MRCB: The Way Forward

Malaysian Resources Corp has not submitted a formal bid to buy or help develop thousands of acres of federal land in the Klang Valley. This was made known at the EGM held on 21 December 2009 to get shareholders' nod on its 1 for 2 rights issue at RM1.12 per shares.

It has, however, made an informal approach to buy or help develop thousands of acres of federal land in the Klang Valley.[Does it not give you some kind of hunch or clue?]

CEO Mohamed Razeek Hussain admitted this as no formal bid has been submitted.

"We have expressed our interest. It's up to the government to whom it wants to allocate the land," Razeek said in response to a poser whether MRCB had made a bid to the government for prime land in two areas.

The government recently announced plans to sell or co-develop its prized landbank in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur and Sungai Buloh in Selangor.

During Budget 2010, it singled out a 100 acres in Jalan Cochrane near Maluri in Cheras (market rate of RM100-RM150 per sq ft) and 2,000 acres at Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia in Sungai Buloh.

The latter land is sited near an industry park in Kota Damansara, with an estimated market rate of RM30 per sq ft.

Razeek said MRCB is keen on increasing its landbank to turn it into mixed development projects.

He assured shareholders that it was unlikely that MRCB will make any cash call in the next five years after its proposed renounceable one-for-two rights issue.

Shareholders yesterday gave their nod on the exercise that will raise gross proceeds of between RM508 million and RM541 million.

"(With money from the rights issue,) we will have sufficient fund to participate in future projects especially in the construction sector.

He added that the company's performance should be better this year and beyond than in 2008 on the back of various ongoing and new projects.

Meanwhile, the rights issue at RM1.12 a share will raise MRCB's share capital to between 1.36 billion and 1.44 billion from the present 907.62 million shares.

Proceeds will be used to fund expansion into environmental engineering and infrastructure business, acquisition of prime land for property development, as well as for MRCB's 51 per cent equity investment in Nu Sentral Sdn Bhd.

The latter company is a joint venture with Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd set up to acquire and manage a seven-storey retail mall called Nu Sentral at KL Sentral.

MRCB said its gearing level will ease to as low as 1.2 times from 2.5 times now after the completion of the rights issue.

As at end-September this year, it has total borrowings of RM1.6 billion.

The rights issue should be completed before the end of January 2010.

So MRCB shareholders-prepare to fork out some money for the rights so that you can average down as well as partake of any capitalization gains that may come out of that, perhaps in a pre-Chinese New Year run!

Malaysia: Debt Collection and Its Ethics

This is interesting. We know about the harsh tactics employed by debt collectors to get debtors to pay up. It can range from incessant trauma creating phone calls to compel repayment or verbal abuse including physical handling of debtors to force them to hand over a vehicle for re-posssession.

Apparently, there are procedures to be followed in collecting debts; and ethics too!

According to a Deputy Minister in the Finance Ministry, Chor Chee Heung debt collectors appointed by financial institutions cannot use violence and harass loan takers.

He said this was included in the debt collection fair practice guideline and should be followed by the appointed debt collectors.

He said,"Financial institutions can use the service of debt collectors but they must follow the regulations in the guideline approved by Bank Negara Malaysia.”

Other than forbidding violence and harassment, debt collectors should be ethical and were not allowed to call loan takers more than three times weekly. This is truly laughable!

The guidelines have been introduced by Bank Negara Malaysia to strengthen the protection and professionalism structure of debt collection.”

Chor said loan takers unhappy with the action of debt collectors appointed could complain to the financial institutions.

“As for those unhappy with the financial institutions, they can report the matter to Bank Negara Malaysia,” he added.

2010: Good Projection for Chips and Electronics Firms

David Tan wrote this article in the Malaysian Insider today (21 December 2009).

I append his article.

"Penang-based public-listed companies involved in the semiconductor, electronics and automated equipment manufacturing are mostly looking forward to a reasonably strong first quarter in 2010, which is seasonally a weak period for them.

The positive prognosis is based on indicators such as increased spending on worldwide semiconductor equipment, rising demand for LCDs, and integrated circuit (IC) chips.

The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, in a recent report, forecast that global electronics sales could rise 5% to US$2.2 trillion in 2010.

Electronics and communications equipment, in terms of dollars shipped, would grow for the first time in three years due to spending by various governments, the report said.

“The tremendous spending by various governments, including US$586bil in China, US$224bil in Japan and US$800bil in the US, helped spur recovery in the electronics sector,” the report said.

Among those anticipating double-digit growth in sales volume in the first quarter next year compared with a year ago are GUH Holdings Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd and P.I.E. Industrial Bhd.


