BUKIT AMAN TO INVESTIGATE ZETI’S HUSBAND

FOR ALLEGEDLY RECEIVING 1MDB FUNDS p3

T H U R S DAY, M A RC H 4 , 2 0 2 1 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m
ISSUE 145/2021

CEOMorningBrief
HOME: Genting Malaysia’s senior management takes temporary voluntary 20% salary cut,
asks staff to consider variation in employment contract based on rank p4
AmBank share price tumbles while volume soars to record high p5
WORLD: UK’s Sunak extends COVID rescue plan but moves to bring in more tax p16

Putrajaya settles
with Deloitte for
RM324m in relation
to 1MDB scandal Report on Page 2.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
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Putrajaya settles with Deloitte for
RM324m in relation to 1MDB scandal
BY HAFIZ YATIM
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Finance
Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Ab-
dul Aziz has confirmed that the Malay-
sian government has agreed to a settlement
of US$80 million (RM324 million) with
Deloitte PLT in relation to the 1Malaysia
Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
He said the settlement served to resolve
all claims related to their fiduciary duty
on auditing the accounts of 1MDB and
SRC International Sdn Bhd for the 2011-
2014 period.
“This marks another success in the Ma-
laysian government’s continuing recovery
efforts against parties involved in 1MDB,
SRC and its related entities.The Malaysian
government is determined to ensure that
appropriate actions are taken against all
individuals or entities involved, directly or
indirectly, in the global 1MDB scheme,”
he said in a statement.
The settlement, reported by The Edge
earlier today quoting sources, comes after
Putrajaya announced last Friday that it
has settled with AmBank Bhd for RM2.83
billion in relation to 1MDB’s 2009 bond
issue.
It is understood that the deadline to
resolve the negotiations with Deloitte was
over the weekend (Feb 28).
The successful out-of-court settlement,
Tengku Zafrul said, will expedite the pay-
ment of monies to fulfil 1MDB and SRC’s
outstanding obligations, which would oth-
erwise be delayed by potentially protracted
and costly court battles.
He said the settlement represents the
largest 1MDB-related settlement by an
audit firm in Southeast Asia.
“This settlement will not affect or com-
promise Malaysia’s claims against individ-
2 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
published by
(266980-X)
. 603-77218000
tel
Level 3, Menara KLK, 1 Jalan PJU 7/6,
Mutiara Damansara, 47810, Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia
H O M E
uals like Jho Low and other parties related
thereto, and who are still being actively
pursued in relation to the 1MDB scandal.
“The Ministry of Finance would like
to thank the Attorney General’s Cham-
bers, the Securities Commission Ma-
laysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Royal
Malaysian Police Force, the National An-
ti-Financial Crime Centre, the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission and the Na-
tional Centre for Governance, Integrity
and Anti-Corruption for their efforts in
achieving this settlement,” he added.
Deloitte was appointed as 1MDB’s audi-
tor in December 2013 as a replacement for
KPMG Malaysia, which was sacked after it
wanted to issue a qualified audit report for
1MDB’s 2013 financial statements.
This was in relation to a difference of
opinion on the fair value of 1MDB’s invest-
ment in Bridge Global SPC through Bra-
zen Sky Ltd, a company linked to Jho Low.
On taking over, Deloitte verified the
accounts for the financial years 2013 and
publisher + . Ho Kay Tat
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. Azam Aris
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Tan Choe Choe . Lam Jian Wyn
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2014, without any qualification or empha-
sis of the matter.
Deloitte was 1MDB’s third auditor af-
ter KPMG and Ernst & Young were fired
by the investment fund. In 2016, after US
authorities filed civil lawsuits over 1MDB,
Deloitte said the 1MDB finance statements
it audited should no longer be relied on.
Deloitte resigned as the fund’s auditor ear-
lier that same year.
The Edge had previously reported that
besides the settlement with AmBank, the
government was looking at settling with
an audit firm.
Some opposition politicians like Da-
mansara MP Tony Pua had also said fol-
lowing the settlement with AmBank that
the government ought to pursue action
with auditing firms which were responsi-
ble for auditing 1MDB.
Earlier, in July 2020, Putrajaya success-
fully negotiated with Goldman Sachs to
reach a settlement worth RM15.8 billion
(US$3.9 billion).
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 3 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

Bukit Aman to investigate Zeti’s husband

for allegedly receiving 1MDB funds
THE EDGE FILE PHOTO

BY TIMOTHY ACHARIAM
theedgemarkets.com

KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Bukit

Aman said today that it has begun in-
vestigations into Datuk Dr Tawfiq Ay-
man for allegedly receiving funds linked
to 1Malaysia Development Berhad
(1MDB) in a Singapore bank account
under his name.
Bukit Aman Commercial Criminal In-
vestigation Department director Datuk
Zainuddin Yaacob said in a press release
that they are investigating Tawfiq under
Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laun-
dering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act
2001.
He also said that the police will be
investigating the matter under the Mu-
tual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act
2002 in relation to the funds which are
allegedly in Singapore, adding that this
Act will enable them to interview wit-
nesses abroad.
He urged all parties to refrain from
speculating until the investigations are
complete and findings are handed over
to the Attorney-General’s Chamber.
Tawfiq is the husband of Tan Seri Zeti
Akhtar Aziz, a former Bank Negara Ma-
laysia (BNM) governor who retired in
April 2016.
The investigation comes amid a report
by The Edge Weekly which stated that the
Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of Sarawak Report and The Wall Street Jour- Goodstar Ltd — a company owned by
the Singapore Police Force had informed nal,” the weekly reported. Jho Low. Good Star had received US$700
BNM of suspicious transactions involving The report added that the source of million from the 1MDB/TIA bond is-
a UBS bank account belonging to Iron four of the transactions involved over sue with the help of AmBank, reported
Rhapsody Ltd. RM600 million in profits made by Jho The Edge.
The report said Iron Rhapsody — Low and his associates after flipping the BNM had told The Edge that it was
whose beneficial owners are Tawfiq and RM5 billion 1MDB/TIA (Terengganu unable to respond to questions as it was
Ayman, according to the CAD — had re- Investment Authority) bonds that were “bound by the international protocol for
ceived US$16.22 million (RM65.71 mil- arranged by Ambank in May 2009. sharing of financial intelligence”.
lion) from companies/bank accounts of “Besides this,Tawfiq and Low were also In a statement today, BNM said that as
fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, a central believed to have been partners in a com- a member of Egmont Group 1 of financial
figure in the 1MDB scandal, in five sepa- pany that Low set up in July 2007 called intelligence units (FIU), it is bound by The
rate transactions. Abu Dhabi Kuwait Malaysia (ADKMIC),” Egmont Group Principles concerning in-
The inflows of money into the ac- the report said. formation exchange between the FIUs to
count that occurred in 2008 and 2009 The Edge added that documents also “protect the confidentiality of information
triggered suspicious transaction report showed that ex-BSI banker Yak Yew Chee in accordance to international standards
(STR) alerts. had told CAD that when ADKMIC was and protocols”.
However, Bank Negara was only alert- incorporated, there were six to seven “BNM has in place mechanisms to pro-
ed in 2015 and 2016. Soon after this, in- shareholders, including Low and Tawfiq. tect the operational independence of the
vestigators in Malaysia, Switzerland and CAD probes found that between June FIU, which are in full compliance with the
the US began looking into the theft and 2011 and September 2013, US$153 mil- Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 2 in-
laundering of billions of dollars that be- lion (RM620 million) were transferred to ternational standards. These mechanisms
longed to 1MDB. ADKMIC’s bank account in RBS Coutts, ensure that there is no restriction on the
“The probes were triggered by exposes Singapore from a bank account in RBS flow of information to the enforcement
published from March 2015 by The Edge, Coutts, Switzerland, that belonged to agencies,” it said.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
Genting Malaysia’s
senior management
takes temporary
voluntary 20%
salary cut, asks staff
to consider variation
in employment
contract based
on rank
BY JOYCE GOH
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Gent-
ing Malaysia Bhd’s senior management
team has taken a temporary voluntary
20% salary cut for three months, and the
company has written to staff for them to
consider a variation in their employment
contract with a suggested variation stag-
gered depending on job grade from 15%
to 20% reduction in salary or one day no
pay leave per week, according to a letter
sighted by The Edge.
“We need to control RWG’s (Resorts
World Genting’s) cost base to ensure
the sustainability of our business and
to help protect as many jobs as possi-
ble during this challenging time,” the
group explained.
It noted that RWG was closed again
4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
in January 2021 due to MCO 2.0 and
“even with the recent availability of vac-
cines, tourist traffic to RWG is expected
to remain subdued and uncertain in the
short term”.
“In this regard, our colleagues have vol-
unteered again to reduce their salaries dur-
ing this challenging time, and on behalf of
Genting Malaysia, I seek your agreement
to a temporary variation of your employ-
ment contract to give effect to a reduction
in monthly base salary or your agreement
to take no pay leave as the case may be,”
noted the letter to staff signed by president
and chief operating officer Datuk Seri Lee
Choong Yan.
“Subject to your agreement, the tem-
porary reduction in monthly basic salary
or no pay leave will take effect from March
until May 2021.
“The senior management team, includ-
ing our deputy chairman and chief execu-
tive office and all vice presidents and above
have voluntarily agreed to waive 20% of
their salaries for the aforesaid period,” the
letter added.
The Edge had reached out to Genting
Malaysia on this at 8:25am.
The group had also announced salary
cuts last year. Also in 2020, Genting saw
some job cuts as the leisure and hospitality
group had been hit as visitorship fell due
to the Covid-19 virus.
For the full year ended Dec 31, 2020,
Genting Malaysia registered a net loss of
RM2.26 billion from a net profit of RM1.4
billion a year earlier.
Its full-year revenue dropped 56% to
RM4.53 billion in FY20 from RM10.41
billion a year earlier.
Yinson’s unit
bags RM1.5b
solar PV power
project in India
BY WONG EE LIN
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3):Yin-
son Holdings Bhd’s unit has bagged a
contract worth an estimated 27.5 bil-
lion rupees (RM1.5 billion) to develop
a 190MW grid-connected solar pho-
tovoltaic power project in the Nokh
Solar Park in India’s Rajasthan state.
The contract awarded to the
group’s indirect 80%-owned sub-
sidiary Rising Sun Energy (K) Pvt
Ltd (RSEK) by NTPC Ltd has an
estimated aggregate value based on
a fixed tariff of 2.25 rupees per kWh,
said Yinson.
The plant will be located about
30km away from Yinson’s existing
140MW Bhadla projects operated
by its 95%-owned subsidiary Rising
Sun Energy Pvt Ltd, the group said
in a bourse filing.
Yinson said RSEK will enter into
a power purchase agreement to sup-
ply 25 years of solar power generated
electricity to NTPC. Any extension
of the agreement period beyond 25
years will be through mutual agree-
ment between NTPC and RSEK.
The commercial operation of the
plant is scheduled to commence in
April 2022, said Yinson, adding that
the deal is expected to contribute
positively to the group’s earnings and
net assets per share.
Shares of Yinson closed two sen
or 0.38% higher at RM5.30 today,
valuing the group at RM5.83 billion.
Over the past year, the counter has
slipped 24.6% from RM7.03.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
AmBank share price tumbles while
volume soars to record high
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): AMMB
Holdings Bhd’s (AmBank) share price
plunged 11.4% or 36 sen to a near four-
month low of RM2.80 on the first trad-
ing day after the banking group last
Friday announced a whopping glob-
al settlement in relation to the 1Ma-
laysia Development Bhd (1MDB)
scandal.
The stock took a nosedive at the
opening bell, it hit a low of RM2.63,
down 53 sen or 16.8% against the pre-
vious closing of RM3.16 last Friday. Its
trading volume swelled to a record high
of 101.8 million shares.
The selling spread to its derivatives.
AmBank-C21 lost two-thirds of its val-
ue, two sen, to close at one sen, Am-
Bank-C23 was down two sen to 3.5 sen
while AmBank-C24 dropped 2.5 sen to
four sen.
The selldown was not a surprise con-
sidering that the global settlement will
dent the banking group’s financials. Fur-
thermore, some analysts raised the issue
on corporate governance as the manage-
ment did not flag the contingent liabili-
ties risk to the investing public.
On the other hand, some see AmBank
as becoming a potential merger candi-
date. Such expectation, said analysts,
lent some support to its share price.
Interestingly, some analysts’ valua-
tions and recommendations on the bank-
ing stock contrast quite dramatically.
According to Bloomberg, there are six
sell calls on AmBank, four ‘buy’ recom-
mendations, and seven ‘hold’ calls.
Macquarie, which has an “underper-
form” recommendation on AmBank,
Bursa Malaysia banks YTD share price performance
-23.29
-25 -20 -15
As at March 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
BY TAN SIEW MUNG Bursa Malaysia banks
theedgemarkets.com price-to-book value
Company P/BV (times)
AMMB Holdings Bhd Public Bank 1.73
Vol (mil) RM Hong Leong Bank 1.31
120 4.0 BIMB 1.14
Maybank 1.10
RHB 0.79
CIMB 0.78
80 3.5
MBSB 0.52
AmBank* 0.50
Affin 0.36
40 3.0
* after adjustment for RM2.83 billion global settlement
RM2.80 As at March 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
0 2.5
Analysts’ call on AmBank
Feb 11, 2020 Mar 3, 2021
Source: Bloomberg Research house Call Target
price
(RM)
pegs the lowest target price of RM2.50. TA Research Buy 4.00
Meanwhile, TA Securities Holdings Bhd Nomura Buy 3.70
and KAF-Seagroatt & Campbell Securi- Maybank Kim Eng Hold 3.40
ties Sdn Bhd, both of which are recom- Kenanga Market perform 3.05
mending their clients to buy AmBank HLIB Hold 2.95
shares, have the highest target price of
AffinHwang Sell 2.90
RM4, according to Bloomberg.
At RM2.80, AmBank is valued at MIDF Trading sell 2.75
RM8.44 billion. It is trading at a price- CGS-CIMB Reduce 2.67
to-book value of 0.43 times — the sec- PublicInvest Trading sell 2.60
ond lowest among the Bursa-listed banks Macquarie Underperform 2.50
after Affin Holdings Bhd which is trad- As at March 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
ing at 0.34 times — compared with the
industry average of 0.9 times. Howev- analyst Ng Jun Sheng wrote in a note
er, AmBank is valued at price-to-book today that the knee-jerk selloff towards
value of 0.50 times after adjustment for the RM2.63 to RM2.80 levels provides
the RM2.83 billion global settlement. a good bargain-hunting opportunity for
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd the stock.
“All in all, 1MDB is a legacy issue,
and we believe AmBank is capable of
weathering the storm and being suc-
cessful again in rolling out long-term
% Gain/(loss)
business strategies, rebuilding its image,
Public Bank 2.43
and eventually shaking off any negative
-0.23 AmBank perception,” he said.
-0.99 Affin CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd an-
alyst Winson Ng wrote in a note yester-
-1.48 Maybank
day that the research firm is projecting a
-2.39 BIMB net loss of RM1.77 billion for AmBank
-2.58 RHB and no dividends from the group in the
-3.78 MBSB financial year ending March 31, 2021
due to the RM2.83 billion provision for
-7.61 Hong Leong Bank the 1MDB settlement
CIMB CGS-CIMB reiterated its ‘reduce’ call
-10 -5 0 5 for AmBank shares due to the 1MDB
settlement and lowered its target price
to RM2.67 from RM2.76 previously.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 6 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

