US INFLATION STAYS ELEVATED, ADDING PRESSURE

FOR MORE US FED HIKES p13

W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA R Y 1 5 , 2 0 2 3 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m
ISSUE 522/2023

CEOMorningBrief HOME: Lynas’ Malaysian rare earths plant faces part closure as regulator keeps curbs p5
Some minority shareholders prefer Time dotCom not to sell stake in data center business p6
Jakel Capital CEO appointed as Cypark director p10
WORLD: Ueda nominated for central bank head as BOJ-favoured ‘outsider’ p14
Ford cutting 3,800 jobs as EV shift shrinks German, UK workforce p17

Reducing govt opex warrants a look into emoluments

Report on Page 3.
MOHD IZWAN MOHD NAZAM/THE EDGE

MACC to focus on
larger-scale graft cases
as corruption now
systemic, says PM
Report on Page 2.
 W E D N E S D AY F E B R U A RY 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
the edge ceo morning brief
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BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14):The Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is di-
verting its resources to focus on larger-scale
graft cases to be more effective in fighting
corruption, which has become systemic,
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
told Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 14).
Anwar, who is also finance minister, told
Govt will not introduce broad-based consumption tax
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Prime Min-
ister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim reiterat-
ed the government’s stance of not recom-
mending a broad-based consumption tax
like the goods and services tax (GST) to
help mend the country’s debt position.
“What we will tighten is reducing sub-
sidies to the rich, as what we have done
to electricity subsidies,” Anwar told the
Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Feb 14).
Anwar, who is also the country’s finance
minister, was responding to a question from
Taiping Member of Parliament Wong Kah
Woh on whether the government would in-
troduce any new taxes to address the rising
debt service charge (DSC).
“We don’t recommend the reintroduc-
tion of the GST, or a broad-based con-
sumption tax,” said Anwar, adding that
Putrajaya will seek to expand its revenue
stream by growing the economy going
forward.
“The pipeline of domestic and for-
eign investments should help to expand
our economy [on top of the savings from
targeted subsidies],” he said.
2 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
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MACC to focus
on larger-scale
graft cases as
corruption now
systemic, says PM
BY CHESTER TAY
theedgemarkets.com
the Dewan Rakyat that Putrajaya is also look-
ing to strengthen the Whistleblower Protec-
tion Act 2010 in hope of countering fear that
may come with exposing corruption.
“In the past, too much time and energy
have been spent on paying attention to ‘ikan
bilis’ (small fry) — this is not effective, because
corruption has become systemic.Therefore, the
BY CHESTER TAY
theedgemarkets.com
Earlier, Wong requested the PM to state
the latest national debt position, the cause for
the increase every year, and the government’s
efforts in tackling the increasing debt.
Anwar updated that the national debt
level now amounts to RM1.5 trillion or
82% of gross domestic product, while the
DSC in 2022 amounted to RM41 billion
or 14% of the government’s revenue.
Anwar said the DSC is expected to be
RM46 billion this year, equivalent to 16%
of the government’s revenue.
“In terms of effort, first and foremost is
improving governance, because among the
expenditure, billions of ringgit lost were due
to weak management and leakages, which
resulted in higher debt than growth for the
country’s economy.
“The rest are ensuring that we increase the
government’s revenue, and reviewing public
expenditure without burdening the public,
especially in the sectors of education, health
and basic infrastructure,” he said.
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main attention is now on investigations that are
more effective [in fighting corruption], and at
the same time restoring public confidence in
fighting corruption,” he said.
Anwar was responding to Tawau Member
of Parliament Lo Su Fui and Masjid Tanah
MP Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin’s enquiry
on the government’s focus and strategies in
fighting corruption through the MACC, and
his administration’s commitment to improving
legislation to protect whistleblowers.
“I agree with the call [to strengthen the
Whistleblower Protection Act], because many
whistleblowers do not feel safe as they face
pressures,” he said, noting some of the whis-
tleblowers include civil servants.
“The government is studying provisions
that would strengthen the Act and provide
protection. We hope to table these enhance-
ments, [at the] latest in the next Parliament
sitting,” he said, while assuring the enhance-
ments are not meant to facilitate false accu-
sations but to provide facts.
‘I will prevent treason in the form of
bribery’
Meanwhile, Putrajaya MP Mohd Radzi
Md Jidin also asked whether Anwar’s de-
cision to hold both the portfolios of the
PM and the Ministry of Finance (MOF)
would be susceptible to abuse of power,
and eventually lead to more leakages.
Anwar responded by saying there were
leakages as well during the Perikatan Na-
sional administration, when the porfolios
of the PM and the MOF were separated.
“There is truth to it that during the
Barisan Nasional administration, there
were cases involving leakages like 1MDB
(1Malaysia Development Bhd), but under
the PN administration, much damage was
done as well. This was apart from 1MDB,
including expenditure in the Jana Wibawa
project, flood mitigation projects, and other
leakages, which are under investigation.
“The issue is not whether the two [portfo-
lios] are combined or not.The issue is abuse
of power to rob the people. Under the unity
government, I will do my best to prevent
treason in the form of bribery,” Anwar said.
 W E D N E S D AY F E B R U A RY 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
Reducing govt opex warrants
a look into emoluments
BY PRIYATHARISINY VASU
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 15): Last week-
end, the Advisory Committee for the fi-
nance ministry set up by Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim underlined its
primary agenda, which includes advising
the finance minister on how to reduce the
federal government’s ballooning operating
expenditure (opex).
As the federal government seeks to low-
er its fiscal deficit, opex reduction is one of
the necessary steps, aside from expanding
its revenue base, and managing its rising
spending on blanket subsidies.
Much attention has been given to the
expected targeted petrol subsidy, as the
current blanket subsidy mechanism caused
total subsidy bills to jump to RM80 billion
last year, amid elevated oil prices.
However, when one talks about gov-
ernment opex, the elephant in the room
is in another form: civil servants’ emolu-
ments and pensions that have grown year
after year.
In 2010, RM58.2 billion or 38.4% of
total opex of RM151.6 billion went to
paying the salaries and benefits of public
sector workers.
By 2021, that number grew to a whop-
ping 52.3% or RM114.9 billion, and is ex-
pected to rise to RM115.2 billion in 2022
(40.5%) and RM119.8 billion in 2023
(44%), according to the Fiscal Outlook
and Federal Government Revenue Esti-
mates 2023.
It is noted that federal government opex
is funded entirely from its (the federal gov-
ernment’s) revenue. In 2022, the govern-
ment benefitted from strong oil prices,
wherein Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petro-
nas)’s dividend was raised to RM50 billion,
from the initially projected RM25 billion .
From 2010 to 2022, despite opex grow-
ing by 87% (from RM151.6 billion to
RM284.7 billion in 2022), emoluments
and pensions paid to government workers
grew faster by 98%.
The World Bank, in its Malaysia Eco-
nomic Report February 2023, said rigid
expenditures, namely obligations related
to salaries, pensions and interest payments,
“remain high and are expected to increase
in 2023”.
The increased spending on these items,
together with the decline in revenue, re-
main constraints to the government’s fis-
cal space and pose a challenge to long-
3 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Growing share of emoluments and retirement charges
in government opex
(RM bil) Emoluments
120
100
18.2
80 14.1 14.8
13.6
60 11.5
38.8
34.9 36 35.9
40
38.4
20
46.7 50.1 60 61 66.9
0 0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 20221
1 Revised estimate Source: Ministry of Finance
term fiscal sustainability, the multilateral
bank said.
“The growing trend in opex, particu-
larly in structural expenditure, crowds out
funding of development projects, making
it more difficult to achieve development
goals,” it said.
“In addition, the already high debt level
(61% of GDP as at end-June 2022) limits
the government’s ability to increase its bor-
rowings to fund development spending,”
the bank stressed.
Pension system for future hires needs
to be redesigned
Datametrics Research and Information
Sdn Bhd managing director Pankaj C Ku-
mar, when contacted, pointed to the long-
term impact of a bloated opex on the fed-
eral government’s budget.
In order to make any changes to the
already well-oiled running salary and pen-
sion scheme, Pankaj said the government
needs to be honest about whether the civil
service is too bloated.
“As far as the pension system is con-
cerned, the government has to think of ways
on how to restructure them instead of bal-
looning to the level that it cannot sustain it.
“It will become a burden to the future
generations as well. So all these questions
require very deep thoughts and political
will. But it still needs to be done at some
point,” Pankaj told The Edge.
However, cutting or drastically mak-
ing changes to public sector salaries and
pensions could be politically and socially
destabilising for the country, said Dr Yeah
Retirement charges % of operating expenditure
29.1 28.7 120
25.9 27.5
25.2
22.8
21 100
18.9
80
52.3 60
45.9 49.2
44.8 45.5
41 40.4 40.5
40
20
70.1 73.1 77 80 80.5 83 85.9 86.5
Kim Leng, professor of economics at Sun-
way University Business School.
“Of course, these rigid expenses cannot
be cut back drastically without impacting
the employment situation in the country.
It has to [be] managed in a prudent and
compassionate manner,” said Yeah, who is
also a member of the Advisory Committee.
“The government has to be tactful and
needs to find a balance in innovative ways
so that it does not reduce the support for
civil servant employees in terms of their
long-term retirement security,” said Yeah.
In order to reduce future pension lia-
bilities, it is crucial for a new scheme to
be laid out in the nearest term, he added.
“It is a legacy system that the government
has inherited, and it has to deliver on its
promises. Because it is unsustainable in the
long term, the system has to be redesigned.
What has been committed can continue; go-
ing forward, the government has to come up
with a new system for new employees so that
future liabilities can be reduced,” he said.
Pankaj added that the government
could have natural attrition over a peri-
od of time.
“For every two persons retiring, the gov-
ernment should just hire one more.That way,
the number of civil servants will stagnate and
come down. Because in this age, a lot of it
can be done by automation,” he pointed out.
Both Pankaj andYeah agreed on moving
towards a retirement scheme for the public
sector that is similar to the Employees Prov-
ident Fund, as it is the most viable and sus-
tainable option to relieve the government of
its pension burden for years to come.
 W E D N E S D AY F E B R U A RY 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): The Malay-
sian Investment Development Authority
(MIDA) approved total foreign direct in-
vestment (FDI) of RM392.9 billion between
2018 and 2021, of which RM300.5 billion
or 76.5% had been realised as at end-2021.
“The Ministry of International Trade
and Industry (MITI) will not just focus on
increasing the value of approved FDI, but
also intensify the strategy to realise FDI,
which will translate into economic activities
that deliver positive impact on the country,”
said Deputy Minister Liew Chin Tong in
the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Feb 14).
Liew was responding to Titiwangsa
Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Johari
Abdul Ghani, who asked MITI to state the
amount of FDI realised each year versus the
amount of investment approved by MIDA
for 2018 to 2022.
Of the total FDI approved between 2018
and 2021, RM350.6 billion were under the
manufacturing sector, followed by RM42.3
billion under the services sector, said the
Iskandar Puteri MP.
The DAP lawmaker also said the main
FDI projects realised under the manufac-
turing sector were within the electrical and
electronic industries, while the major drivers
for realising FDI in the services sector in
2018-2021 were sub-sectors like the estab-
lishment of principal hubs, support services
and healthcare services.
“Normally, execution of these projects
takes one-to-two years to be realised de-
pending on the project’s scale and the on-
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Malaysia is
expected to provide up to 4,000 electrical
vehicles (EV) charging points this year,
said the Ministry of International Trade
and Industry (Miti).
Miti’s Industrial Development Division
senior director Datuk Hanafi Sakri said Ma-
laysia currently has 900 EV charging points.
“We have a national roadmap for EV
charging stations where we are targeting
to have about 10,000 charging stations
by 2025, comprising 1,000 units direct
current type and 9,000 units alternating
current or slow charging.
“Given the current momentum, I think
we will be able to achieve the target,” he said
during the press conference at Malaysia’s EV
conference 2023 hereon Tuesday (Feb 14).
Under the Low Carbon Mobility Blue-
print 2021-2030, Malaysia aims to have EVs
and hybrid vehicles account for at least 15%
of the total industry volume (TIV) by 2030.
Hanafi said Miti fully supports the ex-
tension of the full import and excise duty
exemptions for imported EVs until Dec
31, 2024.
He also added that the ministry has
4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
MIDA-approved
FDI at RM392.9 bil
for 2018-2021, says
deputy minister
BY CHESTER TAY
theedgemarkets.com
going economic situation,” he said, adding
that the official data for approved FDI in
2022 will only be finalised by end-March
this year.
Liew also listed some of the high-profile
projects approved below:
Projects in January-September 2022:
1. Samsung SDI Energy Malaysia Sdn
Bhd’s establishment of an electric vehi-
cle battery cell manufacturing facility in
Malaysia, with a combined investment
of RM7 billion in two phases, where the
first phase involves RM1 billion invest-
ment, followed by the remaining RM6
billion in the second phase.
2. TF-AMD Microelectronics Sdn Bhd
announced plans to expand its manu-
facturing facilities at the Batu Kawan
Industrial Park in Penang, with capital
expenditure of almost RM2 billion, ex-
pecting to create over 3,000 jobs in fields
like semiconductor engineering, design
Malaysia targets
to have 4,000 EV
charging points
this year, says Miti
Bernama
proposed to improve the EV ecosystem,
particularly in terms of EV infrastructure
to the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and
hopes that the MOF will consider the pro-
posals and that it would be announced in
the next budget on Feb 24.
Meanwhile, in his welcoming remarks,
Malaysian Investment Development Au-
thority (Mida) chief executive officer Da-
tuk Wira Arham Abdul Rahman said as
the co-secretariat of the National EV Task
Force (NEVTF), Mida is aggressively pur-
suing investment opportunities in Malay-
sia and capitalising on prospects to spur
the EV automotive segment.
and technology processes for high-per-
formance computing solutions.
3. Ferrotec Holdings Corp announced an
investment of over RM500 million for the
construction of new manufacturing facil-
ities in the Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah,
for electro-mechanical assembly work
and fabrication of advanced materials
for semiconductor equipment.
4. Smart Glove Holdings Bhd, which pro-
duces various types of medical gloves
from nitrile, natural rubber, polychlo-
roprene and other synthetic rubber, ex-
panded its production capacity with in-
vestment amounting to RM2 billion.
Projects in 2021:
1. Risen Solar with RM42.2 billion invest-
ment for design development activities
and manufacturing of solar modules and
cells.
2. RM30 billion investment approved for
Intel Electronics.
3. RM8.5 billion investment approved for
AT&S, an Austrian company, for design
development and manufacturing of in-
