Friday, March 25, 2011

日本.....懐かしい

平井賢...大好き! 日本。。。マジ懐かしい。戻りたい。。。

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

YTL Power International Berhad

Been collecting YTLPower-WB since past few days. My average now down from RM1.33 to RM1.24.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Malaysia's Nonalcoholic Beverage Market

Source: CIMB Research

It is exciting to know that Coca Cola company want to invest and expand their production in Malaysia. Well, it is a good sign that the local F&B industry has a bright future due to growing population, rising middle class income, a lot of untapped 'territory' looking at low beverage consumption per capita in comparison with regional market. So, theres a tremendous growth opportunity for local F&B players.

KO think that ..

"
Growth in Malaysia's nonalcoholic beverage market has been relatively slow at between 4 and 6 percent over the last five years, compared to double-digit growth in some other regional markets. He attributed this to a lack of aggressive competition and insufficient diversity in the product range."

I couldn't agree more. I'm not sure regional market but in Japan, there are a lot of product variates in the market. The leader of course KO, Suntory, Kirin and Sapporo..just to name a few.

I do hope Permanis will launch more new products in the market. Since they have good relationship with PepsiCo and Suntory, i think there a lot of new brand product opportunities that could be explore for Malaysian taste.
I really like the new Permanis management compare to many years ago as now they have more clearer guideline in which market they want to be in. The management already mentioned that CIH want to see contribution from non-soda market, like juices and healthy drink by more than 50%.

Looking at PepsiCo and Suntory product lines, i think it is possible to achieve that vision in next few years. Since production line and warehouse is expanding, i hope they will introduce more products from suntory like DAKARA (protien water, vitamin water etc) and C.C. Lemon. Being a health conscious, I really enjoys Dakara..and Boss of course when i was in Japan....Oh, and starbuck too. :p



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Coca-Cola Investing $302M In Malaysia
By Eileen Ng, Associated Press Writer
Manufacturing.Net - March 16, 2010

Printer Friendly E-mail to a Colleague

NILAI, Malaysia (AP) -- Coca-Cola said Tuesday it will build a new bottling plant in Malaysia and invest 1 billion ringgit ($302 million) over the next five years to boost growth in the Southeast Asian market.

The investment comes as the world's largest soft drink maker gets ready to end its franchise with a local bottler after sales remained stagnant over the years.

Coca-Cola Co. is expected to let its decades-long contract with a unit of Singapore's Fraser and Neave expire in September 2011. The contract, which covers mainly the bottling and distribution of Coca-Cola and Sprite brands, was worth 421 million ringgit ($127 million) a year.

Glenn Jordan, president of the company's Pacific Group, said in an interview with The Associated Press that a third of the 1 billion ringgit will be invested in an eco-friendly plant on a 30 acre (12 hectare) site in the southern state of Negeri Sembilan.

The rest will be plowed into sales and merchandising assets, product innovation and marketing to beef up the company's presence in Malaysia, where the annual per capita consumption of Coca-Cola is well below that of many countries in the region, he said.

The plant is expected to be operational by mid-2011, he said.

"This investment will enable us to support our core brands, Coca-Cola and Sprite, enhance our competitive edge and increase our geographic coverage," he said.

Jordan said Malaysian investors have 15 percent stake in the new bottling facility, with the Armed Forces Fund Board holding a 10 percent stake and private firm AAD Equity, led by former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, 5 percent.

The investment will directly create 600 to 800 new jobs at the bottling plant, and is expected to create between 6,000 and 8,000 jobs with local suppliers, he said.

Jordan said Coca-Cola's move to end its franchise with Fraser and Neave was an "amicable separation" as both companies have different growth strategies.

He said growth in Malaysia's nonalcoholic beverage market has been relatively slow at between 4 and 6 percent over the last five years, compared to double-digit growth in some other regional markets. He attributed this to a lack of aggressive competition and insufficient diversity in the product range.

"We are here to revolutionize the way we sell our products. We see a lot of opportunities here," Jordan said. He declined to give growth targets but said the company aims to achieve "healthy growth" and be more competitive in Malaysia.

At the groundbreaking ceremony of the plant earlier, Prime Minister Najib Razak welcomed Coca-Cola's long-term commitment to Malaysia.