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CONTINUES ON NEXT PAGE
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
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7 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
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1
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 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): The cur-
rent low interest rate environment bodes
well for the property market due to lower
borrowing costs, says Paramount Corp Bhd
group chief executive officer Jeffrey Chew.
Against this backdrop, coupled with the
fact that the local economy is widely ex-
pected to recover in 2021, he is hopeful
that the property market this year will be
better than the last two years.
“Interest rates have come down and
hopefully will stay low, prompting peo-
ple to start buying properties,” Chew to-
day told a virtual media briefing on Para-
mount’s financial results for the year ended
Dec 31, 2020 (FY20).
The property developer achieved total
property sales of RM770 million in FY20,
11% higher than the RM692 million re-
corded in FY19 despite the fallout from
the Covid-19 pandemic. It is worth noting
that Bank Negara Malaysia has slashed its
key interest rates four times last year by a
total of 125 basis points, to a record low
of 1.75% since the floor was set in 2004.
Chew said Paramount saw sales grow
year-on-year (y-o-y) in every quarter last
year — except in 2QFY20 when it fell by
61% y-o-y due to the impact of the Move-
ment Control Order (MCO) that started
on March 18, 2020.
This was despite the group having
scaled back its property launches in FY20
to just RM834 million, from its RM1.2 bil-
lion original planned launches for the year.
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Lembaga
Tabung Haji’s (TH) financial position re-
mains stable with total assets exceeding total
liabilities by RM3.68 billion for the financial
year ended Dec 31, 2020 (FY20).
Total assets stood at RM81.85 billion and
total liabilities were RM78.17 billion, the
pilgrims fund board said today.
Group managing director and chief ex-
ecutive officer Datuk Nik Mohd Hasyudeen
Yusoff said TH aimed to provide a stable
profit distribution to depositors in line with
its mandate to manage the funds of Muslims
planning to fulfil the hajj obligation.
He said a more sustainable distribution
rate was crucial for TH because pilgrims
would need to wait for their turn for the
hajj pilgrimage due to a quota set by the
Saudi Arabian government.
“This is our most important responsi-
bility. We have to ensure that TH contin-
ues to operate for more than a century to
allow our pilgrims to complete their reli-
gious obligations.
“This means the safety of our investments
is paramount and TH cannot afford to take
on investments that are too risky,” Nik Mohd
Hasyudeen said in a statement to announce
8 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Paramount sets
higher property
sales target of
RM1b for 2021,
sees low interest
environment
as a boon
BY JUSTIN LIM
theedgemarkets.com
Chew said the group has achieved a total
sales of nearly RM100 million for the first
two months of 2021, double the RM48 mil-
lion sales achieved in the same period last
year, before the pandemic hit the country.
On the back of this optimism, Para-
mount is setting a property sales target of
RM1 billion for FY21, with RM1.2 billion
worth of new launches planned — 44%
higher than last year’s new launches.
Chew said the group is not too con-
cerned about market sentiments, but more
about not launching enough products to
meet market demands.
“I am confident that we will be able to hit
that RM1 billion sales target if we get all the
Tabung Haji
financially healthy,
aims for stable
profit distribution
— CEO
Bernama
TH’s financial performance and FY20 profit
distribution.
TH announced a profit distribution of
3.10% (after zakat) for FY20.The distribu-
tion involves a total amount of RM2.24 bil-
lion compared with RM2.14 billion for 2019.
“TH recorded an improved financial
performance (unaudited) for 2020 with
net profit after zakat rising 22% or RM397
million to RM2.23 billion.
“The performance was supported by
its fixed-income investments that gener-
ated RM1.9 billion, equity investments of
RM430 million, property investments with
projects launched.The fear now is not being
able to launch the targeted RM1.2 billion
worth of new launches if we don’t get the
approvals from the government on time.
“Buyers now buy properties because
they like something new and with good
features, compared to getting an old unit
as the latter still requires re-furnishing and
it is costly to do so,” he noted.
Chew is hopeful that the government
will recognise the need to help property
developers by accelerating the process of
approval from all the authorities, so the
property players can help the economy to
recover faster post-pandemic.
Last Thursday (Feb 25), Paramount saw
its FY20 net profit quadruple to RM486.66
million from RM104.95 million in the pre-
vious year, thanks to a one-off gain recog-
nised on the disposal of the pre-tertiary
education business of RM462.7 million.
Excluding the gain on disposal, full-year
pre-tax profit from continuing operations
came in at RM51.8 million, compared with
RM88.8 million for FY19, mainly attrib-
utable to the lower contribution from the
property division but was mitigated by low-
er non-recurring expenses and interest ex-
pense in the investment and others division.
Revenue, however, was down 15.92% to
RM593.56 million in FY20 from RM705.97
million in FY19. At 2.30pm, Paramount
shares were unchanged at 81 sen, bringing
it a market capitalisation of RM498 million.
There were 277,700 shares traded.
RM352 million, and Islamic money market
instruments contributing RM318 million,”
said Nik Mohd Hasyudeen.
For this year, he said,TH expects a more
challenging operating environment where
investors will be pressured to look for higher
returns amid a soft economy.
“However, the efforts by various coun-
tries, including Malaysia, to ensure the
population is vaccinated against Covid-19
should support the continuing initiatives to-
ward economic recovery,” added Nik Mohd
Hasyudeen.
He noted that 51% of TH’s asset alloca-
tion was invested in sukuk fixed and recur-
ring incomes.
This was in line with the board’s strategic
asset allocation exercise which emphasised
long-term investments with tolerable risk
levels, he said.
TH will also continue its efforts to re-
balance its investment portfolio especially
in replacing low-yielding assets with those
that can provide better returns to depositors.
This included providing more focus on
overseas investments and ESG-based (en-
vironmental, social and governance) invest-
ments, added Nik Mohd Hasyudeen.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
MyEG 4Q net profit up 6.74% to
RM75.5m, helped by revenue from
Covid-19 screenings
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): MyEG
Services Bhd said net profit rose 6.74%
to RM75.51 million in the fourth quarter
ended Dec 31, 2021 from RM70.74 in the
preceding quarter, boosted by revenue from
Covid-19 health screenings, and online
motorcycle insurance and road tax renewal
service. Quarterly revenue increased
10.13% to RM149.89 million from
RM136.10 million previously, as the group
witnessed increased revenue contribution
from its screening and accommodation
arrangement service for inbound travellers.
There were no comparisons on year-on-
year numbers due to a change in the group’s
financial year-end from Sept 30 to Dec
31, the group said in a filing with Bursa
Malaysia. MyEG declared a final dividend of
1.7 sen per share. For the full-year period,
MyEG reported a net profit of RM268.16
million, on revenue of RM532.06 million.
The group said it is cautiously optimistic on
its long-term outlook, and remains upbeat
as it continues to introduce innovative
services in Malaysia and other countries,
where it has regional presence. — by Sulhi
Khalid/theedgemarkets.com
Jaycorp temporarily shuts down JV
ops at Batu Pahat for 10 days as 28
workers test positive for Covid-19
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Furniture
maker Jaycorp Bhd has announced that it has
voluntarily decided to halt operations at its
60%-owned joint-venture company Honsoar
Jaycorp Cabinetry Sdn Bhd (HJCSB) for
10 days for sanitisation purposes. This was
after 28 employees were tested positive for
Covid-19, from 137 employees screened
in Kawasan Perindustrian Sri Gading, Batu
Pahat, Johor, according to its filing with
Bursa Malaysia today. This is the second time
the company has conducted an RTK-Antigen
Test for its entire workforce. Those that
tested positive have been quarantined in the
premises approved by the Ministry of Health
(MoH) officials, said Jaycorp. Jaycorp said its
management does not expect any material
impact to its financial performance. — by
Wong Ee Lin/theedgemarkets.com
9 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
NEWS IN BRIEF
Datasonic taps local partner to bid for Vietnam projects
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Datasonic Group Bhd has teamed up with a Vietnamese
company to bid for various e-passport and other information and communications
technology (ICT) projects in Vietnam. In a bourse filing, the group said that it was
teaming up with Pham Gia Ecocon Plus Vietnam Co Ltd (PEPV) to work together in
proposing e-passport and other ICT projects to the Vietnamese Ministry of Public
Security. Under the agreement, Datasonic will be PEPV’s ICT technology partner for
any technology projects. PEPV will be Datasonic’s exclusive partner in Vietnam.
— by Arjuna Chandran Shankar/theedgemarkets.com
Greatech to centralise Kedah
manufacturing operations in Penang
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Greatech
Technology Bhd is erecting a second
factory building at Batu Kawan
Industrial Park to relocate its Kedah
manufacturing and assembly operations
to a single location at Batu Kawan
Industrial Park (BK II) in Pulau Pinang.
In a statement today, the automation
solutions provider said its wholly-owned
subsidiary Greatech Integration (M) Sdn MISC completes maiden ethane
Bhd has awarded the letter of award for cargo delivery
the construction of the main building KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): MISC Bhd,
works today. “The group intends to which is a 51%-owned subsidiary of
relocate all the operations in Lunas and Petroliam Nasional Bhd, has completed
Kulim, Kedah to Batu Kawan, Penang, its maiden ethane cargo delivery, which
bringing closer together the current is also the largest to-date in the history of
two location sites to a single location at ethane shipping at over 51,000 tonnes. In
Batu Kawan,” it added. — by Adam Aziz/ a statement today, MISC said its first very
theedgemarkets.com large ethane carrier (VLEC) Seri Everest
has completed the cargo discharge at
Lianyungang port, Jiangsu province, China
on Feb 28. The cargo was loaded from Orbit
Terminal, Nederland in the US last October
where Seri Everest was the first VLEC to call
on the new terminal, it added. Seri Everest is
chartered to Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical
Co Ltd for a period of 15 years, alongside
five other VLECs. MISC also took delivery
of a second VLEC Seri Erlang in January this
year. It is expected to take delivery of the
remaining four VLECs within the first half of
2021. — by Adam Aziz/theedgemarkets.com
MCMC develops fast track process to resolve access issues in high priority areas
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
(MCMC) has developed a fast track process to resolve access issues in high priority areas
in ensuring better services to the citizens. According to a statement today, this process is
undertaken following the recent complaints received from consumers that communication
services in some high priority areas were delayed due to prolonged commercial
negotiations among service providers. The high impact areas identified are the federal
and state government administration centres; transportation hubs and the transportation
lines; high economic impact areas; identified government projects under RMK-12 (the 12th
Malaysia Plan); JENDELA (National Digital Network) projects; high priority areas identified
for 5G deployment; and areas where there are exclusive providers. MCMC has instructed
service providers to promptly resolve commercial negotiations in high-priority areas within
10 business days. — by Wong Ee Lin/theedgemarkets.com
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
H O M E
Additional cess
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): The ad-
ditional cess of RM2 per tonne imposed
on palm oil
on crude palm oil and crude palm kernel
oil came into force on March 1, and will
products to be
be used to support the establishment of a
new consortium platform to boost mech-
used to fund
anisation and automation in the industry,
the government said today.
mechanisation,
Following the increase, the cess levied
on each tonne of the palm oil products now
says minister
stands at RM16, from RM14 previously.
Plantation Industries and Commodi-
ties Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Khairud-
din Aman Razali said the establishment of
the Mechanisation and Automation Re- BY ARJUNA CHANDRAN SHANKAR
search Consortium of Oil Palm (MAR- theedgemarkets.com
COP) will involve the participation of the
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and
industry players.
He said the new platform will step up
the use of technology and equipment to
optimise operational efficiency and in-
crease productivity, while also addressing
the manpower shortage in the industry.
“Mechanisation and automation in the
plantation sector will receive special focus
that is in line with proposals from the in-
dustry,” he said in a statement.
Khairuddin said the cess will be used for
payments to the Council of Palm Oil Produc-
CGS-CIMB
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): CGS-
CIMB Research has reiterated its “over-
reiterates
weight” call on Malaysia’s banking sector,
underpinned by the expected decline in loan
‘overweight’ call
loss provisioning (LLP) and turnaround in
net interest income growth in 2021.
on banking sector,
The research house said the industry’s
loan growth picked up from 3.4% year-
underpinned
on-year (y-o-y) at end-December 2020
to 3.8% y-o-y at end-January 2021, the
by loan loss
improvement primarily came from the
business loan segment, which expanded
provisioning
by 1.5% y-o-y.
“The growth in household loans
decline
inched down from 5.0% y-o-y at end-Dec
2020 to 4.9% y-o-y in January this year.
“However, we lower our projected
loan growth for 2021 from 4.0% to 5.0%
previously to 2.0% to 3.0%, in line with
our downward revision of gross domes-
tic product growth from 7.5% previous-
ly to 5.0% on Feb 9, 2021,” it said in a
research note on Wednesday.
CGS-CIMB feels that the Movement
Control Order (MCO) 2.0 would have an
indirect negative impact on banks’ loan
growth as it has disrupted some busi-
ness activities and dampened business
sentiment.
In addition, it said auto sales have
also weakened in January this year,
which would be detrimental for auto
loan growth.
10 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
ing Countries, which is an international or-
ganisation for palm oil-producing countries.
It will also be used to fund new technol-
ogies through research and development,
and market promotion activities by the
Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) as
well as for the Malaysian Sustainable Palm
Oil (MSPO) certification programme.
Khairuddin reiterated that the proceeds
of up to RM30 million from the addition-
al cess will be complemented by a RM30
million matching grant as announced by
the government in Budget 2021.
The minister pointed out that the ex-
ecution of increases in the cess was done
in a phased manner with a RM1 increase
starting Jan 1, 2020, the proceeds of which
were channelled to the Malaysian Palm
Oil Green Conservation Foundation for
conservation efforts to combat anti-palm
oil campaigns.
Khairuddin had signed a federal gazette
on Feb 15 detailing the latest increase, via
an amendment to the Malaysian Palm Oil
Board (Cess) Order 2019, after consulting
the finance minister.
The cess, which is stipulated under the
Malaysian Palm Oil Board Act 1998, is a
fee levied by the government to support
the industry.
On another note, it said the trends in
the leading loan indicators also weakened
as the growth in loan applications mod-
erated from 12.3% y-o-y in Dec 2020
to 9.7% y-o-y in January, while the con-
traction in loan approvals widened from
0.1% y-o-y to 3.5% y-o-y in the period
under review.
“This does not bode well for banks’
loan growth in the next one to two
months,” CGS-CIMB said.
The sector also saw the industry’s
gross impaired loan (GIL) ratio rose in
Jan 2021, but the quantum of increase
was manageable at only four basis points
month-on-month from 1.56% end-Dec
2020 to 1.6% at end-Jan 2021.
This was in line with our expectation of
Bernama an uptrend in the GIL ratio. We estimate a
GIL ratio of 2.0 at end-Dec 2021, it said.
“We reiterate sector ‘overweight’ as
we expect banks’ net profit in 2021 to
be catalysed by a recovery in net inter-
est income growth and a decline in LLP,
which are the potential re-rating catalysts
for the sector.
“Despite the cut in loan growth, we
expected banks’ net interest income to
increase in 2021 due to wider net inter-
est margin.
“Our top picks for the sector are Pub-
lic Bank, Hong Leong Bank and RHB
Bank,” it added.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 11 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

