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

Click here for the previous month ranking.

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

Crisis??? Or Opportunity???

If you are reading newspaper or listening to radio recently, you should know the global share market has been dropping for quite a lot. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and huge debt faced by AIG make the situation worse. Global share markets drops almost 50% from the peak at the early of the year. Crude Oil price and Crude Palm Oil price also has been dropping for quite a lot.

Look at the chart above to see the dropping since the peak of each indice. KLCI has dropped from the peak 1516 points before the general election until the latest 859 points last week. Today, HSI and HSCEI have dropped for 12.70% and 14.00% respectively in a single trading day. KLCI is unchanged due to the public holiday in Malaysia, and the KLSE has no trading. Obviously, KLCI will drop a lot tomorrow when the trading starts.

At this moment, all the papers report about the global financial crisis, unemployment rate, inflation, all the negative issues in economy. Most of the people now are so sad when talking about investment and economy. Investors have suffered a lot of paper loss now. Businessmen tell that business is not good. The whole world is so sad about the economy and investment.

So, what do you feel after you hear this? Sad? Worried? Scared? I believe most of the people will feel these, especially for those who suffer a lot from paper loss. When most of the people think like that, why not you think in another way round? Is this a crisis? Or actually it is an opportunity? Make your mind fresh and think about it properly. Really take some time to think about it…we think about it together and I will share my views and feelings here later.

“When all people is pessimistic, you should be optimistic. When all people is greedy, you should be worried” I believe most of you heard this before, but how many of us can do it?

Public Bank announce 3Q Report of FY2008

Public Bank, PBBANK (Stock Quote 1295) has announced the 3rd quarter financial report for financial year 2008. These are the few key points of the report:

· The Group’s pre-tax profit for the nine months ended 30 Sep 2008 of RM2,566.2 million was RM383.3 million or 17.6% higher than the previous corresponding period of RM2,182.4 million.

· Net profit attributable to equity holders improved by 24.8% to RM1,927.3 million.

· Non-Performing loan (NPL) improved to 0.9% from 1.3% over the same period.

· Public Bank recorded a pre-tax profit of RM2,129.4 million for the nine months ended 30 Sep 2008 and was 14.1% higher than the previous corresponding period.

· Pre-tax profit contribution from the Group’s overseas operations increased by RM13.3 million or 4.8% from the previous corresponding period.

· For the 3rd quarter ended 30 Sep 2008, the Group registered a pre-tax profit of RM804.0 million, an improvement of RM29.6 million or 3.8% as compared to the previous corresponding quarter.

· Earnings attributable to equity holders grew by 13.4% or RM72.7 million over the same period.

· The EPS has increased to 18.4 cent in the 3rd quarter compared to 16.2 cent in the previous corresponding period. The EPS for nine month ended 30 Sep 2008 is 57.4 cent.

· Total assets is RM190,729 million and total liabilities is RM180,841 million.