"I take it as a strong signal that the world's most recognized brand is expanding in this important market and enhancing its contribution to the Malaysian market," he said.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Secret Millionaires Club Episode 5: PCs and Understanding

Been following WB animation, i love all the episode especially "Why Pay More: Happy Cola vs Value Cola" heh.


Keep thing simple. Dont get involve with business we dont understand. :)

Update




Thursday, March 17, 2011

Plenty of room for growth at SOP


Sarawak Oil Palm Bhd
(March 16, RM3.34)


Upgrade to buy at RM3.30 with target price RM4.07: We met Sarawak Oil Palm’s (SOP) management recently, who said SOP is committed to improve production by adopting operating efficiency standards, including making continuous estate inspections and ensuring that fertiliser is evenly applied.

Large immature areas will sustain SOP’s future growth. Currently, SOP has 26,548ha of immature areas which account for almost 45% of total planted areas. SOP is expected to register double digit fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production growth as 3,700ha which was planted in 2007 will start to bear fruit in FY11. We believe that SOP’s growth (in terms of FFB production) will accelerate in the future as the young trees and immature areas gradually reach maturity.

SOP will progressively develop its 12,000ha of unplanted areas. The management does not have any new planting policy, but it is expecting to plant 5,000ha to 6,000ha annually. Therefore, the landbank will be fully exhausted by 2013.

Management is continuously looking for new land, since more than 1.5 million hectares of land is available for palm oil cultivation in Sarawak. In addition, the government has approved more than 720,000ha of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land for plantation projects.

Total capital expenditure is estimated at RM560 million in FY11. SOP is expected to build two mills and a refinery which are targeted to be in operation by FY12 and FY13.

We are upgrading our recommendation for SOP to “buy” (from “neutral”) as the recent share price retracement has triggered our “buy” threshold. SOP’s steady earnings growth will be supported by: (i) large immature and young trees which account for more than 75% of total planted areas; (ii) improving FFB yield; and (iii) higher production as more trees gradually reach maturity.

We maintain our target price at RM4.07, derived at 11.3 times 2011 earnings per share, which is one standard deviation above its five-year historical price-earnings ratio (PER) of 8.9 times. SOP is currently trading at 8.9 times forward PER, which is a 23% discount to the weighted average market PER of 11.5 times. — MIDF Research, March 16


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Changing risks profile for YTL Power

Recent investment moves by YTL Power International (RM2.27) appear to underscore the company’s gradual diversification from the power generation and water utility business.

The company launched its high-speed WiMAX broadband services nationwide in November 2010 with some fanfare. This was followed by a joint-venture announcement for an oil shale-cum-power generation project in Jordan, in which it will take a 30% stake.

Whilst the latest ventures may yet offer exciting growth prospects over the longer-term, they also alter the company’s risk profile. Specifically, YTL Power was widely viewed as a defensive investment. This may no longer be the case.
Although the company’s oil trading arm — housed under Singapore-based Power Seraya — has contributed to some earnings gyrations over the past few quarters, earnings from its power generating and water utility businesses were, by and large, fairly predictable.

Steady cash flow from these investments, in turn, support a relatively generous dividend policy, giving investors higher-than-market average yields. But the high upfront investments required for the new ventures may dent the company’s dividend payout going forward.
YTL Power announced a lower second interim dividend of 1.875 sen per share in conjunction with its 2QFY11 earnings results, half of the 3.75 sen per share paid in the previous corresponding quarter.

YTL Power's mobile broadband service under Yes are expected to be loss-making for a number of years.

Despite the cutback, we still assume the company to maintain its total dividends of 13.125 sen per share for the full-year — on the basis of its strong balance sheet. YTL Power has gross cash totalling almost RM8.1 billion at end-December 2010, although net debt stands at about RM13.6 billion. Nevertheless, we do not discount the possibility of reduced dividends, as the new ventures will be a drain on resources, at least in the initial stages.

Perhaps more significantly, they also inject a higher degree to risks and volatility to the company’s earnings profile. With sketchy details on the new ventures unveiled to the investing community, thus far, earnings visibility has become more opaque.

Yes will be loss-making for several years

For starters, it is a given that the mobile broadband services — under the Yes brand name — will be loss-making for a number of years. Losses in 1QFY11 totalled RM7.9 million, rising to RM19.8 million in 2QFY11 following its nationwide launch in November.