RAM Ratings: Negative rating actions

dominated 2020, negative bias remains
in the next few quarters but overall
credit quality ‘still resilient’
BY TAN SIEW MUNG
theedgemarkets.com

KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): RAM Rat-

ings said today that negative rating actions
dominated in 2020 amid the Covid-19
pandemic and the negative bias in rating
actions is expected to remain through the
next few quarters, but overall credit quality
is still resilient.
The rating agency said in a statement,
the overarching theme of rating actions was
negative last year as the various lockdowns
started to strain some issuers’ finances.
In total (counting downgrades and out-
look revisions), it took negative rating ac-
tions on 17 issuers (9.5% of RAM’s rated
portfolio) in 2020.
“Of these, the ratings of six issuers were
downgraded (2019: three) as opposed to four
upgrades (2.2% of rated portfolio),” it said.
At the same time, it said, the number
of issuers on negative outlook climbed up
to 7.8%, from 0.6% in 2019. “Although half of the companies list-
According to RAM, issuers affected by ed on Bursa Malaysia still reported weak-
negative rating actions included those from Although half of the er earnings in 3Q20 (-0.8% year-on-year
the tourism/hospitality and travel/aviation companies listed compared with -33% in 2Q20), their debt
sectors, which have been hard hit by move- on Bursa Malaysia protection metrics remained intact,” it said.
ment restrictions. still reported weaker For 3Q20, it said, the median gearing
“Following these negative actions, the earnings in 3Q20, their ratio averaged 0.22 times (ASEAN: 0.38
rating drift (defined as upgrades net of times) while debt servicing capacity —
downgrades and defaults) ended 2020 in
debt protection metrics measured by the pre-tax earnings-to-debt
negative territory. There were, however, no
remained intact. ratio — averaged 0.34 times (ASEAN-6:
defaults during the year,” it said. 0.23 times).
RAM expects the negative bias in rat- “The average Malaysian firm had
ing actions to remain through the next few The bond/sukuk pipeline spiked up in enough cash to support 3.5 months’ op-
quarters, as 14 RAM-rated entities still the fourth quarter of 2020 (4Q20) as com- erating expenses. Relative to RAM’s bench-
carried a negative outlook as at end-De- panies took the opportunity to refinance marks and ASEAN peers, these metrics
cember 2020. or lock in cheap funding, it said. are not considered aggressive.
“That said, we expect the overall rated In view of Movement Control Order “Moreover, recent sample data for
credits to withstand near-term pressure 2.0 (MCO 2.0), RAM is currently under- 4Q20 results indicate improvements in
because over 80% of our portfolio is an- taking another portfolio-wide assessment these measures for both Malaysia and
chored by financial institutions and project which will be released soon. ASEAN-6,” it said.
finance companies with strong capitalisa- “The preliminary results indicate limit- RAM also highlighted that the path to
tion, robust liquidity buffers and healthy ed near-term rating pressure on our port- full recovery will remain uneven and fragile
cash flows,” it said. folio,” it said. in 2021, depending much on the success
Overall, the domestic corporate bond of the country’s vaccination programme
market kept up its momentum in 2020, Malaysian firms have stronger debt and the global outlook.
with RM104.6 billion of gross bond/sukuk protection metrics than ASEAN peers “Swift execution of the inoculation re-
issuance — at par with the preceding year’s RAM’s broader analysis of corporates in gime and no further outbreaks may lend
RM105.3 billion, underpinned by higher ASEAN-6 (ASEAN-5 + Vietnam) also re- upside to Malaysia’s economic recovery
government allocation for big-ticket in- vealed that Malaysian firms have stronger and RAM’s GDP (gross domestic product)
frastructure projects and record low in- debt protection metrics than their ASE- growth forecast, which currently stands at
terest rates. AN peers. 5% for this year,” it said.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
Federal Court dismisses bid by
16 ex-members to dissolve Umno
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3):The Fed-
eral Court has today dismissed the appeal
by 16 former Umno members to declare
the political party illegal and have it dis-
solved for not conducting internal party
elections within the stipulated time.
Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Aza-
har Mohamed, who was leading the
five-member Federal Court bench, said
the general principle is that the court will
not interfere with the internal affairs of
political parties as it is the domestic con-
cern of the parties and their members.
Furthermore, he ruled that the dis-
pute has become academic as Umno had
already conducted party elections since
the filing of the legal action.
“Two preliminary points were raised at
the offset of the appeal, namely the locus
standi issue and the academic point. All
the issues of locus standi and the relief
sought under judicial review application
has become academic as raised by Re-
spondent 2, we see merit in this argument.
“In these circumstances, based on the
academic ground, we see no necessity to
answer the two questions posed before
us. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal
12 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
BY EMIR ZAINUL
theedgemarkets.com
with no order of costs. We affirm the de-
cision of the Court of Appeal,” Azahar
read the judgement, which was a unani-
mous decision.
The other members of the bench are
Federal Court judges Datuk Abdul Rah-
man Sebli, Datuk Seri Hasnah Moham-
med Hashim, Datuk Mary Lim Thiam
Suan and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang.
The 16 former Umno members were
seeking the courts’ intervention over a de-
cision made by the Registrar of Societies
(ROS) to allow Umno to postpone its par-
ty elections in 2018.
They claim that the extension, which
was already the second time it was given
to Umno, did not comply with Umno’s
own constitution.
On April 27, 2018, the Kuala Lum-
pur High Court had dismissed their ju-
dicial review leave application against
the ROS.
The High Court had ruled that Section
18C of the Societies Act applied, where
members cannot bring party disputes to
court. Later, the Court of Appeal upheld
the ruling.
In their lawsuit, the 16 applicants
named the ROS and Umno’s working
secretary Abdul Rauf Yusoh, who is be-
ing sued in his capacity as Umno’s public
officer, as respondents.
The 16 former Umno members are
Salihudin Ahmad Khalid, Noorhalimi
Yahya, Mariam Mohd Ishak, Mohd Ha-
fami Hanif, Saharudin Tukiman, Azaid
Jani, Normalawati Hassan, Radiana Abd
Manaf, Mohd Rafeek Rahim, Nurul Han-
na Mohd Suhot, Kamarul Abd Wahid,
Mohd Hikamal Md Hassim, Muzamzamir
Abd Wahab, Norizam Jamaludin, Rohani
Ahmad and Muhamad Hafizi Hashim.
They have all been expelled from
Umno for violating clause 20.7 of the
party constitution, which stipulates that
any member who goes to court over par-
ty matters would automatically lose their
membership.
Read also: Hearing of Zaid’s injunction
application, striking-out suit by former
law firm fixed for May 10 Click here
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Malaysia
posted 1,745 new Covid-19 infections to-
day, the third straight day with less than
2,000 cases but higher than the 1,555
reported yesterday.
This brought the cumulative confirmed
infections in the country to 305,880, from
115,078 as of Jan 1.
Seven more Covid-19-related fatalities
were recorded, raising the national death toll
to 1,148, said Health director-generalTan Sri
Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. Another 2,276
Covid-19 patients were reported to have re-
covered, bringing total recoveries to 280,707.
With new recoveries continuing to sur-
pass new infections, the number of active
Malaysia’s coronavirus curve shows signs of flattening
6000 Daily new cases
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Sept 1, 2020
PUTRAJAYA (March 3): The order to
wear a tracking device is among the five
new provisions under the Emergency
(Prevention and Control of Infectious
Diseases) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021,
which will come into force on March
11, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr
Adham Baba.
He said the high-tech device in the
form of a wristband, aimed at controlling
movement is mandatory for three cat-
egories, namely individuals who tested
positive for Covid-19, persons under
investigation (PUI) or close contacts of
Covid-19 patients, and persons under
surveillance (PUS).
“The device is to be worn for 10
days,” he told a press conference in
the presence of Minister in the Prime
Minister’s Department (Parliament and
Law) Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan,
at the Health Ministry (MOH) here,
today.
Dr Adham said a penalty will be im-
posed if the tracking device is destroyed,
damaged, lost or altered.
In addition, he said, a new provi-
sion included under the ordinance was
Section 21A to allow the Health direc-
tor-general to issue general or specific
instructions to any individual to imple-
13 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Malaysia
cases has fallen further to 24,025.
Dr Noor Hisham said Selangor ac-
posts 1,745
counted for 640 of today’s new cases, of
which 503 or 78.6% were from existing
new Covid-19
and new clusters, as well as close contacts
of Covid-19 patients.
cases and seven
This pushed total cases in the country’s
most populous state to 101,658, he said
deaths today
in a statement.
Johor registered 376 new cases, followed
by Sarawak (139), Perak (136), Sabah (95),
Kuala Lumpur (92), Penang (90), Kedah
BY SYAFIQAH SALIM (40), Melaka (36), Pahang (36), Kelantan
theedgemarkets.com (33), Negeri Sembilan (24), Terengganu
(five) and Putrajaya (three).
Meanwhile, Labuan and Perlis did not
report new infections today.
All but two of Malaysia’s new cases were
local transmissions. “Among the 1,743 lo-
7-day moving average cally-transmitted cases, 1,037 or 59.5%
involved Malaysians, while 706 or 40.5%
were foreigners,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
Of the latest seven fatalities, one person
was a foreigner. Two of the deaths were
reported in Kuala Lumpur and one each
in Selangor, Sabah, Sarawak, Johor and
2,015 Kelantan.
1,745
Read also: Eleven new Covid-19 clus-
March 3, 2021 ters detected, nine linked to workplaces
Click here
Order to wear
thorities to impose penalties under Act
342 for “any offence not stated in it”.
tracking device
This new subsection will determine
any action which is a violation as an of-
among new
fence, which provides a fine not exceed-
ing RM50,000, or imprisonment of not
provisions under
more than six months, or both.
“Legal action is not merely a form of
Emergency
punishment but a preventive measure to
end the spread of Covid-19 in the coun-
Ordinance —
try,” said Dr Adham.
Meanwhile, Takiyuddin said some
Health Minister
4,000 personnel from the local authori-
ties (PBT) and the Road Transport De-
partment (RTD) would be mobilised to
assist the police to monitor the stand-
Bernama ard operating procedures (SOPs) set by
the National Security Council and the
ment infection prevention and control Malaysian Ministry of Health are being
measures. complied with.
Another new provision is Part IV A “The PBT and RTD staff have the
on enforcement which enables powers authority to issue compounds as well as
of investigation to provide information advise those who do not adhere to the
in relation to the prevention and control SOPs. A guideline on the issuance of
of infectious diseases, he said. compounds will be given to the author-
Section 22A of the new provision will ities,” he said.
enable corporate bodies to be charged
with offences under the Prevention and
Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 Read also: Covid-19 smart vaccination
(Act 342). certificate on the cards, says Dr Adham
A new Section 31 empowers the au- Click here
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 14 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

