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Posted: 13 Aug 2011 03:52 AM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]PETALING JAYA: Catcha Media Bhd has clarified that it had not reduced the company's overall revenue targets with regards to an announcement it made to Bursa Malaysia on Thursday.

AQRS banks on synergy

Posted: 13 Aug 2011 03:02 AM PDT

It aims to be an integrated engineering, construction and property development company.

MAIN Market-bound Gabungan AQRS, an enlarged group of four companies, will pool its expertise in the areas of construction and property development to become an integrated engineering and construction service provider as well as niche lifestyle property developer.

"Synergy" is a word the founders of Gabungan AQRS quite like to use. "The synergy of our two businesses (construction and property development) allows us to have a dual-income stream. For example, if our construction businesses are going through a dry period, the property division can step in to provide jobs for it," Gabungan AQRS CEO Alvin Ng says.

Other synergistic benefits of the merger, he adds, include operational and cost efficiency, leveraging on each companies' network and human resources, and the ability to tender for bigger projects. "The merger is a launch pad for us to get to a higher playing field," he says.

Gabungan AQRS consists of wholly-owned subsidiaries Gabungan Strategik Sdn Bhd, Megah Ikhlas Sdn Bhd and Motibina Sdn Bhd, which make up the construction portion of the business, and AQRS The Building Company Sdn Bhd which handles the property development side. The company will launch its prospectus on Aug 23 and list on Bursa Malaysia in September.

It will make a public issue of 62 million new shares with par value of 25 sen each and an offer for sale of 30 million new shares with par value of 25 sen each. As part of the listing exercise, Gabungan AQRS will acquire the entire issued and paid up capital of the four subsidiaries for RM73.38mil, which will be satisfied through a share swap.

The group's consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2010 was RM300mil. Group profits amounted to RM49mil, a margin of 16.3%.

When quizzed about the timing of the listing, the founders were not unduly worried about the capital market's presently volatile conditions.

"In our view, there was no new event that triggered these sudden losses. The financial problems in the United States and eurozone have been known for a while now.

"The listing is only a starting point, and we're in this for the long haul. We just have to conduct our business professionally, and the rest will follow," Gabungan AQRS founder Paul Ow explains.

Gabungan AQRS is a merger of the companies (except for Megah Ikhlas) started by three friends - Alvin together with Ow and Ng Kit Heng. Their's is a friendship that goes back 27 years to when their careers in construction first began in then fledgling Sunway Construction.

The trio have seen each other though thick and thin during their Sunway years. There was a time during the Asian financial crisis when they worked from a cramped old bungalow belonging to Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah's (Sunway Group founder and chairman) brother.

The three later struck out on their own by starting different companies before deciding to merge in 2010.

"We're essentially contractors," Alvin says, emphasising that construction forms the bulk of their business while property development is the complementary activity.

In the past, the construction companies under Gabungan AQRS have worked on a hodgepodge of projects for both the public and private sectors such as schools, houses, the NKVE interchange and toll plaza and even a stretch of the Kemuning-Shah Alam Highway.

The company has previously handled RM700mil worth of construction work and currently has about RM900mil construction contracts in hand.

The RM900mil includes three parcels of project enhancement of the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong highway and its flagship commercial development The Altium.

On the property side, Gabungan AQRS has a residential development in Kota Damansara called The Residency and its to-be-completed Countours in Melawati and Gombak Grove, the latter of which is sold out. The 60%-70% sold Countours is the company's first foray into high-end housing, each unit coming with its own lift and pool.

Next month, the company will launch its RM280mil gross development value The Altium. Located next to PJ Trade Centre in Kota Damansara, it sits on 2.66 acres and comprises 22-storeys of Grade A offices, 11-storeys of Soho (small office/home office) suites, and a retail and F&B podium.

To avoid overexposure in the market, Gabungan AQRS splits itself 50:50 between commercial and residential projects. In the near term, Ow says they will focus on affordable residences targeting the mass market.

"I'd say there is a bubble in the local property market, but the authorities have moved to curb speculative elements, for example with the 70:30 loan-to-deposit rule for people buying their third property," Ow notes. "Bear in mind that our properties have the lowest price per square feet in the region, lower than Singapore and also some parts of Jakarta."

"Liquidity is high and people still see property as a good hedge against inflation," Ow adds.

He foresees a construction boom in the next five years and says Malaysia has a good 30 to 40 years more of construction potential, unlike in some mature markets.

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Rashdan: MAS off to a good start

Posted: 13 Aug 2011 02:23 AM PDT

The same team that crafted and undertook the widespread asset unbundling (WAU) exercise a decade ago to bail out the then debt-ridden Malaysia Airlines (MAS) on the brink of bankruptcy is back on board. And on Tuesday, MAS tied up with its once arch rival AirAsia founders Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun. This marks yet another fresh start for MAS which has seen more than its fair share of restructuring, turnaround and transformation plans in the past decade.

The idea for the collaboration is to get MAS to do what it's best at being a focused full premium service carrier. The newly-set up executive committee led by new MAS chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof met for the first time on Thursday. It plans to scrutinise every single document, contract, strategy, profit and cost centre to weed out the weak areas and bolster the airline's financial status.

