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Tag: Malaysia

  • Business optimism in Malaysia soars in Q2

    Business optimism in Malaysia soars in Q2

    Business optimism in Malaysia rose 24 percentage points (pp) to 52% net as at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of 2018 versus 28% in Q1 after the change in the new federal government, according to Grant Thornton International Business Report.

    This near doubling in business optimism was the highest among the Asean countries.

    Grant Thornton Malaysia’s country managing partner Datuk NK Jasani said the results indicated that Malaysian businesses are upbeat and confident with the outlook of country’s economic landscape.

    “The outcome of the 14th General Election has contributed to this significant increase of confidence among Malaysian businesses and the results can been seen in various sectors.”

    He opined that the government should now emphasize on business transparency and have business friendly budget to continue this positive momentum.

    Business owners are confident about their business performances over the next year, with many having positive outlooks for revenue, employment and also investments. A net 56% of businesses are expecting an increase in revenue over the next 12 months, an increase of 22pp from Q1.

    The report finds that a net 26% of businesses owners are expecting to hire more employees, an increase of 12pp from Q1.

    Apart from that, business owners are expecting to increase their level of investments. 66% plan to increase their investment in technology; 44% in plant & machinery; 24% in research and development; and 22% in new buildings.

    Lesser business owners have cited the economic uncertainty as a constraint to their business growth, a decrease from 44% in Q1 to 32% in Q2.

    However, there is growing concern on the lack of skilled workers, energy costs and exchange rate fluctuations.

    Access to skilled workers is seen as the biggest constraint to growth by Malaysian businesses at 46%, an increase of 14pp from Q1.

    Concerns have also increased for exchange rate fluctuations, driven by the prospect of further US Federal Reserve rate increases this year.

    Jasani said with many businesses across Asean still borrowing in US dollars, fears over rate rises could easily blow business confidence off course.

    “For the emerging economies, including Asean, it is not an easy situation for businesses. However, action can be taken to reduce the risks associated with a reliance on US dollars. One option is to hedge and lock in a more predictable exchange rate for a period of time.”

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  • Prudential BSN Takaful Malaysia aims for 1 million customer base

    Prudential BSN Takaful Malaysia aims for 1 million customer base

    Prudential BSN Takaful (PruBSN) is hoping to increase its customer base to one million with two of its new takaful packaged solutions namely the PruBSN Setia and PruBSN Impian, which provide customisable and comprehensive protection.

    The takaful operator’s current customer base stands at around 850,000. The targeted increase is expected to be further supported with other new product launches this year.

    To address escalating healthcare cost, the PruBSN Setia is a health protection coverage for working adults which covers medical, critical illness, accidental and income replacement riders.

    “When it comes to health protection, many working adults in Malaysia rely solely on their employer to provide medical benefits. Given today’s economic environment and living conditions, they will need to enhance their existing coverage to fully support their protection needs,” said PruBSN chief marketing offer Wan Saifulrizal Wan Ismail.

    “With PruBSN Setia, employees can take advantage of the multiple rider options to add up on to their life insurance or takaful plans. We want to help strengthen the future financial safety net for working adults and their families,” he added.

    Meanwhile, the PruBSN Impian provides expectant mothers with comprehensive prenatal, medical, critical illness and saving solutions for their children from as early as 14 weeks of pregnancy to 100 years old. This further extends to long term savings plan for the child’s education.

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  • Pablo Cheesetart exits Malaysia market

    Pablo Cheesetart exits Malaysia market

    Fans of Japanese dessert franchise Pablo Cheesetart are reporting signs that the brand is withdrawing from Malaysia.

    The internationally popular concept started business in Malaysia in 2016 as one of a number of competing operators riding on a cheesetart trend, at a time when long queues were commonly seen at vendor outlets.

    Online commentators have noted that the brand’s locations in IOI City Mall Putrajaya and One Utama Shopping Mall have closed down. Pablo’s Facebook page has been deleted, although an instagram account run by the brand remains live without recent updates.

    No official statement from Pablo Cheesetart has been released.

  • Tom Ford Beauty Suria KLCC is now open

    Tom Ford Beauty Suria KLCC is now open

    Tom Ford Beauty has just opened its second free-standing store in Suria KLCC.

    The launch follows the opening of the brand’s flagship store in Covent Garden, London last year.

    The KLCC store features a layered grey glass sculpted design that casts rings of light on white marble slabs to showcase the beauty and skincare products on display. A key feature is a display of 100 Boys & Girls lipsticks.

