has seen a it will comply with the rules.
e-commerce company for the first time. rise in public float and transaction volume
on the exchange there, it said in a statement Unlike companies with a primary listing,
A primary listing would allow Alibaba onTuesday. Its average daily trading volume firms with a secondary listing in the city are
to seek inclusion in the Stock Connect in Hong Kong was about US$700 million, exempted from certain rules and don’t have
link with the Shanghai and Shenzhen ex- compared to about US$3.2 billion in the US. to disclose things such as financial guaran-
changes.That could expand the US$285 tees provided to affiliates and stock pledges
billion giant’s investor base after a year- “Alibaba’s move might point to internet made by the controlling shareholder.
long selloff triggered by China’s economic companies preparing for a fall-back posi-
slowdown and Beijing’s crackdown on its tion, in case they have to delist from the Other Chinese companies have opted
most powerful internet firms. US,” said Redmond Wong, market strat- to list directly in Hong Kong under du-
egist at Saxo Capital Markets. al-primary status. That was the case for
The move, expected by year-end, will electric vehicle makers XPeng Inc and Li
grant hundreds of millions of investors in HKEX Chief Executive Officer Nico- Auto Inc, which began trading in the Asian
mainland China direct access to one of las Aguzin has said more companies with financial hub over the past year.
the country’s most storied names, which secondary shares in Hong Kong are con-
in 2014 made waves when it debuted in sidering primary listings, while others may “This is a massive move for Alibaba,
NewYork as the largest-ever initial public be forced to do so by market rules as more given it is the biggest secondary listing in
offering. Alibaba’s action could encour- of their volume migrates to the city. Hong Kong,” saidWiller Chen, an analyst
age peers to follow suit, helping cement at Forsyth Barr Asia Ltd. Inclusion in the
Hong Kong as an alternative venue now The prospect of Stock Connect inclu- Stock Connect “can lead to a more diver-
that American regulators are threatening sion for companies like Alibaba has been sified investor base for Alibaba”.
to toss Chinese companies off US bourses a subject of intense speculation among Read also:
unless they comply with auditing rules. traders in Hong Kong, which currently JD, Baidu among firms that may
excludes companies with both secondary follow Alibaba’s listing move
Alibaba rose as much as 6.5% in Hong listings and weighted voting rights from
Kong onTuesday, while its US stock jumped its mainland trading links. It highlights the Alibaba removes Ant executives from
5.1% in pre-market trading in New York. urgency to seek new investors ahead of pos- partnership amid shakeup
Bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and sible delistings from American exchanges.
Clearing Ltd climbed more than 3.9%. Soft-
Bank Group Corp, Alibaba’s largest share- While some market participants had
holder, rose more than 3% in Tokyo. hoped the exchange would relax rules that
bar such companies, a primary listing is
“The timing may be right for investor
interest as it aligns with the fading of the
tech regulatory crackdown,” said Marvin
Chen, a strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“More broadly, Alibaba is paving a path
for US ADRs to move away from US ex-
changes, introduce domestic capital, and to
be less reliant on global foreign investors.”

The US and China have been at odds
for two decades over a legal requirement
that American regulators get full access to
inspect audit work papers.That measure is
meant to protect investors from accounting
fraud and other malfeasance. Securities and

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CHICAGO/NEWYORK (July 26): 3M 3M to spin off al companies to split their operations to
Co plans to spin off its multibillion-dol- healthcare bring more focus. General Electric Co is
lar healthcare operations, a move that separating its power and healthcare busi-
could leave the manufacturer flush with business seen nesses, while UnitedTechnologies recently
cash as it copes with shifting econom- valued at US$45 bil hived off its elevator and air-conditioner
ic currents that have sapped its profits. operations before merging with Raytheon.
by Catherine Larkin & Ryan Beene
The company will retain a stake of Bloomberg 3M’s tax-free transaction is expected
19.9% in the medical-supply business to be completed by the end of 2023, sub-
initially and sell off the holding over 3M’s shares jumped 6.1% as of 7.45am ject to final approval from the board and
time, 3M said on Tuesday in a state- before regular trading in New York. The regulators.
ment. The portfolio move will dramat- stock had tumbled 24% this year through
ically reshape a company known for Monday, worse than the decline in the S&P The spin-off was revealed along with
diverse product lines, from electron- 500 Index. other significant announcements onTues-
ic components to dental adhesives to day, including second-quarter earnings re-
Post-it notes. With about US$8.6 billion in sales sults. The company cut its full-year sales
last year, healthcare accounted for almost and profit forecasts as the surging value
3M, based in St Paul, Minnesota, the one-quarter of 3M’s total revenue.The unit of the US dollar added to pressures from
US, has underperformed in recent years makes products across markets, including snarled supply chains, inflation, and sof-
amid supply-chain challenges, currency surgical supplies, bandages, and biophar- tening demand in some of its key markets.
fluctuations, and rising costs. A spin-off maceuticals.
could boost 3M’s sagging value, bolster In a separate statement, 3M said it is
its capital allocation strategy, and give it While not a wholesale break-up, 3M’s taking steps to resolve litigation related to
“a liquidity war chest”, according to a spin-off reflects a trend among industri- its Combat Arms Earplugs, with its Aearo
note from Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Technologies business voluntarily initiat-
on Monday. The independent health- ing Chapter 11 proceedings. 3M said it is
care business could be worth as much committing US$1 billion to fund a trust
as US$45 billion, they said. to resolve claims related to the earplugs
worn by military personnel.