tegrated circuit substrate at the Kulim
Hi-Tech Park, Kedah.
4. SK Nexilis announced its first overseas
production base in Sabah, with approved
investment of RM4.29 billion.
5. Infineon Technologies (Malaysia)’s
RM3.25 billion investment in Melaka.
6. TaiyoYuden’s RM680 million investment
for production of multilayer ceramic ca-
pacitors in Sarawak.
He said Mida is committed to attract-
ing quality investments to support the EV
supply chain and Malaysia’s EV ecosystem,
particularly in critical components such as
EV batteries, battery management systems,
battery packs, artificial intelligence, onboard
charging, charging infrastructure, and mod-
ular-based battery swapping technology.
“We are optimistic that EVs will become
more popular and more mainstream, pri-
marily due to the growing demand for green
transportation in the Asean region,” he said.
On the same note, the Malaysia Au-
tomotive, Robotics and IoT Institute
(MARii) chairman Datuk Phang Ah Tong
said MARii is also supporting Malaysia’s
commitment to its zero greenhouse gas
(GHG) target by 2050
He said the institute offers its support
in the form of vendor development pro-
grammes such as the Automotive Supplier
Excellence Programme, Lean Production
System Programme and Digital Engineer-
ing and Prototyping Programme.
Read the full story
 W E D N E S D AY F E B R U A RY 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
MELBOURNE/KUALA LUMPUR/
BENGALURU (Feb 14): Malaysian reg-
ulators renewed an operating licence for
Lynas Rare Earths’ Malaysian unit, the
Australian company said on Tuesday (Feb
14), but they retained conditions that will
prevent Lynas from importing and pro-
cessing rare earths concentrate after July 1.
Lynas, the world’s biggest producer
of rare earths outside China, will need to
close the cracking and leaching part of its
rare earths processing plant if the condi-
tions are not removed before then, it said
in a securities filing to the stock exchange.
Malaysia’s government has raised con-
cerns about radiation levels from the pro-
cess of cracking and leaching.
“Lynas is not allowed to carry out any
Lynas’ Malaysian
activities that will produce radioactive
waste in Malaysia after July 2023,” Ma-
rare earths plant
laysia’s Science, Technology and Innova-
tion Minister Chang Lih Kang said in a
faces part closure
statement on Facebook on Tuesday.
But two International Atomic Energy
Agency reviews found the plant to be low
risk and compliant with relevant regula-
tions, Lynas noted.
The decision raises the prospect of
an interruption to supply of neodymium
and praseodymium (NdPr), which are
used in magnets as crucial components
of everything from iPhones to weapons
systems, later this year.
“After 10 years of safe operation in Ma-
laysia we are disappointed that the con-
ditions that were applied to our 2020 op-
BENGALURU (Feb 14): India’s state-
owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is in
talks with at least four countries to sell its
light-combat aircraft, though it faces an up-
hill battle to win the contract in Malaysia, the
Tejas fighter jet
company’s top executive said on Tuesday.
Malaysia has shortlisted the Tejas light
exports, faces
fighter jet for an order of around 16 planes,
and Argentina, Egypt and Botswana have
Malaysia setback
also expressed interest, HAL chairman and
managing director CB Ananthakrishnan
told reporters at a conference during Aero
India, the country’s biggest aviation event.
He said in Malaysia, there had been
a “slight setback” amid stiff competition
with a Korean rival.
“We have not received anything in black
and white, but we are hearing that Koreans
will get the order,” Ananthakrishnan said.
“Notwithstanding that, still we are making out
attempts to push through our product.”
HAL is also in talks with the Philip-
pines to sell its light-combat helicopters,
he added.
“There is a lot of interest generated in
the global aerospace market. Sooner or later,
we will have a breakthrough order,” he said.
5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
REUTERS erating licence remain,” chief executive
Amanda Lacaze said in the statement.
“We will now proceed with adminis-
trative and legal appeals to ensure that
Lynas is treated fairly and equitably as a
foreign direct investor and a significant
employer and contributor to the Malay-
sian economy.”
Under its new permit, Lynas will be
able to continue other parts of processing
until March 2026.
Lynas had applied to Malaysia’s reg-
ulator for the conditions to be removed
because they “represent a significant var-
iation from the conditions under which...
Lynas made the initial decision to invest
in Malaysia”, it said.
The decision puts a greater focus on the
construction timeline for Lynas’ cracking
and leaching facility in central Australia,
broker Canaccord said in a report, with
Lynas able to use stockpiles for a time if
the plant is not ready by July 1.
Lynas ships rare earths concentrate to
as regulator
Malaysia from its Mount Weld operations
in Central Australia where it is building the
keeps curbs
processing plant in the town of Kalgoorlie
to add capacity and mitigate Malaysia’s
regulatory risk.
“After the market fully digests this
BY MELANIE BURTON, ROZANNA LATIFF news, we see investor focus return to
& ROUSHNI NAIR the significant long-term value LYC of-
Reuters fers, its strategic asset base and market
leading position (ex China) in the NdPr
market,” Canaccord said, maintaining its
buy rating.
HAL is targeting export sales of 25 bil-
India’s HAL
lion Indian rupees (US$302.15 million)
over the next few years, its director of op-
in talks on
erations Jayadeva EP told Reuters.
India has been one of the world’s biggest
importers of defence equipment for dec-
ades, but it has punched below its weight
in the global arms export market.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
Monday set out ambitions to more than
triple the value of annual defence exports
to US$5 billion over the next two years,
and his government has been making dip-
BY KRISHN KAUSHIK lomatic efforts to export the Tejas.
Reuters The Indian government in 2021 gave
a US$6 billion contract to HAL for 83 of
the locally produced Tejas jets for delivery
starting around 2023 — four decades
after the design began in 1983.
The Tejas has been beset by design and
other challenges, and was once rejected by
the Indian Navy as too heavy.
HAL plans to use the General Elec-
tric-manufactured 414 engine on a sec-
ond generation of light-combat aircraft,
Ananthakrishnan said, adding that it was
REUTERS
in talks to produce those engines in India.
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
Some minority
shareholders
prefer Time
dotCom not to
sell stake in data
center business
by Priyatharisiny Vasu
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): TIME dot-
Com Bhd’s board will be seeking share-
holders’ approval at its EGM on Wednes-
day (Feb 15) to sell its major stake in its
data center business to US infrastructure
investor DigitalBridge Group for RM2 bil-
lion cash.
The proposal is to pave the way to form
a partnership with DigitalBridge to further
grow capital-intensive data center business,
in which TDC will be holding a smaller
30% stake.
Furthermore, the stake sale will help
unlock the value of TDC’s data center
business. TDC intends to allocate RM1
billion for dividend. This will translate into
a dividend per share of 54 sen based on
issued share capital of 1.8 billion shares.
However, some minority shareholders
are resisting the proposal.
To recap, TDC will sell 49% of the
ordinary shares and 100% of the irre-
deemable convertible preference shares
in AIMS Data Centre Holding, and 21%
of the ordinary shares in AIMS Data Cen-
tre (Thailand) Ltd, according to the com-
pany’s filing with Bursa Malaysia on Nov
22 last year.
Some minorities raised concerns that
upon divestment of AIMS, TDC will
de-consolidate the high growth data center
segment and thus the company may be
losing a positive catalyst for its share price
to appreciate.
A minority shareholder, who declined
to be named, wrote in a statement sent to
6 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
The Edge that TDC can leverage its bal-
ance sheet to pay dividends and under-
take organic and inorganic expansion of
its data center business in the ASEAN re-
gion, including the option to form partner-
ships and joint ventures with global data
center players, without divesting AIMS
and de-consolidating its high growth data
center assets in the accounts.
“Shareholder activism is all about be-
ing able to exercise your rights as a share-
holder. And if a minority shareholder has
concerns, he/she should ask the relevant
questions at the EGM and hold the Board
accountable,” Minority Shareholder Watch
Group’s (MSWG) CEO Devanesan Ev-
anson commented when contacted by
The Edge.
However he added it is important to ap-
preciate that there may not be unanimous
views among the minority shareholders.
“Some may see value in the transaction
while some may not. What is important is
they act according to their honest beliefs.
The law provides rights to shareholders
and they should use these rights if they
feel truly aggrieved,” he said.
Pulau Kapas Ventures Sdn Bhd is the
largest shareholder in TDC with 28.91%
shareholding, followed by Khazanah Na-
sional Bhd at 10.65%, Kumpulan Wang
Persaraan Diperbadankan (KWAP) has
5.79%, and AIA Bhd has 5.32%. The top
four shareholders collectively hold 50.67%
stake in TDC.
For the third quarter ended Sept 30,
2022, TDC’s net profit increased by
18.1% to RM118.74 million compared
with RM100.54 posted in the same pe-
riod in 2021.
Quarterly revenue increased 17.53%
to RM407.57 million against RM346.76
in 3Q21 driven by growth in retail and
wholesale segment as well as continued
healthy demand for its data and data center
offerings.
In the past year TDC’s share price has
climbed 32% to RM5.30, and since the
announcement of the proposed divestment
the share price has gained 8.18%.
At Tuesday’s close TDC shares were un-
changed at RM5.30, giving the company
a market capitalization of RM9.74 billion.
DNeX’s largest
shareholder
sells stake to
exit Theta Edge
by justin lim
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Da-
gang NeXchange Bhd (DneX)’s
largest shareholder Arcadia Acres
Sdn Bhd has ceased to be a substan-
tial shareholder in Theta Edge Bhd.
Arcadia disposed of its entire
16.53% stake in Theta Edge, com-
prising 19.5 million shares, on Tues-
day (Feb 14), according to a bourse
filing.
The disposal consideration for the
shares was not disclosed. Based on
Theta Edge’s closing price of 70 sen
on Tuesday, the 19.5 million shares
would be worth RM13.65 million.
Arcadia had emerged as the sec-
ond largest shareholder of Theta
Edge after it acquired a 30.31%
stake (32.5 million shares) in the IT
systems integration and telecommu-
nication engineering services group
on March 31, 2021.
Arcadia subsequently trimmed its
stake to 18.18% in October last year
via the disposal of some 13 million
Theta Edge shares.
A separate filing showed that the
tranche was sold to Threadstone
Capital Sdn Bhd.
Currently, Lembaga Tabung Haji
remains as the largest shareholder in
Theta Edge, with a 30% stake com-
prising 32.18 million shares.
Theta Edge’s share price has
been on a downtrend since it hit
its peak of RM2.19 on Oct 8, 2021.
The stock closed up 0.5 sen or
0.72% at 70 sen on Tuesday, giv-
ing the group a market capitalisation
of RM83 million.
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
MyEG’s
controlling
shareholder Asia
Internet buys
8.8% stake in
Cuscapi
by Syafiqah Salim
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Asia Inter-
net Holdings Bhd, the largest single share-
holder in MyEG Services Bhd, bought
some 83.25 million shares, or 8.811%
stake, in point-of-sale system provider
Cuscapi Bhd.
Asia Internet bought the block of shares
via the direct business transaction on Feb
10, according to the company’s filing to
Bursa Malaysia. It is not known from
whom Asia Internet bought the shares.
Coincidentally, Radio Port Ltd — an
offshore company — sold out its 6.02%
stake, or 56.9 million shares, in Cuscapi,
a separate filing to the exchange showed.
EPF trims its MyEG stake to below 5%
by Syafiqah Salim
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14):The Employ-
ees Provident Fund (EPF) has ceased to be
a substantial shareholder of MyEG Services
Bhd after it sold 39.05 million shares, the
company’s filing with Bursa Malaysia shows.
The shares were sold on Feb 10. How-
ever, the transaction price was not disclosed
in the filing.
EPF had begun reducing its stake in
MyEG since Feb 7 when it sold 49.65 mil-
lion shares plus an additional 65.98 million
shares on Feb 8.
Meanwhile, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan
Diperbadankan (KWAP) also sold 1.51 mil-
lion shares in MyEG on Feb 10.
As MyEG share price remains low, the
company continued to buy back more
shares on the open market.
On Tuesday (Feb 14), it bought back
an additional two million shares at 63 sen
apiece for RM1.26 million, according to
the group’s filing.
In total, MyEG has spent RM5.4 million
for eight million shares in its share buyback.
7 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
Asia Internet is a private vehicle of My-
EG’s managing director Wong Thean Soon,
better known as TS Wong. He emerged as
a Cuscapi shareholder in 2019.
Wong currently holds a direct stake of
13.209% in Cuscapi and an indirect stake
of 8.111% through Asia Internet, making
him the biggest shareholder holding direct
and indirect stake of 21.32%.
The other substantial shareholders are
Ultimate Quality Success, holding a 14.55%
stake; and Cuscapi’s executive chairman Jay-
akumar Panneer Selvam, with a 7.44% stake.
Cuscapi’s share price closed 0.5 sen
higher at 22 sen on Tuesday (Feb 14),
translating into a market capitalisation of
RM207.87 million.
MyEG ended the trading session in the
green — up 3.31% at 62.5 sen — valuing
it at RM4.67 billion. The stock regained
some lost ground after MyEG announced
that vehicle owners and drivers will still
be able to renew road taxes and driving
licences through its existing channels.
MyEG’s shares have been bogged down
by heavy selling since last week, after news
reports said that the Immigration Depart-
ment could directly handle all immigration
transactions from 2025. Wong, who holds
a 12.13% stake in MyEG, bought five mil-
lion shares in the group when MyEG’s
share price was heading lower.
MyEG’s share price recouped some lost
ground on Tuesday after the company clar-
ified that vehicle owners and drivers will
still be able to renew their road taxes and
driving licences through existing channels.
At Tuesday’s closing, MyEG’s share
price was 3.31% higher at 62.5 sen, with
a market capitalisation of RM4.67 billion.
Read also:
MyEG’s Zetrix partners Uni Malaya
and CAICT in Malaysia-China G2G
programme
MyEG still facilitating road tax, driving
licence renewals
Cengild plans
special issue to
comply with
shareholding
requirement
by Izzul Ikram
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Healthcare
service provider Cengild Medical Bhd has
proposed to undertake a special issue of
new shares to Bumiputera investors, to
comply with the Bumiputera equity con-
dition to be listed on the ACE Market.
It plans to issue 118 million new
shares, or 12.6% of its enlarged issued
share base of 936.8 million, at an issue
price to be announced later.
At an illustrative price of 45 sen —
a 9.09% discount to the five-day vol-
ume-weighted average market price of
Cengild shares up to and including Jan
31, 2023, of 49.5 sen — the special is-
sue is expected to raise RM53.1 million.
Cengild’s special issue comes after the
Securities Commission Malaysia (SC)
on Jan 17 approved the company’s re-
sultant equity structure, pursuant to the
proposed special issue under the equity
requirement for public listed companies.
The group was listed on the ACE Mar-
ket back in April last year, on condition that
it will allocate 12.5% of its enlarged number
of issued shares to Bumiputera investors
within one year after achieving the profit
requirement for companies seeking listing
on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.
Of the proceeds, Cengild said
RM51.94 million has been earmarked for
the healthcare services provider’s work-
ing capital, while the remaining RM1.16
million is to be utilised for the exercise’s
estimated expenses.
The shares will be issued to Bumi-
putera investors to be identified, and ap-
proved by the Ministry of International
Trade and Industry.
“After Cengild Medical’s listing on the
ACE Market… the company has achieved
the profit requirement based on its audit-
ed profit after tax of RM9.39 million for
the financial year ended June 30, 2022
(FY2022),” Cengild said in a filing, add-
ing that it is thus required to comply with
the Bumiputera equity condition by June
30, 2023.
Read the full story
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3 8 TheEdge CEO morning brief