    Buyers are invited to experience fragrance customisation, brow sessions, VIP masterclasses and bridal services.

    Private makeup services are available with the store’s beauty specialists by appointment.

    View interior gallery below (6 images) :

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  • European Union ‘open to palm oil’

    European Union ‘open to palm oil’

    The European market is open to palm oil and there is no ban on the commodity, said Ambassador and Head of European Union Delegation to Malaysia, Maria Castillo Fernandez.

    Clarifying the stance of Europe on palm oil, she said there is a discussion in the region to reduce the use of biofuels in order to reach the European Union’s goal of achieving 32% renewable energy target by 2030.

    She clarified that palm oil has not been singled out as this extends to all types of biofuels.

    “There is no singling out on palm oil. It’s all crops (and) it’s on biodiesel that doesn’t mean you are banning anything but you will have to use less biodiesel coming from all the crops for your renewable energy target,” she explained.

    On how this will come to play, she said that will depend on the adoption of the delegated act next year.

    Europe is the second largest market for Malaysian produced palm oil.

    Fernandez reiterated that Malaysia’s trade relations is not just limited to palm oil, as the EU is Malaysia’s third largest trading partner.

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  • Berjaya Corp acquires 98% stake in Just KPop

    Berjaya Corp acquires 98% stake in Just KPop

    Berjaya Corp Bhd’s (BCorp) wholly-owned subsidiary Berjaya HR Café Ltd has acquired 98% equity interest in South Korea’s Just KPop Ltd (JKP), for KRW98 million(RM354,172).

    The group told the stock exchange that following the subscription of 19,600 common stocks at par value of KRW5,000 (RM17.87) each, JKP has now become a 98%-owned subsidiary of BCorp.

    JKP, which has not commenced operations, is intended to carry out food and beverages businesses and restaurants as its principal activities.

    It was incorporated in South Korea under the Korean Commercial Act with an issued share capital of KRW100 million (RM357,473.68) comprising 20,000 common stocks at KRW5,000 each.

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  • Malaysia unemployment rate unchanged at 3.3% in May

    Malaysia unemployment rate unchanged at 3.3% in May

    Malaysia’s unemployment rate in May 2018 remained at 3.3% for four consecutive months, according to the Statistics Department.

    Year-on-year, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point as compared to 3.4% in the same month of 2017, the department said in a statement today.

    “Number of unemployed persons recorded a total of 504.8 thousand persons, decreased 0.5% against May 2017,” it added.

    On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, the unemployment rate in May 2018 remained at 3.3% as compared to the previous month.

    Meanwhile, the department said that labour force participation rate in May 2018 increased by 0.2 percentage points to 68.4% as compared to the previous month.

    Year-on-year showed that the labour force participation rate increased by 0.6 percentage points, it added.

    During the same period, employed persons increased 2.8% after registering 2.6% growth in the previous month.

    As at May 2018, the country’s labour force stood at 15.4 million.

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  • Malaysia to have ore renewable energy projects in near term

    Malaysia to have ore renewable energy projects in near term

    More renewable energy (RE) projects are expected to come up for bids in the near term as the new Energy, Green Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Ministry is committed to push up the nation’s RE capacity.

    MIDF Research, which recently attended the Minister Yeo Bee Yin’s maiden townhall, said the latter pointed that the country already attains abundant reserve capacity of 30%, which is much higher than most countries.

    “While there is no indication of an ideal or target reserve capacity, the new Minister indicated that the abundant reserve capacity gives the industry decent time to build up its RE capacity within the next three to seven years, without the need for much more major new plant-ups in the near-term.

    “This suggests in the near future, sector opportunities could tilt heavily towards RE project awards and a dearth of future fossil fuel plants,” the research firm said in its report last Friday.

    MIDF added that the ministry aims to reduce the reliance on imported fuel by aggressively increasing the RE contribution to the mix from just 2% currently to 20% “in the future”.

    It said the push for RE is not entirely new and efforts had been taken previously to increase RE contribution to the system such as the Large Scale Solar (LSS) projects.

    “Solar accounts for the bulk of Malaysia’s RE. However, there is the issue of getting RE sources to reach grid parity for it to be cost competitive and gain a larger share of generation mix without burdening end-consumers,” it said.

    MIDF also noted that given the indication of excessive reserve capacity, the pace of any major plant-ups in the near-term is likely to be impacted.

