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About KLSENew thread. 
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1347521/+2480
hi hi
want to ask if something like this only the current Astro shareholder will benefits right?
Won't have chance to get share right now right?
May I know how to the process goes like? Many thanks.
http://www.astroplc.com/09/investor/detail…i=467§ion=5
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f…04&sec=business
Anyone know this counter award project again, (beside of JV Star)
like the Besu 300m terengganu project?
TP its stil at 0.980 – 1.080???
Lehman “repeatedly exceeded its own internal risk limits and controls,” and a wide range of bad calls by its management led to the bank’s failure, says the report, authored by examiner Anton Valukas.
Valukas, of New York law firm Jenner & Block, was appointed in January 2009 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to examine the causes of Lehman’s failure.
Lehman’s bankruptcy filing on Sept. 15, 2008 — the largest Chapter 11 filing in financial history — capped a 95% slide in the firm’s stock price and unleashed a crisis of confidence that threw financial markets worldwide into turmoil, sparking the worst crisis since the Great Depression.
Blame the execs
As a credit squeeze caused investor confidence to falter in the fall of 2008 Lehman tried to stave off collapse by painting a misleading picture of its financial condition, the report claims.
The report is highly critical of Lehman’s executives, who “should have done more, done better.”
Lehman ex-CFO Erin Callan: She’s back!
Valukas blamed Lehman executives for exacerbating the firm’s problems, resulting in financial fallout to creditors and shareholders. The executives’ conduct “ranged from serious but non-culpable errors of business judgment to actionable balance sheet manipulation,” he said.
The report said former Chief Executive Richard Fuld was “at least grossly negligent in causing Lehman to file misleading periodic reports.”
But it says responsibility for its collapse is shared. A flawed business model that rewarded excessive risk and leverage exacerbated the bank’s problems, as did government agencies.
Lehman’s plight “was more the consequence than the cause of a deteriorating economic climate,” Valukas wrote.
Repo 105
In particular, the examiner’s report criticizes Lehman’s failure to disclose its use of an accounting device called “Repo 105″ to make its books look better. Lehman used this device to strip some $50 billion of undesirable assets from its balance sheet at the end of the first and second quarters of 2008, instead of selling those assets at a loss, according to the report.
Accounting rules permitted Lehman to treat this transaction as sales instead of financings, “so that the assets could be removed from the balance sheet,” according to the report.
The examiner’s report included e-mails from Lehman’s global financial controller confirming that “the only purpose or motive for [Repo 105] transactions was reduction in the balance sheet,” adding that “there was no substance to the transactions.”
The report accused Lehman of not disclosing its use of Repo 105, let alone its “significant magnitude,” to government regulators, rating agencies, investors or its board of directors.
The financial crisis: One year later
The auditor Ernst & Young was aware of the use of Repo 105, but it did not challenge or question it, according to the report, which runs more than 2,200 pages.
The report said there was “sufficient evidence” that Fuld knew about the use of Repo 105 before signing off on quarterly financial reports that made no mention of it.
The examiner based this charge on statements from former Chief Operating Officer Bart McDade, who said he discussed the use of Repo 105 with Fuld. The report also said that Fuld denied, in an interview with the examiner, any recollection of the conversations with McDade.
Fuld’s lawyer, Patricia Hynes of Allen & Overy LLP, said that her client was not aware of his company’s use of Repo 105.
“Mr. Fuld did not know what these transactions were — he didn’t structure or negotiate them, nor was he aware of their accounting treatment,” said Hynes, in a statement.
‘Unprecedented events’
Ernst & Young spokesman Charlie Perkins deflected blame from his company, saying that Lehman’s bankruptcy “was the result of a series of unprecedented adverse events in the financial markets.”
2008 financial crisis: Where are they now?
Perkins, in a statement, noted that his Ernst & Young conducted its last audit of Lehman for the fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2007, more than nine months before the Chapter 11 filing.
“Our opinion indicated that Lehman’s financial statements for that year were fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles [GAAP] and we remain of that view,” he said.
Fuld was defended by his attorney, Hynes, who said the ex-Lehman chief “throughout his career faithfully and diligently worked in the interests of Lehman and its stakeholders.”
In congressional testimony on Oct. 6, 2008, Fuld said, “I wake up every single night thinking, ‘What could I have done differently?’ ”
BURSA MALAYSIA: KL Shares To Trade Higher Next Week
KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 (Bernama) — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia are expected to be higher next week buoyed by the positive market sentiment.
Dealers said the market barometer was likely to test the 1,340-point level next week with key bluechips leading the rise.
A dealer said the global economy, which was on a recovery mode, would continuously provide a positive impact to the local market.
He said the growing confidence in the domestic economy would augur well for the stock trade.
In the meantime, the Plantation Index is also expected to gain further with the strong palm industry outlook.
For just-ended week, the local stock market surpassed the 1,300-point level, supported by the hike in the overnight policy rate (OPR), which triggered gains in bluechip banking stocks, and lifted the FBM KLCI into positive territory.
