14 theSun | WEDNESDAY JUNE 24 2009

business

KL market summary

Share prices finish lower INDICES

JUNE 23, 2009
CHANGE
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia finished lower points to 5,277.64 and the Finance Index lost FBMEMAS 6,964.64 -30.63
yesterday as investors remained cautious fol- 66.44 points to 8,299. COMPOSITE 1,044.48 -1.49
lowing the World Bank’s forecast of a deepening The Technology Index slipped 0.25 of a point INDUSTRIAL 2,332.03 +10.60
global recession this year. to 13.93. CONSUMER PRODUCT 315.81 +1.11
The World Bank has projected a 2.9% fall in Turnover was higher at 1.369 billion shares INDUSTRIAL PRODUCT 82.58 -0.42
world economy this year and a decline in invest- worth RM1.522 billion from 1.238 billion shares CONSTRUCTION 196.04 -1.57
TRADING SERVICES 137.82 -0.12
ments in developing countries. worth RM1.305 billion yesterday. FINANCE 8,299.00 -66.44
However, active bargain hunting in the after- Among heavyweights, Sime Darby lost 10 PROPERTIES 687.52 +2.72
noon session helped to narrow overall losses in sen to RM6.75, Maybank was flat at RM5.60, PLANTATIONS 5,277.64 -38.96
the market. Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings slipped 30 sen MINING 263.44 unch
Among the counters that recorded active to RM8.75 and MISC rose 15sen to RM8.70. FBMSHA 7,210.32 -9.13
buying were UEM Land and MISC. As for the actives, KNM Group dropped half a FBM2BRD 4,638.89 -63.75
TECHNOLOGY 13.93 -0.25
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index ended sen to 80.5 sen, Scomi added half a sen to 65 sen
1.49 points easier at 1,044.48. and UEM Land rose half a sen to RM1.43. TURNOVER VALUE
The Industrial Index rose 10.60 points to Samchem, which made its debut on the main 1.369bil RM1.522bil
2,332.03 while the Plantation Index eased 38.96 board today, rose 19 sen to 90 sen. – Bernama

Bernas’ multi-pronged briefs

strategy to ensure growth

KUALA LUMPUR: Padiberas
Nasional Bhd (Bernas) will imple-
ment a multi-pronged strategy to
ensure sustainable growth, said
managing director Bakry Ham-
zah.
Bakry said the strategy was to
fulfil its commitments under the
Privatisation Agreement and to
enable it to play an even bigger
role in relation to the nation’s
padi and rice industry.
“Among the steps that we are
taking are to enhance our market
share of local rice and be in a po-
sition to channel the rice directly
to the consumers,” he said in a
statement here yesterday.
He said Bernas has gone into
retail from April this year by set-
ting up its own chain of residential
area-located convenience retail
Chinese firm eyes RM208.9mil
outlets to sell the full selection of
Bernas branded rice.
Bakry said the outlets, known
as “Save More Kedai Komuniti”,
would also sell sugar, flour, cook-
ing oil and other daily essentials.
“This retail initiative will
undoubtedly enable us to play an
even more effective role in damp-
ening the effect of any future price
instability and ensuring stable
supply of the controlled grade of
rice at all times,” he said.
To date, four outlets had been
opened with 296 more to be
opened by the end-2010, he said.
Bernas revenue for the finan-
cial year ended Dec 31, 2008 rose
to RM2.5 billion from RM2.2 bil-
lion in the same period of 2007.
It recorded a net loss of RM57.5
million compared to a net profit
of RM107 million previously.
Bernas chairman Datuk Wira
Syed Abdul Jabbar Syed Hassan
said the group’s performance was
a reflection of the exceptional
global rice crisis in the first half
of financial year 2008.
“The main reason for the loss
was due to the huge discrepancy
between the price of international
rice that we bought and the price
of rice we sold to the domestic
market in order to maintain sta-
bility,” he said.
He said at the height of the cri-
sis, Bernas continued to maintain
its imported rice’s prices at the
previous levels as well as produce
the local-controlled grade ST15
(which has 15% broken grains),
even though they were not com-
mercially justifiable. – Bernama
Samchem bullish
on more
distribution rights
KUALA LUMPUR: Samchem
Holdings Bhd, an industrial
chemicals distributor is bullish in
getting more distribution rights
from global petrochemical cor-
porations despite slower market
condition.
The company, which made
its debut on the Main Board of
Bursa Malaysia yesterday, cur-
rently has 237 distribution rights
and markets over 400 industrial
chemicals in Malaysia, Vietnam,
China and Indonesia.
Samchem, which was also
the first initial public offering this
year, opened at 69 sen, a two sen
discount from its offer price of
71 sen. It closed at 90 sen for a
gain of 19 sen, with 56,777,200
shares traded.
“It’s an ongoing process
which required a long time. We
are currently in discussion with
several parties,” its managing
director Ng Thin Poh said after
the listing ceremony yesterday.
Samchem distributes
three categories of industrial