    It added that although the new Minister’s intention is to champion RE, it opined that the shift is for RE to eventually dilute contribution from fossil fuel rather than near-term, outright replacement.

    “There is the issue of feasibility to induce RE in a big way into the system too which will have to be sorted out,” it added.

    Positively, MIDF said that most of the incumbent players such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Malakoff Corp Bhd are already paving way into the RE space (in particular, solar), while Cypark has been moving aggressively into RE in recent years.

    Meanwhile, the research house also highlighted that the four Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects cancellations are likely to hit selective players, the majority of which are likely to be non-listed.

    “Among the major projects in the pipeline, we think Edra’s Track 4B with a massive 2242MW capacity in Malacca could come under scrutiny given that it was a directly awarded project.”

    “While Track 4A (TNB-SIPP) was a controversial project awarded on a directly negotiated basis (previously to the TNB-YTL-SIPP consortium) back in 2014, the project is already well underway (28% completion),” it said, noting that Tadmax is another directly negotiated power plant project at Pulau Indah.

    MIDF said, others might involve LSS project awards such as Quantum Solar which was the first to be awarded LSS projects under the LSS initiative on a direct award basis.

    “Ranhill was recently awarded a 300MW CCGT project in Sandakan Sabah. There has yet to be any development announced on the project so far,” it added.

    Nonetheless, MIDF said it remained positive on the power sector while its top pick include TNB and YTL Power.

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  • Les Georgettes by Altese debuts in Malaysia

    Les Georgettes by Altese debuts in Malaysia

    French jewellery brand Les Georgettes by Altesse has opened in Malaysia.

    Renaissance Luxury Group Apac sales director Elsa Pages said Les Georgettes, with an international distribution network of eight subsidiaries worldwide and premier distributors in more than 60 countries along with 3000 points of sale, considers Malaysia one of the main, mature markets to set the brand presence towards developing the brand throughout South-East Asia.

    Les Georgettes by Altese debuted in 2015 in France, and had 600 kiosks across France within its first six months of trading. It pairs high-quality heritage-brand Altesse jewellery with interchangeable Breton leather bands by Texier. Bracelets are the brand’s main products.

    The brand’s first kiosk opened at Bangsar Village 2 at the mall’s ground floor under Habib Jewels, whose MD Datuk Seri Meer Sadik Habib said that the kiosk’s gallery-like atmosphere allowed customers to walk around casually.

    “We travel a lot to learn the latest trends globally and selectively bring in the best brands to offer world class jewellery items at an affordable price to the market, which is our core value,” he added.

    Habib plans to open at least three to five Les Georgettes by Altesse stores within this year, starting in Klang Valley and potentially extending to Johor Baru, Penang and East Malaysia. The total investment for one kiosk is between RM500,000 to RM1 million (US$124,000 to $248,000).

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  • Telekom Malaysia launches cheaper broadband plans, says more to come

    Telekom Malaysia launches cheaper broadband plans, says more to come

    Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) unveiled new broadband plans Thursday and pledged that it will continue to come up with more packages in line with the government’s aspiration for cheaper services by year-end.

    “We will continue, of course. This is the continuation of giving better and better (plans) to our customers, be they households or businesses. We started back in 2010 (launched unifi), then we had the upgrades in 2016 and 2017. So it is a continuation,” said acting group CEO Datuk Bazlan Osman.

    Speaking at a briefing on the new plans, Bazlan said it will consider feedback from customers, stakeholders and the government, and will continue to come up with more packages, based on demand.

    TM unveiled unifi Basic, a broadband-only plan at 30Mbps with a 60GB monthly usage quota for RM79 per month. This plan is only for households with monthly income of RM4,500 and below.

    The RM79 per month is 56% lower than the current 30Mbps unifi Home plan, which is priced at RM179 per month. Unifi Basic is available starting Aug 15 and pre-orders open on July 15.

    TM will provide upgrades of up to 800Mbps for existing unifi Home customers under its unifi turbo plan. Starting Aug 15, they will be upgraded in phases up to 10 times the current broadband speed, for the same price.

    For example, an existing 30Mbps unifi Home customer will be upgraded up to 300Mbps while a 100Mbps unifi Home customer will be upgraded up to 800Mbps. New customers who subscribe to any existing unifi plan before Dec 31 will also enjoy the speed upgrade in phases, beginning 2019.

