14 œ
KLCI 894.60
business
Tariff cut, low demand
to dent TNB’s turnover
by Tim Leonard
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: National
power company Tenaga Nasional
Berhad (TNB) could see hard
times following the low market
demand and the recent reduc-
tion of electricity tariff by the
government.
TNB president and chief
executive officer Datuk Seri
Che Kalib Mohd Noh said TNB
expects to see a reduction of
RM1.1 billion or more in turnover
this year.
Che Kalib said this at a press
conference yesterday and
acknowledged that the coming
months will be challenging times
for the power company.
“We expect our turnover to
be reduced by RM1.1 billion to
RM1.2 billion this year due to the
lower tariff and low demand,”
said Che Kalib.
“The numbers are worrying
… we are concerned about the
coming months,” he said.
“We have been making losses
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the past two quarters.
“There were two periods of
low demand during the recent
Christmas and Chinese New
Year holidays which saw some
companies shutting down pro-
duction for two weeks.
“That, coupled with the
reduction in tariff, will surely see
our turnover lowered.
“We want the government to
implement the economic stimu-
lus package as soon as possible
so that there is more demand in
the market.”
He said the steel and cement
industries are among the main
contributors to TNB’s turnover.
The two industries contribute
some 10% or RM2 billion in
turnover for TNB, which has an
annual turnover of between
RM25 and RM26 billion.
Che Kalib said among the
factors contributing to the
lower turnover were the recent
stoppage of electricity sale to
Thailand.
“We were selling some 300
megawatts of electricity to Thai-
240.58
37.00 TSEC
310.91 KOSPI
12.73 S&P/ASX200
land but they have experienced a
slowdown and have become self-
sufficient. So we have stopped
selling to them since middle of
last year,” said Che Kalib.
He added that although the
price of oil has reduced signifi-
cantly, the price of coal has re-
mained at a fairly high level and
this contributed to TNB’s higher
operating cost.
“We are buying coal at a price
of US$92 per tonne,” he said.
He said coal constitutes 28%
of TNB’s power generation.
“While TNB is committed to
continue finding ways to reduce
its operating cost, the company’s
biggest challenge comes from
external factors such as the high
IPP power purchase costs and
volatile coal prices which are
beyond TNB’s control.
He said TNB was able to
reduce the electricity tariff to
consumers as the government
had reduced the price of gas for
the power sector to RM10.70
per mmBTU (from RM14.31 per
mmBTU).
theSun | FRIDAY FEBRUARY 13 2009
4,466.42 109.53
1,178.84 10.34
2,514.30 39.90
market summary
FEBRUARY 12, 2009
INDICES CHANGE
FBMEMAS 5,861.48 -15.36
COMPOSITE 894.60 -2.47
INDUSTRIAL 2,125.96 -3.21
CONSUMER PROD 285.92 -0.48
INDUSTRIAL PROD 66.75 -0.17
CONSTRUCTION 166.91 +0.56
TRADING SERVICES 117.79 -0.01
FINANCE 7,038.18 -46.64
PROPERTIES 531.48 +0.84
PLANTATIONS 4,546.45 -35.32
MINING 233.04 UNCH
FBMSHA 6,101.64 -1.27
FBM2BRD 3,968.38 UNCH
TECHNOLOGY 13.22 -0.20
TURNOVER VALUE
339.813mil RM592.634mil
CI closes slightly
lower
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia were
slightly lower at close with investors
reducing their holdings, particularly in
large cap stocks like Sime Darby and
Bumiputra-Commerce, dealers said.
However, gains in Tenaga Nasional
following announcement of the cut
in electricity tariffs and gas prices on
Wednesday helped to offset some of
the losses, they said.
At the closing bell, the KLCI
declined 2.47 points to 894.60.
Jupiter Securities Sdn Bhd’s head
of research, Pong Teng Siew, said local
funds provided the biggest support in
the local bourse by buying large cap
stocks despite continued concerns
over the effect of the United State
stimulus plan on the global economy.
Sime Darby led the actives with
its shares declining 10 sen to RM5.75,
followed by Jaks Resources which
added 1.5 sen to 45 sen and Compu-
gates which gained half sen to 16 sen.
Among the heavyweights, May-
bank was flat at RM5.35, Tenaga
Nasional gained 15 sen to RM5.95 and
Bumiputra-Commerce lost 15 sen to
RM6.50. – Bernama
by Hemananthani
Sivanandam
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
CIMB sees double
KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB
Bank expects 15%
digit growth in
growth in residential
mortgage sales this
year despite the current
residential mortgages
financial turmoil, said
its head of retail banking
Peter England.
England said last year,
CIMB Bank grew about
28% in terms of residen-
tial mortgage business
whereas non-residential
mortgage sales grew 33%.
The growth for mortgages
last year stood at RM5.4
billion.
“We can confidently say
that there is no other bank
that is growing at that rate,”
said England at a press con-
ference after launching the
bank’s Flexi Home Financing-
i scheme on Wednesday.
The Flexi Home Financ- THESUN
SHARIL AMIN/ England
ing-i is an all-in-one Islamic with CIMB
home financing package Islamic
which is a combination of “This product also enables
the Variable Home Financ-
We can Bank CEO
our customers to have a Badlisyah
ing-i and the designated confidently choice of both conventional Abdul
Islamic current account say that there is and Islamic flexible financing Ghani at
Special Mudharabah Cur- no other bank with either CIMB Bank of CIMB the launch
rent Account-i. that is growing Islamic Bank,” said England. of the
It offers customers He said that since the soft Flexi Home
a rate protection from at that rate.” launch of the product in Janu- Financing-i
base financing rate with a – Peter England ary, the bank has approved scheme
capped ceiling rate. There more than RM10 million Flexi in Kuala
are also no additional fees Home Financing-I loans. Lumpur.
for set-up and monthly maintenance. He said CIMB Islamic Bank is expect-
England said customers have a ing about RM2.5 billion to RM3 billion
choice of depositing their additional cash of new mortgage sales for this product
into the Special Mudharabah Current this year.
Account-i to enjoy lower profit charge He also announced that in conjunc-
on their home financing account. tion with the launch, CIMB Islamic is
In addition, customers also have the giving away a SONY DVD player to each
convenience of withdrawing the extra Flexi Home Financing-I application
cash they have deposited via cheques exceeding RM100,000 approved before
or ATM. May 31 this year.