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• Genting Bhd's Q2 earnings down 20.6% to RM534.5mil
• MPHB Q2 earnings up 93.1% to RM134.6m, boost from financial services
• Telekom Malaysia Q2 earnings jump 173% to RM348.4m

Genting Bhd's Q2 earnings down 20.6% to RM534.5mil Posted: 29 Aug 2012 05:25 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Genting Bhd's earnings fell 20.6% to RM534.55mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2012 from RM673.22mil a year ago, impacted by a decline in casino business and weaker plantations performance. It said on Wednesday its revenue increased 1.1%to RM4.512bil compared with RM4.462bil while earnings per share were 14.47 sen compared with 18.17 sen. It declared an interim dividend of 3.5 sen a share. Elaborating on the divisions, the Genting group said higher revenue was recorded from the leisure and hospitality and property divisions. However, group profit before tax fell 10% to RM1.391bil compared with RM1.548bil a year ago. "Revenue from Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) was affected by the marginally lower casino business when compared with Q2, FY11. Consequently, the adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of RWS was lower than Q2, FY11," it said. As for the leisure and hospitality business at Resorts World Genting in Malaysia (RWG), it performed better due mainly to the overall higher volume of business and higher hold percentage in the premium players business. This contributed to the higher EBITDA of RWG in Q2, FY12. Genting said revenue from the UK operations increased, benefiting from overall higher volume of business and higher hold percentage of its London casino operations. "Revenue and EBITDA from the leisure and hospitality business in the US in 2QFY12 were mainly from the operations of Resorts World Casino New York City (RWNYC), which marked its debut on Oct 28, 2011," it said. The power division recorded a decline in revenue, attributed to lower generation by the Meizhou Wan and Kuala Langat power plants. Its plantation division owned by Genting Plantations Bhd recorded lower revenue due to lower palm product selling prices and lower fresh fruit bunches production as well as lower EBITDA due to the foregoing and rising input costs. For the first half, its earnings declined 17.9% to RM1.228bil from RM1.497bil in the previous corresponding period. Its revenue declined 4.4% to RM8.933bil from RM9.352bil.

MPHB Q2 earnings up 93.1% to RM134.6m, boost from financial services Posted: 29 Aug 2012 04:53 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd's (MPHB) earnings surged 93.1% to RM134.62mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2012 from RM69.69mil a year ago, boosted by its financial services segment. MPHB said on Wednesday, at the pre-tax profit level, it declined 2.6% to RM129.48mil from RM132.93mil. Its revenue increased by a marginal 0.7% to RM872.21mil from RM865.57mil a year ago. Its earnings per share were 9.4 sen compared with 6.3 sen. "The gaming and stockbroking divisions recorded lower profit before tax mainly due to higher payout ratio in gaming sivision as well as lower brokerage, margin interest income and earning from proprietary trading in the stockbroking division. "However, this is mitigated by improved performance in financial services division as a result of higher underwriting income, gain on fair value adjustment and sale of shares in an associated company in corporate and others division," it said. On the gaming operations, MPHB said pre-tax profit fell 31.4% from RM99.9mil a year ago "due to stiff competition from competitors and higher payout ratio recorded in current quarter which is mitigated by lower finance cost due to consistent loan repayment". However, the financial services division fared better with higher profit before tax of RM20.6mil versus RM14.5mil a year ago. It attributed this mainly due to the better underwriting results and lower fair value loss on investment securities. MPHB's corporate and others division contributed a profit before tax of RM88.1mil versus RM66.3mil a year ago, mainly derived from gain on fair value adjustment and sale of shares in an associated company. In the first half ended June 30, 2012, its earnings showed a 38.3% increase to RM218.35mil from RM157.78mil in the previous corresponding period. However, profit before tax fell 16.3% to RM251.0mil from RM300mil due to lower contributions from gaming, stockbroking and financial services divisions were recorded. Revenue slipped 1.4% to RM1.784bil from RM1.811bil.

