Public Bank announce 4Q Report of FY2009

Public Bank, PBBANK (Stock Quote 1295) has announced the 4th quarter financial report for financial year 2008. These are the few key points of the report:

· The Group’s pre-tax profit for the financial year ended 31 December 2008 of RM3,379.2 million was RM375.6 million or 12.5% higher than the previous corresponding period of RM3,003.6 million.
· Net profit attributable to equity holders improved by 21.5% to RM2,581.2million.
· Non-Performing loan (NPL) improved to 0.9% from 1.2% a year ago.
· Public Bank recorded a pre-tax profit of RM2,897.7 million for the financial year ended 31 December 2008 and was marginally higher than the pre-tax profit of RM2.850.8 million achieved in the previous year.
· Pre-tax profit contribution from the Group’s overseas operations decreased by RM130.4 million or 28.9% from the previous year to RM321.0 million.
· For the 4th quarter ended 31 December 2008, the Group registered a pre-tax profit of RM812.9 million, a decrease of RM8.3 million or 1.0% as compared to the previous corresponding quarter.
· Earnings attributable to equity holders grew by 12.8% or RM74.0 million in the current year.
· The EPS has increased to 19.5 cent in the 4th quarter compared to 17.3 cent in the previous corresponding period. The EPS for the financial year ended 31 December 2008 is 76.9 cent.
· Total assets is RM196,163 million and total liabilities is RM185,934 million.

Happy New Year!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! Time passes very fast, year 2008 is already end and year 2009 starts. Year 2008 is not a very good year for investors and businessmen, as the world economy is facing crisis and retrenchment is heard everywhere. Anyway, crisis will end one day. Opportunity is still around during crisis. As a new year comes, we should think properly about the investment opportunity in the crisis time, and also plan properly for our finance.

In a new year, we should have a new goal and plan. In finance, we also should review our financial goals and financial plan. Set some more appropriate goals and have a better financial plan. If you still have a goal and plan yet, you should think about it now. Review your financial status now, set a financial goal, and then drafts a financial plan. Read these posts again for the process:

What is Financial Planning?
Some tools to help assessing our financial status
How to set financial goals effectively?
Setting Financial Goals
Start the Financial Plan – Pay Off the Debt
Is Emergency Fund Important?
Is Insurance Important?

Personal Financial Planning is not something done by rich people only. It is for anyone who wishes to become rich. If you are failed to plan, you plan to fail!

Historical Performance of Malaysia Equity Funds (30 Nov 2008)

(Bracket indicates negative value)

1 Year:

1. MAA Capital Guaranteed 2 – (3.04%)
2. MAA Capital Guaranteed 3 – (3.41%)
3. Mayban Life Property Plus CG – (3.87%)
4. MAA Capital Guaranteed 1 – (3.92%)
5. PRUlink Guaranteed Account – (4.67%)
6. HLG European Dividend-Growth – (5.88%)
7. MAA Capital Gtd Asia Pacific – (6.59%)
8. MAA Platinum – (7.15%)
9. Saham Amanah Sabah – (7.80%)
10. AMB Dividend Trust – (19.67%)
11. HLG Consumer Products Sector – (20.05%)
12. MAA Technology – (20.79%)
13. AMB Value Trust – (21.27%)
14. AMB Ethical Trust – (21.90%)
15. Areca Equity Trust – (23.62%)
16. MAAKL Al-Fauzan – (24.60%)
17. AUTB Progress – (24.64%)
18. HLG Trading/Services Sector – (24.82%)
19. Allianz Life Equity Income – (24.91%)
20. MAAKL Dividend – (25.79%)


3 Year: (Annualized Return)

1. AMB Value Trust – 20.36%
2. OSK-UOB Smart Treasure – 19.99%
3. AMB Ethical Trust – 18.90%
4. Uni Aggressive – 16.68%
5. Saham Amanah Sabah – 16.49%
6. OSK-UOB Emerg Oppty – 16.43%
7. CMS Islamic – 15.98%
8. Public SmallCap – 14.64%
9. OSK-UOB Small Cap Opportunity – 13.79%
10. HLG Industrial and Tech Sector – 12.73%
11. Uni Strategic – 12.73%
12. Manulife Equity – 11.80%
13. Allianz Life Dynamic Growth – 11.76%
14. CIMB Principal Equity – 11.38%
15. MAAKL Growth – 11.37%
16. MAAKL Value – 11.35%
17. TA High Growth – 11.24%
18. PB Growth – 11.02%
19. OSK-UOB Equity – 10.89%
20. MAAKL Al-Fauzan – 10.87%


