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00:04 Berjaya Corp founder and advisor Tan Sri Vincent Tan and B Corp's unit Berjaya Land
00:08 are suing caretaker Kedah MB Datuk Sri Mohamad Sanosi Makno over alleged defamatory remarks
00:14 relating to the 700 million Selangor Maritime Gateway project.
00:18 In a suit cited by The Edge, it was filed at the Shah Alam High Court on August 8th via Tan's lawyer.
00:24 Tan and B Land are seeking general damages, compensatory damages,
00:27 aggravated damages and exemplary damages.
00:30 Apart from that, lawyers have also filed an application for the High Court to issue
00:34 an injunction to stop Sanosi from making similar remarks in the future.
00:39 They also called Sanosi's comments made in an August 2nd speech that mentioned the SMG
00:44 "vindictive" and "malicious".
00:46 The lawyers claim that Sanosi's comments have "pervaded and permeated into the family circle",
00:51 further aggravating the mental trauma suffered by him and his family.
00:55 On Monday, Tan and B Land had issued a letter of demand to Sanosi,
00:58 demanding a public apology and S$200 million in compensation from Sanosi
01:02 over his remarks over the project that was concerned with rehabilitating the Klang River.
01:07 Case management is scheduled for September 4th.
01:10 The quarterly Consumer Sentiments Index,
01:17 tracked by the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research,
01:19 continued its downtrend in the second quarter, decreasing 8.4 points quarter-on-quarter to 90.8
01:25 points, below the threshold of 100 points, which indicates optimism.
01:29 On a year-on-year basis, however, the CSI rose by 4.8 points.
01:34 In its report, the think tank said consumers displayed greater pessimism
01:37 towards this year's economic environment,
01:39 reflective by their negative outlook on future finances, incomes, jobs and inflation levels.
01:45 The negative trend is similarly observed in the Employment Index.
01:49 It declined 7.4 points quarter-on-quarter to 102.4 points from the first quarter,
01:54 and 7.8 points year-on-year from the second quarter of 2022.
01:59 According to Mir, as respondents exhibited pessimism about future jobs, incomes and inflation,
02:04 their spending plans also appeared to be lower.
02:07 As the global economy has not shown signs of recovering soon,
02:10 Mir is calling for the government to consider measures that would instill greater confidence
02:14 in jobs and income growth among Malaysians.
02:17 Similarly, the Business Conditions Index for the second quarter indicated that the
02:22 private sector is pessimistic over business conditions in the near term, reflected in
02:27 negative indicators in sales, employment and inventory levels, among others.
02:31 The quarterly index showed a decrease of 13 points quarter-on-quarter from the first quarter
02:36 to 82.4 points, the lowest since the second quarter of 2020.
02:40 On a yearly basis, the BCI dropped 13.8 points from 96.2 points in the second quarter of 2022.
02:47 Meanwhile, the companies appear to harbour pessimism regarding business conditions.
02:52 The BCI expected index for the second quarter decreased to 94.3 points from 115.8 points
02:58 in the previous quarter.
02:59 Mir added that the ongoing global uncertainties coupled with elevated inflation and supply
03:04 chain disruption has placed Malaysia in a vulnerable position.
03:08 The institute feels that it is important that Malaysia as a small and open trading
03:12 economy figure out solutions to address these concerns.
03:15 IHH Healthcare will be acquiring the entire equity interest in Bedrock Healthcare for
03:24 a cash consideration of RM245 million.
03:28 In a boss filing, IHH said its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Pantai Holdings,
03:32 has entered into a share purchase agreement with Saravita Holdings and nine individual
03:37 founders for Bedrock.
03:39 Bedrock, via its wholly-owned units, owns the key asset, Timberland Medical Centre in
03:43 Kuching, Sarawak, and has earmarked vacant land in central Kuching for the construction
03:47 of a new 200-bed tertiary hospital.
03:50 The acquisition is expected to be completed by the first half of 2024, subject to necessary
03:56 approvals, and upon completion, Bedrock and its subsidiaries will be consolidated as
04:00 subsidiaries of IHH.
04:02 IHH Group Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer Ashok Pandit said that this acquisition
04:07 will strengthen IHH's position as a leading provider of quality and comprehensive care
04:12 across Malaysia.
04:14 He adds that the two assets will complement its cluster strategy for East Malaysia and
04:18 bring IHH's total bid capacity in East Malaysia to almost 500 in the future.
04:24 IHH Healthcare Malaysia CEO Jean Franswana said that the proposed acquisition would allow
04:29 IHH to strengthen its position in Sarawak through the scaling up of Timberland's operations
04:34 via the new tertiary hospital, with a further investment of approximately RM400 million
04:40 to serve local needs as well as the fast-growing Indonesian medical tourism market.
04:45 TMC, which has been in operation for almost 30 years, is a prominent and respected 82-bed
04:50 private medical centre in Kuching, with strong brand recognition across Borneo.
05:00 Southern Cable Group has received an extension of contract from TNN worth
05:04 S$332.1 million to supply underground power cables to the national utility.
05:09 The group secured the one-year extension until July 2024 through its wholly-owned
05:13 subsidiary, Southern Cable.
05:15 The subsidiary was awarded the original one-year contract, valued at S$294 million, in July 2022.
05:22 SCGMD Tunging Hai says the enlarged orders in hand further reinforce its position as
05:28 a leading cable and wire manufacturer, supporting strong momentum to strengthen its earnings.
05:33 So far this year, the group has reported over S$500 million worth of new contract wins,
05:37 comprising more than S$460 million worth of supply contracts from TNB
05:42 and a S$44.8 million battery system supply contract from Telekom Malaysia.
05:46 Its year-to-date wins have surpassed the total of S$390 million achieved in 2022.
05:52 Besides TNB, the group also caters to other utility providers such as Sabah Electricity
05:57 and Sarawak Energy.
05:59 Tung added that the group is also committed to supporting Malaysia's energy transition
06:03 roadmap to assist the country in achieving its long-term energy security objectives.
06:08 Central REIT's net property income for its second quarter grew 4.6% year-on-year to S$29.2 million,
06:19 from S$27.94 million previously.
06:22 Central also noted that despite a higher net property income contribution,
06:25 the quarter saw lower realised income primarily due to elevated finance costs and utilities expenses.
06:32 Quarterly revenue was also up 4.6% to S$38.19 million,
06:36 driven by higher revenue generated from Manara Shell and Platinum Central,
06:40 partially offset by the decrease in revenue from Wisma Teknip and QB2.
06:45 It also declared an interim income distribution of S$3.19 per unit,
06:49 which translates to a yield of 7.8%.
06:53 For the first half, Central's net property income was fairly flat at S$58.49 million,
06:58 while revenue continued to hold steady at S$75.67 million, compared with S$75.27 million previously.
07:05 Approximately 74,000 square feet, or 98% of the group's committed net lettable area
07:11 due in the first half, was successfully renewed.
07:14 Correspondingly, the REIT also recorded a portfolio occupancy rate of 77% in the second quarter,
07:20 similar to the portfolio occupancy recorded in the previous quarter.
07:24 On its prospects, Central said the Klang Valley office and retail markets are expected to remain challenging.
07:30 As such, it said it will focus on asset management and leasing strategies
07:33 centred on cost optimisation and tenant retention,
07:36 and that it will intensify its efforts to market its available office spaces under the portfolio,
07:42 with a focus on bringing in new tenants from the IT, e-commerce, service office and shared services sector.
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