KUALA LUMPUR (March 3):The Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic
ministers has proposed a common digital vaccine
certificate to speed up the reopening of hard-
est-hit sectors such as tourism, Senior Minister
cum International Trade and Industry Minister
Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said.
However, he said there was no specific timeline
set when the common digital vaccine certificate
would be introduced, as the matter would be
brought up to the health ministers level meeting.
“This is a new proposal, I was informed
(about it) by Brunei as chairman.
“There is no timeline imposed on this par-
ticular proposal, but I believe if it can be final-
ised in the near future, it will definitely help fa-
cilitate movements among ASEAN members,”
he said after the 27th ASEAN Economic Min-
isters Retreat here Wednesday.
Mohamad Azmin said during the meeting, the
ASEAN Economic Ministers also discussed the
progress of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recov-
ery Framework implementation as the region’s
recovery tool. He said the ministers pledged to
work intensively to explore all avenues to deep-
en and broaden regional integration in various
areas of mutual interest that would contribute to
the sustainability of livelihoods, as well as region-
al economic resilience in ASEAN and beyond.
The retreat also looked into the expansion of
the list of essential goods under the memoran-
ASEAN economic
ministers propose
common digital
vaccine certificate,
says Azmin Ali
Bernama
dum of understanding on the implementation of
non-tariff measures on essential goods under the
Hanoi Plan of Action on Strengthening ASEAN
Economic Cooperation and Supply Chain Con-
nectivity in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic
that was signed in November 2020.
“With regard to the proposed number of prod-
ucts being considered for the expanded list, I sug-
gested that we should be realistic on the quantum
as the current number is a little too ambitious.
“The ministers also concurred on the need
to further deepen ASEAN’s participation in
global value chains (GVCs) to boost intra-ASE-
AN trade and investment which would enable
greater businesses and job opportunities, es-
pecially for ASEAN to build back regional re-
silience during this global reordering,” he said.
Being a major disruptor, Mohamad Azmin
said the pandemic has also brought to light
existing gaps in the GVCs resulting from un-
expected extreme fluctuations in demand and
supply of essential products.
On the possibility of getting India to reconsider
joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP), Malaysia as the country
coordinator for ASEAN-India economic relations
would first discuss the ASEAN-India Trade in
Goods Agreement (AITIGA) Review.
“AITIGA has been implemented for 10
years and it is time for us to review some pro-
visions. We are waiting for feedback from India,
and once received, we will initiate a committee
to review AITIGA.
“At the same time, I believe we will be able
to persuade India to revisit and review the de-
cision not to join RCEP taken last year,” Mo-
hamad Azmin said.
On another note, he said Singapore has as-
sured Malaysia that the suspension of the Recip-
rocal Green Lane (RGL) between both countries,
which is causing much difficulty for businesses on
both sides of the border, is temporary.
He said his Singapore counterpart, Chan
Chun Sing, said the RGL arrangement will
resume once the Covid-19 situation improves,
and the republic’s vaccination programme
would also include Malaysians who are resid-
ing and working there.