RIYADH (July 26): Saudi Arabia will set Saudi crown of the kingdom’s market. He did not say
aside 300 billion riyals (US$80 billion) prince plans how large the share sale would be or ex-
for an investment fund tied to the crown US$80 bil fund, plain details of that valuation. The Saudi
prince’s flagship megaproject, Neom, and IPO for Neom sovereign fund will eventually sell shares
plan an initial public offering (IPO) of the in all its companies, he added.
project on the kingdom’s stock market as project Population boost
soon as 2024. Announced in 2017, Neom is Prince Mo-
by Vivian Nereim hammed’s plan to turn an expanse of de-
The Neom Investment Fund could Bloomberg sert the size of Belgium into a high-tech
potentially expand to 400 billion riyals, region with a linear metropolis, a ski re-
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bloomberg sort, and an industrial city that partially
told reporters in Jeddah. It will invest in floats on water.
companies that agree to operate in Neom, Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
a new region planned in Saudi Arabia’s He has billed it as a testbed for new
north-western corner. on the planet,” Prince Mohammed said, technologies that could revolutionise urban
adding that he expects the Neom IPO to life — as well as a way to attract foreign
The prince’s announcement on Monday happen around 2024 and possibly add investment and diversify Saudi Arabia’s
was attended by global investors including more than one trillion riyals to the size oil-dependent economy. But five years
Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, in, Neom has been plagued by setbacks,
Tim Collins of Ripplewood, Saudi Prince many stemming from the difficulties of
Alwaleed binTalal, and Kuwaiti retail bil- implementing the prince’s grand and ev-
lionaire Mohammed Alshaya. er-changing ideas, according to current
and former employees.
For the first time, Prince Mohammed
also outlined details on how he plans to His latest announcement detailed a
finance Neom — one of the largest and plan within Neom for twin skyscrapers
most complex construction programmes that stretch horizontally for more than
in the world. 100 kilometres, containing within them
an entire city of nine million people. A
The first phase of the project, which new exhibit open to the public in Jeddah
runs until 2030, will cost 1.2 trillion ri- displays potential designs for “modules”
yals, with about half of that covered by the of the buildings — to be built in stages —
Public Investment Fund, he said. Officials by global architecture firms including Los
will seek to raise another 600 billion riyals Angeles-based Morphosis and UK-based
from other sovereign wealth funds in the Archigram.
region, private investors in Saudi Arabia
and abroad, and an IPO of Neom itself Read the full story
on the Saudi stock market — an idea the
prince first floated in 2017.

“We have big aims to get Saudi Arabia
among the top three largest stock markets

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DALLAS/NEWYORK (July 26):Walmart Walmart tumbles ‘More pressure’
Inc fell after a surprise cut to its profit out- most in S&P 500 “Walmart is seeing more pressure because
look that contrasted sharply with upbeat as forecast warning they cater to a low-income customer,”
results early on Tuesday from Coca-Cola said Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Ed-
Co and McDonald’s Corp.Taken together, sows gloom ward Jones.
the business updates suggest consumers
have little leftover for discretionary goods by Brendan Case & Allison Nicole Smith The dimmer outlook at Walmart
as they spend more on food and fuel. Bloomberg gives US policymakers and investors a
late-breaking data point to factor in as
The retailer’s adjusted earnings per reuters they try to determine where the economy
share would fall as much as 13% in the and interest rates will be headed over the
current fiscal year as US shoppers spurned creasingly reluctant to buy as inflation hit coming months.
big-ticket items and focused on buying less a four-decade high. Walmart said it was
profitable groceries with consumer pric- feeling similar pain as it slashed prices on The Federal Reserve (Fed) is widely
es soaring,Walmart said on Monday.Two some goods such as apparel. expected to increase its key policy rate by
months ago, the company said earnings three quarters of a percentage point later
per share would only dip about 1%. In “This will potentially send shock waves this week, looking to tamp down stubborn
February, it predicted a modest increase. through the sector,” said GlobalData’s Neil inflation even as signs accumulate that the
Saunders. “When things go wrong atWal- economy could be tilting into a recession.
Walmart slid as much as 8.5% on Tues- mart, you can extrapolate that it’s happen-
day — the most intraday since May 17.The ing at other retailers, as well.” A reading on gross domestic product due
shares had dropped 8.8% this year through onThursday could confirm that the economy
Monday’s close.CompetitorsTarget Corp and has contracted for two quarters in a row.That
Amazon.com Inc also fell, although their more makes the Fed’s task even more delicate as it
upscale customers may prove more resilient. tries to cool off rising prices without causing
a more severe downturn in activity.
Walmart’s warning kicked off a week of bell-
wether earnings reports from consumer-goods “When something impacts a retailer
giants.But Coca-Cola and McDonald’s posted that everyone knows likeWalmart, that can
earnings that largely outperformed expecta- lead to a further slide in consumer con-
tions as consumers continued spending on fast fidence,” Jennifer Bartashus of Bloomberg
food and soft drinks in spite of higher prices. Intelligence said in an interview. “That can
lead us down a recession road.”
Target cut its profit forecast last month,
citing the cost of whittling merchandise Read the full story
stockpiles that its customers were in-