StarBizWeek's B.K. SIDHU met up with MAS' newly-appointed executive director Mohammed Rashdan Yusof (pic), who says the team is off to a good start. Below are excerpts of the interview:

SBW: What is the biggest problem facing MAS?

Rashdan: If you look at its operating statistics, the airline's cost is one of the best versus other full service carriers. Its cost per ASK is competitive but the RASK (revenue per available seat km) is suffering. It (lacks) the ability to charge on a global basis, and this in turn is connected to our products. What we need is quality. We need a product which is highly competitive, the likes of the Middle Eastern airlines, and not Singapore Airlines alone. They are formidable competitors and we need to be at least at par or better.

Our strength clearly lies in our service the golden girls, the golden touch, the Malaysian touch, Malaysian hospitality. Hopefully people will pay what it's worth and we can raise yields and RASK. We want to bring back the golden days that is how we made money and that is how we want to continue to make money. It is a simple strategy. We need to get back to that.

Do you agree that share swap does not address the fundamental need to manage revenue?

RASK is about revenue quality. In the past, the airline did a lot of global sales. We had revenue but now we want high quality revenue such as high yields and high RASK. People will only pay high yields and RASK if the product and service is good. So we will continue to maintain our competitive edge in services, both cabin and ground crew and also our inflight products. The good thing now is that we will no longer be distracted or detracted.

The A380 aircraft is coming in May. That will be a class of its own. Tony and Kamarudin have a fantastic relationship with Airbus and we can do a lot of things with them on our side. They are a clear asset ... the way they negotiate for engines, spare parts and even planes and their cost savings culture. We could use all of that expertise at MAS.

Do you have the buy-in from the employees?

We met the union leaders and to my sweet surprise they are fully behind us. They understand that if we succeed, so will they. The rest is about execution and the new team will not let them down.

Where will immediate savings come from?

At our very first exco meeting, we identified savings in procurement. I can't tell you where as we have not told our suppliers yet. They are capital expenditures and are large.

We have looked at the detailed study done by Bain & Co and the figure is up to RM1.2bil cost savings jointly.

The immediate areas will be training, (the whole gamut of) procurement from aircraft, spares, engines to simulators. As for funding, we can look at new ways of financing our aircraft purchase. In training, both of us have simulators and facilities. We will look at how we can share and have best practices.

What is the cash situation at MAS?

It is manageable and we have in excess of RM1.6bil. Obviously we have very large deliveries in the pipeline in terms of aircraft and these are for replacement of the aging B747 aircraft which have a high fuel burn. But with the new B737 and the A380 coming in, we immediately move to a higher productivity platform. If we use these new aircraft for our thick trunk routes, and promise improvement of product, which we assure you will be second to none in the region, surely people will pay more for it.

(That will lead to) fuel ASK improvement, and yield and RASK improvements. If we are able to demonstrate that and generate positive cashflow, the financing will surely come.

There has been much criticism over WAU, which you were also part of. Your comment.

WAU was successful in that it saved the airline from the brink of bankruptcy in 2001/2002. It gave the then MD Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof a platform to put into place operational restructuring, which he did. If you look back at the share price chart right up to his last day, it peaked during his tenure and shareholder revenues increased. So it is up to MAS to continue the good work he has done. Md Nor did financial restructuring and the managers (his successor) should have followed through.

Now his return as chairman is more meaningful as he understands the industry well.

Note: MAS has pointed out in a letter that the following should be the correct response for the above question.
"WAU was a financial restructuring and it was never designed to be an operational restructuring. The task of operational restructuring is left for managers of the business to follow through. In that regard, Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof and his team did exactly that and there was a significant turnaround in the profits of MAS in the following years after WAU, during his tenure. In fact, the share price rose to the then highest level right up to his last day as MD, and perhaps he left rather prematurely as he was doing very well at MAS, but he had to answer the call of national duty at the Securities Commission."

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge that could derail these big plans?

The biggest risk is if we take our eyes off the ball on how difficult this is to execute. It is not an easy ride.

The global economic outlook points to a double dip. Will this throw a spanner in the works on your plans?

Economic cycles come and go. But when the cycle is going up, you better be sure you are there to milk it. That comes in well with our aircraft deliveries. The future is for our taking. We just have to make sure we have the capacity to deploy and take advantage of it. Of course, we will face fierce competition from the usual suspects Garuda, China carriers that have identified Asia as their playground, the Middle Eastern carriers and Qantas, Jetstar ... Why on earth should we retract when Asia is the playground?

To compete with SIA or Emirates, you need connectivity, frequency and comfort. How do you stack up?

We are seriously looking at launching the premium segment for short-haul carrier and that will serve us a strong feeder network. We already have the resources from Firefly jet services and that resources can be directed for full services proposition. It takes only months to realise this.

Three years from now, will we have to hear the story again of why MAS failed?

Three years from now, the only airline you will want to fly is MAS.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Sabtu, 13 Ogos 2011

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