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 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
Exxon to cut
7% of Singapore
workforce amid
‘unprecedented
market
conditions’
BY F LORENCE TAN & SHRUTI SONAL
Reuters
SINGAPORE (March 3): Exxon Mobil
Corp plans to cut its workforce in Sin-
gapore, home to its largest oil refining
and petrochemical complex, by about
7% amid the “unprecedented market
conditions” resulting from the Covid-19
pandemic, it said on Wednesday.
About 300 positions out of 4,000 cur-
rent jobs will be impacted by the end of
2021, the company said in a statement.
The Singapore lay-offs come weeks af-
ter Exxon announced its plan to close its
72-year-old Altona refinery in Australia
and convert it to an import terminal. The
top US oil producer, once America’s most
valuable company, posted a historic an-
nual loss for 2020 after the coronavirus
pandemic slashed energy demand.
LONDON (March 3): OPEC and other
oil producers, a group known as OPEC+,
are considering rolling over production
cuts into April instead of raising output as
a recovery in oil demand remains fragile
due to the coronavirus crisis, three OPEC+
sources told Reuters.
OPEC+ ministers hold a full meeting
on Thursday.
The market has been expecting OPEC+
to ease production cuts by around 500,000
barrels per day (bpd) from April.
OPEC leader Saudi Arabia has also
been expected to end its voluntary pro-
duction cut of an additional 1 million bpd.
But three OPEC+ sources said on
Wednesday some key OPEC members
had suggested keeping OPEC+ output
unchanged.
It was not immediately clear whether
Saudi Arabia would end its voluntary cuts
or extend them, they said.
Oil prices jumped by about US$1 per
barrel on the news to trade near US$64
per barrel.
On Tuesday, a document by OPEC+
experts, seen by Reuters, called for “cau-
tious optimism” citing “underlying uncer-
15 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Exxon’s announcement also follows
European major Royal Dutch Shell’s
decision in November to cut 500 staff
and halve its crude processing capacity
in Singapore as part of a global strategy
to reduce carbon emissions.
Exxon Mobil’s Singapore complex
has the capacity to refine about 592,000
barrels per day of oil and includes its
biggest integrated petrochemical pro-
duction site.
The city state will remain a strategic
location for the company, it said.
“This is a difficult but necessary step
OPEC+
considers oil
output roll over
for April,
sources say
BY RANIA EL GAMAL, AHMAD GHADDAR
& ALEX LAWLER
Reuters
REUTERS
to improve our company’s competitive-
ness and strengthen the foundation of
our business for future success,” said
Geraldine Chin, chairman and manag-
ing director, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific
Pte Ltd.
Last year, Exxon said it remained
committed to a multibillion-dollar ex-
pansion at the Singapore complex amid
an ongoing review of its projects globally.
Read also: Exxon pitches investors on div-
idend growth, debt reduction Click here
tainties in the physical markets and macro
sentiment, including risks from COVID-19
mutations that are still on the rise”.
It said a recent oil price rally might have
been caused more by financial players than
improvements in market fundamentals.
OPEC expects global oil demand in
2021 to grow by 5.8 million bpd to about
96 million bpd. That would still be lower
than demand in 2019 which was about
100 million bpd.
Russia has been widely expected to push
for more increases. But in February it failed
to raise output despite being allowed to do
so by OPEC+ as harsh winter weather hit
output at mature fields.
JP Morgan, which said it spoke to Rus-
sia’s representative on the OPEC+ techni-
cal committee Denis Deryushkin, reported
that Russia saw some rationale in raising
output as the oil market was in a 500,000
bpd deficit.
“Russia believes that if output is main-
tained at current levels, the market would
move into an even more severe deficit,” the
bank said. “As such, production needs to
be restored, but the speed and amount are
yet to be decided.”
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
UK’s Sunak extends COVID rescue plan
but moves to bring in more tax
LONDON (March 3): Finance minister
Rishi Sunak extended costly emergen-
cy programmes to see Britain’s econo-
my through the COVID-19 crisis but an-
nounced a future tax squeeze on businesses
and individuals as he began to focus on the
huge hole in the public finances.
Delivering an annual budget speech
on Wednesday, Sunak said the economy
will regain its pre-pandemic size in mid-
2022, six months earlier than previously
forecast, helped by Europe’s fastest vac-
cination programme.
But it will remain 3% smaller in five
years’ time than it would have been with-
out the health shock and extra support is
needed now as the country remains under
coronavirus restrictions, he said.
“First, we will continue doing whatever
it takes to support the British people and
businesses through this moment of crisis,”
Sunak told parliament.
“Second, once we are on the way to
recovery, we will need to begin fixing the
public finances — and I want to be hon-
est today about our plans to do that. And,
third, in today’s Budget we begin the
work of building our future economy.”
Among new support measures
were a five-month extension of Brit-
ain’s huge jobs rescue plan and more
help for the self-employed, the con-
tinuation of an emergency increase
in welfare payments, and an extend-
ed VAT cut for the hospitality sector.
A business rates exemption for
retail, hospitality and leisure
businesses was ex-
tended until the
end of June, by
when Prime
Minister Bo-
16 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
BY DAVID MILLIKEN, WILLIAM SCHOMBERG
& ANDY BRUCE
Reuters
ris Johnson hopes he will have lifted most
COVID-19 restrictions.
An existing tax break for home-buyers
will also now run until June 30 and will
then apply for cheaper homes until the
end of September.
Sunak will borrow significantly more in
the coming financial year than thought just
a few months ago — 234 billion pounds,
or 10.3% of gross domestic product, com-
pared with a previous estimate of 164.2
billion pounds, or 7.4% of GDP.
British government bond prices fell
sharply, with 10-year gilt yields rising more
than 8 basis points.The Debt Management
Office said it planned to sell 296 billion
pounds of gilts over the coming year, well
above the 247 billion pounds markets had
expected in a Reuters poll.
To bring borrowing under control, Su-
nak announced future tax rises that will
increase the tax burden to
its highest level since the
1960s, rising from 34
to 35% of GDP by the
middle of this decade.
“Chancellor Sunak
confirmed earlier re-
ports that the govern-
ment will start introduc-
ing some fiscal austerity
measures in an attempt
to boost the UK fiscal out-
look,” Valentin Marinov,
head of G10 foreign
exchange research
at Credit Agri-
cole, said.
REUTERS
“The UK is thus to become the first ma-
jor economy to consider such measures.”
Britain has suffered the biggest COV-
ID-19 death toll in Europe and its econo-
my has been the worst hit among big rich
countries, shrinking by 10% last year, its
worst slump in three centuries.
Many companies are also under strain
from Brexit after Britain left the European
Union’s single market on Jan. 1, and the
government faces the challenge of huge
investment to meet its promise to create a
net zero carbon economy by 2050.
UK early mover on tax hikes
Announcing forecasts by the Office for
Budgetary Responsibility (OBR), Sunak
said the economy was likely to grow 4%
in 2021, slower than a forecast of 5.5%
made in November, reflecting the current
lockdown which began in January.
Looking further ahead, the OBR fore-
cast GDP would grow by 7.3%, 1.7% and
1.6% in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respective-
ly. In November, the OBR had forecast
growth in those years of 6.6%, 2.3% and
1.7%.
Sunak promised to do “whatever it
takes” to steer the economy through what
he hopes will be the final months of pan-
demic restrictions.
He has already racked up Britain’s high-
est borrowing since World War Two, with
the deficit reaching an estimated 17% of
GDP in the 2020/21 financial year that
ends in April and set to fall to a still his-
torically high 10.3% in 2021/22.
In a first move towards higher taxes,
Sunak announced he would raise corpo-
ration tax to 25% from 19% from 2023,
by which time the crisis should be over.
“Even after this change the UK will still
have the lowest corporation tax rate in the
G7 — lower than the United States, Can-
ada, Italy, Japan, Germany and France,”
he said.
Businesses with profits of 50,000
pounds or less would pay a new Small
Profits Rate, maintained at the current
rate of 19%.
To offset the hit, Sunak increased in-
centives for investment in items such as
new equipment over the next two years.
“This will be the biggest business tax cut
in modern British history,” he said.
Sunak also said he would freeze in a
year’s time amount of money that people
can earn tax-free and the threshold for
the higher rate of income tax until 2026.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
Sea injects
US$1b into new
investment arm
led by David Ma
BY BEI HU & YOOLIM LEE
Bloomberg
(March 3): Sea Ltd is injecting US$1 billion
into a new unit that will manage bets on
fledgling technology companies, marking
an entry by Southeast Asia’s largest com-
pany into the crowded field of investment.
It hired former Hillhouse Capital part-
ner David Ma to lead the newly formed
Sea Capital, and acquired full ownership
of Ma’s Hong Kong-based hedge fund firm
Composite Capital Management (HK) Ltd.
Sea is following in the footsteps of in-
ternet behemoths SoftBank Group Corp
and Tencent Holdings Ltd by creating a
corporate investment arm as the compa-
ny aims to deepen its offerings in gam-
ing, e-commerce and digital financial
services as well as look for new areas of
growth. Tech giants are increasingly active
in backing companies for better returns
and generating synergy between portfo-
lios and their main operations.
“Sea Capital will focus on identifying,
partnering with, and investing in technology
Samsung
considering four
sites in US for
US$17 billion
chip plant —
documents
BY JOYCE LEE
Reuters
SEOUL (March 3): Samsung Electronics
Co Ltd is considering two sites in Arizona
and another one in New York in addition
to Austin, Texas for a new US$17 billion
chip plant, according to documents filed
with Texas state officials.
The documents dated Feb 26 also es-
timated tax abatements concerning the
plant will be about US$1.48 billion over
20 years from Travis County in Texas and
17 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
companies that share our vision of bettering
the lives of consumers and small businesses
through technology,” Sea Chief Executive
Officer Forrest Li said during a conference
call late yesterday, adding the new unit will
help support Sea’s long-term growth strat-
egies. Sea itself was backed by Tencent.
Ma’s Composite team, a high profile
hedge fund started in 2016, oversaw near-
ly US$2 billion last year. Ma spent seven
years with Hillhouse, the asset manager
led byYale University endowment alumnus
Zhang Lei. Hillhouse invests in both listed
and private companies, making its name
with bets including Tencent and JD.com
Inc. It has in recent years gravitated toward
venture capital and private equity business.
Composite prides itself on the ability
the city of Austin, up from the US$805.5
million previously mentioned.
Samsung is in talks with the sites at
Arizona and New York, with each offering
property tax abatement and “significant
grants and/or refundable tax credits” to
fund infrastructure improvements, the
documents said.
The new plant Samsung plans to build
would produce “advanced logic devices”
for Samsung’s chip contract manufac-
turing business, and could create 1,800
jobs, according to previous documents
SEA LTD
to make private investments. In 2016, it
backed Zoox Inc, a California-based start-
up working on self-driving cars. It sold its
stake in Sea in the third quarter last year,
according to a US regulatory filing. It be-
gan to return client money last year ahead
of yesterday’s announcement.
Ma’s team will strengthen Sea’s “in-
vestment and capital allocation capabil-
ity,” Yanjun Wang, Sea’s chief corporate
officer, said during the conference call.
“We think it’s very important for a global
internet company to have that capabilities
in the longer run.”
Read also: Sea predicts sales doubling as
online shopping boom persists Click here
REUTERS
filed with Texas state officials.
Samsung already has a chip plant in
Austin, which due to shutdowns caused
by a winter storm last month is expected
to need some weeks to resume production.
Samsung’s US customers for its con-
tract manufacturing chip business include
Tesla Inc, Qualcomm Inc, and Nvidia.
Samsung is considering a number
of possibilities in terms of expansion, a
spokesman for the South Korean firm
told Reuters on Wednesday, without elab-
orating.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
Intel told to pay US$2.18b
after losing patent trial
BY SUSAN DECKER & MATTHEW BULTMAN
Bloomberg
(March 3): Intel Corp was told to pay
VLSI Technology LLC US$2.18 billion
by a federal jury in Texas after losing a pat-
ent-infringement trial over technology re-
lated to chip-making, one of the largest
patent-damages award in US history. Intel
pledged to appeal.
Intel infringed two patents owned by
closely held VLSI, the jury in Waco, Tex-
as, said Tuesday. The jury found US$1.5
billion for infringement of one patent and
US$675 million for infringement of the
second. The jury rejected Intel’s denial of
infringing either of the patents and its ar-
gument that one patent was invalid be-
cause it claimed to cover work done by
Intel engineers.
The patents had been owned by Dutch
chipmaker NXP Semiconductors Inc,
which would get a cut of any damage
award, Intel lawyer William Lee of Wil-
merHale told jurors in closing arguments
Monday.VLSI, founded four years ago, has
no products and its only potential revenue
is this lawsuit, he said.
VLSI “took two patents off the shelf
that hadn’t been used for 10 years and
said, ‘We’d like US$2 billion,”’ Lee told the
jury. The “outrageous” demand by VLSI
“would tax the true innovators.”
He had argued that VLSI was entitled
to no more than US$2.2 million.
“Intel strongly disagrees with today’s
jury verdict,” the company said in a state-
ment. “We intend to appeal and are con-
fident that we will prevail.”
Intel fell 2.6% to US$61.24 in New
York trading. The stock is up 23% since
the beginning of the year.
One of the patents was originally issued
in 2012 to Freescale Semiconductor Inc
and the other in 2010 to SigmaTel Inc.
Freescale bought SigmaTel and was in turn
bought by NXP in 2015. The two pat-
ents in this case were transferred to VLSI
in 2019, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg Law.
VLSI lawyer Morgan Chu of Irell &
Manella said the patents cover inventions
that increase the power and speed of pro-
cessors, a key issue for competition.
‘Willful blindness’
Federal law doesn’t require someone to
know of a patent to be found to have in-
fringed it, and Intel purposely didn’t look
18 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
VLSI, founded four
years ago, has no
products and its only
potential revenue
is this lawsuit, said
Intel lawyer William
Lee of WilmerHale.
to see if it was using someone else’s in-
ventions, he said. He accused the Santa
Clara, California-based company of “will-
ful blindness.”
The jury said there was no willful in-
fringement. A finding otherwise would
have enabled District Court Judge Alan
Albright to increase the award even fur-
ther, to up to three times the amount set
by the jury.
“We are very pleased that the jury rec-
ognized the value of the innovations as
reflected in the patents and are extreme-
ly happy with the jury verdict,” Michael
Stolarski, chief executive of VLSI, said in
an e-mailed statement.
Officials with NXP couldn’t immedi-
ately be reached for comment.
The damage request isn’t so high when
the billions of chips sold by Intel are tak-
en into account, Chu said. Intel paid
MicroUnity Systems Engineering Corp
US$300 million in 2005 and in 2011 paid
Nvidia Corp US$1.5 billion even though
a settlement in that case involved a cross
license of technology, he said.
REUTERS
“Operating companies are going to be
disturbed by not only the size of the award
but also the damages theory,” said Mi-
chael Tomasulo, a Winston Strawn law-
yer who attended the trial. “They more
or less seemed to have bought the entire
VLSI case.”
The damage award is about half of In-
tel’s fourth-quarter profit. The company
has dominated the US$400 billion chip
industry for most of the past 30 years,
though it’s struggling to maintain that
position.
The verdict is smaller than the US$2.5
billion verdict won by Merck & Co over a
hepatitis C treatment. It was later thrown
out. Last year, Cisco Systems Inc was told
by a federal judge in Virginia to pay US$1.9
billion to a small cybersecurity compa-
nies that accused it of copying a feature
to steal away government contracts. Cisco
has asked the judge for a new trial.
The case is among the few in-person
patent trials in recent months, with many
courts pressing pause amid the coronavirus
pandemic. It was delayed a week because
of the winter storm that wreaked havoc
across much of Texas.
Intel had sought to postpone the case
because of the pandemic, but was rejected
by Albright, a former patent litigator and
magistrate who was sworn in as a federal
judge in 2018 and has quickly turned his
courtroom into one of the most popular
for patent owners to file suit.
The case is VLSI Technology LLC v
Intel Corp, 21-57, US District Court for
the Western District of Texas (Waco).
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 19 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