Telekom Malaysia Q2 earnings jump 173% to RM348.4m Posted: 29 Aug 2012 04:37 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd's earnings rose 173% to RM348.45mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2012 from RM127.24mil a year ago and it rewarded shareholders with an interim dividend of 9.8 sen a share. It announced on Wednesday that the higher earnings were mainly due to the higher revenue, change of useful life of network assets and recognition of deferred tax income, which partially offset the impact of unrealised foreign exchange loss on borrowings in the current year quarter. "Normalised PATAMI also showed improvement, with a growth of 64.9% on-year to RM223.0mil from RM135.2mil," it said. TM's broadband segment continued to record growth, with Streamyx and UniFi customers growing by 9.9% on-year to 2.011 million customers. This pushed Internet revenue up19.2% on-year from RM487.9mil to RM581.6mil. Revenue increased by 8.5% to RM2.425bil from RM2.233bil. Earnings per share were 9.70 sen compared with 3.60 sen. The higher revenue was due to higher contribution from Internet and multimedia, other telecommunications and non-telecommunications related services. "EBITDA grew 6.8% on-year from RM746.9mil to RM797.4mil. On a normalised basis, EBITDA increased by 3.2% YoY from RM768.1mil to RM792.3mil. In the first half ended June 30, 2012, its earnings doubled or rose 106% to RM599.08mil from RM290.54mil. Revenue increased at a smaller pace of 9.7% to RM4.808bil from RM4.381bil.

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• Strauss resigns as England captain, quits cricket
• Kubica has test day-out with Ford
• Paralympics: 'Inspirational' Paralympics to open in London

Strauss resigns as England captain, quits cricket Posted: 29 Aug 2012 05:48 AM PDT Published: Wednesday August 29, 2012 MYT 8:35:00 PM Updated: Wednesday August 29, 2012 MYT 8:48:13 PM LONDON: Andrew Strauss (pic) resigned as England's Test captain and annnounced his retirement from professional cricket with immediate effect on Wednesday. "After much thought over the last few weeks, I have decided to step down as England Test captain and announce my retirement from all forms of cricket," Strauss said in an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) statement issued ahead of a news conference at Lord's. "It has clearly been a tough decision to make, but I believe that it is both in the best interests of the England cricket team and myself to step down at this stage," the 35-year-old, who played exactly 100 Tests, added. "The driver to all this is I haven't batted well enough for a long time. I wasn't going to improve batting-wise, I've run my race," Strauss later told the news conference. "It's one of these decisions when you know when your time is up." "It is important for a captain to not be a passenger and that people are not speculationg whether you should be in the side." Alastair Cook, already England's one-day captain and Strauss's opening partner in the five-day game, was announced as the new skipper of the Test team. Strauss insisted his retirement had nothing to do with the ongoing England exile of star batsman Kevin Pietersen. England dropped Pietersen, who hasn't played international cricket in any format since making 149 in the drawn second Test at Headingley, after he admitted sending "provocative" texts to South African players. Some of these were alleged to have been critical of Strauss, who succeeded South Africa-born and raised Pietersen as England captain in 2009. Strauss said he'd spoken to England coach Andy Flower about retiring "before the Kevin Pietersen situation reared its head". His last Test was a 51-run defeat by South Africa at Lord's, his Middlesex home ground where he made his Test debut in 2004, earlier this month that saw England surrender their number one Test ranking to the Proteas. Strauss scored 21 hundreds - one shy of England's all-time record - and led England to the top of the world Test rankings, a run that included home and away Ashes wins in 2009 and 2010/11. Cook's first Test as captain will be the first of a four-match series in India in November. The 27-year-old paid tribute to Strauss by saying: "Andrew's contribution to England cricket in recent years is evident to everyone who follows the sport but only those of us who have been lucky enough to share a dressing room with him are fully aware of his immense contribution to our success. "He has been a fantastic captain, has led from the front for three-and-a-half years and is a true ambassador for the game. "I know this can't have been an easy decision for him and everyone in the dressing room will be sad to see him go. "I'm very excited by this new challenge, it is a huge honour to be appointed Test captain." ECB chief executive David Collier said: "On behalf of the ECB and everyone involved in cricket I'd like to thank Andrew Strauss for his outstanding contribution to the game. "Andrew's calmness and authority when dealing with some of the most difficult moments in our sport in recent times should be applauded and I have no doubt that his contribution as an ambassador for the game will be recognised by anyone who has had an opportunity to spend time with him." Strauss has enjoyed modest returns with the bat in recent years and his 122 against the West Indies in May was his first Test century since November 2010. He followed up with another century, at Trent Bridge, but averaged just 17.83 in six innings against the South Africans. England's form in 2012 has been poor, with six defeats in 11 Tests culminating in a 2-0 series loss to South Africa, their first home reverse in four years. Strauss was the third England skipper to be 'seen off' in as many tours of England by South Africa captain Graeme Smith after Nasser Hussain in 2003 and Michael Vaughan in 2008. -AFP

