14 theSun | WEDNESDAY MARCH 18 2009

business

KLCI 841.87 0.99 Nikkei 7,949.13 244.98

STI 1,559.03 27.29 TSEC 5,041.39 70.07
market summary MARCH 17, 2009
Hang Seng 12,878.09 98.62 KOSPI 1,163.88 38.42
SCI 2,218.33 65.04 S&P/ASX200 3,451.90 103.50
Prices slightly higher INDICES CHANGE

on selective buying FBMEMAS

COMPOSITE
5,467.54
841.87
+17.03
+0.99

Maybank’s rights shares

SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia INDUSTRIAL 2,052.74 +10.90
closed slightly higher yesterday on CONSUMER PROD 278.18 -0.96
INDUSTRIAL PROD 63.97 -0.01
selective buying of key heavyweights, CONSTRUCTION 161.84 +0.15
particularly Sime Darby, IOI Corp and TRADING SERVICES 112.33 +0.24
Public Bank, dealers said. FINANCE 6,168.50 +25.30
The benchmark KLCI ended the PROPERTIES 495.12 +0.21
day 0.99 points higher at 841.87 after PLANTATIONS 4,373.63 -1.79

a good buy: PNB

KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd
(PNB) is confident that its subscription in Malayan
Banking Bhd‘s (Maybank) rights shares will benefit
the group in the long term, its president and chief
executive officer Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah said
yesterday.
“In this type of market where most of the
stocks have gone down so much, we believe in
their fundamentals and the price they are giving is
a good buy for us,” he told reporters here.
“As a long-term player, we want to make sure
we get long-term returns,” he said.
Maybank had previously received undertakings
from PNB and certain unit trust funds managed
by Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd, a wholly owned
subsidiary of PNB, to subscribe to about 55.7% of
the proposed rights issue.
Maybank said PNB has also agreed to apply
for the excess allocation of 20% of the proposed
rights issue.
Modenas banking on its early planning
ALOR STAR: A planning which took a period of
three years has become an important weapon
now for Motosikal dan Enjin Nasional (Modenas)
in its fight against the ongoing world economic
crisis with so many other companies getting
affected.
According to its chief executive officer Abdul
Harith Abdul Rahman the plan is expected to help
A previous report said Maybank had fixed the
price of its upcoming rights shares at RM2.74 a
share, which is a 43.2% discount to the closing
price of RM4.82 on March 5, and secured an under-
taking where nearly 90% of the rights shares would
be taken up by major institutional shareholders.
The price of the rights share is a 34.4% dis-
count to the theoretical ex-rights price of RM4.17
a share.
On talks of proposed merger between Island
& Peninsular, Pelangi and Petaling Garden in a
bid to create a large property firm, Hamad Kama
Piah said any proposal to merge the entities under
PNB’s belt would have to ensure better returns
for the group.
“I think the issue is that we are always looking at
each of our counters. We want to make sure we can
be more efficient in terms of getting better results.
This is ongoing, and it is normal so that we can
improve from time to time,” he said. – Bernama
Modenas increase its market share of motorcycles
sales in the country to 18% with the introduction
of several new models this year.
“During the three-year period (of planning),
Modenas carried out strong research and develop-
ment (R&D) to come up with more sophisticated
models to replace the old models,” he told Bernama
here yesterday.
opening 1.75 points higher at 842.63.
The KLCI moved between 840.38 and
846.56 during the trading session
yesterday.
According to the dealers, the
gains were partly due to some mild
bargain-hunting and also profit-taking
activities involving select plantation
stocks.
“The market is expected to con-
As a tinue to languish in the absence of
positive leads,” OSK said in research
long-term note.
player, we Gainers led losers by 241 to
want to 213 while 223 counters traded un-
make sure changed, 566 were untraded and 31
we get others suspended.
The day’s turnover increased to
long-term 333.006 million shares valued at
returns.” RM579.567 million from Monday’s
– Tan Sri
Hamad Kama
Piah Mintye looks to further expand to Japan
TOKYO: Mintye Marketing Sdn Bhd,
a subsidiary and marketing arm of
Mintye Industries Bhd, is looking to
further expand its business to Japan, its
executive director Yeo Kim Soon said.
Mintye Marketing is a local market
leader in the trading of friction materi-
als, brake fluid and other automotive
parts. The company started in the late
70s, importing semi-finished materi-
als for the production of automotive
and industrial friction products, from
Germany.
MINING 241.15 (UNCH
FBMSHA 5,868.12 +15.82
FBM2BRD 3,843.00 +12.59
TECHNOLOGY 11.74 -0.52
TURNOVER VALUE
333.006mil RM579.567mil
272.445 million shares worth
RM462.166 million.
Among the actives, KNM rose
two sen to 34.5 sen, Resorts was
flat at RM1.92 and TMI fell 10 sen to
RM2.18.
For the heavyweights, Sime Darby
closed 15 sen higher at RM5.55,
Tenaga Nasional rose five sen to
RM5.95, Maybank advanced four sen
to RM4.02 and TM dropped two sen
to RM3.50. – Bernama
Today, Mintye exports its products
to 60 countries worldwide including
Australia, England, Greece, Ireland,
Japan, Taiwan and the Middle East.
Its products range from brake lin-
ings (blocks), brake linings in rolls, disc
brake pad, disc pad backing plates,
brake shoe cores and brake fluids.
“We went into full production from
1984 with emphasis on the local mar-
ket and within two years, managed to
capture a sizeable portion of it,” Yeo
told Bernama here.

