The Star Online: Business

UEM Land’s eco condo gets good response
Petronas Dagangan targets robust growth
M'sia among 5 Asean countries assigned inaugural ratings of AAA to BB1 by RAM

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:35 PM PST

Wednesday January 23, 2013

CYBERJAYA: UEM Land Holdings Bhd's Symphony Hills eco-friendly high-rise condominium Verdi Eco-Dominiums here sold 60 units within a week of its soft launch recently, managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said.

The condominium, a gated compound spanning 9.16 acres, is part of the 98-acre strata residential development of Symphony Hills in Cyberjaya.

Symphony Hill is the country's first Connected Intelligent Community (CIC), offering dwellers smart-home features and inter-unit connectivity via high-speed broadband.

This will enable residents to make announcements through a centralised communication system, as a benefit of the combined technology of Cisco Systems Mesiniaga.

A total of six acres of the compound has been reserved for landscaping.

"The development is scheduled to be completed in four years," Wan Abdullah said at a press preview of the project.

Petronas Dagangan targets robust growth

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:29 PM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag), the retail arm of national oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd, is targeting a 5% to 7% revenue growth for 2013, said managing director and chief executive officer Aminul Rashid Mohd Zamzam.

Speaking to the media after the company's 2013 outlook presentation yesterday, he said PetDag would allocate over RM500mil as capital expenditure (capex) for its domestic operations and over RM200mil for its regional operations this year.

"We are generating the capex from our internal funding," he said, adding, "This year, we are not targeting any acquisitions as we are focusing on strengthening our newly acquired companies."

It had been earlier reported that PetDag had completed the acquisition of six downstream companies in South-East Asia.

Aminul Rashid said that at present, the regional operation's contribution to revenue was relatively small and would take some time to grow.

The company plans to further strengthen its position as the largest retail network operator in the country and is strategising to increase its retail business market share to between 32% and 34% or about an additional 60 new Petronas stations and 740 Kedai Mesra this year.

"The retail business contributed almost 50% to our total profit, which makes it our highest contributor to earnings," Aminul Rashid said.

On expanding its retail business into other countries in the region, Aminul Rashid said it was common knowledge that the retail business was very competitive and that the company would prefer to expand its market share in the domestic market before considering making a foray into other countries.

He said PetDag had no plans to introduce any new product this year, as it was comfortable with its current stable of fuel products and would like to focus on differentiated services instead, for instance, the "Twin Stations" service.

At the moment, PetDag is the market leader for the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and commercial business segments. The company is targeting to increase its market share for LPG and commercial business from 57% to 58% and from 63% and 65%, respectively.

Its lubricant business is now positioned as the second-largest by way of market share and the company is expecting to increase its market growth to between 25% and 27%.

"The lubricant business has high potential for growth and we are working towards increasing its distribution network. We are also targeting to enter the Vietnamese motorist market while strengthening our position in Thailand and the Philippines," Aminul Rashid said.

PetDag ended 16 sen lower at RM22.64 on volume of 533,600 shares yesterday.

M'sia among 5 Asean countries assigned inaugural ratings of AAA to BB1 by RAM

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:25 PM PST

PETALING JAYA: RAM Rating Services Bhd has assigned its inaugural sovereign ratings of between AAA and BB1 to five Asean countries Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

The ratings were assigned under the new rating global and Asean scales launched by the agency as part of its global initiative.

The two rating scales compared and measured the best companies globally and in Asean, respectively, for their credit worthiness their ability to pay on a timely and adequate manner.

RAM's rating scale ranges from AAA to D, with a AAA-rated sovereign having superior capacity to meet its financial obligations while a sovereign rated D means country is currently in debt default.

The different rating categories between AAA and D signify relatively weaker payment capacity compared to a previous category.

For example, a BBB rating denotes moderate capacity to meet financial obligations which is less strong compared to an A rating, which means adequate capacity.

Chief executive officer Foo Su Yin told StarBiz that the rating agency's decision to focus on sovereign ratings for the five Asean economic heavyweights at the onset was in line with its global aspirations.

"The Asean bond markets are on a steep developmental curve, supported by ongoing regulatory reforms targeted at easing capital flows and promoting greater financial integration.

"Hence, the introduction of sovereign ratings is opportune and in line with the more integrated Asean,'' she added.

She said the five countries displayed economic expansion that had generally outpaced global growth and remained relatively resilient through the financial turmoil experienced by advanced economies in 2009.

The underlying strength of the region's largest economies stemmed from a variety of factors, which included a track record on price stability, well-diversified external trade structure and robust overall banking sector, Foo noted.

Meanwhile, RAM in its Public Finance Ratings (January 2013) Publication (Leading Asean Sovereigns) said the five countries also exhibited improving external strength through the build-up of foreign-exchange reserves due to consistent current-account surpluses key factors in arriving at the respective ratings.

This was especially true for the region's more export-oriented economies such as Malaysia and Singapore, it added, noting that the region's overall debt burden had substantially been reduced favourably throughout the decade in comparison with other economic regions.

Moving forward, RAM said Asean would be taking on a greater role in facilitating global trade and finance through the realisation of Asean Economic Community by 2015.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 22 Januari 2013