W O R L D

US gets ‘C-,’ faces

WASHINGTON (Mar 3): The United levees, public parks, roads, schools, storm-
States faces a $2.59 trillion shortfall in in- water, transit, and wastewater.” The re-

US$2.59 trillion
frastructure needs that requires a massive port cited incremental gains in aviation,
jump in government spending to address drinking water, energy, inland waterways,

in infrastructure
crumbling roads, bridges and other pro- and ports.
grams, according to an assessment by an The infrastructure gap rose by US$359

needs over
engineers group issued on Wednesday. billion over 2017.
The 170-page report by the American Biden plans to meet with lawmakers on

Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) comes
as President Joe Biden plans to seek a dra-
matic jump on infrastructure spending in
the coming weeks — after his predecessors
Donald Trump and Barack Obama failed
to win approval for a major funding effort.
The report, published once every four
years, gave the United States a “C-” overall
— up from a D+ in 2017 — and marked
the first time in two decades the country
received a “C” range grade — but found
the country is spending just over half of
what is required, labeling overall U.S. in-
frastructure in “mediocre condition.”
The report urges the United States to
increase investment from all levels of gov-
ernment and the private sector to 3.5%
from 2.5% of U.S. gross domestic prod-
uct by 2025.
The study graded 17 categories of in-
frastructure, ranging from a “B” for rail
to a “D-” for transit.
“We risk significant economic losses,
higher costs to consumers, businesses and
manufacturers — and our quality of life
— if we don’t act urgently,” said ASCE
Executive Director Thomas Smith in a
statement.
The biggest projected gap is in sur-
face transportation, which faces US$1.2
trillion in projected unmet needs over 10
years, while water systems face US$434
10 years: report
BY DAVID SHEPARDSON
Reuters
REUTERS
The report gave the United States a “C-”
overall — up from a D+ in 2017.
billion and schools US$380 billion in
funding gaps.
In total, 11 of 17 categories reviewed
merited “D” range grades — “aviation,
dams, hazardous waste, inland waterways,
Thursday to discuss infrastructure along
with Transportation Secretary Pete Butti-
gieg, who said the report card documents
“what Americans already know: failure
to fully invest in our infrastructure over
the years is now catching up to us. Con-
sequences are appearing nationwide, in
the form of dangerously degraded roads,
bridges, and other assets.”
Biden wants a big jump in spending
on U.S. surface transportation, airports,
transit systems, as well addressing high-
speed broadband, electrical grids and wa-
ter systems and boosting electric vehicles
charging and high-speed rail.
Cong ress has not boosted the
18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gasoline tax
since 1993, which is now worth 10.2 cents
after adjusting for inflation. It remains un-
clear how Biden or Congress will fund new
infrastructure spending.
The report said that without a signif-
icant infrastructure hike, by 2039 the
U.S. economy will lose US$10 trillion in
growth, exports will decline by US$2.4
trillion and 3 million jobs will be lost.
The report praised state and local
governments for boosting infrastructure
spending. Since 2010, 37 U.S. states raised
gas taxes to fund transportation and U.S.
voters approved 98% of local infrastructure
ballot initiatives in November.

China steel rebar

BEIJING/MANILA (March 3): Chinese Prices of steelmaking raw materials also
steel rebar futures surged more than 5% on gained.

hits near 10-year

Wednesday to their highest level in about a Benchmark iron ore futures on the Da-
decade, as the country’s plan to take more lian Commodity Exchange rose 1.8% to

high on output
environmental-protection measures stoked 1,154 yuan a tonne.
worries about a cut in production. Dalian coking coal surged 6.2% to

