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00:04 The Ministry of Health is seeking advice from the Attorney General's Chambers
00:08 on the appropriate course of action as PharmaNyaga Logistics has refused to comply with a letter of demand
00:14 issued by the MOH regarding shortcomings in the procurement of faulty ventilators.
00:19 Deputy Health Minister Luka Nisman Awang Sawni said that the Ministry issued a letter of demand
00:25 for the reimbursement of $15.34 million on September 13 and provided PLSP with a 14-day
00:32 deadline for response. However, Luka Nisman said that PLSP responded by requesting the withdrawal
00:37 of the letter and expressed readiness to negotiate the outstanding payment of $1.07 million for the
00:44 ventilation upgrade project. He was responding to MP Lim Lip Eng who urged the Ministry to
00:49 not accept the handoff and the irresponsible attitude of PLSP and the supplier from China
00:55 over the faulty ventilators. Lim also recommended that the government take stern action by
01:00 blacklisting PharmaNyaga or the ventilator provider. Luka Nisman said the MOH will consider
01:06 Lim's proposed measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. He also pointed out
01:10 that the Ministry is currently preparing its response to the recommendations by the Public
01:14 Accounts Committee and is committed to improving the procurement process even in emergencies,
01:20 as well as ensuring communication through the gazetted medium. The PAC's report in October
01:25 revealed that the MOH had approved an allocation of $30 million as a down payment to PLSP for the
01:31 procurement of 500 ventilators. Of the 136 that were delivered, only 28 units were working. Added
01:38 to the $2.9 million for repairs, the government spent a total of $23.03 million for the 136
01:45 ventilators, with only 32 working at the end.
01:48 Malaysian consumer and businesses have grown more pessimistic in the third quarter as inflationary
01:58 pressures eat into spending power while slowing external demand weighs on sales amid rising
02:04 operating costs, according to studies done by the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.
02:09 The Business Conditions Index continued to decline in the third quarter, following by 2.7
02:14 points to 79.7 points, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2020 during the initial
02:20 COVID-19 outbreak, compared with 82.4 points in the second quarter of 2023 and 99.8 points in
02:27 the third quarter of 2022, Mir said in a statement. According to the research institute, while domestic
02:33 orders have increased slightly, export orders have reduced. Businesses are also concerned about
02:39 increasing costs, with 56% reporting wage increases while only 23% reported price increases.
02:46 The institute's Consumer Sentiments Index also continues its negative trend, dropping 11.9
02:52 points quarter and quarter to 78.9 points in the third quarter, the lowest since second quarter
02:57 2021 when Malaysia was in a new lockdown phase. Mir's survey found that 45% of respondents'
03:04 finances have worsened in the third quarter, compared to just 10% who says theirs have
03:09 improved. In addition, 40% of respondents expect their finances to worsen in the future, compared
03:14 to just 15% who expect an improvement. The survey found that consumers are not only negative on the
03:20 outlook of their future finances, but also pessimistic about their incomes growth, job
03:25 opportunities and inflation level. Mir said that its findings showed a mixed picture for Malaysia,
03:30 with the picture for domestic growth being positive relative to other countries in the region,
03:34 but there is some concerning results in terms of imports and exports. Meanwhile, Economy Minister
03:40 Rafizieh Ramli said that Malaysia's gross domestic product for the third quarter is expected to be
03:44 better than the second quarter, despite a challenging global economy. He says that
03:49 Malaysia should see a third consecutive quarter-on-quarter growth, which has not
03:52 happened in the past three to four years.
03:56 Bajaja Foods' net profit for its first quarter of FY 2024 fell by 45% year-on-year to $19.03 million,
04:07 from $34.7 million previously, as inflationary pressures squeezed margins. Revenue for the
04:13 quarter dipped 1.6% to $278.5 million, mainly due to lower sales from the underperformance of its
04:20 Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurants in Malaysia. The group declared a first interim share dividend
04:25 of one treasury share for every 100 ordinary shares held, which is equivalent to a
04:30 0.44 cent per share distribution, or a total of 7.72 million ringgit. Moving forward, the group
04:36 expects all its operating companies' performance to remain on track for the rest of FY 2024.