(July 26): McDonald’s Corp reported sales McDonald’s sales the quarter in the top six markets, account-
that topped estimates, as consumers con- beat on price hikes, ing for almost a third of their total sales.
tinue eating out despite higher prices. value menu offerings That figure includes sales at all restaurants,
franchised and corporate.
The closely watched measure of same- by Leslie Patton
store sales rose 9.7% in the second quar- Bloomberg At the same time, wage inflation and
ter compared with a year ago, the company rising energy costs are hurting margins at
said onTuesday.Analysts were looking for a Bloomberg McDonald’s. The company said its total
gain of 7.5%, according to data compiled by restaurant margin rose 3% in the quar-
Bloomberg. Sales at US stores open at least a relatively upbeat picture of the strength of ter, or 8% excluding currency translation.
year climbed 3.7%, also beating expectations. the US consumer, despite the highest infla- Inflation pressures are expected to affect
tion in four decades.That may lessen the margins for the rest of the year.
The Big Mac seller said US sales growth blow fromWalmart Inc’s surprise forecast
was helped by strategic price increases and cut late Monday, which some interpreted Shares of the Chicago-based company
value offerings, in addition to the popular- as a red flag for the broader economy. rose 0.2% at 9:51 a.m. in NewYork, amid
ity of digital tools like the mobile app and a selloff in consumer-discretionary stocks.
delivery. The company had said in April Adjusted profit surpassed estimates, McDonald’s had fallen 6.6% so far this
that some diners were trading down to coming in at US$2.55 a share, compared year through Monday’s close, compared
less-expensive menu options, and that with an estimate of US$2.46. Digital sales with a 17% drop in the S&P 500 Index.
trend continued last quarter. However, are also growing, topping US$6 billion in More corporate results:
overall US guest counts were relatively LVMH sales jump, helped by demand
flat, suggesting demand hasn’t been un- for luxury bags and booze
dermined by decades-high inflation. Logitech’s quarterly profit slumps 38%
as pandemic demand wanes
“The McDonald’s System continues Unilever ups sales guidance after price
to demonstrate strength and resiliency,” hikes help it beat forecast
Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempcz-
inski said in a statement. “While we are
planning for a wide range of scenarios, I
am confident that our plans and people
position McDonald’s to weather this en-
vironment better than others.”

McDonald’s is one of the first restaurant
chains to report earnings. Its results paint a

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Big Oil set for record profit
as world reels from high fuel cost

by Kevin Crowley, Laura Hurst
& Francois de Beaupuy
Bloomberg

(July 26): Big Oil is poised for a re- These “eye-watering” refining margins fuel projects that may become redundant
cord-breaking US$50 billion profit in the probably won’t last, said Matt Murphy, a as the world transitions to cleaner energy.
second quarter, but the industry’s stellar Calgary-based analyst at Tudor Pickering
performance could contain the seeds of Holt & Co. High fuel prices, combined The supermajors may not be able to
its own decline. with a broader surge in the cost of living, keep capital expenditure this low for long,
are hurting consumers. “Gasoline demand due to their need to ramp up spending in
The soaring earnings are direct result of is underperforming forecasts, we’re seeing an inflationary cost environment. Schlum-
the high energy prices that have stoked in- a degree of demand destruction.” berger NV, the world’s biggest oilfield ser-
flation, piled pressure on consumers, raised vice company, last week said sales increased
the risk of recession and prompted calls for As a result, companies are seen being nearly 20% from a year earlier, and sees
windfall taxes. Amid this political and eco- conservative despite soaring earnings. Exx- a “multiyear upcycle” in demand for its
nomic turbulence, shareholders may have to on will probably use its excess cash to lower services.
temper their expectations for rising returns. debt, according to Citigroup Inc. analysts
led by Alastair Syme. Chevron may in- This situation risks a political backlash.
“There’s a strong chance that earn- crease the bottom end of its buyback range The UK imposed a windfall tax on oil
ings will peak in the second or third quar- to US$10 billion for the year, they said. and gas profits earlier this month. Italy
ter, with a small decline thereafter,” said has passed a levy on the energy industry,
Ahmed Ben Salem, an analyst at Oddo Sky-high profits aren’t solely the result while in France some lawmakers are back-
BHF. “This looming recession is calming of the broad-based upswing in commodity ing the idea of a special tax of as much as
things down.” prices. The supermajors are also spend- 3 billion euros (US$3.1 billion) a year.
ing much less than they did the last time President Emmanuel Macron has so far
Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp, oil was above US$100 a barrel. Capital resisted such calls, instead urging com-
Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE and BP Plc expenditures is creeping to a forecast of panies including TotalEnergies to extend
— collectively known as the supermajors US$80 billion this year, but that’s half the rebates on fuel purchases.
— are set to make even more money than level of 2013.
they did in 2008, when international oil In the US, Biden has criticized Exxon
prices jumped as high as US$147 a barrel. “Costs have been on a long, downward for making “more money than God” and
That’s because it’s not just crude that has trend since 2014,” said Paul Cheng, a New accused other oil firms of exploiting high
soared during the crisis created by Russia’s York-based analyst at Scotiabank. “With gasoline prices, but so far there has been no
invasion of Ukraine, natural gas prices and commodity prices this good, it’s the per- serious political pressure for a windfall tax.
refining margins have also broken records. fect combination.”
Against this turbulent backdrop, the
Many major markets have found them- That’s not necessarily the view of po- most profitable quarter in the superma-
selves critically short of refining capacity litical leaders, such as US President Joe jors’ history may not be cause for overt
due to a combination of shutdowns, invest- Biden, who are battling to contain rampant celebration.
ments that were stalled by the pandemic, inflation and crippling consumer energy
sanctions on Russia and a decision by Chi- costs. Their pleas for the oil and gas in- “Most of the companies in this quar-
na to limit petroleum exports. dustry to boost domestic production have ter are going to report record earnings no
gained little traction. Executives are cau- question” said Scotiabank’s Cheng. “But
The US Gulf Coast’s 3-2-1 crack tious about how long high prices will per- with the potential for a severe recession
spread, a rough measure of profit margins sist and wary of committing to large fossil and memories of 2020, I expect manage-
from refining a barrel of crude, exploded to ment teams to be conservative.”
average US$48.84 in the second quarter,
more than double the level a year-earlier. A
similar measure for Europe —TotalEner-
gies’ variable cost margin — rose threefold
to US$145.70.

