Earlier this month, I attended OpenWebAsia – South East Asia (South EAsia/a>) in Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia, a two-day tech and web industry event that attracted over 350 international attendees. The event shined a spotlight on a market that’s still largely overlooked: a whopping 600 million people live in South EastAsia, which boasts a rapidly growing web and mobile population.
What follows is a short summary of just a few presentations, panel discussions, and startup demos I witnessed at OpenWebAsia (those with a focus on Asia only). I will update this article with more material once it becomes available (find the agendas for day one and two here and here.....
Accounting firm Ernst and Young (EandY) could not give a clean bill of health for the 2010 accounts of MTD Capital Bhd (9032) as it could not figure out how much the group has to set aside for potential losses on its Bakun hydroelectric project.
Additional appropriate information and records related to the project were not available for audit.
"We were unable to carry out appropriate audit procedures to satisfy ourselves as to the provision for foreseeable losses on the Bakun hydroelectric project," EandY said in its independent auditors report.
This was sparked by Sime Darby Bhd's revelation that it had to make another RM450 million provision for the quarter to March 31 2010 for the project.
MTD Capital, an engineering and highway toll operator, is part of the Malaysia-China
Today at our Social Currency CrunchUp in Palo Alto, CA, James Lamberti, VP of Global Research and Marketing for InMobi, sat down with our Michael Arrington to tell us a bit about mobile advertising.
InMobi is the largest independent mobile ad network in the world. Overall, they’re number two behind Google’s AdMob. That earned them an $8 million investment from Kleiner Perkins and Sherpalo Ventures a couple weeks ago. But what’s particularly interesting about InMobi is how well they’re doing outside the U.S.
Out of inMobi’s 16.9 billion mobile ad impressions globally, 2.6 billion are in Africa, more than the US’s 2 billion. 10 billion are in Asia, no surprise considering.....
MALAYSIA'S property market is due to stay vibrant in 2010 due to low borrowing costs, easier foreign ownership rules and a new home purchase scheme by the nation's biggest pension fund.
Last year, there was a 0.7 per cent drop in the total number of property transactions but the number of unsold properties fell by 13 per cent for residential units.
"This shows that the property market in Malaysia is more resilient and stable, especially in demand locations such as in the Klang Valley," said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Wira Chor Chee Heung.
He spoke at the opening of a three-day property fair organised by iProperty.com in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The total number of property transactions dropped 0.7 per cent to 337,859 in 2009 from 340,240 in 2008. The bulk of it came from the housing.....
MALAYSIA is keen to join the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a regional trade pact, but it needs the nod from the eight-member countries to do so, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
"It is up to the member countries to decide (on Malaysia's entry)," he said at a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The eight countries are Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. They have held two meetings so far.
Malaysia's Cabinet had given the mandate to join the regional group two weeks ago.
"In the area of government procurement, we have said that we are prepared to discuss it further. Of course, there will be
MALAYSIA'S free trade agreement with New Zealand will come into force tomorrow, enabling Malaysians to extend their products and services to the Oceanic region.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the bilateral agreement will add value to the Asean-Australia-New Zealand FTA which came into force from January 1 this year.
"Under this agreement, there will be a faster elimination of import duties from 2020 (under the regional FTA) to 2016 (under the bilateral FTA). Malaysian consumers will also gain from the faster elimination," he said at a media briefing yesterday.
It will provide better market access for Malaysia's exporters as import duties on all Malaysia's export products including electrical and electronic products, textiles and apparel and auto.....
SINGAPORE: French retailer Casino has hired Deutsche Bank and RBS to advise it on a potential bid for Carrefour's Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand assets, two sources said.
Carrefour has put up its Southeast Asian assets for sale at a potential price of US$1 billion (RM3.19 billion), according to sources with knowledge of the deal. It wants to sell its units in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand and focus on core markets where it holds leading positions.
Casino "is serious about" bidding for the Carrefour business, said one of the sources with knowledge of the deal.
The sources asked not to be named because the deal is not public.
Casino Group, Deutsche and
Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, the group chief executive officer of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, said the government should start spelling out the details soon or risk losing investors in the long run.
