In today’s edition of Evening 5 — TNB is planning to invest up to RM90 bil into its grid over the next six years, with nearly half of that going towards energy transition-related capex. Meanwhile, earnings season enters its climax.
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00:00 [Music]
00:04 TNN intends to invest upwards of $90 billion over the next six years for its grid infrastructure,
00:10 of which 40% will be channeled towards energy transition-related capital expenditure,
00:15 says TNB President and Group CEO, Datuk Baharin Dain.
00:18 In his closing remarks for the Energy Transition Conference 2023,
00:22 Baharin said that it is a key priority of the national utility
00:26 to strengthen our ASEAN interconnection to facilitate its net zero emissions goal.
00:32 He says that parties are committed to making it happen as the interconnection will enable
00:36 better RE ambition, support system security, and open up the gateway to over $6.3 trillion
00:43 of new investments by 2050. He adds that the timing is right to make the ASEAN power grid a
00:49 reality as it is now a matter of our survival. TNB, which operates $62.25 billion worth of regulated
00:57 transmission and distribution assets in the country as at end 2022, has been closely watched
01:03 amid rising interest towards renewable energy capacity installation and the national plan to
01:08 allow RE exports to neighbouring countries. Studies were also made in the past for transmission links
01:14 between East and West Malaysia as well as between West Malaysia and Indonesia,
01:18 according to the International Energy Agency. Development of a flexible cross-border grid
01:23 is one of TNB's three objectives in its 2050 energy transmission pathway, aside from
01:29 decarbonisation of its power generation segment and the empowerment of its prosumers and cross-sector
01:35 electrification.
01:36 Public Bank's second quarter net profit improved by 14% year-on-year to $1.62 billion as a result
01:47 of continued healthy loan and deposit growth, prudent cost management as well as stable asset
01:52 quality. Revenue for the quarter grew by 26% year-on-year from $4.97 billion to $6.26 billion.
01:59 Public Bank also declared a dividend of $0.09 per share. For the first half, net profit rose by
02:06 18% year-on-year to $3.33 billion from $2.82 billion previously, while revenue improved by
02:12 26% to come in at $12.39 billion. Managing Director and CEO Tan Sri Dr Teh Alek said
02:20 net interest income increased by 3.4%, mainly led by the loan and deposit businesses. He said
02:26 non-interest income grew by 5.4% on the back of higher income from forex and stockbroking
02:31 businesses. Teh said with the continued expansion of the Malaysian economy, business prospects for
02:37 the banking sector remain positive. He added that there are also growing opportunities arising from
02:42 the increasing demand for digital banking and ESG products. Teh also addressed Public Bank's move to
02:48 continuously combat scams through the implementation of stronger authentication methods, as well as the
02:54 introduction of a cooling-off period for banking transactions, which are deemed to be abnormal.
03:04 IHH Healthcare has appointed Dr Prem Kumar Nair as its Group Chief Executive Officer,
03:09 effective October 1. Prem is currently the CEO of IHH Singapore, and he will continue to hold
03:15 that position until September 30. At the same time, the hospital operator announced that its Group
03:20 COO, Jo Sim Heng Ju, has decided to return to public service and tendered his resignation.
03:26 This appointment puts an end to IHH's search for a new captain that began in February this year,
03:31 after its previous CEO, Dr Kelvin Loh Tee Kuen, resigned on February 22. Sim had assumed
03:38 Loh's duties during the search. Meanwhile, IHH saw its second quarter net profit halve from $612.1
03:44 million to $301.8 million due to the previous year's high base as a result of exceptional items
03:51 exacerbated by forex losses following the devaluation of the Turkish lira. In contrast,
03:56 revenue for the quarter improved by 7% year-on-year to $4.7 billion, driven by more patients. It was
04:02 a different story for the first half, where earnings grew by 53% year-on-year to $1.7 billion,
04:08 as revenue increased by 15% year-on-year from $8.5 billion to $9.8 billion. Going forward,
04:15 IHH says that it will continue its organic growth path by expanding its bed capacity by around 25%,
04:21 driving productivity and operational efficiencies, while reconfiguring its
04:26 portfolio to improve its returns, with a focus on removing underperforming assets.
04:30 RHB Bank expects the interest margins squeeze the spread banks earn between borrowing and
04:40 lending to ease in the second half, driven by lower competition in the deposit space.
04:45 According to MD and CEO Mohamed Rashid Mohamed, the bank is looking to improve NIM to 1.8% to 1.9%
04:52 for the full year, despite the increase in funding costs and expectation that NIM would continue to
04:57 tighten in the near term. NIM compression in the first quarter was steeper than expected due to
05:02 a pickup in the deposit war between banks. NIM for the quarter contracted to 1.82% from 1.9% in
05:09 the preceding quarter, taking first half NIM to 1.85%. Mohamed Rashid elaborated that RHB would
05:15 defend its retail and current account savings account deposits and continue to maintain cost
05:20 discipline and investing strategically in digital efficiency to manage persistent cost escalation.
05:27 He said that given the expected economic expansion of 4.3% in the second half,
05:32 RHB expects loan growth to be at 4% for the full year against an earlier projection of 4% to 5%.
05:38 For its second quarter, RHB posted a 28% year-on-year increase in earnings to $808.7 million,
05:45 driven by higher allowances for credit losses written back, partly offset by lower net funding
05:50 income and higher operating expenses. Revenue jumped by 37% to $4.05 billion for the quarter.
05:57 RHB declared an interim dividend of $0.15 per share. For the first half, net profit increased
06:03 by 30% to $1.57 billion from $1.21 billion previously, as top line jumped by 38% to $7.97
06:11 billion. Arc Seattle Group's net loss widened to $576.2 million for the second quarter from $106.4
06:24 million a year ago. Revenue for the quarter rose 15.3% year-on-year to $5.99 billion. The group
06:31 attributed the wider loss to the lower share of results from Selkom Aksyata, which is no longer
06:36 a wholly-owned subsidiary following its merger with Digi.com. Its Nepal-based telco Encel also
06:42 saw a non-cash impairment of assets and capital gains tax write-off following the unfavorable
06:47 outcome from the Bilateral Investment Treaty arbitration proceedings in June. However,
06:52 this was offset by a RM402 million gain from the final closing adjustments to the Selkom-Digi merger.
06:59 For the first half, Aksyata's net loss deepened to $502.4 million versus $149.5 million a year
07:06 earlier as revenue increased by 12% year-on-year to $11.4 billion from $10.2 billion previously.
07:14 Despite the loss-making quarter, Aksyata declared an interim dividend of $0.05 per share.
07:19 Chairman Tan Srichara Rizawidjuan says the group is poised to extend its market leadership beyond
07:24 the double-digit top-line growth seen in the first half of FY2023. Group CEO Vivek Sud says
07:31 cash generation, improved balance sheet and capital expenditure to chase growth opportunities
07:36 has been the focus of the first half and that it will remain so for Aksyata for the rest of the
07:42 year. Meanwhile, Vivek said that Aksyata will be easing back on the pace of its capex as it wants
07:47 to be more careful in investing in its frontier markets, particularly those with less favorable
07:52 macroeconomic situations. He says the focus is now on monetizing its current assets and bringing
07:58 down its debt levels. Aksyata has revised its capex guidance lower to $6.5 to $6.8 billion
08:05 for FY2023 from the $7.1 billion guided earlier this year.