Refining now makes up 26% of the cost
of a gallon of gasoline in the US, up from
an average of 14% in the previous decade,
according to the Energy Information Ad-
ministration.

Shell is expecting to post a US$1 bil-
lion gain in refining results. Exxon, which
has the largest downstream footprint of the
supermajors, is expected to make more in
the second quarter than the previous nine
combined, according to estimates collect-
ed by Bloomberg.

w e d n e s d a y j u LY 2 7 , 2 0 2 2 27 T h e E d g e C E O m o r n i n g b r i e f

world

(July 26): Coinbase Global Inc is facing a US reuters pose clearer rules. Meanwhile, after taking a
probe into whether it improperly let Ameri- relatively cautious approach for years, Coin-
cans trade digital assets that should have been Coinbase base has boosted its token offerings.
registered as securities, according to three faces SEC
people familiar with the matter. investigation on Tensions bubbled up further July 21 when
cryptocurrency the SEC accused one of the company’s for-
The US Securities and Exchange Com- mer employees of violating its insider-trad-
mission’s scrutiny of Coinbase has increased listings ing rules by leaking information to help his
since the platform expanded the number of brother and a friend buy tokens just before
tokens in which it offers trading, said two by Allyson Versprille & Lydia Beyoud they were listed on the platform. While the
of the people, who asked not to be named Bloomberg agency didn’t allege wrongdoing by Coin-
because the inquiry hasn’t been disclosed base, the SEC said it had determined that
publicly. The probe by the SEC’s enforce- As the largest US trading platform, Coin- nine of the dozens of digital tokens the men
ment unit predates the agency’s investigation base lets Americans trade more than 150 traded were securities — including seven the
into an alleged insider trading scheme that tokens. If those products were deemed se- exchange says it lists.
led the regulator last week to sue a former curities, the firm could need to register as
Coinbase manager and two other people. an exchange with the SEC. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also
charged the three men with wire fraud con-
“We are confident that our rigorous dili- Coinbase has repeatedly sparred with the spiracy and wire fraud.
gence process — a process the SEC has already agency over how it oversees the industry, and
reviewed — keeps securities off our platform, the firm last week called on the SEC to pro- In response, Coinbase put out an entry
and we look forward to engaging with the SEC on its blog titled: “Coinbase does not list se-
on the matter,” chief legal officer Paul Grewal curities. End of story.” Grewal pointed out
said onTwitter.The SEC declined to comment. that the Justice Department chose not to file
securities fraud charges, despite reviewing
The drumbeat inWashington for US reg- the same facts as the SEC. He also said be-
ulators to do more to oversee crypto has fore listing tokens Coinbase analyses whether
grown louder as digital currencies have tum- an asset could be considered a security and
bled from all-time highs, erasing hundreds “also considers regulatory compliance and
of billions of dollars in market value. SEC information security aspects of the asset”.
Chair Gary Gensler has homed in on trad-
ing platforms and argued that they should Investigations by the SEC’s enforcement
do more to protect retail investors. unit can lead to the regulator suing compa-
nies or individuals.
Coinbase shares fell as much as 4.8% in Read the full story
premarket trading on Tuesday.The stock has
lost almost three-quarters of its value this year.

MUMBAI (July 26): Zipmex, the Asia-fo- Zipmex seeking site. In Singapore, the exchange holds an
cused crypto exchange that froze some US$50 mil after exempted payment service provider permit,
withdrawals last week, has said it is seek- freezing crypto rather than a full licence under the central
ing to raise at least US$50 million to repair bank’s new regime for crypto-asset firms.
its balance sheet. withdrawals
Among its products is ZipUp+, an ac-
The company confirmed the targeted by Suvashree Ghosh count that pays yields as high as 10% on
fundraising amount in an emailed response Bloomberg deposits of tokens like Bitcoin, Ether, and
to questions from Bloomberg. Zipmex is in Litecoin. Withdrawals from that product
discussions to sell all or part of itself after bloomberg are still frozen.
lending money to troubled crypto firms
Babel Finance and Celsius Network Ltd, a Zipmex operates in Thailand, Singa- Thailand’s SEC is investigating whether
person with knowledge of the matter said, pore, Indonesia, and Australia. It has a there were any legal violations by Zipmex’s
asking not to be named discussing private licence for digital asset trading from the Bangkok-based unit as the company’s ac-
deliberations. Securities and Exchange Commission tions affected a large number of people,
(SEC) of Thailand, according to its web- according to a statement from the watch-
Zipmex said in a tweet on Sunday that dog on Monday.
one of “various interested parties” it had
held talks with had “offered terms” in a “We have been engaged with the SEC
memorandum of understanding, without and other government agencies to pro-
identifying the entity. vide them with all required documents,”
a Zipmex spokesperson said in an email,
The fundraising target roughly repre- declining to comment further.
sents Zipmex’s combined exposures to Ba- Read also:
bel and Celsius, which stand at US$48 Bitcoin sinks to one-week low as another
million and US$5 million, respectively. Fed rate increase looms
Zipmex was derailed by the daisy chain
of defaults that has rippled through the ‘Cryptojacking’ attacks on financial firms
highly interconnected market for crypto surged in first half — report
lending and borrowing following a US$2
trillion rout in digital assets. Celsius filed
for bankruptcy earlier in July and Babel
has tapped restructuring advisers.