    In addition, TM will upgrade over 340,000 Streamyx customers in unifi coverage areas to unifi while those who are not in unifi coverage areas will have double the speed they get now.

    Executive vice-president Imri Mokhtar said TM will continuously invest in fixed and wireless technologies to bring high speed broadband to its customers with more than 350,000 Streamyx customers expected to enjoy faster broadband soon.

    “Though the broadband plans unveiled today are primarily for home customers, we certainly have not forgotten our SME customers,” he said, adding that new plans for its business/SME customers will be announced in the next few months.

    Meanwhile, the unlimited unifi Mobile postpaid plan was announced today at a promotional price of RM99 per month, available from July 15 exclusively for its existing broadband customers.

    “These new plans mark our commitment to bring better affordability/price, speed and coverage for all Malaysians to enjoy a seamless digital experience with unifi. We expect the new broadband plans to place Malaysia alongside the top broadband nations in the region,” said Bazlan.

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  • There is no sugar monopoly in Malaysia, say refiners

    There is no sugar monopoly in Malaysia, say refiners

    MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd and Central Sugars Refinery Sdn Bhd (CSR) have clarified that there is no sugar monopoly in Malaysia and that the price of the commodity is controlled by the government and is among the lowest in the world.

    The two refiners said the local players operate within a challenging business environment to ensure a steady supply of sugar to Malaysian consumers while maintaining a decent sugar stockpile for the nation.

    “The facts to date, while the costs of doing business have increased, such as minimum wage, gas and electricity tariffs, the ceiling price of refined sugar has remained at RM2.95/kg,” they said in a joint statement.

    As sugar is gazetted under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011, sugar in Malaysia is among the cheapest in the world. Currently, the ceiling price for coarse grain sugar is set at RM2.95/kg and fine granulated sugar at RM3.05/kg.

    Despite that, the industry is adversely affected with illegal activities such as sugar smuggling and infiltration of illicit sugar, which are threats to matters concerning halal, quality control and other mandatory certification requirements.

    “Nevertheless, the local refiners are committed to provide a stable environment for the consumer whilst maintaining highest standards of sugar quality even at the current controlled price.”

    In Malaysia, there are two sugar refiners – MSM under FGV Holdings Bhd and CSR under Tradewinds (M) Bhd – operating five sugar refineries, including a new one in Tanjung Langsat, Pasir Gudang, Johor, which is scheduled for commissioning this month.

    The current total capacity of the existing four refineries is 2.0 million tonnes a year. Domestic demand in Malaysia is 1.5 million tonnes a year, leaving Malaysia with an excess capacity of 500,000 tonnes annually. With the new refinery in Johor, total capacity will be 3.0 million tonnes a year.

    Apart from local brands, they said, there are importers that bring in and market a variety of sugar brands in Malaysia including SIS, Taikoo, Waitrose, Billington, Tate & Lyle, which provides for a competitive landscape.

    Food and beverage manufacturers buy sugar through the NY#11, the global commodity trading platform for raw sugar. Local refiners will then execute the buying on behalf of these companies, import the sugar that has been procured and refine it for them for a fee.

    As part of the local refiners’ duties, a certain amount of sugar is stockpiled to ensure adequate supply in the country during times of high global prices, the refiners said.

    “Due to the relatively lower world raw sugar prices today, many opportunistic parties that operate without the overheads and responsibilities that local refiners have, are trying to import sugar and profit from the low prices. These companies may not have the necessary certifications such as the halal certification and will cease operations once world raw sugar prices go higher than the ceiling price. It will then be left to local sugar refiners to address the instability by the void left behind by these opportunistic players.”

  • Jollibee Malaysia opens new store

    Jollibee Malaysia opens new store

    Filipino fast-food chain Jollibee is returning to Malaysia, opening a store in Sabah.

    According to CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong, the Jollibee Malaysia move is part of the company’s aspirations to open 500 stores under a PHP12 billion (US$224 million) spending plan, including new destination markets such as the UK, Malaysia and Indonesia.

    Sabah is geographically closest to the Philippines and has a large Filipino community.

    Jollibee founder and chairman Tony Tan Caktiong said: “We expect revenues and profit to continue to at least sustain [Jollibee’s] historical growth rates this year and in the years ahead.”