"Some might think, if I come in this year then I might have to take a Bumi partner, but next year I might not," he said during a question and answer session at the 15th Malaysian Law Conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
At a press conference later, Nazir said it was important for the government to spell out the details of the NEM as soon as possible to prevent a state of confusion among investors.
"Too long (a wait) is not helpful as many (investors) will hold back. We need to get the NEM announcement going and the present timeline of its
THE FTSE Bursa MalaysiaKuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBMKLCI) staged another follow-through rebound for the week just ended yesterday. It continued to stay above its psychological resistance of 1,300 points when it closed at 1,360.92 yesterday.
The FBMKLCI staged a follow-through technical rebound on Monday. It trended between its intra-day low of 1,348.58 to its intra-day high of 1,352.78 points. It closed at 1,351.82, giving a day-on-day gain of 6.14 points, or 0.46 per cent.
Share prices on Bursa Malaysia paused to consolidate their recent gains on Tuesday after a two-day rebound. The FBMKLCI traced out a "doji" candle when it closed relatively unchanged at 1,352.23, giving a day-on-day gain of 0.41 point, or 0.03 per cent.
The FBM.....
RINGGIT
THE ringgit ended higher against the US dollar yesterday as investors took the cue from firmer equity markets, dealers said.
At 5pm, the ringgit was quoted at 3.1790/1830 to a US dollar compared with Thursday's close of 3.1820/1870.
However, a dealer said investors were taking a cautious stance as they were still unclear of the global economic growth fundamentals.
The ringgit declined against the Singaporedollar to 2.3358/3408 from 2.3330/3387 on Thursday and eased against the yen to 3.6832/6896 from 3.6521/6572 previously.
It, however, appreciated against the British pound to 4.9666/9741 from 4.9770/9867 on Thursday and advanced against the Euro to 4.1476/1538 from 4.1579/1648.
INTERBANK RATES
SHORT-TERM rates closed steady yesterday with Bank NegaraMalaysia mopping up excess liquidity from the system. The liquidity surplus was reduced to RM11.56 billion under conventional operations.....
CPO FUTURES
CRUDE palm oil was steady yesterday supported by gains in soyabean and uncertainty over grains crop harvests due to adverse weather which would slow global vegetable oil supplies.
Players also awaited July export data on the weekend for fresh direction.
The benchmark October contract on Bursa Malaysia's Derivatives Exchange ended up RM3 or 0.12 per cent to RM2,517 a tonne. Overall volumes rose to 17,260 lots of 25 tonnes each from the usual 10,000 lots.
"The market is still supported by external factors such as firm soyabean markets and weather concern," said a trader at in a foreign commodities brokerage firm.
RUBBER
MALAYSIAN rubber prices closed mostly lower yesterday in line with the drop in futures contract prices on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (Tocom), dealers said.
The benchmark rubber contract on the influential Tocom for January delivery declined by 0.2 yen to settle at 272.7 yen per.....
For a country whose prime minister was willing to routinely skip the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, till an Indian diplomat eyed the top job at its secretariat, it may have appeared odd that in 2003 Indias national Capital raced against the obscure city of Hamilton, Canada, to win the bid to host the 19th Commonwealth Games. On the other hand, it could well be argued that after Malaysia became the first Asian country to host the Games, the jewel in the crown could not have shied away from trying seriously at least once. The decision of the Atal Behari Vajpayee government to underwrite the total cost of the Games reportedly helped India win the vote 46-22. It was estimated at the time that the Games would cost Rs 1,899 crore, with the government not required to shell out too much given optimistic projections of potential revenue from the event.
THE local property sector has not been affected much by the slowing foreign direct investment (FDI) last year and can cope with the pressure, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Wira Chor Chee Heung said.
"All I can say is that the development of the housing industry in the country is very active. Although there is a reduction in FDI, we can still withstand (the pressure)," Chor told reporters on the sidelines of the 13th National Housing and Property Summit in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, yesterday.
He was asked to comment on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report which said that FDI in Malaysia had plunged more than 80 per cent last year.
Chor said that units offered at property launches in the .....
Johor Corp's president and chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim (picture) surprised the Johor corporate community yesterday when he walked out of the company's board meeting after announcing his immediate resignation from the post.