5 Year: (Annualized Return)

1. AMB Value Trust – 12.99%
2. PB Growth – 12.42%
3. Public SmallCap – 11.03%
4. AMB Ethical Trust – 10.97%
5. Manulife Equity – 10.59%
6. OSKUOB Equity – 9.73%
7. MAAKL Al-Faid – 9.62%
8. Pacific Dividend – 8.58%
9. Saham Amanah Sabah – 8.58%
10. Public Savings – 8.27%
11. OSK-UOB KLCI Tracker – 7.66%
12. Public Islamic Equity – 7.59%
13. Lion Progressive – 7.32%
14. MAA Capital Guaranteed 1 – 7.23%
15. Public Aggressive Growth – 7.15%
16. Public Industry – 7.01%
17. Kenanga Syariah Growth – 6.97%
18. Kenanga Growth – 6.94%
19. Public Ittikal – 6.85%
20. AIA Aggressive – 6.75%



Source: Lipperweb

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EPF Reduced from 11% to 8%

Recently, our Finance Minister announces that the EPF (Employee Pension Fund) is reduced from 11% to 8%, so that the people have more money every month, and increase the purchasing power. I believe the aim of this new policy is to increase the purchasing power and boost the economy. The question is, can this move really improve the purchasing power, and boost the economy?

Reduction from 11% to 8% means that we have extra 3% of our salary every month. 3% is not a huge amount, but also help a bit to ease our burden in this high inflation era. This is the direct benefit that we can see, but did we think in depth, what is the implication of this move? Is this really benefit to people like us?

EPF is our pension fund, and this will be the main income when we are retired. In fact, EPF is already not sufficient for our retirement fund. When we pay less 3% every month now, this means that our retirement fund in future will be lesser. Do not think that this 3% is just little. When we consider the compounding effect of the EPF dividend, this may make you lose quite a lot in future. Even RM100, after 30 years with dividend 5% per year (conservative assumption), this RM100 will become RM432, which is 4.32 times. This is the first thing we should consider.

Another more important aspect is the tax. Maybe most of us did not aware about the tax when we heard about this reduction in EPF. EPF is tax-deductible. We can minus out the EPF amount that we paid when we calculate for our taxable income. Now, we pay less to EPF, so that the deductible amount is also less. If your monthly income is in the range of RM2400 to RM6300, this reduction of EPF may increase your tax payable. People with income less than RM2400 a month, normally is not taxed. People with higher income than RM6300, their tax-deductible amount is already maximum. (EPF tax-deductible amount is RM6000 maximum)

Maybe you will think that 3% is not much, even you are taxed more, but the amount is still a small amount. In fact, you may get wrong. So, please check about your income if your salary range is between RM2400 and RM6300. In tax, there is a tax rebate RM400 for those who have taxable income less than RM35,000. If your taxable is just exceeded this RM35,000, because of the reduction of EPF, then you will need to pay RM400 more to Income Tax. Check back your last year BE Form, if your taxable income is around RM30,000, then you must be careful. With the increment of salary this year and next year, your taxable income may be closed to the RM35,000. If you choose to pay less to EPF, your taxable income may exceed RM35,000 and you will be taxed RM400 more. The reduction is automatic, so you should consider properly and apply to remain the same 11% deduction if you think you need to.

BKAWAN announce Q4 Financial Report of FY2008

Batu Kawan Berhad, BKAWAN (Stock Quote 1899) has announced the 4th quarter financial report for financial year 2008. These are the few key points of the report:

• The Group’s pre-tax profit for the current quarter was RM135.8 million, marginally higher compared to the RM132.1 million reported in the corresponding quarter last year.

• The Group’s pre-tax profit for the year ended 30 September 2008 was RM522.8 million, substantially higher than the RM359.9 million recorded last financial year, mainly due to higher profit contribution from KLK.

• The Net Profit for the current quarter was RM132.8 million compared to the RM131.6 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

• The Net Profit for the year ended 30 September 2008 was RM514.0 million, substantially higher than the RM355.4 million recorded last financial year.

• The Earning Per Share (EPS) for the current quarter is 30.13sen and 117.25sen for the year ended 30 September 2008.

• The Net Assets per Share is RM6.66.

The price of BKAWAN today is RM7.00, so the PE is RM7.00/RM1.1725 = 5.97x
This is really a very low PE, and the net asset per share is almost same as the share price. BKAWAN announce that there is 9 sen (less 25% tax) and 40 sen (single tier tax exempted) dividend. By using the share price now, RM7.00, the DY is 7%.

Opportunity is here, did you grab it?

Recently all the people talk about financial crisis, market is going down. When people meet up, no longer ask each other how much you have earned from investment, but asking each other how much you have lost in investment. Anyway, there is always opportunity during the crisis, but did you grab it?