We expect losses for the broadband arm to trim YTL Power’s overall earnings for the current financial year. Net profit is estimated at RM1.13 billion, down from RM1.21 billion in FY10. Based on our FY11 earnings forecast, YTL Power shares are currently trading at fully diluted P/E of roughly 15.1 times, which is more or less in line with the broader market’s average valuations.

Continued losses from its broadband unit will also cap earnings growth, at least for the next two to three years. Thus, upside gains for the stock may be limited for some time, although its dividends — net yield estimated at 5.8% — should still appeal to yield-seeking investors.

Intense competition in mobile broadband

YTL has reportedly spent some RM1.5 billion in rolling out its broadband services to-date, out of the estimated RM2.5 billion planned for the network coverage to reach 85% of the population.

Yes offers a novel “pay as you use” tariff structure, subject to a minimum RM30 per month for both voice and data, which favours customers with low usage. Based on the average mobile broadband user’s data consumption of between 1.5-3GB, its rates are fairly comparable to those currently offered by the cellular operators.

Nevertheless we are somewhat ambivalent on the company’s subscriber acquisition success in the intensely competitive mobile broadband market, currently dominated by Celcom, Maxis and DiGi — despite initial, positive anecdotal review on its services.

The cellular operators have the advantage in being able to bundle mobile broadband packages with the voice services of existing customers. Maxis, for instance, offers its subscribers promotional rates for add-on broadband services. Although Yes also offers voice services, the lack of WiMAX-enabled handsets is a major handicap. At the moment, the company has available only one Samsung handset model for subscribers.

As part of its strategy, YTL is planning to offer free broadband services to more than 400,000 students in 20 public universities and select private institutions in the country by end-2011. Earlier this year, the company successfully activated its network in the main campus of University Sains Malaysia in Penang. We expect the company will leverage on this customer base to upsell its services in the future.

Still substantial capex to be spent

Looking further ahead, we believe YTL’s competitiveness will improve when all the operators migrate to the next generation platform, called the LTE.
Supported by the expected robust ecosystem, Yes should better appeal to potential customers, particularly with its plans for quad play — to offer ubiquitous broadband, video and voice services. (Spectrum for rollout of 4G LTE services will be available for use in 2013).

The company inked a license and service agreement with US-based Sezmi Corporation to deploy hybrid TV — comprising of traditional, live over-the-air broadcast as well as over-the-top on-demand online content — in Malaysia and Asia Pacific late-last year. It plans to launch the service in the domestic market by end-2011, at a suggested investment cost of between RM1 billion to RM2 billion.

Success remains to be seen

For the moment though, it is far too soon to tell how YTL will fare in its broadband venture. Similarly, the oil shale project in Jordan is expected to be a long-term investment.

The project is led by Eestia Energia, the national energy company of Estonia, through its 65% stake in the joint-venture. EE was awarded an oil shale concession by the Jordanian government in May 2010. Construction of the oil plant, with output of some 38,000 barrels per day, will commence after the environmental studies are completed.

The venture company will also construct and operate a 900MW oil shale-fired power plant. The energy generated will be sold to the national utility company, Nepco under a long-term power purchase agreement. The oil and power plants — estimated to cost some US$5 billion (RM15.3 billion) — are likely to commence operation post-2015.

A quick recap

YTL Power owns and operates the country’s first independent power generating plants, which were commissioned back in 1994. In 2002, the company extended its reach beyond local shores by acquiring Wessex Water — a UK-based sewerage and water operator supplying 1.2 million customers.

Two years later, it bought a 35% stake in Jawa Power, an independent power producer with a 1,220 MW coal-fired plant in East Java, Indonesia. And in 2009, YTL Power acquired Power Seraya, a Singapore-based power generator and wholesale-retail utility company.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Sarawak Oil Palms


Might be too early but i bought SOP ave RM3.30.
Anyway, market end up not so bad, and my portfolio also fall less than expected. Dunno hows my portfolio going to perform but, hoping for the best, especially for tsunami victims.




YTL Comms to launch Android phones in June

YTL Comms to launch Android phones in June
By B.K. SIDHU

It sells nearly 7,000 WiMAX-enabled handsets in 3 days


KUALA LUMPUR: In just three days
YTL Communications Bhd (YTL Comms) has managed to sell nearly 7,000 units of its first two WiMAX-enabled handsets and in June it will launch the next-generation smartphones running on the Android platform, said executive chairman Tan Sri Francis Yeoh.
WiMAX-enabled handphones are limited in supply but since Friday two new models, Yes Buzz and Yes Zoom, were made available, priced at RM488 and RM399 respectively. These devices can be integrated seamlessly with other Yes 4G devices with a single Yes ID.
Since the launch of its Yes service in November, YTL Comms has drawn more than 100,000 active users to its network. According to Yeoh, the next target segment is the over 400,000 students in the country.
“We are telling them (the students) to taste the power of 4G. A lot of people (only) know the power of (our network when they get onto our network). Every month we are getting more and more users on our network.