h o m e

Betamek
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Betamek that Perodua, its major customer, contin-
Bhd has secured contracts worth RM123.5 ues to see rising demand for its vehicles.

bags Perodua
million to supply various electronics parts “Our partnership with Perodua spans
for a new Perodua model. over two decades, and we are delighted to

contracts worth
In a statement on Tuesday (Feb 14), the continue our relationship by supplying our
electronics manufacturing services (EMS) latest technology for the company’s latest

RM123.5 mil
provider said its unit Betamek Electronics
(M) Sdn Bhd on Monday received the let-
ter of appointment from Perusahaan Oto-
mobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua).
It said the supply of these parts com-
menced in the fourth quarter of the fi-
nancial year ending March 31, 2023
(4QFY2023), and is for a duration of six
years.
The contracts are expected to contrib-
ute positively to earnings of the group
over a six-year period, commencing from
FY2023, it said.
Betamek managing director Mirzan
Mahathir said the company, which pro-
vides one-stop EMS solutions to automo-
tive makers, is optimistic that demand for
its vehicle audiovisual products and vehicle
accessories will continue to grow, given
by surin murugiah
theedgemarkets.com
vehicle models,” he added.
As of January 2023, Perodua had
220,000 outstanding bookings to be ful-
filled.
The car manufacturer recently an-
nounced that it is looking to maximise its
production to 330,000 units and sales to
314,000 units this year, underpinned by
outstanding orders carried forward from
last year as well as continued demand for
its vehicles so far this year.
The production target is 14.2% high-
er than Perodua’s 2022 tally of 289,054
vehicles produced, while the sales target
is 11.3% higher than the 282,019 units
sold last year.
Betamek shares settled up 5.5 sen or
10.28% at 59 sen, giving it a market cap-
italisation of RM265.5 million.

MR DIY posts
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): MR DIY FY2022 to 2.4 sen, compared with 2.95
Group (M) Bhd reported a marginal in- sen for FY2021.

flat 4Q net profit,

crease in net profit to RM136.08 million For FY2022 as a whole, MR DIY’s
for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 cumulative net profit increased 9.52% to

declares lower
(4QFY2022), from RM134.55 million a RM472.95 million, from RM431.83 million
year earlier, on the back of a higher revenue. in FY2021. Full-year revenue rose 18.15%

