Affin – seeking fresh perception

Affin banking group has improved much since the days of high NPLs. The onus is now on the bank to shake off its poor market impression.
A STIGMA is often hard to wash away. And that's in spite of the evidence to show that past perceptions don't hold water anymore.
That is somewhat the quandary the Affin banking group finds itself in.

It has transformed its chequered past of high non-performing or impaired loans where ratios had easily hit double digit to one where its balance sheet today is far more healthy than its previous reputation suggests.

However, that improvement is not reflected in the share price of its holding company Affin Holdings Bhd which continues to be dogged by poor market perception that the banking group is still carrying these legacy loans when the opposite is true.

Apart from the market perception, the holding company's shares also suffers from lack of market liquidity.

“Our recovery efforts as well as the writing off of impaired loans had brought down the loan book to RM16bil, which we subsequently grew to RM30bil through the creation of quality credits,” Affin Bank managing director Datuk Zulkiflee Abbas Abdul Hamid tells StarBizWeek.

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JCY likely to maintain strong earnings in Q2

HUGE SURGE: Net profit rose by more than twentyfold to RM162 million in first quarter from RM7 million previously

JCY International Bhd's second-quarter earnings could be as strong as its first-quarter figures.

Southeast Asia's largest technology company is expected to release its second-quarter earnings by the middle of next month.

"Our production output should be on target," said JCY finance director, James Wong, in an interview with Business Times recently.

He added that the company has been doing well in the current quarter (second quarter), subject to external factors such as fluctuations in the currency markets.
In the first quarter ended December 31 2011, JCY's net profit surged more than twentyfold to RM162 million from RM7 million in the same period a year ago.

The huge surge was attributed to the flash floods in Thailand which had caused havoc to hard disk-drive (HDD) component manufacturers based in the kingdom.

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How To Become A Day Trader

During the heyday of the tech bubble in the late 1990s, day traders made easy money buying and selling Internet stocks. It didn't take much skill to succeed in those days. In just a 17-month period, from October 1998 to March 2000, the Nasdaq Composite Index skyrocketed from roughly 1,344 to an all-time high of around 5,132. All you had to do was ride that tidal wave to rake in the profits. Many of those traders made just as much shorting the index on its way down to a low of about 1,108 in October 2002, losing 78% of its value in 31 months.

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MAS takes delivery of 1st A380 in June

PETALING JAYA (March 9, 2012): Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will take delivery of the first of six Airbus A380 superjumbo jets on June 19, nine years after placing the order, and will start thrice weekly operations from Kuala Lumpur to London on July 1.

The aircraft is currently undergoing the finishing touches in Hamburg, Germany, said MAS acting head of strategic communications, Nor Zalida Ahmad.

"Starting from July 1, MAS will operate three flights a week on the Kuala Lumpur-London route, and then increase the frequency to daily from Aug 25 with the delivery of its second A380. The third and fourth A380s (which MAS will take possession in August and September, respectively) will be used to fly between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney," MAS head of customer experience, Datuk Salleh Ahmad Tabrani, told a media briefing here yesterday.

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P1 to start fibre optics broadband with 4G

Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (P1), which aims to spend RM750 million to RM900 million on its three-year P1 2.0 Evolution Plan unveiled today, will introduce fibre optics broadband with 4G wireless service end of this month.

P1 is the only telecommunications company in Malaysia to offer the exclusive combination for a premium service at a fixed location with 4G wireless convenience broadband.

With the deployment of a long-term evolution-enabled network by mid-2013, P1, a subsidiary of Green Packet Bhd, will transform itself into a mobile company to offer more than just broadband solutions and expects to return to the black.

Read more: P1 to start fibre optics broadband with 4G

What ... Me Worry About Dow 13,000? Seems Many Do

What's not to like about Dow 13,000? While some investors cheered when the blue-chip index closed above that level Tuesday for the first time since May 2008, some were wringing their hands.

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Dow Closes Above 13,000 for First Time Since Financial Crisis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow closed above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008 on Tuesday and the S&P 500 also hit a milestone, as buoyant U.S. consumer confidence data and a sharp drop in oil prices nudged the nearly five-month rally forward.