from IPO on Bursa chemicals, namely polyurethane

KUALA LUMPUR: China’s Xingquan
International Sports Holdings Ltd, the
first foreign firm to directly list on
Bursa Malaysia, expects to raise up
to RM208.9 million in proceeds from
its initial public offering (IPO).
Its executive chairman and chief
executive officer Wu Qingquan said
yesterday the proceeds will be used,
among others, for the expansion of
production capacity, marketing and
advertising, sales and distribution
network expansion, and research
and development.
He was also confident that the
company would grow despite the
current economic uncertainty and
expects to register a sales growth of
30% this year from its 1,400 points
of sales.
“We are also confident of the
market response here,” he said after
the prospectus launch here.
The IPO consists of a public issue
of up to 99.5 million new ordinary
shares, of which 9.5 million shares
are being offered to the Malaysian
public in the retail offer.
The final retail price will be below
RM2.10 per share or a 5% discount to
the institutional price.
CIMB Investment Bank is the
adviser, underwriter, placement
agent and sole bookrunner for the
IPO exercise.
At the same event, CIMB Group
deputy chief executive officer Datuk
Charon Wardini Mokhzani said Xing-
quan is in a fast-growing consumer
market in China.
“Its outdoor shoes and apparels
brand, Addnice, has 7% share of the
market in China,” he said.
He added that despite the global
recession, the growth story was very
much in Asia as seen from develop-
ments in emerging markets in the
region. – Bernama
chemicals, intermediate and
specialty chemicals. – Bernama
Sime Industrial
expects rental
business to grow
KLUANG: Sime Darby Industrial
Sdn Bhd expects its equip-
ment and machinery rental
business to grow by more
than 50% this year amid the
current economic slowdown,
its managing director Chong
Kwea Seng said yesterday.
“Renting is definitely a good
option for customers. During
slowdown, we realised that
they (customers) tend to go
for rental and (the business)

Supermax to spend RM24mil for capex is becoming popular.”

KUALA LUMPUR: Medical glove
maker Supermax Corporation
Bhd will spend RM24 million for
capital expenditure next year to
commission 12 new production
lines at its new factory in Meru,
Klang.
This will increase the com-
pany’s total production capacity
by 1.7 billion pieces of gloves to
around 16.2 billion pieces annu-
ally, said group managing direc-
tor Datuk Seri Stanley Thai.
“We already have a facility
there and we just have to put in
machines. Hopefully, we can
commence operations by early
next year,” he told reporters after
the company’s annual general
meeting here yesterday.
Supermax has eight manufac-
turing facilities at present which
are capable of producing 14.5
billion pieces of gloves annually,
enabling the company to hold
12% share of the world’s glove
market.
“For the full year of 2010, we
hope to see an additional sales
contribution of RM130 million
with this new expansion pro-
gramme,” Thai said.
He said the company was
currently busy fulfilling orders as
the demand and consumption of
medical glove remained strong,
especially with the A(H1N1) in-
fluenza outbreak.
Supermax expects its overall
sales to grow between three and
5% if the flu outbreak is pro-
longed.
The 100% export-oriented
company distributes its products
to more than 45 countries with
750 distributors around the
world.
Thai said Supermax has also
targeted profit contribution from
distribution centres of both its
wholly-owned and associate
companies to be strengthened at
50% this year from 45% in 2008.
“We are already enjoying
higher margin from distribution
activities,” he said, adding that
the pandemic generally ben-
efited distributors more than the
company’s manufacturing side.
– Bernama
The company, a wholly-
owned subsidiary of con-
glomerate Sime Darby, offers a
comprehensive range of heavy
duty industry equipment and
machinery for sales, rentals
and services including new
machines, engines and used
equipment.
“Our rental business con-
tinues to grow in big amount,”
he told reporters after open-
ing Tractors Malaysia Kluang
Branch here, yesterday.
On Sime Darby Industrial’s
other businesses, namely plan-
tation, quarry, oil and gas and
to some extent its construc-
tion business, he said they
were performing reasonably
well except for the forestry
business. – Bernama