Quarterly revenue rose 9.27% to
RM1.07 billion from RM975.39 million
in 4QFY2021, driven by positive sales con-
tributions from new stores, which grew
20% year-on-year from 900 stores to 1,080
stores, leading to a 15.2% increase in total
transactions to 38.1 million.
However, profit after tax was impact-
ed by one-off prosperity corporate tax
of RM10.2 million on subsidiaries with
chargeable income above RM100 million,
the home improvement retailer said in a
filing with Bursa Malaysia.
Profitability was also dragged by higher
administrative and other operating expens-
es. Administrative expenses rose 34.2%
while other operating expenses increased
interim dividend
by justin lim
theedgemarkets.com
26.8%, led by higher staff costs, utility ex-
penses, and the depreciation of right-of-use
assets, which largely corresponded with an
increase in the number of stores from con-
tinued business expansion, the group said.
MR DIY declared an interim dividend
of 0.6 sen — compared with 0.9 sen paid a
year ago — to be paid on March 24, with
March 2 as the ex-date.
This brings the total dividend for
to RM3.99 billion from RM3.37 billion.
The group said that given persistent
cost pressures, its price adjustments to
its core product offering have led to the
improvement in gross profit margins in
4QFY2022 compared to earlier in the year.
“We have been fortunate to have de-
livered continuous growth with revenue
reaching the RM4 billion mark on the
strength of consistent quarterly and annual
performances,” said MR DIY chief exec-
utive officer Adrian Ong in a statement.
He added that the group is optimistic
about its prospects going forward, given
the positive post-pandemic sentiment.
“The more favourable freight environ-
ment and the strengthening of the Ma-
laysian ringgit against both the US dollar
and Chinese renminbi also favour a better
performance. [However] there are still con-
cerns on the impact on household income
given rising interest rate and increases in
cost of living,” he said.
Ong said the group has targeted to open
another 180 new stores in 2023, to bring
the nationwide total to over 1,200.
Shares in MR DIY closed two sen or
1.13% lower at RM1.75 on Tuesday (Feb
14), giving the group a market capitalisa-
tion of RM16.51 billion. Over the past one
year, the counter has depreciated 29.7%
from RM2.49.
w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3 9 TheEdge CEO morning brief
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
Jakel Capital CEO
appointed as
Cypark director
by syafiqah salim
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Cypark Re-
sources Bhd has appointed J Muhammad
Ashraf Muhammad Amir as its non-inde-
pendent and non-executive director, effec-
tive Tuesday (Feb 14).
Muhammad Ashraf, 36, is the group
chief investment officer of Jakel group of
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Bursa Secu-
rities has granted Practice Note 17 (PN17)
company Top Builders Capital Bhd a six-
month extension to submit its regularisa-
tion plan to regulatory authorities.
According to a Bursa Malaysia filing on
Tuesday (Feb 14), the new deadline for the
piling and engineering group to submit its
regularisation plan to the Securities Com-
mission Malaysia (SC) or Bursa Securities
has been extended to June 29, 2023.
On Jan 3 the group had requested a
three-month extension from Dec 29, 2022.
On Dec 1 last year, the company said
it was still in the midst of formulating a
regularisation plan to address its financial
condition.
Top Builders fell into PN17 status in
June 2020, when the group’s external au-
ditor KPMG PLT expressed doubts over
the company’s ability to continue as a going
concern as its current liabilities exceeded
its current assets by RM21.6 million.
At the same time, the company’s equity
on a consolidated basis was less than 25%
of its share capital.
More recently, Top Builders’ unaudit-
ed financial results for the financial year
ended June 30, 2022 (FY2022) indicat-
ed it had returned to the black with a net
profit of RM150.39 million on the back
of an approved scheme of arrangement.
Revenue stood at RM19.63 million.
10 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
companies, and the chief executive officer of
its investment arm, Jakel Capital Sdn Bhd.
“He had served in various senior posi-
tions at public-listed companies, the last
being the head, group corporate finance
of Symphony House Bhd where he led
multiple corporate exercises leading to its
successful reverse take-over and manage-
ment buyout in 2015 and subsequently the
merger of its corporate services business
in 2018,” said Cypark in a bourse filing.
Jakel Capital emerged as Cypark’s larg-
est shareholder last month after acquiring
a 27.33% stake via a private placement.
The emergence of the investment arm
of textile trading and property developer
Jakel Group as a shareholder of Cypark
led to Cypark’s share price more than dou-
bling in value. This prompted an unusual
market activity query by Bursa Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Cypark on Tuesday also ap-
pointed Mohd Adzahar Abdul Wahid as an
independent and non-executive director.
He was a former director of Symphony
House, Kencana Petroleum Bhd, Sapura
Kencana Petroleum Bhd, Edra Global En-
ergy Bhd and TH Plantations Bhd.
Cypark shares dropped 10 sen or 8.77%
to RM1.04 on Tuesday, valuing the renew-
able energy firm at RM804.03 million.
Top Builders
granted six-
month extension
to submit
regularisation plan
by izzul ikram
theedgemarkets.com
However, its unaudited financial state-
ments for FY2022 also showed that its cur-
rent liabilities exceeded its current assets
by RM108.55 million.
Top Builders previously posted three
consecutive financial years of net losses —
RM239.1 million in FY2021, RM144.35
million in FY2019 and RM26.93 million
in FY2018.
On Dec 30, 2020, the group had
changed its financial year end from Dec
31 to June 30.
Trading of Top Builders shares has been
suspended since Nov 8 last year pending
the submission of its FY2021 annual re-
port. The counter last traded at two sen,
giving the group a market capitalisation
of RM14.1 million.
Anzo
regulariastion
plan deadline
postponed, shares
suspended from
Feb 21
by izzul ikram
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Anzo
Holdings Bhd, which has been clas-
sified as an affected listed issuer, has
been granted a further extension un-
til April 30 to submit its regularisa-
tion plan to the relevant authorities.
The extension is subject to the ap-
pointment of a principal adviser by
the loss-making integrated contractor
and timber service provider by March.
In the meantime, trading in Anzo
shares will be suspended from Feb
21, the group said in a bourse filing.
Bursa Securities said Anzo faced
delisting if it fails to submit its reg-
ularisation plan within the extended
timeframe, or fails to obtain approval
and implement the plan within a time-
frame stipulated by the authorities.
Last year, Anzo was granted a six-
month extension to submit its regular-
isation plan, from April 10 to Oct 31.
On Oct 31, the group applied for
a further six-month extension until
April 30 this year to submit the plan.
Anzo was classified as an affected
listed issuer in October 2019, after
its revenue on a consolidated basis
represented 5% or less than its share
capital based on the unaudited fi-
nancial statements for the financial
year ended July 31, 2019.
More recently, the group reported
a higher net loss of RM27.71 million
for the year ended Sept 30, 2022, com-
pared with RM24.33 million a year pri-
or, while revenue declined to RM23.03
million from RM29.96 million.
The FY2022 revenue of RM23.03
million represented 14.71% of its
share capital of RM156.57 million
for that year. Anzo has been in the
red since FY2013.
Shares in Anzo finished half a
sen or 33.33% higher at two sen on
Tuesday (Feb 14), giving the group
a market capitalisation of RM22.32
million.
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
Shah Alam Umno
division chief
pleads not guilty
to six charges of
misappropriation
and forgery
by Tarani Palani
theedgemarkets.com
SHAH ALAM (Feb 14): Shah Alam Umno
division chief Datuk Azhari Shaari on Tues-
day (Feb 14) pleaded not guilty to six counts
of misappropriation and forgery involving
“ibadah korban” programme funds total-
ling RM440,000.
Azhari, 52, was charged with three counts
of dishonest misappropriation of property
worth RM240,000 allocated for the Batu
Tiga and Kota Anggerik state legislative as-
semblies’ “Korban Perdana programmes”,
as well as misappropriating RM200,000 that
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): The Sessions
Court here was told on Tuesday (Feb 14) that
former Labuan Member of Parliament Da-
tuk Rozman Isli’s father and younger brother
were shareholders with the lowest shares in
Labuan Liberty Port Management Sdn Bhd
(LLPM), which is the temporary operator of
the Labuan Federal Territory Merdeka Port
Terminal.
Assistant Registrar of Companies at the
Marketing and Business Development Di-
vision of the Companies Commission of
Malaysia, Adlin Shahira Mohd Roslan, 31,
said Isli Siput and Tony Noolan each owned
31,250 units of the company’s three million
paid-up shares.
“The information is based on the compa-
ny’s annual report for a period of four years,
namely 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020,” she said
when reading out her witness statement at
Rozman’s trial for allegedly using his position
to obtain bribes, namely an employment con-
tract as an operator of Labuan Port Merde-
ka Dock for LLPM, in which his father and
younger brother have an interest.
The 22nd prosecution witness told the
court that the annual report was supplied by
SSM, following a request from the Malay-
sian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Cross-examined by lawyer Muhammad
Rafique Rashid Ali, representing Rozman, Ad-
lin Shahira said Rozman’s father and younger
brother each held 1.04% shares in LLPM.
Rozman, 59, is charged as an official of a
11 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
was part of donation programmes for school
uniforms for orphans.
All offences were allegedly committed
in September 2017 in Klang.
The charges, framed under Section 403
of the Penal Code, are punishable under
the same Act.
If found guilty, Azhari could face im-
prisonment of between six months and
five years, and whipping. He is also liable
to a fine.
He was also slapped with three charges
of using forged documents on three sepa-
rate instances in May 2010. Charged under
Section 471 of the Penal code, he faces im-
prisonment for a term which may extend to
two years, or a fine, or both.
Charged before Sessions Court judge
Rozilah Salleh, Azhari pleaded not guilty
and claimed trial.
Deputy public prosecutor Allan Suman
Pillai prosecuted, while the Umno division
chief was represented by Ashok Kandiah
Shanmuganathan.
Speaking to The Edge, Allan Suman con-
firmed that the court set RM80,000 bail
with two sureties, and ordered the accused
to surrender his passport.
The case is fixed for mention on April 13.
Rozman’s father,
younger brother
hold lowest shares
in LLPM,
says witness
Bernama
public body, the Deputy Chairman of the La-
buan Port Authority, to have used his position
to obtain gratification, namely an employ-
ment contract as the operator for Dermaga
Merdeka Pelabuhan Labuan for LLPM, in
which his father and younger brother have
an interest in.
The offence was allegedly committed at
the TKSU Meeting Room, Level 9, Ministry
of Transport Malaysia, Jalan Tun Hussein,
Precinct 4, Putrajaya, between 2.30pm and
5.30pm on March 21, 2018.
He is charged under Section 23(1) of the
MACC Act and can be punished under Sec-
tion 24(1) of the same Act, which carries a
maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and
a fine of five times the value of the bribe, or
RM10,000, whichever is higher, if convicted.
The hearing before judge Rozina Ayob
continues on March 6.
Samaiden
unit receives
two notices of
arbitration for
RM12.21 mil
by Lam Jian Wyn
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Sa-
maiden Group Bhd’s wholly owned
subsidiary Samaiden Sdn Bhd (SSB)
has received two notices of arbitra-
tion from Ditrolic Sdn Bhd concern-
ing claims for two work packages
worth a combined RM12.21 million.
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, the
Ace Market-listed company said
SSB had been appointed as a sub-
contractor for the work packages,
which were part of a 100 megawatt
alternating current large scale solar
photovoltaic plant project in Keri-
an, Perak.
SSB had issued four adjudication
claims for the packages against Dit-
rolic. The adjudicator decided that
Ditrolic was to pay RM2.68 million
in respect of the first work package
(WP3) and RM1.46 million for the
second work package (WP4) to SSB.
The second adjudication for both
work packages is currently ongoing.
“... the adjudicated sums have not
been received by SSB from Ditrolic
subsequent to the adjudication deci-
sion. SSB had subsequently issued
the necessary notices pursuant to
CIPAA [the Construction Industry
Payment and Adjudication Act 2012]
on Jan 5, 2023 for WP3, Jan 13, 2023
and Jan 16, 2023 for WP4, to both
Ditrolic and the project owner, i.e.
Kerian Solar Sdn Bhd for direct pay-
ment of both adjudicated sums to be
made by the project owner to SSB
within 14 days. However, to date, no
payment has been received by SSB
from either Ditrolic or the project
owner,” said Samaiden.
On Feb 8, SSB received notices of
arbitration from Ditrolic concerning
the disputes, with estimated claims
of RM8.12 million and RM4.09 mil-
lion for the work packages.
Read the full story
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
Malaysia, Indonesia to ink halal
industry pact in June
JAKARTA (Feb 14): Malaysia and
Indonesia are expected to sign a
memorandum of cooperation (MOC)
in June to encourage halal sector trade
between the two nations, said the
Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Its secretary-general Nizar Ali said the
ministry’s Halal Product Assurance
Agency and the Department of Islamic
Development Malaysia (Jakim) had been
negotiating on the MOC since the middle
of 2022 and the draft was finalised in
January. “The MOC’s draft has already
been finalised, and any revisions must
be discussed together with Indonesia’s
Halal Product Assurance Agency, Jakim
Selangor Information Technology
and Digital Economy Corp to select
10 start-ups to pitch in Silicon Valley
in April
SHAH ALAM (Feb 14): The Selangor
Information Technology and Digital
Economy Corporation (Sidec) will select
the 10 best tech start-ups to represent
Malaysia at pitching showcases in both the
Silicon Valley and Washington DC, United
States (US), this April. Its chief executive
officer, Yong Kai Ping, said the 10 start-
ups would be selected under the Pitch
Malaysia USA Series 2023, the pinnacle
programme by Sidec aimed at highlighting
the country’s promising start-ups and place
them in the spotlight of global investors to
scale globally. Yong said the start-ups from
all states can send their applications from
Feb 20 until March 10, and the 10 start-
ups selected will be announced on March
16. He said the criteria for companies
applying for Pitch Malaysia include being
incorporated for fewer than 10 years;
raising US$500,000 from a venture
capitalist firm or an institutional investor;
generating at least US$1 million in revenue
over the last 12 months; and developing
new technology, products or services,
provide disruptive innovations and scaling
new markets. — Bernama
12 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
news In brief
reuters
and the director of Malaysia’s Halal
Council,” he said in a statement. Malaysia
and Indonesia are among the Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries
listed among the top 20 halal export
countries in the 2022 Annual OIC Halal
Economy Report 2022. — Bernama
Nga: Six criteria to strengthen town
planning provisions, policies
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): The Ministry of
Local Government Development is committed
to strengthening town planning provisions
and policies by focusing on six development
criteria. Minister Nga Kor Ming said the
ministry, through the Town and Country
Planning Department (PLANMalaysia), will
focus on connectivity of neighbourhoods,
sustainable township planning, multi-sized
open spaces, visual permeability as passive
security, adaptation of renewable energy,
and sustainable communities. He said the
matter requires continued effort from various
parties, including local experts, to strengthen
the quality of town development planning,
and to turn it into a platform to share
experiences and hold discussions on national
development planning policies. It is hoped
to also strengthen strategic partnerships,
and act as a foundation in the preparation of
the Town Development Planning Provisions,
Policies and Guidelines Implementation
Guide. “Besides the sharing of housing
expertise abroad, such as with the Housing
and Development Board [of Singapore], the
ministry is also ready to accept the views
and knowledge-sharing from local housing
experts,” he said in a statement on Tuesday
(Feb 14). — Bernama
Anwar: Process of reinstating
Parliamentary Services Act should
be expedited
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
said the process of reinstating the
Parliamentary Services Act should be
expedited to ensure that Parliament
is free from executive power. He said
Parliament’s transformation effort is also
vital to maintain democracy and freedom
of expression in the country. “It has to
be expedited. The attorney general has
been notified. Some issues are being
scrutinised and need to be simplified, so
