This Khoy Gen's acquisition on 18 Aug, I wonder if it was before the news of the final purchase consideration was released on.

If it was before then it smacks of you know what ...

RM88m higher proceeds from sale! That's commendable.

On the contrary, considering so few draws, it has done well. However I've always opposed to the HR Owen thing as I wanted a pure gaming exposure. That's going to be a big drag with MCO.

Is TVT selling because he feels that the price is too high or because he needs to money for some other investment?

A good move would be to fire some of the passengers sitting pretty on the board & collecting a nice package doing next to nothing

Breakeven? Meaning profit = 0?

Positive 10 -15 firehawk

Subdued demand will pull profits down but significant holding gains will push it up.

I predict between 10 - 15 sen EPS for June quarter. Too optimistic?

So what's your EPS prediction for June quarter?

I don't like the idea that Aeon Big is competing in the same turf. It's a conflict of interest.

The little comfort though is that the directors have increased their equity stakes.

Dividendlover @sheldon it will be from company’s retained earning :))

Yes ie Dr Retained Earnings Cr Dividend Payable, then the actual cash payment?

Where are they going to get the cash? Perhaps more borrowings? Cash cannot be manufactured unfortunately.

Can someone enlighten as to where Aeon is going to get RM56m to pay dividends?

Could it be from the cash registers? haha

Another thing is that you may be aware that Aeon has introduced it's version of online shopping. The link below refers ...

https://www.happyfresh.my/blog/news-event-promo/online-groceries-shopping-at-aeon-is-now-available-try-it-with-happyfresh/

lambsauce - you're right. The main revenue is from rentals. Margins from sales are negligible. But could you clarify if the supermarket vegetables and meat are mainly Aeon's and not 3rd parties, hence the margin is the main source.

There's in excess of RM700m in the form of inventories - I hope the management can reduce this & free up some cash flow?

Dividendlover - you're also right that the new accounting treatment brings a lot of operational leases onto the balance sheet. Despite not including this in the gearing computation, the gearing ratio is skyhigh.

Jeffreyboy - you asked the right question. I asked the same question at last year's AGM.

They said of the 640 odd stations, 333 belong to PetronM. Add this to 2019 annual report that states 31 new stations opened, we have 364 stations in total.

Actually for greater transparency, they should disclose the addresses of the stations under PetronM.

Some information that I gathered at the recent AGM:

a) Business shifted from 30% to 100% on-line

b) Great surge in demand for health supplements & air-purifying equipment (due to COVID)

c) Impairment of goodwill RM1.5m relate to Brunei operations. Due to measures put in, the Brunei business is turning around

d) FX is fixed with HQ - Favorable for the financial year. Negotiated yearly based on past year's average.

e) Co acting on unauthorised selling of Amway products - on the basis that it cannot guarantee the legitimacy of the products.

f) Management intends to make it "10X easier" for ABOs to acquire customers

20 sen - I confirmed with the co

My letter to the MSWG ...

Dear Mr XXX,

Background
I participated in the above AGM as a shareholder on live streaming. The entire board, all dressed up looking very dapper was present from KL and Manila.

Conduct of Meeting
I have some observations which I hope you can convey to the board.

I felt that several of their responses were not up to scratch. Allow me to elaborate please ...

Superficial Response
Someone asked what the cost of the virtual AGM was (vis-a-vis the regular one). This may sound a rather petty question but nevertheless important to the enquiring shareholder. The response was just general and on the surface, something to the effect ...

"The cost varies from company to company ... Obviously the virtual AGM is cheaper than a regular one ..."

If you analyse the above, you realise that it's a motherhood statement. There is nothing of value in it. Do you see anything aha about it? No figures mentioned. I could have a similar response from the man in the street. It would have been useful if he had provided some ballpark figures like the cost of hall rental, food and parking saved versus the main cost of virtual meeting.

No Response
There was a box for which I typed out 2 questions & sent them during the Q & A session. I'm not certain if the online system had taken a little longer time to convey the questions. I waited for the response but there was none. They quickly rushed on to the voting session. The company secretary who led the AGM merely said at the start of the voting session that he has received some more questions but too bad they've moved on to the voting session.