w e d n e s d a y j u LY 2 7 , 2 0 2 2 28 T h e E d g e C E O m o r n i n g b r i e f

world

news In brief

Mark Zuckerberg sells San Francisco Bloomberg Bangladesh seeking IMF bailout
home for a record US$31 mil as its FX reserves fall, sources say
the home months after Facebook went (July 26): Bangladesh is seeking a loan
(July 26): Facebook co-founder Mark public. In 2013, he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, from the International Monetary Fund,
Zuckerberg has sold his San Francisco undertook a multi-million dollar renovation according to people with knowledge
house for US$31 million, the most project, with additions including a laundry of the matter, the latest South Asian
expensive home sale in the city this room, wine room, wet bar and greenhouse, nation to ask for assistance as costlier oil
year, according to The Real Deal. The along with other upgrades, according to eats into the region’s foreign-exchange
Meta Platforms CEO paid about US$10 SFGate. The tech billionaire owns several stockpiles. Prime Minister Sheikh
million for the house in November 2012, other properties in Silicon Valley, Lake Tahoe Hasina’s government has written to the
according to Redfin. Located in the and Hawaii, according to Insider. — Bloomberg multilateral lender with its request, the
secluded Liberty Hill neighborhood off people said, asking not to be identified
Dolores Park, the more than 7,000 square discussing sensitive details. The Daily
foot house is close to the Mission District Star newspaper, which reported the
and the Zuckerberg San Francisco General development earlier, said Bangladesh
Hospital and Trauma Center. The home wants US$4.5 billion from the IMF. The
was built in 1928 and sits on a quarter-acre IMF stands ready to start negotiations,
lot, the listing says. Zuckerberg bought according to a draft seen by Bloomberg of
an unpublished statement, following the
Bloomberg Singapore aims to give kids under lender’s staff visit to Bangladesh. Foreign
five Covid-19 vaccines exchange reserves in Bangladesh slipped
China wants to increase palm oil to US$39.79 billion as of July 13, from
imports from Indonesia (July 26): Singapore is looking to vaccinate US$45.33 billion a year earlier. That’s
JAKARTA (July 26): China has expressed children between six months and four years enough to cover roughly four months of
its commitment to increase its imports of towards the fourth quarter of this year, imports, slightly higher than the IMF’s
one million tonnes of crude palm oil from following the death of two children from recommended three-month cover. Calls
Indonesia, said President Joko Widodo. Covid-19 infections in the city-state over the to Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal
During his meeting with Chinese Premier past two months. The authorities are currently and an email to the IMF’s representative
Li Keqiang in Beijing, he said China also doing the necessary preparation to roll out the in Singapore were unanswered. —
wanted to prioritise imports of agricultural vaccines, Singapore’s Ministry of Health said Bloomberg
products from the country. In a statement on in an emailed response to Bloomberg News. The
Tuesday (July 26), Joko Widodo expressed Southeast Asian nation, which is going through Bloomberg
hope that the value of trade between the a wave of infections driven by Omicron
two countries — which has already exceeded variants, reported its first Covid death in a Amazon Prime plans inflation-
US$100 billion — will continue to increase. patient under 12 years in June. About 3.9% busting 31% price hikes in Europe
The two leaders also discussed cooperation of the 1.7 million Covid cases reported (July 26): Amazon.com Inc said it’s
on the development of a Green Industrial locally since the start of the pandemic were increasing the cost of its Prime
Park in North Kalimantan. — Bernama children under five, according to the Ministry subscription in the UK, Germany, France,
of Health. “Children under four are much Spain and Italy, as a result of inflation
more resilient than older patients, but more and associated operating costs. The
vulnerable compared to older children and annual price of the free-shipping service
young adults.” Singapore’s move to inoculate will increase to £95 (US$114.06) from
younger children comes as Hong Kong weighs £79 in the UK starting from Sept 15, the
approving vaccines for children under three. company said in a statement on Tuesday.
In June, US health officials cleared vaccines Prices will jump by 31% on average across
for infants and toddlers, the last remaining age the affected European countries and
group that hasn’t been eligible. — Bloomberg follow similar hikes in the US announced
in February. “From what we have seen in
Environmental groups ask Tesla to stop nickel plans in Indonesia the United States, there has been no opt-
out phenomenon because more and more
HONG KONG (July 26): Environmental groups urged Tesla Inc on Monday to reconsider its plans services are being provided via Prime and
for nickel investment in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of the material, as environmental, this service still allows consumers to make
social, and governance scrutiny mounts in an industry crucial to the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. extremely significant savings,” an Amazon
In an open letter addressed to chief executive officer Elon Musk and shareholders, dozens of spokesperson said by phone. — Bloomberg
organisations asked the EV giant to terminate direct investment plans in Indonesia’s nickel industry
and bar nickel sourced and produced in the country from being used in Tesla’s cars. “The nickel
industry in Indonesia has a record of environmental damage, criminalisation threats that abuse
democracy and equity, the threats to the vulnerable groups, and multiple violations of law,” read
the letter, which was signed by groups representing Indonesian and US civil society organisations.
The groups pointed to Wawonii Island, in Indonesia’s south-east Sulawesi region, as an especially
vulnerable area — writing that mining there has damaged coral reefs. Representatives for Tesla and
the Indonesian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. — Bloomberg