as not to avoid problems when we table
it [in Parliament],” he said after attending
the prime minister-meets-senators
programme in Parliament on Tuesday
(Feb 14). The Act, which was first enacted
in 1963 and repealed in 1992, had to be
restored to give Parliament autonomy
over its administration, and to enable it
to play the role of check and balance in
monitoring the government’s executive
power for the benefit of the people and
the nation, according to Anwar. — Bernama
SCIB terminates RM56 mil EPCC
contract in Indonesia
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Sarawak
Consolidated Industries Bhd (SCIB) has
terminated a proposed engineering,
procurement, construction and
commissioning (EPCC) project worth
RM55.59 million, involving earthworks
for the Prabumulih-Muara Enim tolled
road in Sumatera, Indonesia. The civil
engineering specialist’s wholly owned
unit SCIB International (Labuan) Ltd
(SCIBILL) issued a notice of termination
to PT Cipta Multi Sarana (PTCMS) on
Monday (Feb 13), amid a lack of progress
in the project arising from Covid-19
pandemic uncertainties and initiatives to
review and update SCIB’s order books.
SCIBILL secured the EPCC project from
PTCMS in August 2020. SCIB managing
director Rosland Othman said there are
no penalties or liquidated ascertained
damages to SCIBILL over the termination
of the project. This is not the first contract
termination by SCIB this year. In late
January, the group withdrew from EPCC
contracts involving a specialist hospital
project in Johor Bahru. The group is also
proposing a 10% private placement to
raise up to RM10.98 million mainly for
repayment of bank borrowings and to fund
its working capital requirements. — by
Syafiqah Salim
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
WASHINGTON (Feb 14): US consumer
prices rose briskly at the start of the year, a
sign of persistent inflationary pressures that
could push the Federal Reserve to raise
interest rates even higher than previously
expected.
The overall consumer price index
climbed 0.5% in January, the most in three
months and bolstered by energy and shelter
costs, according to data out Tuesday from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.The measure
was up 6.4% from a year earlier. Excluding
food and energy, the so-called core CPI ad-
vanced 0.4% last month and was up 5.6%
from a year earlier. Economists see the gauge
as a better indicator of underlying inflation
than the headline measure.
The median estimates in a Bloomberg
survey of economists called for a 0.5%
monthly advance in the CPI and a 0.4%
gain in the core measure. Both annual
measures came in higher than expected.
US stock futures erased gains and
Treasury yields rose after the report.
The figures, when paired with January’s
blowout jobs report and signs of endur-
SINGAPORE (Feb 14): Singapore is plan-
ning yet another year of a slim budget defi-
cit, emphasising how it will fund protec-
tion for the most vulnerable households
and businesses against persistent inflation.
The city-state aims to narrow the short-
fall to 0.1% of gross domestic product in the
year starting April from a revised 0.3% gap
this year, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence
Wong said in his annual budget speech to
Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 14). It will do
so by boosting revenue by 7.1%, including
raising taxes on high-value property trans-
actions, and lowering expenditure by 2.6%.
The S$104-billion (US$78.4-billion)
spending plan is meant to nudge residents
further into a post-Covid reality, while seek-
ing to blunt near-term cost-of-living pres-
sures. Headline inflation that’s still seen
running hot at 6.5% is complicating policy
as the trade-reliant Singapore also stares
down a gloomy global growth outlook.
In order to help Singaporeans absorb high-
er costs, Wong said the government would
increase subsidies by S$3 billion to lower-in-
come households to defray the higher goods
and services tax (GST), as well as inflation.
Wong said he expects price-growth to remain
high at least through the first-half of the year.
“Other governments spent more dur-
ing this pandemic too. But they largely
financed their additional spending by bor-
rowing, which will eventually have to be
repaid by future generations,” Wong said.
“In contrast, our reserves allowed Singa-
pore to respond quickly without falling
into debt, or burdening either current or
13 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
US inflation stays
elevated, adding
pressure for more
US Fed hikes
by Reade Pickert, Augusta Saraiva
& Chris Middleton
Bloomberg
ing consumer resilience, underscore the
durability of the economy — and price
pressures — despite aggressive Fed policy.
The data support officials’ recent asser-
tions that they need to hike rates further
and keep them elevated for some time,
and possibly to a higher peak level than
previously expected.
The path to stable prices will likely be
both long and bumpy. The goods disin-
flation that has driven the slide in overall
inflation in recent months appears to be
Singapore sees
another year of
budget gap as
inflation bites
by Faris Mokhtar, Michelle Jamrisko
& Low De Wei
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong
future generations of Singaporeans.”
“So we will continue to uphold our
practice of fiscal prudence and the prin-
ciples that underpin the protection of our
reserves,” including keeping plans to raise
the GST rate further, Wong said, in what
he had previously described as his “Val-
entine’s Day present” to Singaporeans.
The government would boost the aid
losing steam, and the strength of the labour
market continues to pose upside risks to
wage growth and service prices.
The details of the report showed shelter
was “by far” the largest contributor to the
monthly advance, accounting for almost
half of the rise. Used car prices — a key
driver of disinflation in recent months —
fell for a seventh month. Energy prices rose
for the first time in three months. Shelter
costs, which are the biggest services com-
ponent and make up about a third of the
overall CPI index, rose 0.7% last month.
Owners’ equivalent rent and rent of prima-
ry residence increased by the same amount,
while hotel stays also climbed.
Because of the way the housing met-
rics are calculated, there’s a significant lag
between real-time price changes and the
government statistics.
The January report incorporated new
weights for the consumer basket to try to
more accurately capture Americans’ spend-
ing habits.The shelter components are now
a larger share of the overall index, while
used cars make up a smaller portion.
that adult Singaporeans would receive as
the GST is raised, including an addition-
al S$300 for all Singaporean households
next January when the rate is increased
to 9% as planned, from 8% now, Wong
said. Among measures to help especially
younger families, the government would
adjust existing child subsidies to target the
most vulnerable, and boost the “baby bo-
nus cash gift” by S$3,000 for all eligible
Singaporean children born from today.
Just as the government has looked to pre-
pare households and businesses for a change
in spending plans in the post-pandemic era —
coming on the heels of a further loosening in
its mask mandate — the revenue side of the
budget also required some careful balance.
In addition to leaning on an increase in
the GST rate, the government is planning
higher taxes on some property transactions
that would affect 15% of homes, and lux-
ury cars and tobacco.
Singapore also intends to raise its effec-
tive tax rate for multinational enterprises to
15% from 2025, in line with the so-called
BEPS 2.0 global agreement to increase
the floor rate.
Read also:
Singapore to raise effective corporate tax
to 15% from 2025
Singapore to double paternity leave, raise
cash gifts for babies
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
Ueda nominated for central bank head
as BOJ-favoured ‘outsider’
(Feb 14): Japanese Prime Minister Fumio
Kishida’s government nominated Kazuo
Ueda to helm the Bank of Japan (BOJ) on
Tuesday (Feb 14) in a move likely to pave
the way for a gradual paring back of the
central bank’s full-bore stimulus.
Ueda, a university professor and for-
mer BOJ board member with a PhD from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is
Kishida’s surprise choice to replace current
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda.
Dubbed “Japan’s Ben Bernanke” by for-
mer Treasury Secretary Larry Summers,
Ueda hasn’t had a say in BOJ policymak-
ing since 2005. His background gives him
the billing of a neutral outsider with aca-
demic heft who can rationally judge how
to reshape policy without a long-running
attachment to the current stimulus setup.
“Ueda doesn’t have the strong policy col-
our of Governor Kuroda,” said Junki Iwa-
hashi, senior economist at Sumitomo Mit-
sui Trust Bank. “Changes are likely to take
place, but he probably won’t rush them.”
By contrast, Deputy Governor Masayoshi
Amamiya might have had more difficulty
taking a neutral stance on any review of
stimulus, given that he has been one of the
key architects of policy over the last decade
and more. Until news of Ueda’s likely nom-
ination broke on Friday, Amamiya had been
the favourite to land the top job at the BOJ.
The surprise choice left many investors
Googling Ueda’s name and assuming policy
change would now likely come sooner rather
than later. An initial strengthening of the yen
and a rise in yields pointed in that direction.
For an outsider, though, Ueda has main-
tained enough contact with the BOJ to sug-
gest he is a well known quantity for insiders
at the central bank.
“He is an economist who has maintained
close ties with the BOJ over the past 20 years,”
Kentaro Koyama, chief Japan economist at
Deutsche Bank Group and a former BOJ of-
ficial, wrote in a report. “In addition, many
former students of Ueda’s University of Tokyo
seminars serve at the BOJ.Therefore, commu-
nication between Ueda and BOJ staff would
be expected to proceed smoothly.”
Amamiya turned down the governor’s job
when approached by the government, accord-
ing to some media accounts. A Financial Times
report indicated that Amamiya then recom-
mended Ueda for the post instead.
When Ueda spoke to reporters on Friday
after the yen strengthened, he issued a reas-
surance that could have been taken straight
from the songbook of Kuroda or Amamiya.
14 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
by Toru Fujioka
Bloomberg
bloomberg
His background
gives him the
billing of a
neutral outsider
with academic
heft who can
rationally
judge how to
reshape policy.
“The Bank of Japan’s current policy is
appropriate and monetary easing needs to
be continued at this point,” he said.
The currency quickly pared its gains af-
ter the comments on Friday, suggesting that
investors were starting to reassess the view
that rapid change might be on the agenda.
Ueda has moderated a number of BOJ
conferences over the years including a work-
shop in November on the mechanism of wage
growth, a focal point for the BOJ as inflation
rises to twice the pace of its 2% inflation target.
Under Kuroda, the BOJ has insisted that
stimulus must stay in place until there are
sufficient gains in pay to support stable in-
flation once import prices settle down.
Ueda called on the BOJ to carefully
watch developments in both inflation and
wages, but added that it’s hard to predict
the path of pay in Japan. As an economist he
may be loathe to act quickly without seeing
a large body of evidence.
A key BOJ decision Ueda is known to
have taken issue with is the move away from
zero interest rates in 2000. As a board mem-
ber he had overseen the introduction of un-
conventional policy but argued that more
time was needed to assess developments
when the BOJ voted to ditch the policy and
push up rates. He dissented.
Following last week’s news of his likely
nomination, his out-of-print book about the
zero interest rate policy got so popular that
its price skyrocketed more than 18 times
from its face value of ¥1,870.
When Ueda left the central bank in 2005,
then BOJ Governor Toshihiko Fukui de-
scribed it as the loss of a living encyclopedia.
“Just saying you have been a pillar of
theory is too insufficient as an expression,”
Fukui said at the end of Ueda’s last meet-
ing. “You were the pillar that ensured our
theory wasn’t just pie in the sky.”
Parliamentary hearings to scrutinise Ue-
da’s current views will start on Fe. 24. Mar-
ket players will be checking that Ueda isn’t
planning the fireworks that Kuroda set off
at his first meeting a decade ago when he
unveiled his massive bond-buying plans.The
new governor is slated to start on April 9.
An important difference with Kuroda’s
start at the BOJ is that Ueda will likely face
intensive market speculation betting against
the BOJ’s yield curve control from Day 1.
Ueda warned against a premature tighten-
ing of policy in an article last year. He also
pointed out the difficulty of managing a soft
landing for the dismantling of yield control.
“Long-term yield curve control isn’t suit-
ed for policy tweaks,” Ueda wrote in the
Nikkei article in July. “Once its ceiling is
raised by a little, it will create market spec-
ulation for another rate hike, possibly spark-
ing a massive selloff of government bonds.”
That’s exactly what the BOJ faced just
weeks ago after it doubled the cap above its
10-year yield target in December, a move
that intensified market expectations for a
move toward normalisation. The central
bank spent a record ¥23.7 trillion (US$179
billion) in January to buy government bonds
to keep yields under the new 0.5% cap.
Those bets against the BOJ are an indica-
tion of the pressure Ueda will face as he tries
to chart a safe course away from the massive
easing of Kuroda. Communication with mar-
kets will be critical as will getting the right take
on how much he can hint at the policy direc-
tion without triggering waves of speculation.
Some 71% of BOJ watchers said in Janu-
ary that the central bank has problems with
its communications strategy following the
December tweak.
Ueda said on Friday that he wants to
conduct policy logically by looking at the
outlook of economy and offering explana-
tions that are easy to understand.
“As he’s a professor, he at least doesn’t have
a clear political constraint on the direction of
policy,” Iwahashi said. “But we still have to
keep an eye on his skills of communication.”
Read also:
Ueda may raise rates by October, yen to
gain — expert
“The nominated BOJ head might be in a
position to tighten monetary policy rather
than continuing to ease.”
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
SINGAPORE/LONDON (Feb 13): China
National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is close
to finalising a deal to buy liquefied natural
gas (LNG) from QatarEnergy over nearly
30 years from the Middle Eastern exporter’s
massive North Field expansion project, three
people with knowledge of the matter said.
If sealed, this would be the second such
deal between major LNG exporter Qatar
and the world’s No 2 LNG buyer, as Bei-
jing looks to beef up gas supply and diversify
its sources in a drive to replace coal and cut
carbon emissions.
CNPC’s talks follow a deal announced
last November by China’s Sinopec, in which
QatarEnergy agreed to supply 4 million
tonnes of LNG annually for 27 years, the
longest duration LNG supply contract ever
signed by Qatar.
“CNPC has agreed on the major terms
with Qatar in a deal that will be very similar
to Sinopec’s,” said a Beijing-based state-oil
official who declined to be named as he is
not authorised to speak to the media.
CNPC declined to comment. QatarEner-
gy did not respond to a request for comment.
“This is a good move for CNPC, securing
additional long term supply from a reliable
and well positioned partner. This will fur-
ther insulate from market volatility, diversify
supply while optimising between the state
owned units,” said Toby Copson, global head
of trading at Trident LNG.
Wei Xiong, analyst at Rystad Energy, said
although CNPC dominates China’s piped gas
imports, it still needs other import options to
mitigate any potential risk, in line with Chi-
BRUSSELS (Feb 13): Denmark, Germany,
the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Luxem-
bourg and Latvia have warned Brussels not
to rush into major changes to the European
Union’s electricity market in response to the
energy crisis, calling instead for limited tweaks
to the system.
The European Commission is drafting a
revamp of EU electricity market rules, with
the aim of better cushioning consumer bills
from fossil fuel price spikes and avoiding a
repeat of the surge in electricity prices trig-
gered last year by cuts to Russian gas supply.
The seven countries, led by Denmark,
said in a letter that Europe’s existing market
design has fostered years of lower electricity
prices, helped expand renewable energy, and
ensured enough power was produced to meet
demand and avoid shortages.
“We must resist the temptation to kill the
golden goose, that our single market for elec-
tricity has been in the last decade,” said Lars
Aagaard, Denmark’s energy minister.
The countries said there was some room
for improvement, particularly in light of soar-
ing power costs last year. But any changes
15 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
CNPC set to seal
mega Qatari
LNG deal
by Chen Aizhu & Marwa Rashad
Reuters
na’s energy policy on supply diversification.
Therefore the deal will eventually strengthen
the energy giant’s competitiveness.
Sinopec said in November the gas pur-
chase agreement was part of an “integrated
partnership”, which indicated the Chinese
firm could be considering acquiring a stake in