GUH, a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing specialist based its projection on the orders received so far for its PCBs from Japanese and South Korean multinational corporations.

Managing director Datuk H’ng Bak Tee said that based on orders secured so far, the group’s monthly output of PCBs would return to over 200,000 sq m in the first quarter of 2010, against an average 140,000 sq m now.

“This is the level before the onset of the global economic crisis in the third quarter of 2008. For GUH, the drivers of growth are the LCD and light-emitting diode (LED) televisions.

“We will be manufacturing for the orders to be shipped out next spring and summer,” he said.

According to Texas-based research firm DisplaySearch, worldwide LCD television sales would increase by 17% to 149 million units in 2010.

“LG Electronics Inc plans to ship out 25 million LCD TVs in 2010, compared with 17 million in 2009, while Samsung aims to sell 10 million LED TVs in 2010, up from two million in 2009,” H’ng said.

Automated equipment manufacturing specialist Pentamaster expects inventory restocking among its customers to impact its sales volume for the first quarter.

Executive chairman C. B. Chuah said the fourth quarter of 2009 slowed slightly from the third quarter as the group’s MNC customers, mainly from the United States, Europe and Taiwan, exercised caution on their inventory.

“But in the first quarter of 2010, we expect them to restock their inventory with new automated test equipment and packaging and assembly equipment that support advanced processes such as wafer-level packaging, 3D processes, and DDR 3 SDRAM memory processes,” he said.

According to the US-based Gartner research house, worldwide spending on automated test and packaging and assembly equipment will rise by 59.7% and 52.8% to US$2.15bil and US$3.63bil respectively in 2010.

Seberang Prai-based electronics contract manufacturer P.I.E. also cited orders secured from United States, Europe, and Japan for its bullish outlook for the next quarter.

Growth would be driven by industrial electronics products such as control modules, components used in telecommunications and point-of-sales devices, and medical equipment.

“We are spending about RM5mil in the first quarter of 2010 to upgrade two production facilities in Seberang Jaya, which are now fully utilised, running on full shifts,” managing director Alvin Mui.

IC chips manufacturer Globetronics Technology Bhd expects a steady increase in volume for the first quarter of 2010, versus a year earlier. Group chief financial controller Ng Kok Choon said that even if production volume declined, it would be a slight fall compared with the final quarter of 2009.

The increased demand for PCs, mobile phones and solid state lighting industries would boost demand for IC chips, he said.

A recent Semiconductor Industry Association report forecast that global sales of semiconductor products would grow 10.2% to US$242bil next year and 8.4% to US$262bil in 2011. In 2009, global sales fell 11.6% to US$219.7bil.

Gartner recently projected that PC shipments would reach 333.6 million units in 2010, representing a 12.6% increase from the 2009 figures.

The value of PC shipments is expected to hit US$222.9bil, a 2.6% increase over 2009."

We Lost a Little Sunshine

A promising star Brittany Murphy, of 'Girl,Interupted', 'Clueless', and '8 Mile', dies today at the age of 32.

Brittany, who got her start in the sleeper hit 'Clueless' and rose to stardom in '8 Mile',died Sunday (20 December US time)in Los Angeles.

Murphy was rushed to a hospital from her home in the Hollywood Hills. There is currently no news of the cause of her death.

According to a neighbor, Clare Staples said she saw firefighters working to resuscitate the actress Sunday morning. She said Murphy was on a stretcher and "looked as though she was dead at the scene."

Murphy's husband, wearing pajama bottoms and no shoes, appeared "dazed" as firefighters tried to save her, Staples said. "It's just tragic," she added.

Born Nov 10, 1977, in Atlanta, Murphy grew up in New Jersey and later moved with her mother Sharon to Los Angeles to pursue acting.

Her career started in the early 1990s with small roles in television series, commercials and movies. She is best known for parts in 'Girl, Interrupted', 'Clueless' and '8 Mile'.

Her on-screen roles declined in recent years, but Murphy's voice gave life to numerous animated characters, including Luanne Platter on more than 200 episodes of Fox's King of the Hill and Gloria the penguin in the 2006 feature Happy Feet.

She dated Ashton Kutcher, who co-starred with her in 2003's romantic comedy 'Just Married'.

Kutcher sent a message on Twitter Sunday morning about Murphy's death: "Today the world lost a little piece of sunshine," Kutcher wrote. "My deepest condolences go out to Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."

This was one great actress with those doleful eyes and a great come-hither.

We will surely missed her!

Malaysia: Risking Lives in a Faraway Country

You have to see them scaling the heights of all those multi-storeyed buildings. Without harnesses, hard-hats and industrial boots, they are there on the scaffolding and on the skeletal frames of buildings.