Besides the industry ministry’s pledge
to cut crude steel output this year, heavy
pollution alerts issued in Hebei province
and the upcoming annual parliament meet-
ing will also affect steel products’ output
in the short term, SinoSteel Futures said
in a note.
Seven blast furnaces in the top
steel-making city of Tangshan were re-
quired to be shut down by March 10,
which might likely lower pig iron output
by 5,000 tonnes a day, according to GF
Futures.
The most-actively traded rebar contract
on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, for
May delivery, closed up 3.9% to 4,842
yuan (US$749.11) per tonne. It surged
cut fears
BY MIN ZHANG & ENRICO DELA CRUZ
Reuters
as much as 5.6% to the highest level since
August 2011 earlier in the session.
China’s trading volume for steel prod-
ucts used in construction stood at 196,800
tonnes on Tuesday, the highest daily trans-
actions since Jan.4, according to Mysteel
consultancy.
Hot-rolled coil futures, used in cars and
home appliances, jumped 3.5% at close to
hit a record high of 5,026 yuan per tonne.
1,525 yuan per tonne and coke increased
0.8% to 2,520 yuan per tonne.
Stainless steel futures on the Shanghai
exchange fell 2.1% to 14,685 yuan a tonne.
Fundamentals
• China’s yuan inched up against a weaker
dollar on Wednesday, with market senti-
ment recovering from comments made
by a top banking regulator a day earlier
about managing capital inflows.
• China’s top steelmaker Baowu Steel
Group and regional producer Fujian San-
gang Group have signed agreements to
invest 20 billion yuan in two separate steel
projects in the southeastern Fujian prov-
ince, local media reported on Tuesday.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
European telcos cash in on tower assets
as high-cost 5G investment looms
MADRID/STOCKHOLM (March 3): Eu-
ropean telecoms firms are cashing in on
the money-making power of masts, as tow-
er companies line up to pay multi-billion
dollar price tags for antennas buzzing with
ever more data ahead of the advent of 5G.
Faced with straitened revenue growth
and stubbornly high debt built up during
the last network upgrade, telecoms compa-
nies are relishing the quick cash injections
they can get from selling these portfolios,
or future income from spin-offs.
Upgrading networks, including tow-
ers, for 5G — which promises an age of
self-driving cars and brain surgery per-
formed at a distance — will soak up some
US$890 billion between 2020 and 2025,
the GSMA industry body says.
European operators are increasingly
willing to exploit assets to help finance
those build-outs. While selling towers out-
right brings piles of cash, many are also
looking to create separate tower units or
launch joint ventures with independent
companies as a way to keep a chunk of
potential future growth.
So far this year,Vodafone has lined up its
towers business for the European sector’s
biggest listing since 2014, while Orange
created a separate towers unit.
Independent tower companies have
proved hungry to buy, snapping up more
than 14 billion euros (US$16.9 billion)
worth of assets so far this year to access
the steady, inflation-linked returns anten-
na-topped towers generate.
But around 66% of sites in Europe are
still wholly or partially owned by phone
companies, Barclays estimates, compared
with less than 10% in the United States.
“The market is unlocking,” said Julian
Plumstead, Chief Executive for Europe
at American Tower, which bought more
than 30,000 towers from Spain’s Telefon-
ica in January.
Compared to the United States, Plum-
stead told Reuters, “We are still in the early
to middle ages of our industrial develop-
ment, but looking forward I think the trend
will continue and possibly accelerate.”
Gradually relinquishing
In cases where operators and tower com-
panies have signed joint ventures, the tower
companies say they usually have the option to
buy out the operators after a number of years.
This means some are gradually relin-
quishing these unlikely trophies in stages.
Telefonica netted more than US$9 billion
20 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
BY ISLA BINNIE & SUPANTHA MUKHERJEE
Reuters
Upgrading networks,
including towers, for
5G — which promises
an age of self-driving
cars and brain surgery
performed at a
distance — will soak
up some US$890
billion between 2020
and 2025, the GSMA
industry body says.
with the sale to American Tower of sites
it had already hived off into a separate
unit in 2016.
“We fully understand the interest of the
operators in going for this two-stage ap-
proach,” Cellnex Deputy Chief Executive
Alex Mestre told Reuters. “There is reval-
orization of the asset ... and the operators
can seize that.”
Plumstead said American Tower had
managed to beef up its portfolio - from
an admittedly low base — in Europe this
year despite restrictions on movement.
“Getting people into the field has not
been as easy... but we’ve built more tow-
ers this year than in Europe last year and
we’ll plan to do the same again this year.”
Towers are prized assets partly because
contracts to use them are like an “infinite mar-
riage” in which operators pay steady rates for
decades, in the words of one industry expert.
Shares of both American Tower and
Cellnex touched record highs last year dur-
ing the pandemic after more than doubling
and more than tripling respectively in value
in the last half decade.
Towering over Europe
Deal-making has been concentrated in
Western Europe until now, but regional
leader Cellnex and American Tower, whose
buy from Telefonica increased its presence
in Europe sevenfold, are both now looking
further east and in Scandinavia.
“We are looking at a wider geographic
scope,” Cellnex’s Mestre said. “We have
started also in the Nordics, we have start-
ed in Poland and in all those areas in our
core geographies where we believe there are
still a lot of towers yet to be outsourced.”
Almost all European operators are now
discussing what they should do with their
tower assets, industry executives say.
High multiples paid for recent deals have
piqued their interest. American Tower paid
Telefonica around 30x its tower unit’s most
recent core earnings for the assets, accord-
ing to analysts at Moody’s.
Operators willing to part with their tow-
ers have commanded average valuations
22.1 times higher than the assets’ core earn-
ings since mid-2018, Moody’s also said.
Cellnex clinched the lowest price among
recent deals, paying 16x earnings for a port-
folio from Poland’s Play last October.
“If you conclude that it’s not really a
competitive advantage to own the towers,
then you should dispose of them because
the multiple arbitrage is high,” said Nikos
Stathopoulos, chairman of mobile operator
United Group, which owns 6,000 towers
in Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia.
Sweden’s Telia is also considering wring-
ing money out of its more than 9,000 tow-
ers by partnering with external investors, a
spokeswoman told Reuters, while Telenor is
also aiming to generate value from its tower