Qatar’s North Field expansion export facility.
The two companies have yet to announce
any stake investment.
As Beijing’s ties with the United States
and Australia — Qatar’s two biggest LNG
export rivals — are strained, Chinese national
energy firms increasingly see Qatar as a safer
target for resource investment.
Sinopec and CNPC would not opt for
such long-duration supply contracts unless
they were also hoping to acquire small stakes
in the North Field expansion export facility,
a second Beijing-based state gas official said.
QatarEnergy has maintained a 75% stake
overall in the North Field expansion, that
will cost at least $30 billion, and could give
up to a 5% stake to some buyers, QatarEn-
ergy Chief Executive Officer Saad al-Kaabi
has said.
Countries warn
EU against ‘crisis
mode’ overhaul of
energy market
by Kate Abnett
Reuters
must ensure the market still functions and
incentivises massive investment in renewable
energy, they said.
“Any reform going beyond targeted ad-
justments to the existing framework should
be underpinned by an in-depth impact as-
sessment and should not be adopted in crisis
mode,” said the letter to the Commission,
which was seen by Reuters.
Other countries, including Spain and
France, are seeking deeper reform. Spain
has proposed a shift to more long-term,
fixed-price contracts for power plants, to
Kaabi has said the state energy compa-
ny is negotiating supply deals with many
potential buyers and they would be an-
nounced when agreements are reached.
State-controlled CNPC, China’s top gas
importer, last year also stepped up gas im-
ports from Russia, by pipeline and tanker,
snapping up supply that was no longer go-
ing to Europe due to sanctions amid Mos-
cow’s war on Ukraine.
Chinese customs data showed the coun-
try’s imports of Qatari LNG surged 75%
last year from 2021 to 15.7 million tonnes,
making up a quarter of the nation’s total
imports, while China’s total LNG imports
shrank nearly 20%.
In contrast, imports from Australia and
the United States dropped 30% and 77%
respectively from 2021, to 21.9 million
tonnes and 2.09 million tonnes.
QatarEnergy last year signed five deals
with international majors for the North
Field project, a two-phase expansion plan
that will boost Qatar’s liquefaction capac-
ity to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027
from 77 million tonnes.
Each of the five majors — TotalEner-
gies, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, ENI
and Shell — signed a joint-venture agree-
ment with QatarEnergy that includes an
equity investment in liquefaction export
facilities.
Read also: China’s wind and solar now
almost enough to power every home —
govt data
attempt to limit price spikes.
The seven countries said in their letter that
schemes to do this — like contracts for dif-
ference (CfDs) — could play a role but they
should be voluntary, focus on new renewable
generation, and still “react” to the market.
Electricity industry lobbying group Eu-
relectric has also warned against making
CfDs mandatory, which it says could un-
dermine competition in the power market
and deter investors.
In their letter, the seven countries backed
an idea already mooted by the Commission
to make it easier for consumers to choose
between fluctuating and fixed-price power
contracts.
But they pushed back on another Com-
mission suggestion to extend a temporary EU
measure which claws back windfall revenue
from non-gas generators.
“That could compromise investors’ confi-
dence in the needed investments,” the coun-
tries said in the letter, citing EU estimates that
hundreds of billions of euros in renewable
energy investments are needed annually to
help countries quit Russian fossil fuels.
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
MUMBAI (Feb 14): Gautam Adani’s flagship
firm swung to a profit and pledged to lower
leverage, as the Indian billionaire tries to win
back investor confidence after a bruising re-
port from a short seller wiped out more than
US$120 billion of his empire’s market value.
Adani Enterprises Ltd, based in the ty-
coon’s home city of Ahmedabad in western
India, posted a net income of 8.2 billion
rupees (US$99.1 million) for the quarter
ended Dec 31, it said in a filing on Tuesday,
compared with a loss of 116.3 million rupees
in the same period last year. There weren’t
enough brokerages tracking the company
to derive an average profit forecast.
Revenue surged 42% across business-
es to 266.1 billion rupees, the filing said.
Integrated resource management, which
mostly consists of coal trading, is the big-
gest topline contributor and saw a 38%
jump to 175.9 billion rupees, boosted by
an increase in volumes and higher prices.
Revenue from mining, airports and new
energy also more than doubled in the De-
cember quarter. Total costs climbed 37%
to 261.7 billion rupees.
Shares rose almost 2%, paring this
year’s decline to 55%.
The earnings will be a tailwind for Adani
Enterprises, which has a motley mix of
businesses spanning coal mining, airports,
data centres, digital services and metals.
Known for incubating new Adani business-
es that are then spun off, the company has
(Feb 14): Dabur India Ltd, a major consum-
er goods maker controlled by the billionaire
Burman family, is scouting for acquisitions
at home and in Southeast Asia as it works
to establish its presence in a new overseas
market amid heated domestic competition.
On the back of its US$71 million purchase
of spice producer Badshah Masala Pvt Ltd in
October, the 139-year-old firm, which sells
traditional Ayurvedic medicine and herbal
products including toothpaste and shampoo,
is evaluating other targets in health, food and
personal care in those markets, chief execu-
tive officer Mohit Malhotra said.
“There are a lot of opportunities,” Mal-
hotra, 53, said in an interview at Dabur’s
headquarters in the New Delhi satellite
city of Ghaziabad. “The valuations as rela-
tive to what they were in the past have be-
come more reasonable now.” He declined
to name any brands or firms on his radar.
The expansion comes as Dabur faces
intensifying competition from deep-pock-
eted rivals — including global consumer
titan Unilever plc — which are swooping
in on upstart Indian brands. Powerful In-
dian conglomerates led by two of Asia’s
richest men, Mukesh Ambani and Gau-
tam Adani, also have ambitious plans to
scale up in the household retail space, while
16 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
Adani’s flagship
swings to profit
amid short seller
battle
by PR Sanjai, Atul Prakash,
Katrina Nicholas & Rajesh Kumar Singh
Bloomberg
weathered a brutal past few weeks that saw
its US$2.5 billion share sale shelved and its
stock plunge after US-based Hindenburg
Research accused it of accounting fraud
and stock manipulation in a Jan 24 report.
Despite the ports-to-power conglom-
erate denying the allegations, it triggered
a massive selloff. Hindenburg said in its
report that it had taken a short position
in Adani’s companies through US-traded
bonds and non-Indian-traded derivatives.
Temporary volatility
“The current market volatility is temporary,”
Chairman Adani said in the earnings state-
ment. “As a classical incubator with a vision
of long-term value creation, Adani Enterpris-
es will continue to work with the twin ob-
jectives of moderate leverage and looking at
strategic opportunities to expand and grow.”
Dabur weighs
acquisitions to
expand across India,
Southeast Asia
by Chris Kay
Bloomberg
Tata Consumer Products Ltd is looking to
bulk up its portfolio through acquisitions.
Last year, Hindustan Unilever Ltd pur-
chased wellness brand Zywie Ventures Pvt and
a minority stake in health supplement maker
Nutritionalab Pvt, while Adani Wilmar Ltd
made acquisitions including the Kohinoor
ready-made curries and rice label from Mc-
Cormick Switzerland. At home, Dabur has
also been struggling with elevated inflation that
has eaten into the spending power of Indians,
particularly in the country’s rural hinterland,
where the company makes half its sales.
‘Very volatile’
Dabur, which already sells products in more
than 120 countries, is also looking at deals
to help gain a foothold in Southeast Asia.
Some other earnings highlights:
• It produced 2.5 million tonnes of coal
from Carmichael mine in Australia and
shipped two million tonnes. Production
rose almost 32% from the preceding
quarter, while shipments were flat.
• Its portfolio of eight airports across In-
dia saw a 40% jump in passenger move-
ments to 20.3 million people, compared
to the same quarter last year.
• Data Center in Chennai, the only oper-
ational one so far, will increase capacity
to 33 megawatts, while those in Noida,
Hyderabad and Mumbai are underway.
• Land acquisition is going on for data cen-
tres that will come up in Navi Mumbai,
Visakhapatnam, Pune and Hyderabad.
The Adani Group is said to have halved
its revenue growth target and delayed capi-
tal spending plans, Bloomberg News report-
ed earlier this week, citing people familiar
with the matter. The Indian tycoon has
gone into damage-control mode and is
seeking to rebuild investor, as well as lender,
confidence in the robustness of his empire.
The conglomerate said on Feb 6 that
founders’ prepaid loans worth US$1.11 bil-
lion to release pledged shares across three
Adani firms. The ports unit has announced
plans to repay some debt in the year starting
April, while the conglomerate plans to prepay
a US$500 million bridge loan due next month.
“Southeast Asia is where we are not present,
our competitors are all present in Southeast
Asia,” Malhotra said. “The immediate envi-
ronment is very volatile with currencies playing
havoc, I think once this settles down, then we
might look at some inorganic opportunity.”
While Reserve Bank of India governor
Shaktikanta Das said last week that de-
mand in rural India was showing signs of
improvement, Malhotra said inflation —
above the central bank’s target of 6% for
much of the past year — continues to be
“pinching the business big time.”
His concerns echo those expressed by
Sanjiv Mehta, the CEO of Unilever’s Indi-
an arm, who last month warned that vol-
umes in rural India still have a “long way
to go” before fully recovering.
Dabur’s earnings have likewise been im-
pacted, with net income falling 5.4% in the
last quarter, missing analyst estimates as its
costs rose and operating margin declined.
The company’s shares have retreated 5.2%
so far this year.
“The business environment in India
continues to be pretty challenging,” Mal-
hotra said. “The next quarter is also going
to be pretty tough, so we don’t see inflation
actually getting tame — but next year going
forward things will become a little better.”
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
(Feb 14): Ford Motor Co will dismiss some
11% of its workforce in Europe in the latest
sign of industrial disruption caused by the
automotive sector’s shift to electric vehicles.
Of the total 3,800 jobs to go, workers in
Germany and the UK will be hardest-hit with
about 2,300 and 1,300 positions to be elim-
inated respectively over the next three years,
Ford said Tuesday. Germany’s IG Metall last
month estimated estimated around 3,200
people would lose their jobs.
“Paving the way to a sustainably profitable
future for Ford in Europe requires broad-
based actions and changes in the way we de-
velop, build and sell Ford vehicles,” Martin
Sander, general manager of Ford’s electric-ve-
hicle business in Europe, said in a statement.
“This will impact the organizational structure,
talent, and skills we will need in the future.”
Ford is shifting its model lineup in Europe
to battery-only by 2035 and has previously
said that the reduced complexity of electric
cars would lead to smaller product-develop-
Britain loses 2.5 mil
days to worst strikes
since 1990
by Eamon Akil Farhat
Bloomberg
(Feb 14): The economy lost nearly 2.5 mil-
lion working days to strikes last year as Brit-
ain suffered its most severe industrial action
since Margaret Thatcher was in power.
The Office for National Statistics said
Tuesday that 843,000 working days were lost
due to labour disputes in December, making
it the worst month in more than a decade.
That took the total for June to the end
of the year to 2,472,000 days lost. The last
time it was worse was 1989-90, toward the
end of Thatcher’s time as prime minister. Up
until June, the ONS had temporarily stopped
measuring the data due to Covid.
Unions are railing against pay offers that
fall behind the UK’s rate of inflation.
Protests have escalated this year with ma-
jor walkouts held by hundreds of thousands
of rail staff, civil servants, teachers and work-
ers in the National Health Service and else-
where in the public sector. On Feb 1 as many
as half a million went on strike together.
The crisis looks set to worsen after the
RMT union rejected another pay offer for
rail workers at the end of last week, raising
the prospect of more train strikes.
Nurses’ strikes extending over two con-
secutive days could become more common,
according to reports.
“A continuous 48-hour strike that includes
17 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
Ford cutting 3,800
jobs as EV shift
shrinks German,
UK workforce
by William Wilkes
Bloomberg
ment teams. The company is also trimming
jobs in the US as Chief Executive Officer Jim
Farley targets US$3 billion in annualized sav-
ings while investing more than US$50 billion
in EVs through 2026.
The company, with about 173,000 em-
ployees globally, had some 35,000 positions
in Europe as of the end of last year, with
Cologne its biggest plant with some 14,000
workers. In the UK, the company has some
staff from emergency departments, intensive
care units and cancer care services would
likely have the biggest impact on patients
we’ve seen,” Saffron Cordery, deputy chief
executive at NHS Providers, said in an
emailed statement at the weekend.
Junior doctors are expected to vote in
their thousands in support of strikes with
a ballot closing next week and industrial
action due early March. More ambulance
drivers in southern England andYorkshire
also joined the wider NHS dispute over
the weekend and will take part in upcom-
ing strikes.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s govern-
ment has refused to lift public sector re-
muneration for the current fiscal year be-
yond levels proposed by pay review bodies
that it insists are independent. Unions say
they will keep fighting, with rail workers
and Royal Mail staff being re-balloted for
the right to hold strikes into the summer
and possibly beyond.
Private sector wages have outpaced the
public sector in the last two years, but the
rate of increase in government roles has
jumped to 4.2% according to official data
released Tuesday — the fastest since 2006.
Climbing salaries are raising concern that
inflation could remain persistently high.
While the strikes may not have had a
huge effect on GDP, shops, bars and res-
taurants in city centers have suffered from
disruption on the public transport system.
Footfall at shopping areas near central Lon-
don offices was up more than 36% year-on-
year last week as commuters returned fol-
lowing train strikes at the start of the month,
according to data company Springboard. A
year earlier, many Britons were still working
from home due to the Omicron variant.
7,000 direct employees, making diesel engines
at Dagenham and transmissions at the Hale-
wood facility. It also has an engineering center
at Dunton in Essex. The company intends
to make the reductions through voluntary
agreements, it said Tuesday.
The US manufacturer’s confirmation of
further cuts at its European business add to a
lengthy period of decline in the region.Years
of restructuring have seen the sale or closure
of a number of factories amid broad job cuts.
Its passenger car market share last year was
4.4% with sales totaling just over 510,000
cars, according to the European Automobile
Manufacturers’ Association.
Next in line is Ford’s plant at Saarlouis,
Germany, where 4,600 workers make Fo-
cus compact cars. The automaker will cease
making the model by 2025 with no plans to
produce other vehicles there after that. The
company is in talks with potential buyers of
the plant, including China’s BYD Co, ac-
cording to people familiar with the matter.
Amazon workers at UK
warehouse set further
strike dates
by Muvija M
Reuters
LONDON (Feb 13): Workers at an Amazon
warehouse in Britain will walk out for seven
further days in an escalation of a dispute over
pay, their trade union said on Monday.
Last month GMB union members at the
warehouse in Coventry, central England,
staged the first ever strike at the US e-com-
merce giant’s operations in Britain.
GMB said more than 350 staff at Coventry
warehouse would now take further industrial
action on Feb 28, March 2 and March 13-17.
“Amazon bosses can stop this industrial
action by doing the right thing and negoti-
ating a proper pay rise with workers,” GMB
senior organiser Amanda Gearing said in the
statement.
Amazon, which employs 75,000 people
across the UK, did not immediately respond
to Reuters’ request for a comment.
It has previously said it already offers com-
petitive pay and comprehensive benefits.
The company increased starting pay by 50
pence to a minimum of between 10.50 and 11.45
pounds per hour last year, compared with a gov-
ernment mandated National LivingWage which
will rise to 10.42 pounds an hour from April.
GMB has said the Amazon Coventry workers
are demanding 15 pounds an hour, to help cope
with surging inflation and a cost-of-living crisis
which has sparked strikes across a range of dif-
ferent sectors in Britain over the last few months.
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3 18 TheEdge CEO morning brief