Kubica has test day-out with Ford Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:34 AM PDT PARIS: Formula One driver Robert Kubica, seriously injured in a crash in February 2011, spent a day behind the wheel of a rally car on a test track in France last month, reports claim. Kubica drove a Ford Fiesta with the team's world rally championship drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg also present, British motorsport website www.autosport.com announced. Ford refused to acknowledge that Kubica was at the test, but the team's technical director Christian Loriaux said that an experienced driver had "put in some very good work" alongside Latvala and Solberg. Kubica, with the Renault F1 team at the time, suffered life-threatening multiple injuries in an accident at the Ronde di Andora Rally 18 months ago. The 27-year-old's right-hand was partially severed in the crash in northern Italy when he hit a safety barrier and had to be cut free from his car. He also suffered serious injuries to his shoulder and leg. - AFP

Paralympics: 'Inspirational' Paralympics to open in London Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:34 AM PDT LONDON: A spectacular opening ceremony was set to ring in the biggest ever Paralympic Games on Wednesday, with double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius among those gearing up for 11 days of competition. Stephen Hawking, Britain's most famous living scientist, was expected to feature in the ceremony at London's Olympic Stadium, where the curtain came down on the Olympic Games just two weeks ago. Hawking, who has motor neurone disease and has been paralysed for most of his life, was set to appear alongside a cast of more than 3,000 at the ceremony, where Queen Elizabeth II will officially open the Games. A record 4,200 athletes are taking part in the Paralympics across 20 sports, with the event expected to sell out for the first time and win its biggest ever television audience. The Paralympic torch arrived in London early Wednesday after travelling in an overnight relay through the English countryside. It was lit at Stoke Mandeville - the hospital that is the spiritual home of disabled sport - on Tuesday evening and carried 148 kilometres (92 miles) southeast by 116 teams of five people. Cheers and prayers met the flame as it arrived in northwest London at the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu temple, before travelling through the British capital past famous landmarks including Westminster Abbey and Piccadilly Circus. The torch was heading east for the start of the ceremony at 1930 GMT, which will be watched by some 80,000 people in the stadium. Organisers have described the ceremony, which is named "Enlightenment", as a "celebration of the inspirational spirit of the Paralympic Games that challenges perceptions of human possibility". The British Paralympic Association (BPA) has said the ceremony will be "groundbreaking in its inclusivity and innovative staging", showcasing deaf and disabled artists. It has been created by artistic directors Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, both of whom have a long history of hosting live shows involving disabled performers. "Aerobility", a British charity that trains disabled people to become pilots, will perform a fly-past, the BPA said. Across the 11 days of elite disability sport, the International Paralympic Committee predicts a global television audience of more than four billion - a record for the Games, which first took place in Rome in 1960. Organisers believe much of the interest has come after a successful Olympics for British athletes, which saw the host nation finish third in the overall medal table behind the United States and China. Britain is also considered the "spiritual home" of the Paralympics, as the first recognised sports events for athletes with disabilities was held in Stoke Mandeville in 1948. The sporting action begins on Thursday, with shooting set to provide the first gold of the Games in the women's 10m standing air rifle. Medals are also up for grabs in the velodrome with the finals of the men and women's individual pursuit, in four weight categories in judo at the ExCel Arena and at the Aquatics Centre, where 15 swimming finals are to be held. The showpiece athletics programme gets under way on Friday with the spotlight on South Africa's Pistorius, who is seeking to defend his T44 100m, 200m and 400m titles from Beijing four years ago. Pistorius, dubbed the "Blade Runner" because he runs on carbon fibre blades, made history earlier this month by becoming the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics when he ran in the 400m heats and 4x400m relay final. But on Tuesday he played down expectations of repeating his Beijing treble, with Britain's world-record holder Jonnie Peacock and world champion Jerome Singleton of the United States likely to feature in the 100m final. "It's important to note that I haven't run a 100m personal best in five years. It's not really my event," he told a news conference, adding that he would "be happy" with a medal of any colour in the blue riband sprint. - AFP

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• Thief dies after struggle with students while breaking into hostel
• Cops liaising with Garmin to track down stolen vehicles via GPS
• Additional KTM Komuter services for Merdeka

Thief dies after struggle with students while breaking into hostel Posted: 29 Aug 2012 08:27 AM PDT ALOR SETAR: A man died after a struggle with a group of male students who caught him breaking into their hostel here early Wednesday. The 35-year-old, believed to be a drug addict, succumbed to head and body injuries about 2pm, after he was admitted at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital. The students of the private religious school in Jalan Sultanah here had caught him red-handed with a stolen cell phone and bag. Kota Setar police chief ACP Adzaman Mohd Jan said no one was detained in connection with the death of the man, who had four previous criminal cases, including theft in 2006. He said a police report was lodged by the students in connection with the break-in and subsequent struggle with the deceased. "We are waiting for the result of the post-mortem before taking further action," he told reporters here. - Bernama

