Genting: RWS Licence and Share Price Fatigue

It couldn't happened at the worse time. With the fearful cloud of sovereign incapacity of some European nations such as Spain and Greece, Resorts World Singapore which finally obtained its casino licence is expected to open this week,so reports Leong Hung Yee of the STAR.

Let us read what are the issues on this.

"Genting Singapore PLC, which has been issued a licence for its casino at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), is expected to open its doors this week.

Managing director Justin Tan Wah Joo said in a statement yesterday that RWS, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Genting Singapore, was issued the licence by Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority on Feb 6. RWS is one of two casinos which will start operation in Singapore this year.

Genting Singapore saw its shares shed 2 cents on the Straits Times Index to S$1.09. Genting Malaysia’s share fell 6 sen to RM6.72 yesterday. The company suspended its trading in its securities in early trade to formally announce the receipt of the casino licence. However, it did not say when it expects to open the casino in RWS.
Men walk past Singapore's first casino which is expected to open this week. - APfile. Singapore regulators said Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010, they issued Resorts World Sentosa a license to operate the city-state's first casino.

News report said the group might open its Universal Studios theme park at RWS on Feb 11 and the casino a day after.

Attempts to contact Genting Singapore, Genting Malaysia and RWS to confirm on its opening were unsuccessful.

RWS opened four of its hotels on Jan 20, and will open other attractions in phases, while Marina Bay sands (MBS) has said it would open in mid-April.

“The opening will allow RWS to capitalise on the Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations, often the most active time for Asian gamblers,” an analyst said, adding that beating MBS would allow RWS to capitalise on the excitement around Singapore’s much anticipated entry into gambling.

Morgan Stanley estimated that the Singapore’s gambling industry could generate between US$3bil and US$3.7bil of revenue in its first year of operation.

ECM Libra Research said it came to understand that RWS would open its doors to casino patrons yesterday. “To open a week before CNY will allow RWS to capture the higher margin mass market CNY volumes.”

“With MBS slated to open between April and June, RWS will take the lion’s share of the Singaporean gaming market which we value at S$4bil. With two to four months lead time, avid Singaporean gamblers will opt to pay the annual levy of S$2,000 rather than pay S$100 per 24 hour visit and commit themselves to gambling at RWS,” it added.

“With these first mover advantages, RWS is able to help contain cannibalisation on sister casino, Resorts World at Genting (RWG), by cross selling before MBS opens. We understand that the purpose of establishing the Simon Chelsea Premium Outlets and potentially hotels and theme parks in Johor is to direct RWS-RWG Malaysian patrons away from MBS,” it said.

TA Securities said rumour had it that tenants have been gearing up for opening by weeks-end, which marked the start of CNY festivities.

“If casino does open by Feb 13, we estimate that the additional 47 days worth of gaming receipts could add about S$209mil of FY10 revenue. Bottom-line would increase by S$63.67mil or 10.5%,” it said.

Analysts said Singapore’s casinos was well-placed to tap gamblers’ interest in Southeast Asia, and could possibly take business from the region.

According to Nomura Equity Research, investors would be watching if the competition from the two new casinos in Singapore prove less severe than what was currently anticipated by the street.

It added that investors would be assessing the impact of the two new casinos closely over the next 12 months on Genting Malaysia’s business.

“To reflect the potential threat from the two casinos in Singapore, we have factored in a 30% drop in high-roller business, 20% drop in VIP business, and a 10% fall in the mass-market contribution for FY10f.

“The fall in mass-market contribution is likely to be temporary, given the novelty factor of the new casinos.

“Over the long term, we expect the mass-market segment to stabilise, since it is difficult to imagine Malaysian mass-market punters making regular visits to Singapore,” Nomura said."

Well, we shall see how all these predictions pan out,won't we?

Malaysia: Gulf Dinars are Coming!

Walla,just in time to be the fillip for the drying up of investments from elsewhere. What luck to be included in the investment target countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The GCC countries are now keen to invest in three most important nations in Asia namely China, India and Malaysia to boost bilateral trade. This was reported by the Press Trust of India (PTI).

According to the Secretary General of the GCC Chambers,GCC countries are no longer keen to invest in Western economies anymore.

“The trend has changed after 9/11. We are looking more towards China, India and Malaysia to make investments,” he said.

Stating that India’s capital New Delhi is a “key partner” of the Gulf Cooperation Council and that “cash-rich” countries were now “increasingly looking towards India”, Qatar has said it will invest a whopping US$ two billion in the country.

Qatar, which has the highest per capita income in the Arab region, has plans to invest in India’s infrastructure and other promising sectors reported the PTI.

India is a key trade partner of the GCC and cash-rich countries were now increasingly looking towards India to park their investments

China: Potential 10% GDP for 2010

These days, we have so many people saying positive things about the management of the Chinese economy. Today the Chinese Academy of Sciences,an official think tank forecast China’s gross domestic product (GDP)to expand around 10 pct in 2010,mainly driven by investment and domestic consumption. This was reported in the official Xinhua agency today(7 February 2010).

Let us read Xinhua's report.

"Strong first-quarter growth of 11 pct will slow slightly for the rest of the year, with the pace of expansion dipping just below 10 pct in the second half, the Center for Forecasting Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in the report, which was issued at the weekend.