The FBM KLCI had touched a two-year high of 1,328.22 on Wednesday, led by gains in plantation stocks, with expectation of a brighter future for the palm oil industry.
The benchmark index had earlier breached its first high for the year on Jan 21, at 1,308.36 points.
After riding high, selling pressure seeped in on Friday and the market ended the week with a decline.
Prudential in a research report said most South East Asian markets rose in February, recovering some of the ground lost in the previous months, thanks to better-than-expected economic data and favourable corporate earnings results.
On the macroeconomic side, it said Malaysia and Thailand had emerged out of recession in the fourth quarter of 2009. Singapore, meanwhile, raised its growth estimate for this year as the global recovery gained traction.
On a week-on-week basis, the FBM KLCI advanced 11.42 points to 1,311.20 compared to last Friday’s 1,299.78 while the Finance Index added 126.71 points to 11,664.37 from 11,537.66.
The Plantation Index increased 75.98 points to 6,472.04 from 6,396.06 last week and the Industrial Index went up 39.46 points to 2,643.49 from 2,604.03.
The FBM Emas Index was 68.45 points higher at 8,805.73 from 8,737.28 last Friday and the FBM Top 100 rose 71.09 points to 8,577.32 from 8,506.23. However, the FBM Ace Index declined 60.71 points to 4,238.33 from 4,299.04 previously.
The week’s turnover declined to 4.402 billion shares worth RM8.014 billion from 4.42 billion shares valued at RM7.636 billion last week.
Volume on the Main Market slipped to 3.696 billion shares valued at RM7.816 billion from 3.907 billion shares worth RM7.537 billion previously.
Call warrants went up to 254.6 million units worth RM45.55 million from 149.077 million units valued at RM28.192 million last week.
The ACE Market volume was higher at 305.383 million shares valued at RM48.604 million from 263.504 million shares worth RM50.447 million previously.
– BERNAMA
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Is the Federal Reserve forever blowing bubbles?
With interest rates hovering at historic lows, some economists and investors fear the Fed’s easy-money policy could create another asset bubble. But others don’t see a need to hit the panic button just yet.
Critics want the central bank to start hiking rates and withdrawing some of the trillions of dollars pumped into the system over the last few years to help spur U.S. economic activity.
Neither move is likely to happen at Tuesday’s meeting of central bank policymakers.
But Fed watchers will be looking closely at the Fed statement for clues about its so-called exit strategy and any signs of bubble worries among the Federal Open Market Committee members who control monetary policy.
Feeding bubbles with low rates
The Fed gets blamed for creating bubbles because when rates are low, money is cheap for investors. That can encourage excessive risk taking and drive up asset prices, as in the dot.com boom of the late 1990s or housing prices in the middle of the last decade.
“Easy money is a key ingredient of crazy bubbles,” said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute. “This is why observers have said the Fed is just blowing up bubbles.”
Critics have argued the central bank has a duty to “pop” bubbles before they inflate too large and cause economic havoc. Fed officials have responded that it’s difficult to foresee an asset bubble forming, and that monetary policy is not an effective tool for bubble bursting.
But that was before an extended period of easy money was followed by the massive bubble in home prices, which sparked a crisis in the global financial system and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke argued in a speech on Jan. 3 that the Fed’s monetary policy was getting too much of the blame for the run-up in home prices.
Not all economists agree.
But the Fed seems more ready to acknowledge the risks of a bubble today than ever before.
Bigger bubble worries
In the minutes of its November meeting, policymakers worried that an extended period of low rates “could lead to excessive risk-taking in financial markets” — economic-speak for the creation of bubbles.
The minutes didn’t identify any potential bubbles, but experts have pointed to a series of inflated markets, including U.S. Treasurys, commodities such as gold and oil and even in U.S. stock markets, which have rebounded more than 60% since their low-point a year ago.
But is the fear of another asset bubble enough to spur the Fed to tighten economic policy and start pushing up rates?
Many economists are doubtful. They think the Fed is less concerned with bubbles than with spurring economic growth.
“I think bubbles are something the Fed needs to watch,” said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s. “But I don’t see much evidence that is the dominant issue for the Fed compared to 10% unemployment and lack of sustainable growth.”
The Fed’s statements for the last year have predicted the fed funds rate will stay exceptionally low for “an extended period.”
The bubble myth
Wyss and others say they aren’t convinced that the Fed has created any new bubbles during its current period of easy money.
They say that much of the run-up in prices of assets such as Treasurys and gold is due to investors’ aversion to riskier assets, and not just the cheap and easy money.
“You’re seeing evidence still of significant risk aversion in the markets,” said Wyss, who points to historically high spreads between Treasury rates and junk bond rates.
During the bubble years, that spread fell to less than 3% — an indication of excessive risk-taking that fed the boom in subprime mortgages and in turn, housing prices. When the crisis hit and credit markets froze, the spread pushed up above 17%. Today it’s around 6%, or above the typical 5% pre-bubble level.