Cops liaising with Garmin to track down stolen vehicles via GPS Posted: 29 Aug 2012 08:11 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: The police are liaising with Garmin GPS Malaysia to tackle vehicle thefts via the global positioning system (GPS). Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said the task of tackling vehicle thefts, which was previously the responsibility of the force, was now shared with corporate firms like Garmin. Speaking to reporters after a function here Wednesday, he said the police could carry out the task of detecting stolen vehicles more quickly as it could obtain complete and accurate information. He said 45,707 cases of vehicle theft were recorded nationwide from January this year, compared with 45,452 during the same period last year. Mohd Bakri said the biggest theft involved motorcycles at 32,451, followed by cars (10,425) and vans, lorries and heavy vehicles (2,560), with Selangor, Johor and Kuala Lumpur recording the highest cases. "Cars such as Proton are stolen for their parts while luxury cars such as four-wheel drive vehicles, Mercedez-Benz, BMW, Toyota and Honda are sold abroad." Meanwhile, Innovative Technologies managing director Ong Chang Seng said vehicle owners needed to only contact the Garmin 'Call Centre' or the police to alert them on missing vehicles. "The police will know the location of the missing vehicles, including its route," he said. - Bernama

Additional KTM Komuter services for Merdeka Posted: 29 Aug 2012 07:50 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: KTM Komuter services have been extended for Thursday and Friday to assist people attending the Merdeka eve celebrations at Dataran Merdeka and the "Promises Fulfilled" gathering at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. In a statement here Wednesday, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) said the additional train services for the Kuala Lumpur-Port Klang, Kuala Lumpur-Sungai Gadut and Kuala Lumpur-Rawang routes would leave simultaneously at 12.30am and 1.30am on Thursday. As for Friday, the Kuala Lumpur-Port Klang train would leave at 12.04am and 1.04am, Kuala Lumpur-Sungai Gadut at 11.53pm and 12.23am, and Bandar Tasik Selatan-Rawang at 12.15am and 12.45am. Passenger are advised to buy return tickets to prevent congestion at counters. Further information may be obtained at 1-300-88-5826 or at the KTM website. - Bernama

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800 yoga practitioners set to wow the crowd at the MIYC 2012 Posted: 29 Aug 2012 05:14 AM PDT COME National Day, yoga enthusiasts of all ages from Malaysia and overseas will be gathering to celebrate freedom and liberate their body of pain and stress at the Malaysian International Yoga Competition (MIYC) 2012. Some 800 yoga practitioners and 5,000 spectators are expected to converge at Kandiah Hall, SJKT Vivekananda, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, for the event that will be held on Aug 31 from 9am to 6pm. The event is organised by the Malaysian Yoga Society (MYS) with the support of Malaysian Association of Yoga Instructors (Mayi). MIYC, which was held at a national level during its initial two years, expanded to include international yoga practitioners last year. It is expected to have 25% of this year's participants hailing from countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, India, Sri Lanka, Iran and Australia. MYS and Mayi founder Mani Sekaran said the event aims to create awareness that yoga is for everybody, serve as a platform to network and meet people with similar interests, and encourage a healthy lifestyle. "It is also an opportunity for the public to see for themselves the benefits of yoga and dispel myths associated with the practice — the prevalent ones being that one needs to be of a certain gender, weight and age to practice yoga," he said. "Yoga is accessible to all regardless of age, size, background and physical limitations. "It provides an avenue for everyone to become healthy, both physically and mentally, without needing any special athletic skills." Mani, who has 35 years' experience in yoga including 15 years as instructor, said yoga is a mind and body practice that requires practitioners to focus on their breathing and be mindful of their body. "Over a period of time, practitioners are able to better control their emotions, develop awareness of breath, better handle stress and behavioural issues, and improve emotional content. Yoga also facilitates management of health issues. "For children, yoga helps improve their posture, reduce obesity and develop better personalities," he said. "Hence some of the funds from the registration fees will go towards sponsoring about 400 underprivileged children to participate in MIYC 2012. "Any surplus funds will go towards an initiative where our instructors teach yoga at nine primary schools and two secondary schools for free." Mani said the underprivileged children who participated in previous MIYC events had developed better confidence and motivation, concentrate better at school and had improved behaviour. "Their participation at MIYC has motivated them to continue practising yoga on their own, or continue via free lessons conducted at selected schools," he said, adding that it would cost RM30 to sponsor each underprivileged child for MIYC 2012. "There has been a greater awareness of yoga over the past decade, but mainly among the exercising community. "Malaysians need to exercise, and yoga is a great way to do it because it is economical, therapeutic, has low impact and proven benefits." MIYC 2012 will feature four children categories for those aged four to 18, and four adult categories for those aged 19 and above. Each participant is allocated four minutes to perform five of their favourite yoga postures. They will be scored based on execution of the yoga poses, steadiness and alignment of the postures, flexibility and strength, degree of difficulty, and facial demeanour. Some RM19,000 worth of prizes in the form of Yoga Franchise course cash vouchers will be awarded to the winners, with the overall champion winning RM5,000. Registration fees are RM15 for children and RM30 for adults. There will also be booths at the event offering vegetarian food, yoga merchandise, arts and crafts, and games. Walk-in participants are allowed before 8am on the day of the competition. Visit www.malaysianyogasociety.org.my or call 03-2260 5322 (Vivien).