My salute to these Indonesia workers. They have to take so much risk to earn so little. And to die by falling off these tall buildings far away from home if indeed tragic.


Lately, a majority of these Indonesian construction workers have mostly gone home as the economy is getting better there at home. Armed with new skills acquired through the Malaysian experience, they know that they can now earn better at home than before.


And that,my friend, is the silver lining.

Malaysia: Reprieve for Existing Credit Card Holders

At least there is now some direction from the authorities. A Minister has just announced that only applicants issued with new cre­dit and charge cards next year will have to pay the RM50 service tax upfront.

For existing card holders, the charge will be im­­posed on the anniversary date of cards.

Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah confirmed this yesterday.

“Existing cardholders will only be charged the ser­vice tax through their issuing banks upon the aniversary date of the card.

“For example, if the card’s anniversary date is in January, then you pay the tax in January. But if the date is in April, then you only pay the tax in April,” he added.

The minister’s clarification puts to rest nagging doubts among the millions of credit card holders in the country who have been raising queries since Prime Minister Najib an­­nounced the new tax when he unveiled Budget 2010 in October.

There are currently some 11 million credit cards circulating in the country. Obviously these are official data.

There has been so much card surrender since the announcement of this punitive tax that I guessed that perhaps we should accept that only 60% or so of cards are now in circulation.So the government's pipe dream of collecting RM550 million from this tax seems to be "half dead in the water"!

Malaysia: Third Rate Taxi Service

A Minister likened Malaysian taxi drivers to have "toilet" mentality. According to him their taxis are equally dirty! Think he is being cheeky and antagonistic?

No, third parties have bailed him out.

Complaints about taxis are so rife that they spawn dedicated threads on expatriate forums. As many Malaysians drive their own cars, expatriates and tourists are among the most frequent taxi users in the country.

In a survey published last year by local magazine The Expat, some 200 foreigners from 30 nations rated Malaysia the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise.

They labelled Malaysian cabbies, among other things, “a national disgrace”, “extortionists” and “a serious threat to tourists”.

On Aug 1 this year, a long-awaited taxi fare hike was introduced, in the hope of improving services.

Under the new rules, the flag-down rate is RM3 instead of RM2. More significantly, the meter jumps more quickly when cabs stop moving, which is a common occurrence in Kuala Lumpur, given the heavy traffic.

The fare adjustment would have increased cabbies' income by about 30 per cent, and it did ease some problems, according to feedback from regular taxi users — but not enough.

The Expat magazine's group editor, Douglas Williams, told The Straits Times that one major bugbear continues to plague the industry — taxi touts still prowl the usual tourist spots.

Among the problem areas: the popular Suria KLCC shopping complex located at the iconic Petronas Twin Towers; the shopping belt along Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur's equivalent of Singapore's Orchard Road; and the long-distance bus interchange at downtown Puduraya.

At Suria KLCC, a prominent sign placed at the entrance of the mall urges shoppers not to accept taxi rides from touts. Yet, barely 50m away, touts continue to ply their trade every day, grabbing any tourist who emerges from the mall. So where are the Commercial Vehicle Licensing boys? They must surely be deaf until the KLCC authorities have to put up such a 'sad reflection' of a sign!

Touts could be fined RM300 and lose their taxi licence, but they continue to flout the law. It is easy to see why they are prepared to take the risk.

Williams, 40, said he is charged anything from two to five times the metered fare whenever he takes taxis from tourist spots — which significantly outstrips the 30 per cent fare increase following the adjustment in August.

“Meeting a bad taxi driver leaves tourists with a poor first impression,” said the Scot, who moved to Malaysia 1½ years ago.

“Taxis in any halfway-developed city really should go by the meter all the time.”

Indeed, with expats now ensconced in many other Asian cities, Kuala Lumpur's taxis are increasingly being measured against higher benchmarks. Thailand and China are just two of the countries that are said to have more reliable cab services.

Another common grouse from foreigners is that Malaysian taxis are dirty and old. In addition, foreigners say grievances are seldom redressed by the authorities.

However, those in the industry say errant drivers form only a small proportion of all cabbies.

Aslah Abdullah, president of the Federal Territory and Selangor Taxi Operators Association, said many cabbies had started using the meter since the fee hike — a trend also noted by regular taxi commuters that The Straits Times spoke to.

What Aslah feels is lacking is adequate enforcement of the rules.

Government agencies such as the Road Transport Department and Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board are responsible for keeping errant cabbies in check, but effective policing is needed.

The most common reason given by the authorities for the lax policing? A lack of manpower. Until that problem is settled, errant drivers will continue to pose a problem, said Aslah.

So where are the police? As usual, this is a rhetoric question!