TIME dotCom next focus is Asia Pacific

The company is now ready to go beyond the region equipped with its RM1 billion in assets.

SUBANG JAYA: TIME dotCom Bhd, which already has a strong presence in Southeast Asia, now plans to focus its business in the Asia Pacific market.

Executive director and chief executive officer Afzal Abdul Rahim said the company is now ready to go beyond the region equipped with its RM1 billion in assets.

"We will hit the international market and play with the big boys," Afzal told reporters here after the company's extraordinary general meeting.

TIME dotCom Bhd is the country's second largest fixed line telecommunications network and solutions provider after Telekom Malaysia Bhd.

It is a pioneer in fibre optic telecommunications technology, delivering data and non-data communication services to enterprise, corporate, government, wholesale and retail customers via its fibre optic network traversing Thailand to Singapore.

TIME dotCom had received minority shareholders approval on its RM339 million proposed acquisition of three companies.

Afzal said the group can now pursue its plan to become a regional player with the Asia Pacific market as its main focus.

The three companies are Global Transit Communications Sdn Bhd, which is a leading regional wholesale Internet service and backhaul provider, AIMS Group, a leading "carrier hotel" (a type of data centre) in Malaysia and Global Transit Entities, which hold internet licenses in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Upon completion by the first quarter 2012, the acquisitions will effectively position TIME dotCom into a regional telecommunications player.

This will see TIME dotCom moving up the telecommunications value chain giving it access and the capability to serve a multi-billion dollar market comprising the growing Indo-China, ASEAN and North Asian market where more than half of the world’s population resides and Internet demand is increasing.

TIME provides backhaul and wholesale bandwidth solutions to leading regional and global operators offering a full suite of telecommunication services, ranging from voice and data communications including high-speed broadband, Internet, satellite connectivity and managed services.

TIME was first to market fibre-to-the-home in Malaysia in early 2010.

Its signature product, TIME fibre broadband, now offers Malaysian home Internet users the fastest broadband connectivity in the country with speeds of up to 50Mbps.

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Of penny stocks and regulations

Penny stocks will survive. They survived the designation of Iris Corp Bhd, and they will survive the recent designation of Harvest Court Industries Bhd.

It is easy to paint penny stocks in one brush, that they are useless and mere vehicles for a quick punt.

Just like it's easy to push the buck to the regulator for letting stocks surge, with the occasional unusual market query.

In all fairness, the regulator had issued an alert to investors on trading in Iris five years ago, and on Harvest Court as early as last week.

Did the market players understand that an investor alert is the most serious warning before a stock is designated?

The market regulator should not be used as a punching bag for market participants' lack of foresight in scrutinising the Bursa Malaysia website.

Likewise, a handful of black sheep should not be allowed to poop the party, which never begun for the rest.

The likes of Fitters Diversified Bhd, Cuscapi Bhd and Asia Media Bhd, which are making good profits relative to their size, never really appreciated during the penny stock rally, or, should we say, the penny stock mutiny.

Should companies such as SYF Resources Bhd, which this week announced a plan to venture into the property sector and change its core business, be dismissed merely because it ran up at the wrong time?

Others, however, seem to have managed to dodge the limelight.

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Harvest shares, warrants advance, ignore trading curbs

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18): HARVEST COURT INDUSTRIES BHD []’s shares and the warrants climbed on Friday despite the trading curbs on the securities which came into effect on Wednesday to check excessive speculation.

At 4.14pm, Harvest was up 31 sen to RM1.35 with 8.89 million shares done while the warrants added 26 sen to Rm1.15 with 8.51 million units transacted.

The performance of the securities bucked the cautious broader market which saw the FBM KLCI falling 4.77 points to 1,460.70.

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Harvest Court rallies to six-year high

Written by Syarina Hyzah Zakaria Thursday, 03 November 2011 11:37

KUALA LUMPUR: Harvest Court Industries Bhd’s share price surged by over 20% with some 54.23 million shares changing hands, making it the third most actively traded stock on Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
.....
The company also drew attention when it announced the appointment of Nazifuddin Najib, the son of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as a non-executive director. Nazifuddin is also a director of Sagajuta.
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Harvest rebounds after 2-day selldown on trading curbs
Written by Joseph Chin of theedgemalaysia.com Friday, 18 November 2011 15:04

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18): The shares of HARVEST COURT INDUSTRIES BHD [] staged a mild rebound on Friday after a two-day selldown since Wednesday after trading curbs were placed.

At 2.57pm, the share price was up 15 sen to RM1.19 with 5.60 million units done. The warrants gained six sen to 95 sen with 5.26 million units transacted.

On late Monday, Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd announced that it had declared the securities of Harvest Court as designated counters with effect from Nov 16, Wednesday, due to excessive speculation.

The imposition of this ruling for the shares and the warrants are in force until further notice.

Wall St jumps, on track for weekly gain as fears ebb

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday and were on track to end the week higher as Italy's Senate approved economic reforms, easing investors' concerns about the euro zone's debt crisis.

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SapuraCrest wins RM4.37 billion Petrobras job

PETALING JAYA (Nov 1, 2011): SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd has won a US$1.4 billion (RM4.37 billion) contract from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) to build, charter and operate three deepwater flexible pipe-lay support vessels (PLSV) for the Brazilian national oil company.
"This contract is a significant milestone as it marks our entry into the vast, dynamic yet technologically challenging oil and gas market in Brazil,'' executive vice-chairman and president Datuk Seri Shahril Shamsuddin said in a press statement today.
Under the award, SapuraCrest's wholly-owned unit TL Offshore Sdn Bhd (TLO) is to construct and charter the three PLSVs to Petrobras.
"Revenue from the award is expected to be generated by the fourth quarter of 2014,'' SapuraCrest said in a separate statement to Bursa Malaysia.

"The award will have no effect on the issued and paid-up share capital of the company and is expected to contribute positively to the group's net assets and earnings for the financial year ending Jan 31, 2015 and beyond,'' it added.

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Stocks Sink to End Month, but Major Indices Still See Big Gains for October