04:42 BFood elaborates that Bajaja Paris Baguette continues to perform at a better-than-expected
04:47 level and new outlet openings are proceeding as planned. Bajaja Starbucks is expected to return
04:52 to its revenue growth momentum once the challenging market conditions brought about by the recent
04:58 Middle East conflict are back to normality. BFood said that in order to mitigate some of
05:03 the challenging market conditions, the group is focusing on cost optimization,
05:07 labor/productivity management, and effective marketing strategies over the remaining quarters
05:12 of FY 2024. Separately, in another boss filing, the group announced the redesignation of its CEO,
05:19 Datuk Sidney Lawrence Keyes, as its new group CEO, effective immediately.
05:24 New ACE market entrant, Platek Holding, closed its maiden trading day at 32.5 cent,
05:34 7.14% lower than its offer price of 35 cent. The construction-related player's share price
05:40 had ticked up by 1 cent on its debut, reaching an intraday high of 36 cent, but was unable to
05:46 hold on to its gains. This makes it the fourth-worst-performing IPO so far this year.
05:51 However, it was the fourth-most actively traded stock on the bourse, with over 70 million shares
05:57 transacted. At the press conference held after the group's listing, Group MD-CUMM CEO Yang Qian
06:02 Lok said that Platek hopes to grow the construction method engineering segment, which accounted for
06:07 about 43% of its total revenue of $158.1 million reported for FY 2022. Group's CEO, Louis Teh Chee
06:16 Seong, says that the group remains unaffected directly by material shortages and price
06:21 fluctuations, as they are often driven by market forces. The building materials segment contributed
06:26 about 52% of Platek's total revenue in FY 2022. Platek raised $37.1 million from its listing,
06:34 of which the bulk will go towards repaying bank borrowings, $8 million for capital expenditure,
06:38 while $7.8 million will be utilised for construction of factories and labour quarters.
06:43 A total of 26,286 completed houses, valued at $18.3 billion, were reportedly unsold in the
06:56 second quarter of 2023. Deputy Local Government Development Minister Akmal Nasrullah Muhammad
07:02 Nasir stated that, according to the National Property Information Centre, this indicates a 5.3%
07:08 decrease in total units and a 0.6% decrease in value compared with the same period last year.
07:14 To control the issue of unsold houses, Akmal said that the government had implemented the
07:18 mapping of the Affordable Housing Index based on median income by state and district obtained from
07:24 the 2022 Household Income and Basic Facilities Survey report. Akmal added that the government
07:30 also encourages developers to conduct feasibility studies before initiating any development to
07:36 ensure that houses built align with people's affordability and to prevent unsold inventory.
07:42 Meanwhile, the value of real estate market transactions jumped 22.6% to $57.15 billion
07:48 in the third quarter compared with the same quarter last year due to an increase in the
07:53 transfer of ownership of major sales in the country, according to the Valuation and Property
07:58 Services Department. Transaction volume increased marginally by 3.7% year-on-year to 108,955
08:06 in the third quarter. JPBH Director-General Abdul Razak Yusak said the residential subsector
08:12 continued to support the overall property market, according for 62.9% of total transactions,
08:18 or 68,561 in volume, valued at RM28.36 billion. Abdul Razak said housing priced at RM300,000
08:26 and below per unit continued to dominate market activities with a 52.4% share, followed by those
08:32 priced from RM300,001 to RM500,000 with a 24.7% share, while the rest were units priced from
08:40 RM501,000 and above with a 22.9% share. Abdul Razak said housing prices in Malaysia had
08:47 stabilized with minimal increases. He said the Malaysian house price index stood at 212.6 points,
08:53 or RM458,751 per unit, with a small annual growth rate of 0.1% in the third quarter of 2023.
09:01 [Music]
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