Petra Energy's unit hold RM36 million contract

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 (Bernama) -- Petra Energy Bhd's wholly-owned subsidiary, Petra Resources Sdn Bhd, has won a RM36 million contract from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd for the provision of two anchor handling tug supply vessels for its drilling programme.In a statement here Wednesday, Petra Energy said the subsidiary would provide the vessels, both of which were owned by Petra Offshore Ltd and operated by Intra Oil Services Bhd, for a primary duration of twelve months.Petra Offshore and Intra Oil are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Petra Energy."The contracts are not expected to have any material effect on the net assets and earnings of Petra Energy Group for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2007, but is anticipated to contribute positively to its future earnings," it said.

Govt needs to expedite the convergence of marginal tax rate

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has called on the government to expedite the convergence of marginal tax rate to 25 percent to avoid the setting up of personal companies.FMM president Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon said the gap between personal tax and corporate tax would encourage individuals to create "creative accounting" which would not do any good to the country."Don't let the citizens do all sorts of funny things," he said when participating in a Post-Budget Panel Discussion here today.When tabling the 2008 Budget last Friday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced a further corporate tax cut to 25 percent in 2009. This is said to have been a surprise to many who were expecting a reduction in personal income tax instead.The current personal income tax rate is 27 percent.Yong said the current tax bands were also narrow and tax payers would hit the maximum tax band very fast.A Finance Ministry official who attended the forum said the government would look into the tax matter.Another panelist at the forum, Prof Dr Norma Mansor, a dean with University Malaya's Faculty of Economics & Administration, said the government needs to look into the current tax regime as the high rate presently was unattractive to draw knowledge workers.On the implementation of the GST (good and services tax), a Finance Ministry official said the government has yet to decide the time for its implementation.The official said the government was working with the private sector for the implementation."It (GST) is still on the table," she said.On the manufacturing sector, Yong said the important issue now was to improve efficiency through curbing rising costs of doing business amid intense competition.Another area of concern was the availability of natural gas at stable prices to enhance the manufacturing sector's cost competitiveness, he said.FMM noted that manufactured exports are estimated to grow only by 2.1 percent this year, a significant drop from the 10.1 percent growth in 2006.

Telenor top exec to meet Dr Lim On DiGi's stake

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- Top executives from Telenor ASA, led by its president and chief executive officer Jon Fredrik Baksaas would be meeting Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik to discuss the Norwegian telco company's intention to retain its controlling stake in DiGi.Com Bhd tomorrow.Telenor is facing year-end deadline to reduce its controlling stake after Dr Lim has said last month that the company would not be given another deadline to reduce its stake in DiGi after it was allowed to raise its stake in the company to 61 percent back in 2001."I'm meeting them tomorrow. They want to see me and I have agreed to meet them. I don't know what exactly they want to talk to me, but I presumed it has something to do with their stake in DiGi," he told Bernama when contacted here.Apart from Baksaas, another Telenor top executive to meet Dr Lim would be its senior vice-president and deputy CEO, who is also the head of Telenor's Asia Operations, Arve Johansen.Speaking to reporters after DiGi's annual general meeting in May, Johansen said the Oslo-based telco company will reduce its stake and comply with the target by year-end.However, two weeks ago in a interview with Bloomberg, Dr Lim said he has not seen any proposal from Telenor to pare down its equity in DiGi, despite the fact that the company has less than four months to do so.He also said Telenor will not be given another deadline to reduce its stake to 49 from currently 61 percent as its was the condition imposed when Telenor was allowed to raise its stake in 2001.Telenor is supposed to pare down its stake in DiGi by the end of last year but was given a year's extension by the Malaysian government -- until the end of this year.There is also speculation of possibility the Malaysian government investment arm, Khazanah Nasional Bhd take up some stake in DiGi from Telenor through Time dotCom.However, DiGi clarified that it has yet to make any proposal to any potential strategic partner.When contacted today, Dr Lim again reiterated that Telenor has to comply with the condition to pare it stake in DiGi by year-end and there would be no more extension."A month ago, my ministry (Energy, Water and Communication) has issued a letter to them stating that they have to comply with it. The decision has been made, they got to comply with it."I don't know exactly what they will talk to me tomorrow but we have already told them that there is no more extension," he added.Telenor has more than 129 million mobile subscribers worldwide and is regarded as one of the fastest growing providers of mobile communication services worldwide.Apart from Telenor Norway, Sweden, Pakistan, Serbia, the company also owned Sonofon (Denmark), Kyvstar (Ukraine), Pannon (Hungary), Promonte (Montenegro), VimpelCom (Russia), DiGi (Malaysia), DTAC (Thailand) and Grameenphone (Bangladesh).

PNB to invest RM1 billion overseas

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 (Bernama) -- Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) plans to invest more than RM1 billion in overseas markets this year, its president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman said Thursday."We target between five and 10 percent of our (investment) portfolio to be done this year in overseas markets," he said at a media briefing here today.Hamad Kama Piah said PNB was slowly expanding its overseas operations."We have always been investing overseas and we are slowly expanding the portion," he said.As of now, PNB has opened offices in Singapore and the United Kingdom."We hope our people in the two new offices can learn as quickly as possible so that we can give more funds for them to manage," Hamad Kama Piah said.

