AGM-Some Memorable Events

Better Days, New Chairman

Apparently one of Musa Hitam's last task as Chairman of Sime Darby was to allow a minority shareholder  to speak as he was having difficulty controlling his urine and need to speak before he goes to a urinal.

No, it is no laughing matter but this sort of things do unexpectedly happen.

Sweet Surrender

Today I was at Khee San's AGM at the Mines Wellness Hotel.

The meeting was really brief. No questions asked; only praises heaped on the company's performance and the health of the Chairman.

So, shareholders got one more goody bag of sweets and a RM 15.00 McDonalds voucher.

Good day, Tan Sri Chairman.

See you next year again.

We pray that you will be hale and hearty!

Astro-Killing of its Employees' Investment

Entrapment of the Worst Kind!

This is the second worst performer after UOA Development.

No thanks to the fumbling authorities.

Now the Astro employees who bought the shares at RM 3.00 are suffering as they could have taken bank-loans to procure these ill-begotten 'pariah' shares.

Just like the poor minority shareholders who got the shares through the IPO and those who bought in the market at about that price, they are quietly licking their wounds.

As of today, Astro went as low as RM 2.61. As such those who bought at IPO price have have lost RM 400.00 per lot.

I think the authorities and the company owe these investors a lot of explanation.

Dishes of Disaster!

Unless UOA Development and Astro see some price readjustment upwards, retailers will shun our market.

I am sure the next few IPOs will be dead ducks!

No one will play!

Overdraft Jitters! Ouch!

Helpful debt resource?

Sure, it may be easy cash just when you need it.

A real life-saver.

For me, whenever I get a scam call over my mobile, I will always retort, " No, I do not want a personal loan. Any possibility of an overdraft?"

Overdraft facility are not easy to get. You may need to have huge fixed deposits at the bank for them to consider.

Fortunately, I got mine when they issued a credit card to me as an attraction- a sweetener!.

Carrying until your arms drop!

This one is the cheaper version though it is still higher than the industry overdraft facility. Instead of charging me legal fees for a loan agreement, they take an insurance on the quantum. I had this for more than 20 years and it had served me well.

I am unfortunately having another more expensive one.

The one from a foreign bank is a instant killer.

The interest for the lesser one may be about 8% interest but the latter charges  'an arm and a leg' tariff of 12% a year. The interest runs almost like a fuel meter when you fill up you car with gas! You will run amok if you see the bill at the end of the month!

Poor Graduate Debts

Yes, believe me,it will give you the jitters when you see the charges. Your mood may be bad the whole day long.Even a few day's borrowings can caused a burn in your wallet.

If you do not use it, it will be evaluated every quarterly and shrunk by a proportionate amount. I will let this one out to die on its own because of its Sylockian features that are inhumanely built-in.

As for the other one, I will have to live without it when they take it away.

So, the days ahead may be a frugal time for me.

Whatever it is, with or without overdraft facilities, it is the jitters!

No Loans for Old Men

No Country for Old Men

When you are old, even the banks look at you with disdain.

Don't talk about insurance companies. All policies will be expensive.

Assuming that a person gets a loan to buy a property, he will get the shortest payback period and will have to pay more than a bundle! This is like burning candles from both end.

Equivalent to getting the short end of the stick.

Sorry, no loan-lah!

So, if you want to buy a property, buy it early while you are still working and there are years ahead to pay the installments in a less costly amount.

When you are old, they do not even stipulate that you buy a MRTA-a mortgage reducing term assurance policy.

Even a standby mortgage is useless if you cannot afford to pay back the installments.

If you should 'knock' off, they will just get your next of kin to pay the balance owing or put it on the block to get their money back!

Really, its no country for old men!

Foreign Funds Dumping Telecommunication Stocks?

Least Damage

All you need is one smart alec to say that all the telecommunication shares on BSKL are overvalued.

Then all those foreign fund managers played dunking doughnuts and sold down telecommunication stocks on BSKL,wiping huge chunk of capitalization from Axiata particularly to Digi. Telekom Malaysia (TM)did not fare badly.

Are these really foreign funds?

Most Damage

While you see some traction in the buying up of Axiata shares as it appears to be oversold- down almost RM 1.80 ,there was marginal loss in TM. The one that also got the brunt was Digi.com which had lost almost RM 0.90 sen.

Median Damage

Tomorrow is Friday and it looks like it is a long way to climb back  to their former highs.

Worse, next week has only 3 trading days.

Overdoing Share Swaps-Punishing YTL Corp Shareholders

Sacrificing shareholders?

The  price of YTL Corp shares should have gone back to RM 2.15 if not for all these paper shuffling done by Francis at the behest of the shareholders.

He wanted YTL  Cement back and so he privatised it. No, he did not pay any-one of those YTL Cement shareholders with outright cash. He swapped papers and sapped the strength of YTL Corp and the share went down to RM 2.50. Just about gaining back his strength like a hurt Samson, he swapped again another bond with YTL Corp shares at RM 1.70.

So, today the counter is languishing at RM 1.75, dithering backwards and forwards with no energy to proceed.

Give us some cash-lah!

Francis has also informed that finally the only YTL company to be listed will be YTL Corp as he intends to take private all the other listed entities.

My fear is with all these additional papers swimming in Bursa, there is little chance that the mother share can have a good price.

What do you say, Francis?

As you have so much cash in your kitty-more than RM 14 billion, give-lah a 2 for 1 bonus issue!

That would be graceful of you as God wants it to be!

Experiencing a Cash Crunch

Down to the Last Sen

Believe me, this has always been my constant worry.

Being the only guy who was bringing in the bread and bacon, it can be difficult.

I do not have the luxury of a double family income salary though I do have two kids.

Reflecting, I did have three events of cash crunch.

Cash-strapped

Once, when I was doing field work in Ipoh, I ran into a plight of negligible cash. As I did not update my Postal Savings Account, the cheque from m university could not be cleared in time. So I lived in misery off biscuits and plain water for two days before I got my allowance.

Bills Galore

The second time was at the university. I had a cash crunch as I have made two pants and there was not enough money left for food. As my sister refused me a loan, I had to wait for my mother's money order  which she took from her hard-earned income in her savings account. Meanwhile I took a RM 50.00 student loan to tide me by.

Third time, I was gullible and bought RM 20,000 worth of stocks for a so-called friend. When the stocks fell, he refused to pay up. Fortunately, this time my reluctant sister offered her help. I managed to escaped with minimal losses. I learnt my lesson well.

Lately, I face a new exigency as I have just  paid for my son's college fees. Then I had to send money home and there was the interest I had to service besides paying for my credit cards.

Being caught in a cash crunch can be nasty.

We should all avoid it as it can  really be stressful on the body and soul.