theSun | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18 2009 17

business market summary

FEBRUARY 17, 2009

INDICES CHANGE
FBMEMAS unavailable
KLCI 898.53 8.66 Nikkei 7,645.51 104.66 COMPOSITE 898.53 -8.66
INDUSTRIAL 2,116.61 -7.80
STI 1,637.92 42.78 TSEC 4,491.78 99.48
Berjaya Media Hang Seng 12,945.40 510.48 KOSPI 1,127.19 48.28
CONSUMER PROD
INDUSTRIAL PROD
CONSTRUCTION
286.14
67.27
169.35
-0.66
-0.36
-1.35
posts RM37m SCI 2,319.00 69.95 S&P/ASX200 3,464.30 52.60 TRADING SERVICES
FINANCE
117.77 -1.16
7,091.29 -77.65
PROPERTIES 537.91 -2.82
pre-tax profit in ‘08 PLANTATIONS 4,543.82 -78.72

M’sia still attractive

MINING 243.17 UNCH
FBMSHA unavailable
KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Media Berhad (formerly
FBM2BRD unavailable
known as Nexnews Berhad) registered a higher pre- TECHNOLOGY 13.31 -0.12
tax profit of RM37.22 million in the 12 months ended
Dec 31, 2008 from RM5.11 million in the preceding TURNOVER VALUE
year’s corresponding period. 354.749mil RM500.331mil

FDI destination,
The increase in pre-tax profit was mainly due to
turnaround in profitability of its principal subsidiary,
Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd, arising from im-
proved advertisement revenue coupled with lower
CI dips below
operating expenses of certain subsidiary companies
as well as the recognition of exceptional gain arising
900-point mark
from the disposal of its wholly-owned subsidiary, The SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia
ended the day lower yesterday

Edge Communications Sdn Bhd (theEdge).
The group’s consolidated revenue, however,
dipped to RM68.07 million from RM105.65 million.
The decrease in revenue was mainly due to the
deconsolidation of theEdge as mentioned above
and hence only two months’ results (up to Feb 29,
2008) of theEdge was consolidated in the 12-month
period.
For the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2008, the
group reported a consolidated revenue of RM15.34
million and pre-tax loss of RM5.27 million as
compared to RM30.33 million revenue and pre-tax
profit of RM2.29 million in the preceding year’s cor-
responding quarter.
The decrease in revenue was mainly due to the
deconsolidation of theEdge with effect from March
1, 2008. The incurrence of pre-tax loss was mainly
due to the provision of impairment loss on quoted
investments (BCorp ICULS) of RM6.26 million by a
subsidiary company.
The board is, however, pleased to note that
despite the challenging economic conditions, the
group was able to attain operating profit of about
RM1 million for the fourth quarter.
In its filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the group
said it operates in a challenging business environ-
ment and is continuously working towards improving
its advertisement revenue by way of increasing its
market share and rates.
says US envoy
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is still an attractive
destination for foreign direct investment (FDI)
from the United States, said US Ambassador to
Malaysia James R. Keith.
He also said US is Malaysia’s top trading
partner.
“For the US, Malaysia is its 16th largest trad-
ing partner with bilateral trade in 2007 amount-
ing to US$46 billion (RM165.6 billion). You can
see that this is a significant sum.
“From January to October last year,
Americans invested just short of US$3.2 billion
(RM11.52 billion) in 141 projects in Malaysia.
The trade relationship between Malaysia and
the United States is therefore an important one,”
he added.
“As an economy, we remain interested in
Malaysia. But the question remains as to how
far and fast we can develop this bilateral rela-
tionship in trade. To be honest, I think much
remains in the hands of Malaysia.
“It is about how much more Malaysia can do
to attract investment from the US and become
an even larger trading partner,” Keith told Ber-
nama in an interview.
He also indicated there is a lot of unrealised
potential to be achieved in trade for Malaysia
with the US.
“I think the more liberal and open the Malay-
sian economy becomes, the more you will see
flagship companies from the US doing business
here,” he said.
As an example he cited the automotive
sector in which Americans have not been that
active as it is not conducive to outside involve-
ment.
“If this was to change, it might lead to a
different situation. The more Malaysia seeks
to open up its market to the outside world, the
greater will be the number of those competing
or looking for opportunities in the country,” he
said.
tracking the regional markets fall on
worries over weak economic growth
as well as lower corporate earnings,
said dealers.
Losses on key heavyweights sent
the benchmark KLCI below the 900-
point level, losing 8.66 points to end
the day at 898.53.
The KLCI moved between 894.48
and 906.70.
According to dealers, the local
bourse performed relatively strong
as the KLCI fell less than 1% against
its regional peers.
Among the markets, Shanghai
slid 2.93%, Hongkong 3.8%, Thailand
1.73%, Singapore 1.99%, Japan 1.4%,
Korea 4.1% and Taiwan 2.17%.
Volume leaders KNM Group eased
1.5 sen to 42 sen, Talam Corp shed
half a sen to 4.5 sen and Landmarks
inched up two sen to 81 sen.
The key heavyweights that
dragged the KLCI lower were Sime
Darby which lost five sen to RM5.65;
Tenaga Nasional, which fell 20 sen to
RM6.10; and Maybank, which slipped
10 sen to RM5.40. – Bernama