Growth in the third and fourth quarters will be 9.5 pct and 9.8 pct respectively, it said.

Foreign trade will rebound as the global economy improves, but overall net exports will be a drag on growth, bringing GDP expansion down by around 0.5 pct.

Exports will rise 16.6 pct and imports by 18.9 pct, with the overall value of foreign trade up 17.6 pct.

The government’s economic stimulus plan, which aims to bolster the Chinese economy amid the economic slowdown, will continue to drive investment, but growth will slow to 25 pct from 30.1 per cent in 2009, the report said.

It also forecast a 3.1 pct rise in the consumer price index as the economic revival, ample liquidity and inflation expectations drive up prices.

While seemingly mild given the extent of China’s monetary stimulus over the past year, the higher inflationary expectations are likely to worry those already concerned about the possibility of economic overheating.

China’s GDP last year grew 8.7 pct. The median 2010 GDP forecast of economist polled by Reuters late last month was 9.5 pct.

Native Expressions 1: Good To Know

This is the first of my series of postings on native English expressions. I have taken it from Boyd Lafayette De Mente's book,"Cheater's Guide to Speaking English Like a Native".

1. Wing it:

This expression refers to the wings of a bird. It gives an image of something moving or flying. ‘Wing it’ means to do something or move forward without any specific method or plan, just doing what is appropriate or right at that time.

E.g.

Sarah has no plan. She is just winging it.
The manager did not want us to wing this project. We must have a plan of action.
Okay! If that is what the Chairman wants, we’ll have to wing it!

2.Push Comes to Shove:

This expression refers to reaching a stalemate, when some drastic action is required to make progress.

E.g.

When push comes to shove, he always manages to come up with some workable solution.
We need a new marketing programme before push comes to shove.
Their team is especially good when push comes to shove.

3.Water it Down:

Mixing water with some other liquids to make it thinner or weaker is known as ‘watering it down’. This term is now also used in the sense of making contracts, commitments and comments in general weaker.

E.g.

No sooner was the contract signed that the manager began trying to water it down.
She watered down her criticisms when she saw how upset I was.
If we water down the demands, management may just accept our proposal.

4.Warm up To:

Begin to like someone usually as a result of getting to know them better over a period of time because of something they do or say.

E.g.

Martha really turned me off at the beginning, but I gradually warmed up to her.
During our second meeting, we gradually warmed up to each other.
The new accountant is really difficult to warm up to.

5.Up a Tree:

When a person doesn’t know the answer or has no idea of what to do about a situation, he or she is said to be up a tree where the options are definitely limited. This phrase can be traced to the practice of climbing trees to escape predators or some other danger and then being stuck there.

E.g.

If you do that, you are going to be up a tree for sure!
When it comes to things like that, he is always up a tree.
I got myself up a tree by making a promise I couldn’t keep.

The Terubuk Fish: Delicious But Dangerous!

I think it was only lately that I partake of the notorious terubuk fish.It is also known as the longtail scad. A freshwater fish, it is found or cultured in brackish water.

Why you may ask that it took me that long to sample this fish?

The basic reason is it is full of bones. Some are fine and hairy while others could be forked and hard as well.

To eat this fish, you must take maximum care. Always eat the fish separately. Never chew it together with rice. Take out the longer forked bones. Some people would just eat the soft hairy bones but for those with sensitive throat, best that you eat the fish with utmost caution.

The skin of the terubuk fish with its scale is edible. The flesh is sweet. It is a good fish to savour when fried or roasted over charcoal fire.


I have not eaten it cooked with any form of curry.

Have you tried the terubuk fish?

EPF: The 2009 Dividend Second Guess

A Bernama Report today speculated that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) dividend will likely pay a higher dividend compared to the 4.5 per cent paid out in 2008.

EPF chairman Samsudin Osman said this was due to the local share market’s stable position and good investment returns.

“A meeting on dividend rates will be held this month, while an announcement on it will be made in March,” he told reporters, here today.

In December, EPF announced that it obtained RM5.5 billion in profits in the third quarter last year, which was an increase of RM696.32 million (14.51 per cent) compared to RM4.8 billion in the previous quarter.

EPF chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said EPF funds had now increased to RM361.09 billion compared with RM353.93 billion in the second quarter last year.

For the year 2008, 12 million EPF members received a dividend of 4.5 per cent. This was lower compared to the 5.8 per cent paid out for 2007.

So what is your guess for the 2009 payout.

Many would be thankful if it could just equal the payout rate of 2007.

What do you think?

English Expressions: Into the Psyche of the English World

Boye Lafayette De Mente’s book,”Cheater’s Guide to Speaking English like a Native”, is a good book if you intend to increase your fluency of the language through the mastery of common English idioms and expressions.

Why should we study these then? The native speaker uses proverbs, metaphors, similes and a host of colloquial expressions in everyday speech. These have evolved over time, some over centuries. Using them reveals the cultural values and attitudes of the English speaking people.

The Americans, the English, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders do have special words only peculiar to themselves as they speak them in their respective countries. It is certainly good to know them and to be able to use them when occasions call for their contextual usage.

I would be blogging some of the more unique ones that have not become clichés or passé in my subsequent postings.Some may have but continue to be in current usage.