Tan Sri Francis Yeoh holding the latest Yes Buzz handphone. He says the next target segment for YTL Comms is the over 400,000 students in the country.


“Once on our network, you can download movies at a very fast speed, listen to Stanford University education content on Stanford on iTunes at very affordable rates, and even use the mobile video chat, FaceTime on iPhone 4.
“FaceTime allows an incredible amount of versatility with this video-conferencing tool and when you are on Yes, there is no issue of throttling or buffering,''' he told StarBiz in an interview.
Yeoh said that even migrant workers were using Yes and not just for voice calls; they use chat and video transfer and find “our nine sen per minute pricing very affordable.”
“They are emailing pictures back to their country and this is a shift we have not seen before. This goes to show that multimedia is here,'' he said.
The nine sen pay-as-you-go service is for 3MB (megabytes) of data, a one-minute voice call or one SMS.
On Friday, the company launched two Yes Valuepacks, priced at RM68 and RM150 a month, which offer 3.5GB and 10GB of data usage respectively. On top of mobile data, users get to make 250 minutes of voice calls and send 250 text messages a month.
The Yes Buzz is a mobile phone that doubles as a mobile Internet device which can connect to the Yes network, allowing users to browse the Internet on top of making voice calls and sending text messages.
YTL Comms' WiMAX network covers 60% of the populated areas and by year-end, it will be 80%. The company is investing RM2.5bil in the venture. Yeoh declined to say when the company will break even but a source said, “we reckon it would take about two years.''
Asked how many users are able to use the network without it getting congested, Yeoh said: “Our network can cater to 15 million users without us putting in more investments.''
So the challenge for the company going forward is to get as many users as it can to use its network since it has a lot of capacity to offer.
“People are buzzing on the Buzz; something is surely happening with nine sen a minute,'' he said.
Asked about market share, Yeoh said: “We believe our share of mobile Internet is 100%. No (player) has nationwide (coverage) for mobile Internet as we have and you can go to any part of the North-South Expressway and still get our service.''
Analysts tracking the sector are unable to give exact wireless broadband numbers, nor is the data updated on the regulator's website.
But going by mobile users,
Maxis Bhd had 12.9 million users at the end of last year, Celcom Axiata Bhd, 11.2 million and DiGi.Com Bhd, 8.7 million.
By market share, analysts' data point to Maxis having about 40%, Celcom, 33%, DiGi.Com, 26%, and U Mobile, 0.7%. The balance is shared by others including mobile virtual network operators.
Thus far Yes 4G has carried over one million minutes of voice calls, 670,000 SMSes and over 104 terabytes of data traffic. Of the 100,000 active subscribers, Yeoh said there was an equal number with huddle and dongles.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Portfolio Update


Chickened out today by selling Maybank @ RM8.72. My average price was RM8.65. Anyway, i still have some of Maybank @RM8.45. My view on Maybank still unchanged by since my entry price was a bit high, i think its better to dispose and raise cash. I have my eye on SOP now. Overall, most of Asian market performed quite well despite the 大地震 and 津波.

SOP, will do more research but valuation wise is very attractive. I think inflation and commodity play is nit over yet. Plus, percentage of their immature plant is higher compare with other smaller player like IJM Plantation.


Sunday, March 13, 2011

Japan quake: Nerves over stock market re-opening


The unwelcome incident has happened last Friday in Sendai, Japan. Sendai was my 'hometown' for almost 4 years, i was really shocked and sad when i heard about this incident. I haven't received any information about my host family there. When since the first there i step in Sendai soil, the local authority also explained about the possibility of Mega earthquake 大地震, but luckily didn't happen. Hope they are doing fine. Really worry now. May god bless them all and wishing for the best.