w o r l d

WASHINGTON (Feb 13): Officials from Chi-
na, India, Saudi Arabia and Group of Seven na-
tions will participate in a first virtual meeting of
a new sovereign debt roundtable on Friday, the
International Monetary Fund said on Monday,
confirming an earlier Reuters report.
The roundtable will also include officials
from countries that have requested debt treat-
ments under the Group of 20 common frame-
work — Ethiopia, Zambia and Ghana — as well
as middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka,
Suriname and Ecuador, which have faced their
own debt crises, three sources had earlier said.
The meeting will be co-chaired by the IMF,
the World Bank and India, the current leader of
the Group of 20, and comes a week before G20
finance officials are due to gather in Bengaluru,
India, from Feb 23-25. An in-person meeting
of the roundtable expected on Feb 25 and a
formal launch is planned at the IMF-World
Bank spring meetings in April.
Brazil, which will lead the G20 next year,
is also taking part, one of the sources said.
An IMF spokesperson confirmed the first
roundtable meeting would take place on Fri-
day, and said more details would be released
in the near future.
“The objective is to bring together key
stakeholders involved in sovereign debt re-
structuring, from traditional creditors from
advanced economies, to new creditors like
China, Saudi Arabia, India, as well as the
private sector and debt countries to address
the current shortcomings,” they said.
The roundtable will include the Paris
Club of official creditors and private sector
China, US to
participate in first
meeting of new
debt roundtable
on Feb 17
by Andrea Shalal
Reuters
The meeting will be
co-chaired by the IMF,
the World Bank and
India, the current leader
of the Group of 20.
participants — the Institute of Internation-
al Finance (IIF), the International Capital
Markets Association and two private-sector
financial institutions that have asked not to
be identified, one of the sources said.
Creation of the body comes amid grow-
ing frustration about the slow pace of dis-
cussions on debt relief for Zambia, which
first requested help two years ago. Organ-
isers say the roundtable could help resolve
issues in principle and will not focus on
Zambia or other individual cases.
Officials hope to resolve China’s concerns
about cutoff dates to protect new financing
from debt restructuring by the end of the
year, one of the sources said.
G7, International Monetary Fund and
World Bank officials have long pushed for fast-
er and broader efforts to deliver debt relief to
heavily indebted nations to avoid cuts in social
services that they fear could tip off social unrest.
USTreasury Secretary JanetYellen and other
G7 officials see China, now the world’s largest
sovereign creditor, as the main stumbling block
for quicker work on debt treatments.They are
also pushing for agreement by G20 members
on expanding the common framework to in-
clude middle-income countries.
Eric LeCompte, executive director of the
Jubilee USA Network, a coalition of reli-
gious, development and advocacy groups,
said support for the matter was growing
among other countries. But China’s oppo-
sition — and that of Russia — remained
significant a “stumbling block”, he said.
“The majority of countries support expand-
ing these policies to middle-income countries,
but China is the biggest challenge,” LeCompte
said, adding that Europe had gone through a
similar period of reluctance on debt relief in
the 1990s, but eventually came around.
Also on the agenda will be China’s re-
peated calls for World Bank and other mul-
tilateral development banks to participate in
debt reductions — a proposal firmly rejected
by US officials, who argue that those lend-
ers already offer highly concessional loans
and grants to countries in crisis.

WELLINGTON (Feb 14): New Zealand de-
clared a national state of emergency for only
the third time in its history on Tuesday as Cy-
clone Gabrielle caused widespread flooding,
landslides and huge ocean swells, forcing evac-
uations and stranding people on rooftops.
“It has been a big night for New Zealanders
across the country, but particularly in the up-
per North Island...a lot of families displaced,
a lot of homes without power, extensive dam-
age done across the country,” Prime Min-
ister Chris Hipkins told reporters after the
declaration.
Gabrielle is 100km east of Auckland, near
the east coast of the country’s North Island
and is expected to move east-southeast, rough-
ly parallel to the coast.
Kieran McAnulty, minister of emergency
management, said that while New Zealand
was now through the worst of the storm, more
rain and high winds were expected.
The country was suffering from extensive
flooding, landslides and damage to roads and
infrastructure, he added.
Severe weather would extend to the up-
per South Island as the cyclone moved, the
weather forecaster said.
Authorities have evacuated beach settle-
ments and are still asking people to leave home
New Zealand as rivers continue to swell and the tide rises.
Roads are closed, mobile phone services are
declares national down and some towns are cut off.
Hipkins said it was too early to say how
emergency as many people had been displaced or injured.
No deaths have been confirmed.
Cyclone Gabrielle Parliament will sit briefly Tuesday after-
noon but will then be adjourned until Feb
wreaks havoc 21 because of the cyclone.
Local media are publishing photographs
and video of people sitting on top of buildings
by Lucy Craymer & Renju Jose surrounded by flood water, of houses swept
Reuters to the bottom of hills by landslides and of
roads under water.
A volunteer firefighter remained inside a
house that had slid down a hill in a beachside
town, the national fire and emergency service
said. Another had been rescued and was in
critical condition in hospital, it said.
A New Zealand navy warship is heading to
a yacht that turned on its emergency beacon
this morning off the east coast.
New Zealand declared national emergen-
reuters cies after an earthquake in 2011 and when
the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
 w e d n e s d ay f e b r u a ry 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
LONDON/MILANO (Feb 14): Piero Fer-
rari put in place a succession plan last year
to sustain the wealth his family has accumu-
lated over the past seven decades building
supercars emblazoned with the logo of a
prancing black horse.
And now, as he prepares to pass on his
billions, his fortune is picking up speed.
Piero, 77, recently joined the ranks of
the world’s 500 richest people for the first
time as Ferrari NV benefits from wealthy
buyers less affected by rising inflation and
interest-rate hikes.
Shares of the Maranello, Italy-based
automaker are trading near record highs
after full-year results beat expectations
and the company raised its 2023 outlook
on strong demand for high-margin mod-
els like its new €390,000 (US$418,000)
Purosangue crossover. The manufacturer
is also making a push into more sustain-
able vehicles and plans to unveil its first
fully electric Ferrari in 2025, chief exec-
utive officer Benedetto Vigna said in an
interview this month.
Piero now has a net worth of US$5.6
billion through a roughly 10% stake in the
supercar maker, making him the world’s
467th-richest person, according to the
Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
(Feb 14): A tech advocacy group has urged
the European Commission to investigate
and block Amazon.com Inc’s proposed
US$1.65 billion deal to buy robot vacuum
firm iRobot Corp.
Foxglove, a London-based nonprofit,
wrote to the European Union’s antitrust
arm Tuesday to voice “grave concerns” over
the tech giant’s purchase of the maker of the
Roomba robot vacuum maker, according to
a letter seen by Bloomberg News. It signed
the letter jointly with organizations SOMO,
Open Markets Institute, and the Balanced
Economy Project.
“Amazon already monitors our doorsteps
and listens in on our dinner conversations,
and the proposed merger will put Amazon
inside our living rooms,” the letter said. “It
will deepen Amazon’s retail and consumer
data moats, bolster its vast ecosystem and
market dominance, and cause harm to con-
sumers and competition in ways that can-
not necessarily be fully conceived of today.”
Seattle-based Amazon’s planned acqui-
sition of iRobot is facing increasing scrutiny
from regulators, investors and politicians
as the ecommerce giant seeks more inter-
net-connected devices in people’s homes,
where it already offers the Ring doorbell
and Alexa smart speaker.
The criticism comes as Amazon may
face an antitrust lawsuit in the US as soon
as this spring.
19 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
Ferrari heir races
A Ferrari representative declined to
comment.
onto world’s
Piero first emerged as a billionaire in
2015 following the New York initial pub-
richest list with
lic offering of the business his father Enzo
founded more than six decades earlier.The
400% stock boom
company’s shares have since surged more
than 400% and also boosted the fortune
of the billionaire Agnelli dynasty, Ferra-
ri’s largest shareholder with a 24% stake
by Benjamin Stupples & Daniele Lepido through holding company Exor NV.
Bloomberg Piero inherited his Ferrari stake from his
father, who died in 1988 at age 90. Enzo
bloomberg worked as a race driver for Alfa Romeo
before founding his automaker soon after
the end of World War II.
Piero, Ferrari’s vice chairman since
1988, also owns a stake in Italian luxury
yacht builder Ferretti Group and is chair-
man of engineering services firm HPE
COXA. He’s previously said he has no
plans to sell his Ferrari holding — his big-
gest asset — and in December set up a
family trust to manage it for his descend-
ants, though he retains voting control over
the shares during his lifetime.
“My father really loved knowing what
the fans were thinking,” Piero said about
Enzo in a video released last month.
Ferrari’s vice chairman Piero Ferrari “He was a person who listened to people.”
Amazon will
verse killer acquisition,” which is a merger
where a company buys something it could
hoover up
have developed on its own to the detriment
of innovation.
home data in
“We’re working cooperatively with the
relevant regulators in their review of the
iRobot deal, tech
merger,” a spokesperson for Amazon said
in a statement, while declining to comment
advocacy group
on the Foxglove letter.
The iRobot deal, announced in August,
warns
is already facing an in-depth review by the
Federal Trade Commission in the US that
could extend the antitrust review by months
or years.
by Katharine Gemmell The deal drew an investor lawsuit against
Bloomberg iRobot in Delaware. Senator Elizabeth War-
ren and other Democratic lawmakers have
asked the FTC to reject the deal, Axios re-
ported in September, citing a statement
from Warren.
The FTC, which is also examining Am-
azon’s US$3.5 billion acquisition of 1Life
Healthcare Inc, is preparing a potential anti-
trust case against Amazon, although the al-
legations and timeline for filing a complaint
are not yet set, Bloomberg reported earlier
this month, citing unidentified people fa-
Among its concerns, Foxglove is worried miliar with the probe.
that iRobot’s technologies collect granular Foxglove has previously taken on Meta
data on users’ homes, which could provide Platforms Inc’s Facebook and Palantir Tech-
a goldmine of domestic data for Amazon nologies Inc. It wrote a similar letter about
and even create home maps. Foxglove also iRobot to the UK’s Competition and Mar-
said the deal could result in a so called “re- kets Authority in November.
 W E D N E S D AY F E B R U A RY 1 5 , 2 0 2 3
EV sales passing US$1 tril catches
carmakers on wrong foot
OSLO (Feb 14): Global spending on electric
vehicles is surging. According a new report pub-
lished by BloombergNEF on investment in the
energy transition, annual spending on passenger
EVs hit US$388 billion in 2022, up 53% from
the year before.
With the 2022 tally included, the total value
of electric vehicles sold to date in the passenger
vehicle segment has now crossed US$1 trillion.
There are a few ways to look at that figure. At
the most basic level, if an automaker didn’t have
a decent EV strategy, they missed out on their
share of a trillion-dollar revenue opportunity
over the last decade.
That sounds like a big number, but global
auto sales are worth around US$2.5 trillion a
year. So, over the last 10 years since EVs first
showed up in the modern era, the value of total
car sales has been roughly US$25 trillion. In
that context, the cumulative value of EV sales
is relatively modest. Total profits from EVs also
are much lower.
Still, growth rates matter, and almost 60%
of total EV spending occurred in just the last
18 months. This year will break records again,
with passenger EV sales likely to comfortably
exceed US$500 billion. This is now a very ma-
terial, very fast-moving part of global auto sales.
The auto industry operates on long prod-
uct cycles. While it feels like there’s a constant
stream of new products, many are just cosmetic
updates to existing models — facelifts, in in-
dustry parlance. To understand product cycles
and what happens next, it’s important to look
at vehicle platforms. High-volume automakers
develop new platforms that underpin vehicles
over what is usually a six- to 10-year period. The
platforms take years to develop, cost billions of
dollars and ideally are versatile, allowing auto-
makers to use different body structures cater-
ing to a wider variety of consumer preferences.
These platforms also allow for component
sharing across many models, which is a neces-
sary part of the cutthroat economics of building
vehicles at scale around the world.
Long development cycles also mean that if
an automaker has been caught wrongfooted, it
can take quite a while to realise the full impact
of mistakes. The trillion-dollar EV sales mark is
probably the point where it becomes clear that
some automakers made the wrong bets.
Japanese automakers illustrate this well. All
of the Japanese brands combined sold less than
5% of the EVs purchased globally last year, and
none were among the top 10 EV brands by vol-
ume. This wasn’t a problem in 2019, when plug-
in vehicles were just 2.6% of global auto sales,
but it’s worrisome when they’ll likely be closer
to 18% of sales in 2023.
20 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
BY COLIN MCKERRACHER It’s even more extreme in China, where EVs
Bloomberg will likely be over 30% of sales this year, up
from just 5% in 2019. That’s a huge change in a
timeframe well within the normal life cycle of a
vehicle platform. Japanese automakers’ market
share in China is now starting to slip, to 21% of
new-vehicle sales last year from 25% in 2020.
Alarm bells are ringing at the Japanese au-
tomakers now, with Honda revamping its EV
strategy and Toyota installing new management
preaching an EV-first strategy.
Changing course will take a while. Toyota has
said it won’t have a new dedicated EV platform
ready for launch until 2027. While that might
get accelerated, it reflects the timescales tradi-
tional automakers operate on.
That sounds like Toyota may well still succeed.The company has
a big number, shown impressive adaptability over its 85-year his-
but global auto tory, but the point here is that the next vehicle cycle
sales are worth is absolutely critical to turning the ship around. If
around US$2.5 it misses the mark, the consequences will be dire.
Many other automakers face a similar situation,
trillion a year. with their platforms for models due to arrive from
2026 to 2028 largely set. It will take a few years to
find out if they’ve made the right bets.
There are still many challenges ahead as EV
sales take off. Even after the phenomenal growth
of late, only about 3% of the 1.3 billion pas-
senger cars on the road globally will be electric
at the end of this year. Soaring demand is also
placing real strains on the battery supply chain
and public charging infrastructure.
Still, the first trillion dollars highlighted in
BNEF’s report marks the beginning of real ma-
teriality in the auto sector. EVs have captured mind
share and excitement from industry watchers for
years.They’re now capturing real market share, too.
BLOOMBERG
 W E D N E S D AY F E B R U A RY 1 5 , 2 0 2 3 21 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