Iris supply E-Passport system

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- Iris Corporation Bhd has clinched a contract to supply Electronic Passport System (EPS) to the Republic of Senegal in West Africa.In a statement here today, the company said the contract is based on a build-own-transfer (BOT) project-financing model, over a 20-year period during which Iris will build and own the EPS. After the end of the period, the ownership of the system will be transferred to Senegal.The Senegal Government will pay a consideration of Euro 180 million for the 10 million units of electronic passports (E-Passports) that are scheduled to be delivered during the BOT period.Iris said the sites which have been identified for deployment and installation of EPS include the main passport operation centre in Dakar and eight regional passport operation centres in the Senegal.Besides that, eight overseas passport operation centres in the Embassies will also be installed with this system.The EPS will also include the installation of four Immigration Autogates at Dakar International Airport for automated and secure immigration clearance.The company which signed an agreement with the Senegal Government on Monday for the contract, said the agreement is expected to contribute positively towards improving its operating margins.The company's E-Passport System provides a fully integrated and highly secure solution for the enrollment, personalisation and issuance of e-Passports.

Ling Liong Sik Steps Down

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 (Bernama) -- Transmile Group Bhd, whose directors are currently facing charges of accounting fraud, has been dealt with another blow -- the departure of former transport minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik as its chairman and director.The cargo transport company today announced to Bursa Malaysia the resignation of Dr Ling from the company with immediate effect. He holds about 75,000 ordinary shares in the company.Dr Ling is scheduled to give a press conference tomorrow.Transmile did not disclose the reason for the 64-year-old veteran politician's resignation from the company.Transmile was dragged into the limelight with news of accounting woes in May this year as auditors uncovered accounting disparities dating back to 2004.The company directors, including its founder and former chief executive officer Gan Boon Aun, were charged by the authorities for providing misleading information on the company's 2006 financial statements.Last month, Transmile appointed former RHB Capital Bhd's group chief operating officer Wong Yoke Ming as managing director after Gan resigned.Transmile, which owns landing rights in more than 10 major cities in the Asia-Pacific, reported higher net loss of RM28.02 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2007 from a net loss of RM15.09 million previously.Its revenue declined marginally to RM149.93 million from RM152 million previously.

July'07 Exports Up 2.7% to RM50.52 Billion

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia exported goods worth RM50.52 billion in July 2007, higher by 2.7 percent when compared with RM49.03 billion in the previous month but similar to the level in July last year.The increase in exports was mainly attributed to palm oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude petroleum as well as electrical and electronic products (E&E), the Statistics Department said today.Imports in July 2007 rose 5.3 percent from RM42.54 billion the previous month and up by 2.5 percent when compared with the same period a year ago, the department said in a preliminary release.A trade surplus of RM7.98 billion was recorded, making it the 117th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997, it added.Total trade in July 2007 was worth RM93.06 billion, up by 3.9 percent from the previous month.E&E products accounted for RM21.85 billion or 43.3 percent of total exports, followed by palm oil at RM3.32 billion or 6.1 percent, and chemicals and chemical products at RM2.82 billion or 5.6 percent.Others were LNG at RM2.21 billion or 4.4 percent, refined petroleum products (RM1.97 billion or 3.9 percent), machinery, appliances and parts (RM.18 billion or 3.6 percent), manufactures of metal (RM1.32 billion or 2.6 percent), wood products (RM1.22 billion or 2.4 percent), and optical and scientific equipment (RM1.21 billion or 2.4 percent).The department said 79 percent of the exports went to Asean, the United States, the European Union (EU), Japan, China, Hong Kong and India.Asean absorbed 25.5 percent of the country's total exports in July 2007, up by 2.9 percent due mainly to higher exports of E&E products.Exports to the US totalled RM7.62 billion or 15.2 percent, an increase of 1.5 percent from the previous month due mainly to higher exports of refined petroleum products and palm oil.In July 2007, exports to EU totalled RM6.3 billion or 12.5 percent of Malaysia's total exports, up by 5.2 percent when compared to the same period last year.Exports to Japan amounted to RM4.62 billion, down slightly from RM4.8 billion in June 2007 due mainly to lower exports of refined petroleum products and E&E products. Year-on-year, exports to Japan registered an increase of 8.3 percent.Exports to China continued on an upward trend for the third consecutive month to reach a value of RM4.12 billion, up by 0.6 percent from the previous month, the department said, adding that the increase was mainly due to higher exports of palm oil and rubber products.On July 2007 imports, the department said intermediate goods worth RM30.47 billion accounted for 71.6 percent of total imports while capital goods amounted to RM6.01 billion or 14.1 percent and consumption goods totalled RM2.52 billion or 5.9 percent.Total trade during the first seven months of 2007 was valued at RM615.63 billion, an increase of 2.1 percent from the same period last year, the department said.During the same period, exports grew by one percent to RM333.65 billion while imports expanded by 3.4 percent to RM281.99 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of RM51.66 billion, it said.