Plus, not every rise in an asset market indicates a bubble, even if prices do eventually turn lower.
“Anytime the price moves up, people call it a bubble and that’s a misuse of the word,” Wyss said.
Barry Ritholz, CEO and director of equity research at Fusion IQ, said that too many people have become obsessed with bubbles because of the problems caused by the bursting of the dot.com and housing bubbles.
“No one saw bubbles in 1999 or 2006, and then after missing the biggest bubbles in history, everyone is spotting bubbles,” he said. “I’m always reluctant to fight the previous war.”
But even those who don’t think there’s a bubble building aren’t ready to dismiss the risk if the Fed keeps the cheap money flowing.
“We know from history that really cheap money encourages people to do really stupid things,” said Ritholz. “But I see no evidence that the Federal Reserve has created any bubbles — and here’s the pregnant pause — yet.”
Market rally, ringgit strengthen. Signs of economic growth in the region!
[addedon]March 10, 2010, 11:54 pm[/addedon]
Market rally, ringgit strengthen. Signs of economic growth in the region![right][snapback]32362533[/snapback][/right]
forgot to attach the link from NST
http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIM…icle/index_html
Berjaya Corp 'deeply undervalued'
http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIM…icle/index_html
Berjaya Corp, a Malaysian property, betting and insurance group, is deeply undervalued with a net asset value of RM2.75 a share, according to AmResearch Sdn Bhd in a report today.
The company aims to raise RM800 million from non-core asset sales in the financial year 2011, AmResearch said. — Bloomberg
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/features/15…ch-in-2010.html
Price & volume is on up trend following recent corporate news. ..
Anyone here is following this stock? Do you buy the story this stock is 'deeply undervalued'?
Apprecate any of your comments.
How to analyse company statements and reports
Personal Investing – By Ooi Kok Hwa
Analysts usually judge the quality of a companys management team by looking at the comprehensiveness and truthfulness shown in the management statements
FOR the next few weeks, investors will start to receive annual reports for companies that have their financial year ended Dec 31. Even though the majority of investors may not look at those reports in detail (in fact, some investors may not even open the envelope containing the annual reports), some people will still spend time analysing the whole report. One of the key sections that investors will analyse in detail is the chairmans statement and management discussion or operations review. In this article, we will label the above statements as management statements.
Most of the management statements will explain the companies immediate past one-year financial performance, external environment, major corporate developments as well as the companies future prospects.
Based on our observations, the majority of companies will try to explain and highlight a lot of positive elements that happened in the companies. It is very rare to find negative issues that affect the companies performances being discussed in the statements. Even though we cannot conclude that those companies that are willing to highlight their financial problems as good companies, at least these companies show their effort in trying to be truthful to their investors. This will provide a lot of plus points to these listed companies.
Analysts usually judge the quality of a companys management team by looking at the comprehensiveness and truthfulness shown in the management statements.
Nowadays, if there are areas that a company does not comply with the accounting standards, the external auditor will highlight those areas inside the auditor report. Hence, investors need to read the management statements and financial statements together with the auditors report.
The management statements will normally provide the reasons driving the companies overall performance, whether good or bad. However, there are certain companies that tend to focus on higher sales and avoid mentioning the profitability when ever they report lower profits during the year. They will try to avoid the reasons causing the reduction in profits, for example, higher operating costs, raw material costs or stiff price competition.
Some times, some companies will claim they have managed to maintain profits at the same level as the previous year. However, if we further analyse the financial statements, we will notice that the profit had included a lot of exceptional items, such as gains from the disposal of fixed assets as well as investments. Hence, we should not rely on the explanation given by the management in the chairmans statement.
In fact, we need to investigate further the driving factors for the profitability of the company, especially if it had included some exceptional gains or losses, which are not part of the companys normal operations. These details can be found in the notes to the accounts. Normally, most companies will list the key items that affect their profitability in the notes to the profit before tax.
We can get a summary of key corporate developments that happened in the company in the corporate development section. If you have been following the companys corporate developments, this section may not provide you a lot of new information.
Nevertheless, certain companies may provide the latest status of their corporate developments, such as any new projects being initiated or certain approvals from relevant parties being granted for their critical projects.
As for the section on the companys future prospects, investors should not place too much weight on it. Based on our experience, a lot of Malaysian companies have the same statement on future prospects by saying that the company will perform better in the future.
There are companies that have reported losses every year but the chairmen will still say the companies would perform better next year without the backing of solid grounds to improve profitability.
Hence, a good company statement should provide a fair account of the actual happening in the company. In reality, it is quite difficult for listed companies to hide their problems as the level of financial literacy of the general public has improved over years.
There are some mature investors and analysts who are able to detect the problems faced by the company by analysing the notes to the accounts in addition to making comparison of the current financial statements versus the statements or quarterly financial statements of past years.
? Ooi Kok Hwa is an investment adviser and managing partner of MRR Consulting.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f…81&sec=business
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