In today’s edition of Evening 5 — The government applies to strike out the suit filed by Tan Sri Halim Saad, backed by an affidavit by former minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop that said the businessman had accepted the compensation offer. Meanwhile, PetGas declares an 18 sen dividend after reporting a 10% y-o-y jump in quarterly earnings.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:04 The Attorney General's Chambers,
00:06 appearing for former Prime Minister Tondokter Mahathir Mohamad,
00:10 ex-Minister Tan Sri Noor Mohamad Yaacob and Putrajaya,
00:13 has applied to strike out the suit filed by Tan Sri Halim Saad.
00:17 It said the businessman's suit is frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process,
00:22 and asked for all proceedings to be suspended until a decision on its application is made.
00:28 This application is fixed for hearing on May 14th next year.
00:32 The bid to have the suit struck out is backed by an affidavit by Noor Mohamad,
00:36 who said Halim had himself chosen to support the general offer for UEM
00:40 without any inducements from the defendants.
00:43 He affirmed that the takeover of Halim's stake was not done compulsorily,
00:48 as there had been a series of negotiations to finalise the compensation.
00:53 The former minister added that Halim had agreed to the sum of RM165 million,
00:58 despite claiming that it was not ample compensation.
01:02 The businessman maintains that he was forced to sell his stake in Renong and UEM,
01:07 which then owned prized assets, including the toll concession for the North-South Expressway.
01:12 [Music]
01:17 Petronas Gas saw its third quarter FY2023 net profit rise 10% year-on-year
01:23 on lower financing costs, taxes and expenses,
01:26 though it shrank 3.5% quarter-on-quarter on the back of weaker sales,
01:31 amid a planned plant turnaround in Kerdeh and lower product prices in the utilities segment.
01:38 Earnings came in at RM468.46 million,
01:42 up from RM425.82 million in the third quarter of FY2022
01:47 and down from RM485.37 million in the second quarter of FY2023.
01:54 Revenue fell 1% to RM1.55 billion from RM1.56 billion the previous year.
02:00 It was down 5.3% from RM1.64 billion in the immediate preceding quarter.
02:06 Petgas declared a dividend of 18 cent per share.
02:10 The company expects to deliver a strong financial performance in FY2023.
02:15 It said it would continue to strive for operational excellence,
02:19 as well as to strike the right balance between growth investments,
02:22 financial prudence and shareholders' distribution amid the higher operating cost environment.
02:28 Shares of Petgas traded 0.2% higher at RM17.18 at the close,
02:34 giving it a market capitalization of RM33.99 billion.
02:38 Home improvement retailer MrDIY Group Malaysia saw third quarter FY2023 bottom line
02:50 improved by some 22.5% year-on-year as new stores boosted revenue.
02:55 Net profit stood at RM123.95 million as top line jumped 10% to RM1.07 billion.
03:03 It declared an interim dividend of 0.8 cent per share.
03:06 Looking ahead, CEO Adrian Ong said the group remains comfortably optimistic of its growth
03:12 prospects given the current business environment.
03:15 MrDIY remains focused on the strategic expansion of its store network,
03:20 optimizing revenue per square foot and operational efficiency,
03:24 which is key to driving financial performance and enhancing shareholder value.
03:28 Ong said the retailer is simultaneously exploring several key initiatives,
03:33 including the launch of new brands to capitalize on growth opportunities
03:37 as well as potential horizontal and vertical acquisitions.
03:41 Also a priority, he said, is warehouse automation to enhance cost optimization.
03:47 As at September 30, the group has 1,203 outlets and its store expansion for FY2023 remains largely
03:55 on track, with at least 57 stores to be opened across all three of its brands in the fourth
04:00 quarter of this fiscal year.
04:03 [Music]
04:07 E-Government services provider MyEG Services saw its third quarter FY2023 earnings slumped by
04:14 some 20% to RM120.1 million, which it said was mainly due to the one-off recognition of fair
04:22 value gain in investment of RM61.89 million from the listing of its investment in Agmo Holdings
04:28 in the third quarter of FY2022.
04:32 Excluding this, it said, operating profit after tax increased by 33.3% on the back of the
04:38 contribution from its Zetrix blockchain platform.
04:41 Revenue was 19% higher at RM194.1 million, thanks to the contribution from newly launched
04:48 services from Zetrix and the sale of Zetrix tokens.
04:52 Commenting on its prospects, it said it is "cautiously optimistic" on its outlook
04:57 as it continues to introduce innovative services both locally and globally.
05:02 It aims to do this by leveraging new technologies, specifically blockchain or Web 3.0, and with
05:08 Zetrix coming online, it sees a huge potential to commercialise innovative services as Web 3.0
05:15 becomes widely adopted.
05:17 It noted that Zetrix's integration with China's national blockchain platform will be the group's
05:22 foray into the global market.
05:24 [Music]
05:29 Over 60% of government-linked investment companies' funds are invested locally, with
05:35 15.8% to 62.7% invested in domestic equities from January 1, 2019 to August 31, 2023.
05:45 Deputy Finance Minister Tu Steven Sim said this is led by the EPF, with an average of
05:50 64.9% of its RM1.096 trillion fund invested domestically.
05:56 Of its entire fund base, 24.4% is invested in local listed equities.
06:02 For PNB, whose total investment is RM332 billion, an average of 84.3% is invested domestically,
06:11 where 74.4% is in local equities.
06:14 Kuop holds RM167 billion, with an average investment of 79.3% in the domestic market,
06:22 where 45.2% is in the local share market.
06:26 Lembaga Tabung Haji has RM91 billion, and the average investment in the domestic market
06:32 is 90.1%, with 18.3% in Malaysian equities.
06:37 As for the LTAT, the Armed Forces Fund Board manages RM10.5 billion, with the entire fund
06:44 invested in the domestic market, he said, of which 52% is in Bursa Malaysia listed equities.
06:51 (Music)