Anyway, back to financial market, Nikkei Future slides 5%, but surprisingly DJ was up by 0.5%. Asian market is expected to open lower, and its makes me kinda nervous, hoping it the panic selling wont last long. Here's my performance as of 11 Mar, and expects my performance to performe lower next week. :P


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Japan quake: Nerves over stock market re-opening


Investors will be watching the Nikkei stock market in Japan when it re-opens on Monday, after it closed down 1.7% after Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

The Bank of Japan will also meet to discuss how to ensure market stability.

Traders will be worried the Nikkei may fall on fears that growth in the world's third-largest economy may slow.

The quake hit just before the exchange closed, so the impact of the disaster was not fully factored in, although Nikkei stock futures did then fall 5%.

There will also be a focus on how other Asian markets react after the devastating events in the north-east of Japan.

Houses are swept by water following a tsunami and earthquake in Natori City The devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami may lead to an emergency budget

Budget calls

"Stocks will probably fall on Monday, especially of those companies that have factories in the affected areas, but on the whole the sell-off will likely be short-lived," said Mitsuhsige Akino, a fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

Analysts cite the example of the stability of the stock markets in Australia and New Zealand after the recent natural disasters there.


"In the medium term, the impact on markets is not likely to be that great," said Arjuna Mahendaran of HSBC Private Bank.

The Bank of Japan will hold a one-day policy meeting on Monday, with one of its priorities being to ensure commercial banks in earthquake-struck regions do not run out of cash in case depositors rush to withdraw money.

The ruling and opposition parties are also reported to have agreed for further emergency financial measures.

"We still don't know the full scale of the damage, but considering what happened after the earthquake in Kobe [in 1995], this will certainly lead the government to compile an emergency budget," said Yasuo Yamamoto, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute in Tokyo.

There are concerns over the cost of rebuilding, and the impact it will have on Japan's public finances.

Tax issue?

Analysts say the reconstruction expense will have a heavy impact on the government's debt and budget deficit.

Japan already has the highest level of national debt in the industrialised world.

"As the deficit grows, the government may be forced into raising taxes to make up for that," said Mr Mahenderan.

"A raise in taxes could push the economy into recession," he added.

However, despite these concerns, many analysts predict that the rebuilding effort may well help boost economic growth.

"The earthquake will most likely lead to stronger growth in 2011, rather than weaker," said Takuji Okubo of Societe Generale.



Saturday, March 5, 2011

Sozo Global

Sozo, listed on Bursa Malaysia last year, operates through its subsidiary, Rizhao Hengbao Foodstuffs Co., Ltd., a one-stop gourmet convenient food specialist specializing in ready-to-serve (RTS) duck meat products. The Company products are RTS food, which comprises of pre-cooked gourmet meat or meat with vegetable products that are either frozen or vacuum packed; frozen vegetables, which comprises of pre-cooked vegetables and fresh vegetables that are frozen; canned food, which comprises of pre-cooked and fresh seafood, vegetables and fruits that are canned, and others, which comprises snacks and asparagus tea products. Its products are marketed under the brand names of Geleifu (Green Food), Hengbao Food and The Four Seasons Farm.

Overall, their net profit and revenue shows a steady growth yoy, but its too early too judge whether they are going to sail as good as previous as this company just listed, so its very hard to make a clear judgment. Anyway, looking at balance sheet, i can say its very healthy and currently sitting on net cash per share of RM0.49 with PE less than 5. RTF and frozen vegetables contributes a big chunk of their earning with good gross margin, >20%


Current price = RM0.885
PE = 4.45!!
Net Asset per share = RM0.64
Total Asset per share = RM0.72
Total Cash per share = RM0.56
Total Liabilities per share = RM0.08
Total Payable per share = RM0.04
Total Net Cash per share = RM0.49!!

Impressive eh. They did mention that they going invest on new manufacturing plant in Malaysia to cater for Global Halal market, very ambitious but good vision as i believe Halal market is very huge market. Back in mainland, the target to increase market share in business in their homeland is a positive news. If they can deliver a strong execution towards this vision, then SOZO is a good bet, but still too early to put money in them. The problem with SOZO, just like other small China listed company, SOZO facing lack of confident. They should engage more actives with analyst & shareholders, and improve the official website, if they are really serious on their words.
Will monior their development from now on.

Friday, March 4, 2011

CI Holdings & Leader



Disposed my last Leader today at average ~0.84 for a peanut profit. Very disappointed with Q4 result, & Squeezed C.I. Holdings into my portfolio at RM3.02...finally. I think this level is pretty safe.