M A R K E T S

CPO RM 3,977.00-20.00 OIL US$ 85.210.12 RM/USD 4.3162 RM/SGD 3.2646 RM/AUD 3.0117 RM/GBP 5.2406 RM/EUR 4.6460

Top 20 active stocks

NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET
(MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
MY EG SERVICES BHD 345.50 0.020 0.625 -28.16 4645.00
HONG SENG CONSOLIDATED BHD 156.00 0.010 0.210 -4.55 1072.80
SAPURA ENERGY BHD 61.53 -0.010 0.045 28.57 719.10
BETAMEK BHD 59.93 0.055 0.590 14.56 265.50
VELESTO ENERGY BHD 55.81 -0.005 0.230 53.33 1889.60
CSH ALLIANCE BHD 54.06 -0.015 0.050 25.00 69.10
PESONA METRO HOLDINGS BHD 53.98 -0.010 0.290 26.09 201.50
REVENUE GROUP BHD 42.98 0.045 0.490 -27.41 236.30
VISDYNAMICS HOLDINGS BHD 40.34 -0.055 0.975 40.29 170.80
VOLCANO BHD 36.99 0.035 0.775 59.79 127.90 World equity indices
AIMFLEX BHD 32.69 0.000 0.155 3.33 227.70 CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
ZEN TECH INTERNATIONAL BHD 30.85 0.005 0.030 50.00 24.30 (%) (%)
IRIS CORP BHD 29.15 0.005 0.120 -7.69 391.50 DOW JONES 34,245.93 376.66 1.11 INDONESIA 6,941.86 41.72 0.60
TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 28.51 -0.010 0.760 -16.02 6085.60 S&P 500 4,137.29 46.83 1.14 JAPAN 27,602.77 175.45 0.64
EA TECHNIQUE M BHD 27.12 0.065 0.315 85.29 167.10 NASDAQ 100 12,502.31 197.39 1.60 KOREA 2,465.64 12.94 0.53
ATA IMS BHD 25.78 -0.010 0.325 44.44 390.90 FTSE 100 7,983.55 35.95 0.45 PHILIPPINES 6,791.24 -47.52 -0.69
L&P GLOBAL BHD 28.47 0.020 0.680 0.00 380.80 AUSTRALIA 7,430.86 13.11 0.18 SINGAPORE 3,318.20 -6.50 -0.20
PT RESOURCES HOLDINGS BHD 24.71 0.045 0.655 21.3 350.4 CHINA 3,293.28 9.12 0.28 TAIWAN 15,654.48 110.20 0.71
CYPARK RESOURCES BHD 23.52 -0.100 1.040 121.28 805.5 HONG KONG 21,113.76 -50.66 -0.24 THAILAND 1,652.76 -12.13 -0.73
META BRIGHT GROUP BHD 20.60 -0.010 0.175 2.94 340.79 INDIA 61,032.26 600.42 0.99 VIETNAM 1,038.64 -5.06 -0.48
Data as compiled on Feb 14, 2023 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Feb 14, 2023 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by %) Top losers (ranked by %)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)
AT SYSTEMATIZATION BHD 0.015 50.00 829.1 0.00 90.0 VSOLAR GROUP BHD 0.005 -50.00 1,831.3 -50.00 24.2
ANZO HOLDINGS BHD 0.020 33.33 877.2 33.33 22.3 IQZAN HOLDING BHD 0.030 -25.00 30.0 -14.29 6.7
BORNEO OIL BHD 0.020 33.33 3,869.9 -20.00 193.5 CSH ALLIANCE BHD 0.050 -23.08 54,064.1 25.00 69.1
MMAG HOLDINGS BHD 0.020 33.33 549.5 -20.00 48.4 JOE HOLDING BHD 0.020 -20.00 5,760.1 0.00 61.2
EA TECHNIQUE M BHD 0.315 26.00 27,123.8 85.29 167.1 MLABS SYSTEMS BHD 0.020 -20.00 1,778.7 0.00 29.0
BCM ALLIANCE BHD 0.025 25.00 65.1 0.00 50.9 SAPURA ENERGY BHD 0.045 -18.18 61,532.3 28.57 719.1
METRONIC GLOBAL BHD 0.025 25.00 273.3 25.00 38.3 KOMARKCORP BHD 0.050 -16.67 116.8 -9.09 28.9
SANICHI TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.025 25.00 141.0 0.00 35.1 LAMBO GROUP BHD 0.025 -16.67 170.7 -54.55 38.5
ZEN TECH INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.030 20.00 30,845.7 50.00 24.3 SCOMI ENERGY SERVICES BHD 0.060 -14.29 1,367.5 9.09 28.1
DFCITY GROUP BHD 0.440 15.79 11.0 14.29 46.4 SMTRACK BHD 0.040 -11.11 1,218.7 -20.00 46.8
TAS OFFSHORE BHD 0.265 12.77 19.5 43.24 47.1 JERASIA CAPITAL BHD 0.045 -10.00 15.1 28.57 4
BINA PURI HOLDINGS BHD 0.045 12.50 2,060.3 12.50 93.5 PERMAJU INDUSTRIES BHD 0.045 -10.00 405.4 0.00 87.2
TWL HOLDINGS BHD 0.050 11.11 885.0 42.86 199.2 PELIKAN INTERNATIONAL CORP 0.530 -9.40 7,293.1 41.33 319.7
BARAKAH OFFSHORE PETROLEUM 0.050 11.11 3,413.0 100.00 50.1 MINETECH RESOURCES BHD 0.050 -9.09 1,114.5 -9.09 76.3
NEXGRAM HOLDINGS BHD 0.050 11.11 862.1 -28.57 22.1 TAMBUN INDAH LAND BHD 0.865 -8.95 2,623.7 13.07 380.0
SEG INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.730 10.61 6.6 13.18 893.2 CYPARK RESOURCES BHD 1.040 -8.77 23,523.2 121.28 805.5
BETAMEK BHD 0.590 10.28 59,934.4 14.56 265.5 GREEN PACKET BHD 0.055 -8.33 210.6 0.00 108.9
ABM FUJIYA BHD 0.430 10.26 7.3 0.00 77.4 INDUSTRONICS BHD 0.055 -8.33 3,068.0 -26.67 38.9
REVENUE GROUP BHD 0.490 10.11 42,978.1 -27.41 236.3 PNE PCB BHD 0.060 -7.69 435.1 9.09 33.6
NEXTGREEN GLOBAL BHD 0.815 9.400 1,315.2 8.67 646.8 CITRA NUSA HOLDINGS BHD 0.060 -7.69 47.2 -7.69 43.2
Data as compiled on Feb 14, 2023 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Feb 14, 2023 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by RM) Top losers (ranked by RM)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)
MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES 33.080 0.940 70.7 15.02 6,579.5 NESTLE MALAYSIA BHD 137.000 -1.000 30.60 -2.14 32,126.5
FRASER & NEAVE HOLDINGS BHD 26.800 0.760 365.6 24.19 9,829.7 KHIND HOLDINGS BHD 3.120 -0.130 12.50 0.65 131.2
PETRONAS GAS BHD 17.520 0.460 608.6 2.34 34,667.4 HARRISONS HOLDINGS MALAYSIA 6.960 -0.120 39.20 4.98 476.6
HEINEKEN MALAYSIA BHD 29.380 0.380 521.0 16.59 8,875.6 KLUANG RUBBER CO MALAYA BHD 3.880 -0.120 4.50 -2.02 241.3
HEXTARTECHNOLOGIES SOLUTIONS 26.400 0.380 114.0 54.75 3,396.3 BATU KAWAN BHD 22.880 -0.100 3.80 2.60 9,000.6
KUALA LUMPUR KEPONG BHD 22.100 0.360 451.8 -1.16 23,833.3 CYPARK RESOURCES BHD 1.040 -0.100 23,523.20 121.28 805.5
CARLSBERG BREWERY MALAYSIA 24.860 0.300 185.0 8.65 7,600.9 FAR EAST HOLDINGS BHD 3.700 -0.100 1.20 0.00 2,197.2
KESM INDUSTRIES BHD 9.040 0.240 65.5 28.77 388.9 MALAYSIA AIRPORTS HOLDINGS 6.900 -0.090 2,495.80 5.18 11,448.4
PMB TECHNOLOGY BHD 4.950 0.200 1,650.6 17.86 6,252.0 SUNGEI BAGAN RUBBER CO MALAYA 3.310 -0.090 3.00 -1.78 219.3
BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO 12.060 0.160 119.9 7.49 3,443.5 TAMBUN INDAH LAND BHD 0.865 -0.085 2,623.70 13.07 380.0
KOTRA INDUSTRIES BHD 6.140 0.160 31.8 -6.97 908.7 SEE HUP CONSOLIDATED BHD 1.060 -0.070 5.50 -7.83 84.3
PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD 22.400 0.160 159.4 -2.61 22,253.4 PLS PLANTATIONS BHD 0.975 -0.065 5,929.10 4.84 428.6
VITROX CORP BHD 8.080 0.150 83.4 5.62 7,633.1 AURELIUS TECHNOLOGIES BHD 2.680 -0.060 505.50 46.45 1,055.9
PPB GROUP BHD 17.700 0.140 312.2 1.49 25,180.0 D&O GREEN TECHNOLOGIES BHD 4.790 -0.060 974.90 11.92 5,928.3
HONG LEONG INDUSTRIES BHD 8.940 0.120 8.2 -2.83 2,856.1 HAP SENG CONSOLIDATED BHD 7.000 -0.060 136.20 9.37 17,427.7
UMW HOLDINGS BHD 3.900 0.120 3,978.4 12.39 4,556.3 PELIKAN INTERNATIONAL CORP 0.530 -0.055 7293.1 41.33 319.7
DIGI.COM BHD 4.240 0.100 2706.7 6 49741.6 VISDYNAMICS HOLDINGS BHD 0.975 -0.055 40,341.40 40.29 170.8
PRESS METAL ALUMINIUM 5.250 0.100 3707.2 7.58 43258 BERMAZ AUTO BHD 2.110 -0.050 1886.3 -0.94 2457.3
SIGNATURE INTERNATIONAL BHD 2.430 0.100 832.6 3.40 704.3 QL RESOURCES BHD 5.890 -0.050 2,248.90 6.90 14,334.2
SCIENTEX BHD 3.600 0.090 475.10 11.80 5,583.8 MHC PLANTATIONS BHD 0.945 -0.045 260.70 -6.44 185.7
Data as compiled on Feb 14, 2023 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Feb 14, 2023 Source: Bloomberg
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