MAHB hopes to recoup LCCT

investment in two years
SEPANG: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
(MAHB) hopes to recoup its investment on the
low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) in two years,
supported by rising passenger traffic and de-
mand for retail as well as food and beverage,
said its senior general manager Datuk Azmi
Murad yesterday.
The company spent RM108 million to set
up a 35,290sq m LCCT in Sepang and allocated
another RM124 million for the expansion of in-
ternational departure and arrival halls, including
public concourse, government offices, curbside
and parking area.
Scheduled to be completed in April this year,
the expansion programme would enable the
handling of 15 million passengers a year from
the current 10 million.
“We believe the passenger traffic, especially
on the international flights will continue to grow
as the low cost carrier operator continues to
mount for new destinations and increase flight
frequencies, and thus will encourage more retail
and food and beverage activities,” he told re-
porters during a media tour of the international
departure hall in LCCT, yesterday.
“We are also bringing in more retail outlets
and restaurants here via the expansion pro-
gramme, and with more revenue collection from
airport charges and landing charges, it would
help to recover our investments,” he said.
Azmi said MAHB expects the LCCT passen-
ger traffic to grow by 30% this year while the
aircraft movement to reach 300 flights per day.
Last year, the airport operator handled
around 10.139 million passengers, of which
5.088 million passengers were from interna-
tional flights.
Asked whether there was interest from
other low cost carriers to have an operation in
LCCT, Azmi said the terminal was open to any
no-frills airlines and MAHB was on the look out
for opportunities.
Located 20km away from the KL International
Airport Main Terminal Building, the LCCT was
opened for familiarisation on March 9, 2006 and
was fully operational by March 23, 2006.
It is managed and operated by Malaysia
Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd. – Bernama

Astro posts pre-tax loss of RM372m

KUALA LUMPUR: Astro All Asia Networks
Plc posted a pre-tax loss of RM372.373
million for the financial year ended Jan
31, 2009 compared with a pre-tax profit of
RM136.631 million the previous year.
However, its revenue rose to RM2.971
billion from RM2.602 billion previously due
to higher subscriber additions in Malaysia
pay-TV business, Astro said in a statement
to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
“Gross subscriber additions in the year
were at a new high of 612,000 resulting in
374,000 net new customers,” it said adding
that “good progress was also made in the
pay-TV business in India”.
Meanwhile, Astro said it has accounted
for RM687 million of cost incurred in pro-
viding services and support to a previously
proposed joint venture in Indonesia.
It said various legal actions have com-
menced in respect of developments in Indo-
nesia and the group is required to account
for costs associated with these actions as
they incur.
Chairman Datuk Badri Masri said Astro
will be more cautious and manage the
business with a high regard for conserving
cash and minimising costs amid the current
economic uncertainties.
“We can continue to grow the Malaysian
pay-TV, radio and content businesses by
strengthening their value propositions to
achieve better market share and implement-
ing effective cost management measures to
sustain margins and profit growth,” he said.
– Bernama