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The Dow is Going To 20,000 by the end of 2012

WCT's unit clinches RM331m job in Sabah

PETALING JAYA (Feb 22, 2012): WCT Bhd's unit WCT Construction Sdn Bhd has won a RM331 million contract from Riverson Corp Sdn Bhd to build a mixed commercial development with a medical centre, in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

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Analysts raise AFG share target

KUALA LUMPUR: At least five research houses raised their target prices for Alliance Financial Group Bhd (AFG) after the banking group posted slightly better-than-expected third quarter results.

The group, which owns Alliance Bank, saw net profit rise by 9.1 per cent to RM121.4 million.

This helped its nine-month net profit grow by 14.8 per cent to RM372.3 million, accounting for about 80.9 per cent of an analyst consensus estimate for the full year.

Read more: Analysts raise AFG share target

The ABC’s of Reading Stock Charts

Wall Street Ends the Week Up; Dow Close to 13,000

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged higher on Friday, but investors stayed cautious before a long holiday weekend when hopes are set for Greece's bailout plan to be approved.

The S&P ended its sixth positive week out of seven so far in 2012, lifting it near levels not seen in more than three years. The index has risen 8.2 percent so far this year.

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BJCorp

Felda Global IPO on May 10

Malaysian plantation firm Felda Global Venture Holdings Bhd will launch its initial public offering on Malaysia’s stock exchange on May 10, state news agency Bernama cited a senior government official as saying today.

Read more: Felda Global IPO on May 10

UOA Development Bhd - IPO Institutional Price RM2.60

UOA Development Bhd Website

JCY Q1 profit soars 20-fold to RM162m

Kuala Lumpur: Hard disk drive (HDD) component manufacturer JCY International Bhd’s net profit soared more than 20-fold to RM162 million for the first quarter ended December 31, 2011 from RM7 million in the same period previously.

The company is confident the current earnings is sustainable this year as it continues to benefit from high HDD orders at good
prices as a result of the floods in Thailand last October.

Read more: JCY Q1 profit soars 20-fold to RM162m

Time dotCom is expected to register a stronger sequential revenue growth

PETALING JAYA (Feb 7, 2012): Time dotCom is expected to register a stronger sequential revenue growth given the absence of global bandwidth sales in the third quarter of FY11, said OSK Research.

The research house has maintained its revenue forecast of RM93.3 million for Q4 FY11 and has upgraded Time dotCom to a trading buy at 69 sen with an increased fair value of 79 sen from 70 sen previously.
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Having upgraded its fair value of DiGi by 89 sen to RM4, OSK also adjusted Time dotCom's sum-of-parts (SOP) valuation to 79 sen which implies a potential upside of 14.5% from the current price.

"Note that the SOP component for DiGi now makes up 55% of our fair value for Time dotCom. Following the 5-into-1 share consolidation, our fair value will be adjusted accordingly to RM3.95," it said.

"If we were to incorporate the implied valuation of the acquired companies, the stock would be worth 83 sen,......

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Green Packet sees historic 2012 for its P1 unit

GREEN Packet Bhd expects its unit, Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (P1), which is among the world's first 4G service providers, to rake in better earnings this year with the strengthening of its 4G service.
Its chief executive officer Michael Lai said 2012 was going to be a historic year for P1.

He said P1 was set to become one of the few telcos attaining profitability in a record time of under five years.

"We have garnered a solid and growing subscriber base of more than 356,000 users in Malaysia as of the third quarter of 2011. We are looking to cross the 500,000 mark this year," he said.

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What Will the Stock Market Do in 2012? Strategists Predict 7% Rise

Boustead sees bountiful year amid high CPO prices

BOUSTEAD Holdings Bhd expects to rake in record profit this year as palm oil prices continue to trade at buoyant levels of around RM3,000 per tonne.

Out of its six core businesses, plantation is the biggest earnings contributor, followed by shipbuilding and property development.

In the three quarters ended September 2011, Boustead's plantation division contributed RM267.1 million or 45.5 per cent to the group's RM585.9 million pre-tax profits.

So far, Boustead makes an annual profit of between RM450 million and RM700 million.

Read more: Boustead sees bountiful year amid high CPO prices