The 62-year-old Johor corporate personality was earlier scheduled to retire in November.
Yesterday's JCorp board meeting was chaired by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman in Johor Baru.
Sources in the company told Business Times that Muhammad Ali tendered his resignation during the board meeting and walked out before it ended.
Reasons for Muhammad Ali's abrupt resignation remain sketchy but there have been talks that quarters in the state wanted him out due to dissatisfaction of his management and debts incurred by the corporation.
Muhammad Ali had recently brushed aside news reports saying he was retiring due to the corporations's debt which amounted to approximately RM3.58 billion.
A statement issued by the.....
GERMAN leader in embedded computer technology KontronAG will plough US$20 million (RM64 million) over the next five years into its Penang-based subsidiary.
The company has so far invested between US$10 million (RM32 million) and US$15 million (RM48 million) in Kontron Design Manufacturing Services Sdn Bhd (KDMS) since 2006 where it has been engaged in original equipment manufacturing activities.
KDMS chief executive officer Michael Riegert yesterday said the reinvestment is to facilitate the company's move up the value chain and make Penang its original design manufacturing hub.
Long-term plans are also in plan to acquire an additional manufacturing site as the new business evolves, he added.
KDMS' existing business in Penang lies in printed circuit board assembly and the manufacture of box-built complete systems for customers in Europe and the US.
"We are in the.....
ACER Sales and Services Sdn Bhd expects to sell some RM60 million worth of smartphones in the next one year.
"Acer Malaysia's expansion into the smartphones market is timely and a natural growth process," Acer sales general manager Ricky Tan said after the launch of its new smartphones in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
"Acer's expertise and experience as a notebook and a PC (personal computer) vendor will help drive the success of our smartphones division," he added.
Tan said it wanted to be among the top three smartphone vendors by 2012.
Acer introduced four Android-based smartphone models - Acer Liquid E Ferrari Edition, Acer Liquid E S100, Acer beTouch E400 and Acer beTouch E120.
This is the first time the company is launching its Android-powered smartphones here. They are already available in
OSK Research has upgraded KPJ Healthcare's target price to RM4.62 (previously RM3.92) after taking into account earnings from newly-bought Sabah Medical Centre, and expectations of higher margins.
"Starting with two hospitals when it was listed in 1994, KPJ has transformed into the nation's largest private healthcare provider and is increasingly being seen as the sector's benchmark as competition rises. Armed with its well mapped out expansion plan, KPJ is in great shape to defend its lead as well as sustain its growth momentum.
"We are upgrading our FY10 and FY11 earnings by 6.5 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively after including earnings contribution from Sabah Medical Centre and a slightly higher margin assumption," said OSK Research in its report this week.
KPJ Healthcare has been beefing up its promotion of medical tourism recently, which is viewed.....
GUINNESS Anchor Bhd (3255) expects a low single-digit growth in the overall malt liquor market (MLM) for the brewer's current financial year, following the country's economic recovery.
"We are looking for the market to be stable as the economic recovery is under way, with the country seeing growth in its gross domestic product (GDP)," managing director Charles Ireland said at its mobile training centre launch in Petaling Jaya yesterday.
He said GAB will continue to grow its market share for its financial year ending June 30 but did not disclose the brewer's current market share.
GAB will release its full year results for financial year ended June 30 2010 next week.
Meanwhile, GAB launched its mobile training centre to better serve some 600 trade partners and
UEM Land Holdings Bhd (5148) is launching phase one of Symphony Hills, a RM1 billion five-year residential project in Cyberjaya, and is confident demand will be strong.
In fact, it expects to sell all 122 superlink houses, townhouses and town villas that will be launched this weekend. Prices range from RM1 million to as much as RM2.3 million per unit.
Managing director Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim is optimistic of strong sales judging from the demand shown by both locals and expatriates in the Klang Valley, especially in Cyberjaya.
"We feel Symphony Hills is hitting the market at the right time. There is Maju Expressway improving connectivity between Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur.
"Cyberjaya has announced several new international firms coming on board. These include Fortune 500 companies, which will spur demand for new housing. Cyberjaya is going to fly,".....
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