portfolio, a representative said.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1
M A R K E T S
CPO RM 3,663.0021.00 OIL US$ 62.68-0.02 RM/USD 4.0515 RM/SGD 3.0453 RM/AUD 3.1694 RM/GBP 5.6565 RM/EUR 4.8922
Top 20 active stocks
NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET
(MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
XOX BHD 416.1 -0.005 0.080 -27.27 301.4
PARKSON HOLDINGS BHD 332.0 0.005 0.195 -2.50 208.1
SEALINK INTERNATIONAL BHD 308.6 0.025 0.205 7.89 102.5
EA HOLDINGS BHD 286.4 -0.005 0.035 16.67 177.5
DAGANG NEXCHANGE BHD 272.7 -0.050 0.615 173.33 1325.8
KANGER INTERNATIONAL BHD 245.7 0.000 0.105 -27.59 264.0
BORNEO OIL BHD 183.6 0.005 0.040 0.00 257.4
RADIANT GLOBALTECH LTD 154.6 -0.015 0.365 1.39 191.7
GRAND-FLO BHD 145.3 -0.155 0.425 30.77 224.8
KOMARKCORP BHD 131.4 -0.155 0.555 4.06 267.0
DYNACIATE GROUP BHD 130.0 0.005 0.140 7.69 83.7
MESTRON HOLDINGS BHD 128.1 -0.010 0.260 18.18 229.5
AT SYSTEMATIZATION BHD 127.6 0.010 0.125 -32.43 528.6
DPS RESOURCES BHD 123.5 0.000 0.125 -3.85 88.2
METRONIC GLOBAL BHD 122.3 0.005 0.065 -35.00 104.6
ANZO HOLDINGS BHD 107.1 -0.005 0.070 -17.65 78.1
CNI HOLDINGS BHD 104.6 0.020 0.235 161.11 167.5
AMMB HOLDINGS BHD 101.8 -0.360 2.800 -23.29 8426.9
ICON OFFSHORE BHD 92.4 -0.005 0.115 0.00 310.9
SMTRACK BHD 82.5 -0.030 0.155 -13.89 67.4
Data as compiled on Mar 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top gainers (ranked by %)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
ASDION BHD 0.545 32.93 2392.2 165.85 69.7
DATAPREP HOLDINGS BHD 1.840 29.58 65764.5 922.22 1108.8
HLT GLOBAL BHD 0.995 19.88 64715.5 -12.72 613.7
BINTAI KINDEN CORP BHD 0.510 18.60 69691.5 -17.07 194.4
CAREPLUS GROUP BHD 1.790 18.54 40875.0 -13.53 984.6
RUBBEREX CORP M BHD 1.280 17.43 76169.4 -8.57 1061.7
MINDA GLOBAL BHD 0.070 16.67 16676.4 16.67 86.8
TH HEAVY ENGINEERING BHD 0.110 15.79 51035.2 22.22 244.3
PARKWOOD HOLDINGS BHD 0.305 15.09 509.3 -6.15 42.0
TURIYA BHD 0.345 15.00 3267.0 38.00 78.9
BORNEO OIL BHD 0.040 14.29 183589.2 0.00 257.4
COMFORT GLOVE BHD 2.170 14.21 22139.5 -27.42 1265.0
SEALINK INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.205 13.89 308646.2 7.89 102.5
SUPERMAX CORP BHD 4.660 13.38 70160.7 -22.46 12198.2
LIEN HOE CORP BHD 0.395 12.86 1184.2 51.92 131.3
HPP HOLDINGS BHD 0.580 12.62 4181.7 0.00 225.3
STAR MEDIA GROUP BHD 0.405 12.50 23212.4 15.71 293.5
GFM SERVICES BHD 0.315 12.50 54279.8 75.00 164.1
ELSOFT RESEARCH BHD 0.740 11.28 3905.2 -6.92 497.4
MACPIE BHD 0.445 11.25 15138.3 -6.32 204.5
Data as compiled on Mar 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top gainers (ranked by RM)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
NESTLE MALAYSIA BHD 138.000 1.600 86.4 -0.65 32361.0
SUPERMAX CORP BHD 4.660 0.550 70160.7 -22.46 12198.2
LPI CAPITAL BHD 13.800 0.460 143.6 0.58 5497.7
HARTALEGA HOLDINGS BHD 9.850 0.440 14190.0 -18.86 33761.9
DATAPREP HOLDINGS BHD 1.840 0.420 65764.5 922.22 1108.8
TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 5.090 0.340 74033.5 -16.83 40725.1
PRESS METAL ALUMINIUM 10.000 0.300 6334.4 19.19 40381.1
CAREPLUS GROUP BHD 1.790 0.280 40875.0 -13.53 984.6
HONG LEONG INDUSTRIES BHD 9.080 0.280 190.2 2.14 2900.8
COMFORT GLOVE BHD 2.170 0.270 22139.5 -27.42 1265.0
PIE INDUSTRIAL BHD 3.750 0.240 7745.5 54.96 1440.2
PETRONAS CHEMICALS GROUP BHD 7.740 0.210 6091.5 4.17 61920.0
KELINGTON GROUP BHD 2.440 0.210 4789.8 44.38 784.2
DUTCH LADY MILK INDUSTRIES BHD 34.980 0.200 5.7 -6.72 2238.7
GUAN CHONG BHD 3.020 0.200 4651.8 13.11 3123.6
RUBBEREX CORP M BHD 1.280 0.190 76169.4 -8.57 1061.7
KOSSAN RUBBER INDUSTRIES 3.840 0.190 13145.3 -14.67 9804.0
SERN KOU RESOURCE BHD 2.380 0.180 3886.3 33.71 623.8
FORMOSA PROSONIC INDUSTRIES 2.770 0.170 2892.2 22.03 685.2
MICROLINK SOLUTIONS BHD 2.620 0.170 794.7 18.02 632.0
Data as compiled on Mar 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
21 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
World equity indices
CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
(%) (%)
DOW JONES 31,391.52 -143.99 -0.46 INDONESIA 6,376.76 17.55 0.28
S&P 500 3,870.29 -31.53 -0.81 JAPAN 29,559.10 150.93 0.51
NASDAQ 100 13,059.95 -223.00 -1.68 KOREA 3,082.99 39.12 1.29
FTSE 100 6,695.34 81.59 1.23 PHILIPPINES 6,942.76 23.22 0.34
AUSTRALIA 6,817.98 55.71 0.82 SINGAPORE 2,996.50 22.63 0.76
CHINA 3,576.91 68.31 1.95 TAIWAN 16,211.73 264.85 1.66
HONG KONG 29,880.42 784.56 2.70 THAILAND 1,536.67 33.31 2.22
INDIA 51,194.03 897.14 1.78 VIETNAM 1,186.95 0.34 0.03
Data as compiled on Mar 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top losers (ranked by %)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
GRAND-FLO BHD 0.425 -26.72 145342.5 30.77 224.8
KOMARKCORP BHD 0.555 -21.83 131375.2 4.06 267.0
LAMBO GROUP BHD 0.020 -20.00 2802.8 -33.33 97.9
ARK RESOURCES HOLDINGS BHD 0.315 -18.18 15.5 8.62 19.9
ABLEGROUP BHD 0.135 -18.18 22141.3 12.50 35.6
SMTRACK BHD 0.155 -16.22 82470.6 -13.89 67.4
SCOMI GROUP BHD 0.030 -14.29 5942.8 0.00 28.8
ADVANCE INFORMATION 0.255 -13.56 110.1 -3.77 61.7
EA HOLDINGS BHD 0.035 -12.50 286361.8 16.67 177.5
MCLEAN TECHNOLOGIES BHD 0.465 -12.26 15150.2 132.50 91.7
INDUSTRONICS BHD 0.470 -12.15 21267.1 161.11 62.7
AMMB HOLDINGS BHD 2.800 -11.39 101765.9 -23.29 8426.9
PASUKHAS GROUP BHD 0.040 -11.11 8014.6 -42.86 59.8
MTOUCHE TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.040 -11.11 3376.2 -46.67 53.0
COMINTEL CORP BHD 0.165 -10.81 669.6 26.92 23.1
PROGRESSIVE IMPACT CORP BHD 0.135 -10.00 14120.7 22.73 88.5
INNITY CORP BHD 0.550 -9.84 254.3 42.86 76.5
ASIA POLY HOLDINGS BHD 0.280 -9.68 20957.8 3.70 223.2
MANAGEPAY SYSTEMS BHD 0.195 -9.30 52355.7 30.00 140.6
M3 TECHNOLOGIES ASIA BHD 0.050 -9.09 11300.5 -23.08 38.6
Data as compiled on Mar 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top losers (ranked by RM)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
CARLSBERG BREWERY MALAYSIA 23.080 -0.600 276.4 -0.69 7056.7
AMMB HOLDINGS BHD 2.800 -0.360 101765.9 -23.29 8426.9
RAPID SYNERGY BHD 6.860 -0.290 439.6 3.94 733.3
GREATECH TECHNOLOGY BHD 5.770 -0.230 5548.3 26.81 7224.0
HAP SENG CONSOLIDATED BHD 8.070 -0.210 793.6 -6.16 20091.6
MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES 41.800 -0.200 827.0 61.02 8313.9
PHARMANIAGA BHD 3.900 -0.190 2018.6 -22.00 1020.7
ADVANCED PACKAGING 2.300 -0.180 10.0 2.22 44.0
UNISEM M BHD 8.800 -0.180 1078.8 42.39 7038.2
HONG LEONG CAPITAL BHD 5.980 -0.160 1255.0 -3.39 1476.4
GRAND-FLO BHD 0.425 -0.155 145342.5 30.77 224.8
KOMARKCORP BHD 0.555 -0.155 131375.2 4.06 267.0
PIMPINAN EHSAN BHD 2.050 -0.130 1001.6 192.86 141.7
INARI AMERTRON BHD 3.590 -0.110 19382.8 30.07 11903.2
SAM ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT 6.900 -0.100 52.0 -6.38 932.7
CHIN TECK PLANTATIONS BHD 6.700 -0.100 3.0 0.14 612.1
CENTRAL GLOBAL BHD 1.010 -0.100 2344.4 184.51 90.9
KPOWER BHD 1.940 -0.100 10033.0 7.33 877.5
YNH PROPERTY BHD 2.720 -0.100 48.5 -1.45 1437.5
PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD 19.620 -0.080 605.7 -8.32 19491.6
Data as compiled on Mar 3, 2021 Source: Bloomberg