w e d n e s d a y j u LY 2 7 , 2 0 2 2 29 T h e E d g e C E O m o r n i n g b r i e f

world

The US$290 bil fund helping make tiny
Singapore an agricultural powerhouse

SINGAPORE (July 26): Temasek Hold- by David Ramli as part of the drive,” Lopez said. “Com-
ings chief executive officer (CEO) Dilhan Bloomberg modities and food security have tradition-
Pillay runs a US$290 billion state-owned ally been a big concern for small nations
investment empire. But every quarter he “Despite such massive resources, this that do not have enough farmland. Geo-
spends up to two hours chatting to a man industry produces a third of greenhouse political crises and deglobalisation trends
in Indonesia about fish. gases, and a third of what it produces ac- only make it worse.”
tually just goes to waste,” Maheshwari
Those lengthy calls with Bandung-based said. “These are massive challenges that Temasek’s strategy has been to blend
eFishery, a startup so small it only accounts are very ripe for the kind of capital that financial clout with extensive market and
for 0.01% ofTemasek’s portfolio, are em- we bring in.” climate analysis and to provide entrepre-
blematic of its quiet zeal for the business neurs with one of Asia’s most potent net-
of food.The precarious state of the world’s Singapore produces only about 10% working rolodexes.
food supply, highlighted by sizzling heat- of its food, and while it’s trying to lift that
waves that are wilting crops in Europe, to 30% by investing in technologies such When US-based Impossible Foods was
China and the US, has found an unlikely as offshore fish farms and vertical farm- trying to expand abroad in 2019 for ex-
crusader in Singapore, a small island with ing, the only way to guarantee long-term ample,Temasek served up its plant-based
hardly any agriculture at all. supply in the face of climate change and burgers at the sovereign fund’s plush cor-
disruptions such as the war in Ukraine is porate box at the city’s Formula 1 street
Under its relatively new CEO Pillay to build complex and redundant supply race. As Ferrari and Red Bull racecars shot
and head of agri-food Anuj Maheshwari, chains. past, Impossible’s first employee Nick Hal-
Temasek has doubled down on an agri- la and his team faced a rapid-fire night of
culture strategy involving ambitious in- When Malaysia — supplier of a third networking with up to a dozen Temasek
vestments — including efforts that take of Singapore’s chicken — banned most executives introducing A-list contacts from
control of some businesses — to try and exports in June to keep domestic prices across the region.
reap profits from solving some of the big- down, Singapore added suppliers of frozen
gest problems in food production. Since chicken from Indonesia to supplement im- “We were able to have weeks’ worth of
2015 it’s quietly grown its life science and ports from Brazil,Thailand and Australia follow-up meetings” with food companies,
agriculture holdings from about US$5.7 to soften the blow. supply chain contacts and customers, said
billion to US$26.7 billion as of March this Halla, who left the company recently to
year, spanning everything from plant-based “Who knew the Ukraine war would work on climate change-related ventures.
meat maker Impossible Foods Inc and Bay- happen and we would not have any chick- “Things like that are really high value.”
er AG to Israeli irrigation firms. en?” Maheshwari said. “The reality is it’s
not just a long-term thing but also a short- Maheshwari had tasted a prototype Im-
“When we started looking at this, most term thing.” possible burger andTemasek was an early
of our peers were not focused on this in- investor, supplying growth capital. By 2017
dustry because it tends to have government Temasek started systematically backing Temasek was leading the startup’s Series
influence, it’s volatile and it involves land, agriculture ventures in 2015, putting it well E funding round.
which can be capital intensive,” Mahesh- ahead of many other state-owned inves-
wari said in an interview. “But if we don’t tors, according to Diego Lopez, managing Olam battle
create a system that is more efficient and director of Global SWF. Venture capital At other times, Temasek’s sheer financial
resilient to climate change the food secu- firm AgFunder’s 2022 AgriFoodTech In- heft has come to the rescue.
rity of the planet is at risk.” vestment Report named Temasek as the
world’s fifth-most-active venture capital When Singapore-based Olam Group
Almost half of the earth’s habitable fund manager in the sector. Ltd was attacked by short-seller Carson
land, 70% of its fresh water and 30% of Block in 2012, its shares slumped 20%.
the workforce is used for agriculture, said “The entry of Temasek and big finan- Temasek and other investors stepped in,
Maheshwari. ciers has been incredibly important, with underwriting and purchasing hundreds of
new efforts and technologies being enabled millions of dollars in bonds and warrants.
And when other activist investors started
reuters separate attacks, it spent billions to buy
control of the business.

“Temasek’s support at that critical junc-
ture was very important,” said Olam CEO
Sunny Verghese.

Today Olam is one of the world’s larg-
est traders of food staples, shipping over
45 million tonnes coffee, palm oil, rice
and other food staples each year. Ex-
treme weather and the war in Ukraine
have pushed up commodity prices, help-
ing revenue surge 31% in 2021.

