In today’s edition of Evening 5 — The Health Ministry tables for its first reading the revised tobacco bill, minus the generational end-game component. Meanwhile, analysts advise minority shareholders of UMW Holdings to accept Sime Darby’s mandatory general offer.
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00:00 [Music]
00:04 Health Minister Dr Zalihah Mustafa tabled the revised Control of Smoking Products for Public
00:09 Health Bill 2023 for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat this afternoon, without the generational
00:16 endgame or GEG component. It was among the notable revisions to the bill which initially sought to
00:23 prohibit individuals born from 2007 onwards from smoking or purchasing smoking products.
00:29 Instead, Clause 13(1) of the revised bill now prohibits the sale of any tobacco, smoking
00:36 substance or substitute tobacco product, as well as the provision of any services for smoking to
00:41 individuals under the age of 18. For the first offence, individuals contravening this clause
00:47 may face a fine of up to RM20,000, jailed up to one year or both. Corporate entities facing the
00:53 same contravention may be fined up to RM100,000, imprisoned for up to two years or both. Additionally,
01:01 Clause 13(3) and Clause 17(1) of the bill state that minors are banned from buying or using
01:07 tobacco products, smoking substances or substitute tobacco products. According to Zalihah, the GEG
01:14 component was dropped solely due to the argument that the proposed ban was unconstitutional and
01:20 there was a need to accelerate the passing of the bill in the meantime to ensure tighter control of
01:25 tobacco products, particularly vapes. She declined to give a timeline as to when the GEG might be
01:31 revisited. The bill will be tabled for the second reading tomorrow. The development sent shares of
01:37 British American Tobacco Malaysia jumping as much as 4.79% to an intraday high of RM9.40.
01:44 It had some gains to end the day at RM9.35, still up 4.24%,
01:49 emerging as the top three gainers on Bursa Malaysia.
01:53 Analysts advised UMW Holdings' minority shareholders to accept the mandatory general
02:04 offer of RM5 per share from Syem Zabi, even as they raised their earnings forecasts for UMW,
02:11 which reported nine-month FY2023 results that exceeded expectations.
02:16 MIDF Investments Bank raised its earnings forecast for UMW by 22.7% for FY2023
02:24 and maintained its buy call with a target price of RM4.86 apiece. It said Syem Zabi's offer is a
02:30 good opportunity for UMW's minorities to exit at the peak of the auto demand cycle.
02:36 Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investments Bank, which kept its hold call on UMW and target price of RM5,
02:43 lifted its earnings estimates by 15% to 17.6% for FY2023 to 2025. It said it is overall positive
02:52 on Syem Zabi's offer price and advised shareholders to accept the offer, which is higher than its
02:58 existing sum-of-parts valuation of RM3.85. TA Securities Holdings, meanwhile, tweaked its
03:05 earnings forecasts for FY2023 to 2025 upward by 4.6% to 15.17%. It said its RM5 target price for
03:15 UMW is benchmarked to Syem Zabi's offer price and advised shareholders to accept it. UMW's
03:22 share price was unchanged at RM4.90 at the close, giving it a marked capitalization of RM5.72 billion.
03:30 The Minister of Communications and Digital, Fafmi Fadzil, said mobile network operators and DNB have
03:41 yet to sign a share subscription agreement or SSA, as a few details related to the agreement
03:47 still need to be ironed out. The minister said he met with the telcos last Friday and that there
03:53 were one or two final questions to address. He said a draft of the SSA was shared with them yesterday
03:59 and the parties are finalizing one or two details today. Fafmi did not elaborate on what the details
04:05 are, but noted that he hopes for the agreement to be inked very, very soon. On November 17,
04:12 Fafmi reportedly said that the DNB SSA was to be signed by telcos within a week.
04:17 Touching on the second entity under Malaysia's dual wholesale network model,
04:22 Fafmi reiterated that its formation will be announced by the government once DNB's current
04:27 network reaches 80% coverage of populated areas. As at end October, the 5G network's coverage stood at 73%.
04:36 Petronas Chemicals Group or Petchem booked a 77.6% fall in Q3 FY2023 net profit to RM424 million
04:50 as unfavorable product spreads and energy costs dented earnings. Quarterly revenue
04:56 slipped 3.53% to RM6.78 billion amid lower product prices and sales volume,
05:03 though this was partially offset by revenue contribution from Perstel. Petchem's MD and CEO
05:09 Mohd Yusri Mohd Yusof said the group undertook scheduled plant turnaround at its ammonia plant
05:15 in Kerteh Terengganu and a planned shutdown at its fertilizer plant in Bintulu, Sarawak.
05:21 It also faced an unscheduled shutdown at its methanol plant in Labuan and its MTBE and PDH
05:28 plants in Gebeng Pahang. These activities have since been completed and the group is now operating
05:34 normally at above 85% utilisation. On the market side, he said there was slight demand recovery in
05:40 several chemicals but overall margins are still compressed. At the close, Petchem's share price
05:46 was 0.14% lower at RM7.08. At this price, the group was valued at RM56.64 billion.
05:53 YoungHub International saw its Q3 FY2023 net profit surge by 97.5% to RM132.96 million
06:08 on better margins from higher selling prices of day-old chicks and eggs.
06:13 Quarterly revenue increased by 6.6% to RM2.52 billion on higher selling prices and sales volume
06:21 of broiler fresh and dressed chickens, day-old chicks and eggs. It declared an interim dividend
06:26 of RM1.2 per share. In a Borsal Malaysia filing, YoungHub said the strong regional economies
06:32 provided a good backdrop for higher consumption of its products as the group continues to grow.
06:38 The easing of feed input costs, particularly corn and soybean meal, is providing relief to
06:44 the industry. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group expects its FY2023 performance to be
06:50 significantly better than the prior year. YoungHub shares closed down 0.72% to 69c a day
06:57 for a market capitalisation of RM2.52 billion.
07:00 Ringgit.
07:01 [Music]