Derrick all smiles despite finishing sixth Posted: 29 Aug 2012 05:06 AM PDT TEENAGER Tiu Derrick of Kota Permai Golf and Country Club did not finish as one of the leading performers in the boys' Under-15 age-group but he was beaming with pride at the end of the SportExcel Premier-Elite second leg circuit at the Kelab Golf Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah in Shah Alam recently. Despite finishing sixth in his category with 36-over 252 after 54 holes, the 14-year-old Sri Kuala Lumpur student savoured a special moment with his rare hole-in-one feat on the final day of the tournament. Derrick recalled that his first impression was his shot went astray off the green when his tee-off hit the pin at the par-three second hole. "I knew that it (the ball) hit the pin. I did not have a clear view of it and did not believe it when my flight mates who were standing near the tee box told me that it went in," said Derrick. "I thought it was more likely to bounce off to a trickier position based on the way I connected the shot. "I was searching for my ball elsewhere when we approached the green instead. My flight mates found my ball in the cup. "I was overjoyed by this achievement because I was surprised at my good fortune in sinking my first hole-in-one. "When I returned to the club house, everyone was excited too," he said. Meanwhile, Johor's Aaerishna Shahsthy Balakrishnan carded eight-over 224 (75-73-76) to edge South Korean Park Chang-uk (76-74-77) by three strokes to win the boys' Under-15 title. Lucas Yee of Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort came in third (81-77-82) while Rahman Putra Club's Sim You Jin and Mior Asyraff Haziq Zulkefli from Monterez Golf and Country Club were fourth (82-85-77) and fifth (88-81-82) respectively ahead of Derrick. Aaerishna also claimed the top spot in the overall standings when he was declared the top performer of the three-round meet decided on count back. The boys' Under-20 champion Kim Myong-kon of South Korea also completed his campaign accumulating identical total score of 224 (76-71-77) but Aaerishna had the upper hand with a narrow one stroke advantage from his outing on the decisive final day. The third leg of the Premier-Elite series is scheduled at the Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam from Oct 19-21. The grand finals will be held at the Monterez Golf and Country Club from Dec 17-20. RESULTS Combined Under-Nine 237: Feirish Nor Feizal Nor 85-76-76 239: Jeneath Wong 81-79-79 242: Foo Tee Jui 78-82-82 Boys Under-12 227: Khavish Varman Varadan 74-76-77 246: Adam Arif Madzri 81-83-82 248: K. Rhaasrikanesh 86-79-83 Under-15 224: Aaerishna Shahsthy Balakrishnan 75-73-76 227: Park Chang Uk 76-74-77 240: Lucas Yee 81-77-82 Under-20 224: Kim Myong Kon 76-71-77 230: Lee Jeong Gin 81-75-74 237: Muhammad Asyraf Rosli 81-82-74 GIRLS Under-12 258: Winnie Ng Yu Xuan 89-84-85 296: Siti Sarah Feizal Nor 104-95-97 326: Zulaikah Nurziana Nasser 117-107-102 Under-15 246: Kelie Kan Kah Yan 80-81-95 253: Siti Zulaikhaa Shaari 82-91-80 258: Nur Syazani Amalia 87-86-85 Under-20 258: Nyca Khaw Wen Hui 86-88-84 259: Asha Lakshme Balakrishnan 85-88-86 262: Celine Lim Shwli Ling 90-90-82

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