    The original Jollibee Malaysia business closed down following the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

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  • Foreign inflows into Malaysia in second half if dollar weakens

    Foreign inflows into Malaysia in second half if dollar weakens

    Standard Chartered (StanChart), whose investment strategy is to stay bullish and diversified, said foreign inflows into Malaysia should be coming through in the second half of the year assuming the US dollar weakens.

    Its head investment strategist Manpreet Gill said outflows in the first half of the year had more to do with the US dollar strengthening, adding that the outflows are not unique to Malaysia.

    “We’ve seen it happening across Asia and emerging markets outside Malaysia and not because of the election in Malaysia. It’s a global picture where equity and bond flows have gone out of emerging markets to developed markets. That’s why we’re emphasising the US dollar so much because we think that’s what turning investment flows.

    “If we’re right about the US dollar weakening, foreign investments should come back to Malaysia in the second half of the year,” he said.

    Manpreet, who is based in Singapore, said a big part of this global context is particularly important for the Malaysian market, more so than in the past.

    StanChart has a bullish view on equities, given that global equities typically outperform in the late stages of an economic cycle, and this also translates to the Malaysian equity market. This period of late stage of the economic cycle is usually characterised by a gradual heating up of inflationary pressures, increase in policy rates and strong equity performance.

    “In the stage of economic cycle we’re in, it can be very expensive not to be invested in global equities. It will also be unusual for Malaysian equities not to do well when most regional equity and global markets are doing well,” said Manpreet.

    Within equities, the US remains its most preferred region, supported by strong earnings growth, though it expects most markets to perform well.

    Manpreet said late-cycle investing is one of the hardest points of the cycle to invest, hence a diverse approach makes the most sense, which is to have a counterbalance in one’s investment allocation. He said bonds remain a core holding, preferring emerging market US dollar bonds because of attractive yields.

    As it expects the dollar to weaken on US trade deficits and narrowing real interest rate differentials, Manpreet said, the ringgit can be a support, estimating it to come in at RM3.90 against the dollar over a 12-month period.

    On the implications of a US-China trade war, StanChart’s Global Market Brief said both bonds (at least initially) and equities would likely be hit. Given the heavy weight of equities and bonds in most portfolios, investors can allocate to areas that will do well in this scenario (such as gold), and ensuring sufficient “dry powder” to take advantage of market weakness. However, it believes a full-blown trade war is unlikely.

  • AirAsia celebrates Avalon Airport launch with $99 flights to Asia

    AirAsia celebrates Avalon Airport launch with $99 flights to Asia

    Earlier in the year, Avalon Airport and AirAsia announced they would be teaming up to offer the first ever international flights out of Melbourne’s second airport, Avalon.

    Now, tickets for first flights are finally out and to celebrate they are on sale for as little as $99 each way.

    These are to AirAsia’s home city Kuala Lumpur and, to be perfectly frank, are actually on sale for $12 each waywith airport taxes coming in at $87. Put the two together and you get your flight fare.

    Whichever way you look at it, it is super cheap and is definitely not one to be missed.

    The Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur route will operate twice daily on AirAsia’s long haul carrier AirAsia X on an A330-300 aircraft. While it’s the focus flight of this launch, it isn’t the only one from Avalon Airport on sale. Direct flights from Melbourne (Avalon) to Bangkok are also available from $154 each way while over 70 indirect flights via Kuala Lumpur are also available to snap up for cheap. This includes Melbourne to Singapore from $140, Melbourne to Phuket from $147, Melbourne to Male (Maldives) from $201 and Melbourne to Tokyo from $249, to name a few.

    Again all these fares are one-way with returns costing double.

    Travel is open across a more-than-generous period, ranging from 4 December 2018 to 13 August 2019. This includes peak season dates such as Christmas, though these are limited so you may need to be flexible with your dates around high-season to keep to your intended budget.

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  • Malaysia 2011 furniture exports may rise to USD2.8b

    Malaysia 2011 furniture exports may rise to USD2.8b

    Malaysia’s 2011 furniture exports are likely to improve by 9 percent to MYR8.7 billion (USD2.84 billion), provided the US dollar stabilises at the current level and manufacturers are able to secure enough foreign workers at their factories.

    Malaysian Furniture Industry Council president Richard Lee said there was growing demand for Malaysian-made furniture from the US and Australia, especially now as American consumer spending is showing signs of recovery and Australians need to refurbish their homes after the big flood.

    Traditional markets like the US and Europe tend to favour Malaysia over low-cost producers like China and Vietnam due to better quality control and reliable after-sales services.

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