Just share with you a story that I heard last time. There is a guy who is very holy and always prays to the god. One day, it is flood around his house. He thought this is the time for him to see the fruits of his continuous praying to the god. He believes the god will sure rescue him from the flood. He is waiting for the rescue on the roof top of his house.

There is a log flooding on the water coming near to him, other people ask him faster grab the log and move to safer place, but he refuses to. He says the god will sure come and rescue him. After sometime, there is a rescue boat come to get him. The guy says the boat is too crowded, he wants to wait for the god to rescue him. Now the water level is getting higher and higher, the guy is so dangerous. At this time, there is a helicopter coming near the guy and ask the guy to climb up the ladder into the helicopter. The guy does not want to climb the ladder, so he says the god will sure come to rescue him. Soon, the water level is higher than him and he really goes to see the god, he is died.

When he sees the god, he asks the god why the god is bad as did not rescue him although he always prays. The god answers that he already tried to save him for three times but the guy did not grab the opportunity. The god sent him a log, but the guy did not grab it. The god also sent him a boat, but the guy did not go into the boat. The god also sent him a helicopter, but the guy still did not go into the helicopter.

So, although the god has given the guy three opportunities, the guy did not appreciate the opportunities and also did not grab the opportunities. In real life, we should appreciate and grab all the opportunities around us. Do not always just wait for the opportunities. If you did not really think about the opportunity, you will not notice even the real opportunity is just beside you. During this financial crisis, we should analyze and think about it, grab the opportunity that in front of us.

Historical Performance of Malaysia Equity Funds (31 Oct 2008)

(Bracket indicates negative value)

1 Year:

1. MAA Capital Guaranteed 2 – (2.43%)
2. MAA Capital Guaranteed 3 – (2.65%)
3. MAA Capital Guaranteed 1 – (2.66%)
4. PRUlink Guaranteed Account – (4.02%)
5. MAA Capital Gtd Asia Pacific – (5.52%)
6. MAA Platinum – (6.08%)
7. Property Plus CG – (7.29%)
8. Saham Amanah Sabah – (11.11%)
9. AMB Dividend Trust – (18.77%)
10. MAA Technology – (21.37%)
11. HLG Consumer Products Sector – (22.28%)
12. AMB Value Trust – (22.92%)
13. AMB Ethical Trust – (23.57%)
14. HLG Trading/Services Sector – (23.63%)
15. Allianz Life Equity Income – (24.26%)
16. Areca Equity Trust – (25.13%)
17. ASM Dana Al-Aiman – (25.85%)
18. MAAKL Dividend – (25.93%)
19. MAAKL Al-Fauzan – (25.95%)
20. AUTB Progress – (26.73%)


3 Year: (Annualized Return)

1. AMB Value Trust – 20.16%
2. OSK-UOB Smart Treasure – 20.11%
3. AMB Ethical Trust – 18.42%
4. Uni Aggressive – 16.79%
5. OSK-UOB Emerg Oppty – 16.30%
6. Saham Amanah Sabah – 15.88%
7. Uni Strategic – 14.38%
8. CMS Islamic – 14.27%
9. OSK-UOB Small Cap Opportunity – 13.99%
10. Public SmallCap – 13.84%
11. Manulife Equity – 12.52%
12. PB Growth – 12.13%
13. TA High Growth – 11.77%
14. HLG Industrial and Tech Sector – 11.75%
15. CIMB Principal Equity – 11.38%
16. OSK-UOB Equity – 11.22%
17. MAAKL Progress – 10.80%
18. MAAKL Growth – 10.78%
19. MAAKL Value – 10.55%
20. Alliance Dana Adib – 10.23%


5 Year: (Annualized Return)

1. PB Growth – 12.83%
2. AMB Value Trust – 12.02%
3. Manulife Equity – 10.35%
4. Public SmallCap – 10.25%
5. AMB Ethical Trust – 9.94%
6. MAAKL Al-Faid – 9.09%
7. OSKUOB Equity – 8.72%
8. Saham Amanah Sabah – 7.98%
9. Public Savings – 7.68%
10. Public Islamic Equity – 7.62%
11. MAA Capital Guaranteed 1 – 7.47%
12. Lion Progressive – 7.09%
13. OSK-UOB KLCI Tracker – 7.03%
14. Public Industry – 6.81%
15. Kenanga Syariah Growth – 6.78%
16. Public Ittikal – 6.51%
17. Kenanga Growth – 6.26%
18. AIA Dana Dinamik – 6.20%
19. AIA Aggressive – 6.16%
20. CIMB-Principal Equity – 6.15%


Source: Lipperweb