Read the full story

W E D N E S D A Y J U LY 2 7 , 2 0 2 2 30 T H E E D G E C E O M O R N I N G B R I E F

MARKETS

CPO RM 3,788.00142.00 OIL US$ 106.971.82 RM/USD 4.4577 RM/SGD 3.2154 RM/AUD 3.0961 RM/GBP 5.3636 RM/EUR 4.5360

Top 20 active stocks

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

UMEDIC GROUP BHD 123.50 0.120 0.440 0 164.5

SERBA DINAMIK HOLDINGS BHD 96.00 0.025 0.110 -68.57 408.1

MY EG SERVICES BHD 64.40 0.015 0.755 -29.44 5,576.1

ZEN TECH INTERNATIONAL BHD 57.50 -0.005 0.050 -56.52 40.4

BINTAI KINDEN CORP BHD 52.40 0.010 0.120 -44.19 102.3

TWL HOLDINGS BHD 52.10 -0.010 0.060 20.00 221.2

TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 51.40 -0.005 0.990 -61.78 7,927.1

METRONIC GLOBAL BHD 42.80 0.010 0.100 -18.09 29.2

CYPARK RESOURCES BHD 39.00 0.055 0.415 -54.40 244.4 World equity indices

HIBISCUS PETROLEUM BHD 34.90 0.040 0.870 6.75 1,750.8

SAPURA ENERGY BHD 27.20 0.000 0.045 -10.00 719.1 CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
(%)
DAGANG NEXCHANGE BHD 27.10 0.005 0.770 1.32 2,430.4 (%) INDONESIA 6,871.54 13.13 0.19
DOW JONES 31,990.04 90.75 0.28 JAPAN 27,655.21 -44.04 -0.16
NWP HOLDINGS BHD 25.90 -0.005 0.255 4.08 134.2 KOREA 2,412.96 9.27 0.39
PHILIPPINES 6,223.00 13.47 0.22
JADE MARVEL GROUP BHD 25.80 0.005 0.855 29.55 280.5 S&P 500 3,966.84 5.21 0.13 SINGAPORE 3,192.12 11.65 0.37
TAIWAN 14,806.78 -129.55 -0.87
KUMPULAN JETSON BHD 24.00 0.015 0.265 26.19 71.0 NASDAQ 100 12,328.41 -68.06 -0.55 THAILAND 1,553.18 -7.13 -0.46
VIETNAM 1,185.07 -3.43 -0.29
WIDAD GROUP BHD 18.40 -0.015 0.350 -4.11 963.4 FTSE 100 7,349.80 43.50 0.60
Source: Bloomberg
SENTORIA GROUP BHD 17.50 -0.005 0.145 -17.14 80.9 AUSTRALIA 6,807.27 17.34 0.26

SOUTH MALAYSIA INDUSTRIES 17.20 0.010 0.375 87.5 78.7 CHINA 3,277.44 27.05 0.83

BSL CORP BHD 16.50 -0.005 0.090 -91.18 25.0 HONG KONG 20,905.88 342.94 1.67

KPOWER BHD 16.00 0.005 0.260 -38.10 141.1 INDIA 55,268.49 -497.73 -0.89

Data as compiled on Jul 26, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Jul 26, 2022

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)

VSOLAR GROUP BHD 0.010 100.00 614.6 -33.33 48.3 NEXGRAM HOLDINGS BHD 0.005 -50.00 276.6 -50.00 22.1

MNC WIRELESS BHD 0.015 50.00 607.0 0.00 34.3 CHINA AUTOMOBILE PARTS 0.010 -33.33 30.0 0.00 13.6

UMEDIC GROUP BHD 0.440 37.50 123,482.2 0.00 164.5 AE MULTI HOLDINGS BHD 0.015 -25.00 90.2 -50.00 32.5

PASUKHAS GROUP BHD 0.020 33.33 380.1 -20 38.1 GREEN OCEAN CORP BHD 0.015 -25.00 196.0 -50.00 31.7

SERBA DINAMIK HOLDINGS BHD 0.110 29.41 96,023.0 -68.57 408.1 SANICHI TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.020 -20.00 6,119.9 -20.00 28.1

HB GLOBAL LTD 0.135 22.73 9,008.8 -32.50 104.0 JERASIA CAPITAL BHD 0.025 -16.67 1.2 -84.38 2.1

ALAM MARITIM RESOURCES BHD 0.035 16.67 384.3 40.00 53.6 XOX NETWORKS BHD 0.025 -16.67 178.0 -16.67 28.4

DOLPHIN INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.035 16.67 11,078.5 -50.00 46.8 TWL HOLDINGS BHD 0.060 -14.29 52,093.7 20.00 221.2