My take
Board meetings are held only once a year. They should have the decency to give us adequate opportunity to learn more about the company, its plans and also query on the financials.

We shareholders have skin in the game. It's noteworthy however that none of the board members have any direct shareholding in the company. Nevertheless they get to enjoy pecuniary benefits. If they want to pocket the meeting allowance, I suggest that they have to make it count. If they're just going to be passengers then they should stay at home and not attend. It'll at least save the company some money.

It appears to me that the board has taken advantage of the of the virtual AGM to cut corners. They pretend not to hear the queries raised and quickly rush through the meeting. If that's the case, then I also want to sit on the board.

That's not the way to treat shareholders who have taken their time to meet the board.

Thank you sir.

Regards

The good thing management did was to cancel all 10% treasury shares bought and now they're buying back some more heading foe another 10%.

Well done!!

6 sen dividends with 8 sen loss

isn't canone supposed to inform the shareholders if it's seeking to extend the submission of quarterly?

2 sen dividend announced as "Special Dividend" - Making a mountain out of a molehill.

It's like feeding scraps to diners and calling it was a sumptuous meal.

As shareholders, we want to be able to assess the impact of exchange rate movements on the bottom line. There have been instances where the MYR had appreciated significantly & I'm jumping for joy. Turned out that they had to some degree hedged the exposure.

I asked several AGMs ago about its hedging policy. The board was reticent in its response. Then I realised why - they probably practiced transfer pricing.

The silver lining is that with many being unemployed, more may join as agents.

germaice - if the govt is savvy enough, it could spin the narrative that due to health concerns, bettings may be placed online.

Cars have started plying the roads from early May, increasing demand. Also a positive crack spread due to sharp increased crude price will be the positive aspects of performance for the second quarter.

A massive volume by B.Kawan standards with a more than 50k shares purchased at RM14!

i was in aeon buying groceries. Prices were bloody steep.

Then i stopped & pondered & smiled at the thought of the fat margins flowing into the income statement.

surely no dividend in the next quarter la

Come on brother!
Declare that 15 sen dividend.
Go on!
I haven't got all day.

How's buying toto more risky than drawing money from an ATM?

In fact ATM should be riskier because all sorts of people touch those buttons.

If kicked out of MSCI index then there'll be a loss of trading liquidity.

I can't imagine that AirAsia can be included given that its business fundamentals today is very bad.

Stupid of the govt to delay opening - don't they need the sin taxes?

haha

Price dropping like a stone

But Petron has lost a significant demand from jet fuel.

Anyone thinks there'll be dividend announcement?

The disappearance of travel insurance would certainly affect cash flows hence dividends

Anyone thinks dividends will be declared?

Kelvin17 - i think you are referring to the funds. The profits remain untouched

If the govt is practical, it'll allow on-line 4D & lottery but with the so-called pious and apparently holy-men, it's unfortunately a political suicide .

The details of the pathetic 6 sen dividends will be announced in a matter of days.

yfchong Travel insurance not good.... agreed

but car insurance, airplane insurance, fire insurance relatively ok

This MCO could be positive for general insurance business. No business = no turnover = no activity = no risk = no claims!

The incentive to buy now is the probable 15 sen dividend to be announced in May - a yearly affair (unless management decides that the Co wants to hoard cash)

Track record shows that dividends are announced sometime between end April to end May

This is the time to try your luck because God might bless you with a win!

Powersearch - there's a large share buyback.

Due to the sharp drop in crude, Petron may incur negative crack spreads because it bought high but have to sell the processed stuff low. E.g. RON 95 down from 2.08 to 1.89 to 1.82.

Likewise for jet fuel. In addition, travel ban means lower demand for petrol/diesel (although many M'sians have chosen to ignore it).

Maybe better if you could pray that the nons will have a better life by leveling the playing field - i.e. lifting the long overdue NEP implemented in 1970. It was meant for 20 years but now looks like it's forever.

This way nons can get their fair share of govt & GLC jobs, directorships, scholarships, promotions, housing etc. Believe me PN2020, this will be far more fair and beneficial to the nons than praying for them not to bet. This is the elephant in the room!

Even God who's ever intelligent and fair will realise that you've competed fairly on this temporary life give you a nice place in heaven.