CYPARK RESOURCES BHD 0.415 15.28 38,961.9 -54.40 244.4 LIEN HOE CORP BHD 0.345 -13.75 1.5 -5.48 114.7

SILVER RIDGE HOLDINGS BHD 0.120 14.29 130.0 -41.46 23.5 G3 GLOBAL BHD 0.035 -12.50 2,367.2 -56.25 101.6

TRIVE PROPERTY GROUP BHD 0.050 11.11 191.0 66.67 63.2 HEITECH PADU BHD 0.840 -11.58 23.0 -33.33 85.0

KHEE SAN BHD 0.100 11.11 41.3 -28.57 13.7 OVERSEA ENTERPRISE BHD 0.090 -10.00 252.0 -25.00 102.1

METRONIC GLOBAL BHD 0.100 11.11 42,816.1 -18.09 29.2 SAUDEE GROUP BHD 0.045 -10.00 1,184.3 -18.18 44.6

SMRT HOLDINGS BHD 0.115 9.52 277.2 4.55 51.2 GREEN PACKET BHD 0.045 -10.00 1,424.9 -43.75 71.8

COMPUTER FORMS MALAYSIA BHD 1.190 9.17 7,131.8 90.400 244.0 SERSOL BHD 0.150 -9.09 404.8 -30.56 81.5

YONG TAI BHD 0.060 9.09 7,463.6 -53.85 85.7 ZEN TECH INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.050 -9.09 57,520.6 -56.52 40.4

BINTAI KINDEN CORP BHD 0.120 9.09 52,363.3 -44.19 102.3 LION POSIM BHD 0.455 -9.00 5.0 -18.75 103.7

PAN MALAYSIA HOLDINGS BHD 0.060 9.09 6.2 -25.00 55.7 MENTIGA CORP BHD 0.575 -8.73 4.2 -11.54 40.3

FARLIM GROUP BHD 0.255 8.51 1.0 2 39 KIA LIM BHD 0.320 -8.57 4.8 -34.02 19.8

PIMPINAN EHSAN BHD 1.250 7.76 31.2 -14.38 86.4 SEACERA GROUP BHD 0.165 -8.33 64.0 -21.43 102.6

Data as compiled on Jul 26, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Jul 26, 2022 Source: Bloomberg

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

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

DUTCH LADY MILK INDUSTRIES 33.00 0.400 0.1 -1.55 2,112.0 NESTLE MALAYSIA BHD 134.100 -0.400 15.5 -0.07 31,446.5

KESM INDUSTRIES BHD 7.10 0.400 24.1 -42.18 305.4 PETRONAS GAS BHD 16.640 -0.360 362.6 -7.01 32,926.1

MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES 30.50 0.260 64.1 -38.21 6,066.3 PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD 22.500 -0.300 29.8 9.22 22,352.7

HEINEKEN MALAYSIA BHD 22.72 0.220 261.3 9.02 6,863.7 BATU KAWAN BHD 22.800 -0.200 4.2 0.44 8,973.2

BONIA CORP BHD 2.24 0.160 1,119.9 133.47 448.9 UNITED PLANTATIONS BHD 14.280 -0.160 89.5 4.19 5,901.9

TEXCHEM RESOURCES BHD 2.85 0.150 895.6 145.69 337.2 KUALA LUMPUR KEPONG BHD 21.640 -0.160 726.0 -0.64 23,331.3

HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP 19.04 0.140 24.6 9.80 21,805.4 UMS HOLDINGS BHD 1.900 -0.150 5.0 -5.00 77.3

CARLSBERG BREWERY MALAYSIA 22.48 0.120 31.4 11.95 6,873.2 HONG LEONG CAPITAL BHD 6.050 -0.150 870.8 -16.90 1,493.7

UMEDIC GROUP BHD 0.44 0.120 123,482.2 0.00 164.5 UMW HOLDINGS BHD 2.830 -0.130 613.1 -4.71 3,306.3

HONG LEONG INDUSTRIES BHD 8.88 0.120 4.8 -3.27 2,836.9 DIGI.COM BHD 3.390 -0.120 2,472.2 -22.25 26,357.3

IMASPRO CORP BHD 4.14 0.120 5.5 66.94 331.2 ALLIANZ MALAYSIA BHD 12.780 -0.120 14.3 -0.62 2,274.3

COMPUTER FORMS MALAYSIA BHD 1.19 0.100 7,131.8 90.40 244.0 HEITECH PADU BHD 0.840 -0.110 23.0 -33.33 85.0

D&O GREEN TECHNOLOGIES BHD 3.91 0.100 914.6 -33.73 4,837.2 MAXIS BHD 3.390 -0.100 1,662.3 -29.93 26,544.2

MISC BHD 7.10 0.100 1,811.3 0.71 31,692.6 WESTPORTS HOLDINGS BHD 3.570 -0.070 886.8 -11.85 12,173.7

HONG LEONG BANK BHD 20.68 0.100 1,211.5 11.06 44,828.4 PMB TECHNOLOGY BHD 2.610 -0.070 113.1 6.27 3,265.1

LPI CAPITAL BHD 13.50 0.100 22.0 -3.98 5,378.2 TENAGA NASIONAL BHD 8.030 -0.070 1,300.7 -14.03 46,197.2

GAS MALAYSIA BHD 3.30 0.090 1,106.1 24.53 4,237.2 MENTIGA CORP BHD 0.575 -0.055 4.2 -11.54 40.3

CHIN HIN GROUP BHD 4.48 0.090 1,177.8 71.65 3,963.5 LIEN HOE CORP BHD 0.345 -0.055 1.5 -5.48 114.7

PIMPINAN EHSAN BHD 1.25 0.090 31.2 -14.38 86.4 SCIENTEX BHD 3.300 -0.050 701.9 -31.11 5,118.3

PETRON MALAYSIA REFINING 4.78 0.080 197.4 9.13 1,290.6 RHB BANK BHD 5.780 -0.050 1,380.3 7.64 24,345.8

Data as compiled on Jul 26, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Jul 26, 2022 Source: Bloomberg