A 4G Innovation Network will help facilitate YTL Communications Sdn Bhd’s 4G (fourth generation) wireless broadband service across the nation next year.

The network will be employed to develop applications and devices for use with its 4G mobile Internet service, said Wing K. Lee, chief executive officer of YTL Communications.


He was speaking at a press briefing on the sidelines of the International Advisory Panel meeting in Putrajaya last week.

One of the four WiMAX ­licensees in the country, YTL will design, build and operate the 4G infrastructure and network, which is scheduled to be ­operational by end 2010.

It has partnered with Cisco Systems Inc, Clearwire Communications, GCT Semiconductor Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to develop the 4G Innovation Network.

YTL describes 4G as the next-generation mobile broadband technology that combines the convenience of a WiFi hotspot with the mobility of a cellular service, and provides high-speed connections at low cost.

The service provider, which is competing against the other WiMAX licensees Packet One Networks, Redtone International and Asiaspace, declined to reveal how fast its 4G service would be or unveil its pricing structure.

“Our 4G products and services will be optimised to provide high bandwidth with low latency,” Lee said.

He also said the service would give Malaysians a truly connected lifestyle, with new levels of communication freedom.

Some 4G services that have been highlighted in the past include anytime, anywhere e-mail access and instant ­messaging, Internet browsing, social networking, and location-based services.

4G is claimed to be faster and more efficient at transferring data packets than 3G (third-generation) technology. This would be most useful to users who watch streaming video on handheld devices or make video calls.

Many hands

US-based Clearwire brings its suite of advanced high-speed Internet services for consumers and businesses to the ­partnership.

It will also support approved application-developers by ­providing access to software developer kits, to help bring the best options to YTL’s service subscribers.

Clearwire now provides 4G services using WiMAX technology in 16 markets. It also provides pre-WiMAX communications services in 40 markets across the United States and Europe.

Cisco will help build and ­integrate YTL’s WiMAX core network, as well as offer ­interoperability testing labs to quickly develop and launch new services for YTL.

GCT is the primary chipset provider for the initiative, ­offering 4G-enabled devices to aid in the application ­development and testing phases of the project.

Samsung will serve as technical advisor during the 4G Innovation Network’s ­rollout and will support approved developers in testing the interoperability of proposed applications prior to launch.

YTL is building a state-of the-art complex in Sentul Park, Kuala Lumpur, that will house its network operations centre, ­datacentre and testbed facilities for its 4G Innovation Network. This will open early next year.

To encourage application developers to build services and devices for the 4G Innovation Network, YTL will sponsor a global competition in 2010, with a total of US$1mil (RM3.4mil) in prizes.

The revamped fuel subsidy system is targeted for implementation in May next year, says Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.

The mechanism of the fuel subsidy system will be worked out by April, he added.


"We are studying the criteria for the subsidy now, with the engine size of motor vechicles being a possible benchmark," he said after launching the ministry's Innovation, Integrity and ICT Day in Putrajaya yesterday.

Husni noted that the system may be designed to ensure that those in the higher income bracket and foreigners will not get to enjoy the subsidy.

"A large number of motor vehicles owners will most likely be entitled to the subsidy," he added.
It is envisaged that the fuel subsidy system will enable huge savings for the government.

"We will also take into consideration the government's aim in ensuring the welfare of the people, as well as the economic development of the country," Husni said.

PERMODALAN Nasional Bhd (PNB) announced today a 5.5 sen per unit income distribution for the Amanah Saham Nasional 3 (ASN 3) for the financial year ended Nov 30, 2009.

The income distribution will involve RM6.92 million in total payout to investors, said PNB chairman, Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid at a media session here.

He also Sarji said based on the net asset value (NAV) of the ASN 3 of RM1.0729 per unit on Nov 19, the yield derived from the income distribution of 5.50 sen per unit is 5.40 per cent.

"The price returns for the ASN3 for the same period is 16.44 per cent.
"Therefore, based on the increase in NAV of the ASN 3 from 87.42 sen per unit on Nov 30, 2008 to RM1.0729 per unit on Nov 19, 2009, the total returns recorded by it is 22.73 per cent," he added.

As of yesterday, the ASN3 recorded RM7.94 million in gross income, up 13.27 per cent from RM7.01 million in the financial year ended Nov 30, 2008.

Of the amount, dividend income contributed RM2.17 million or 27.33 per cent, with profit from the sale of shares contributing RM3.91 million or 49.24 per cent while RM1.86 million or 23.43 per cent is derived from other income.

The income distribution of the ASN3 will be calculated based on the unit holdings on Nov 30, 2009, which is the last day of the financial year of the fund.

Ahmad Sarji said the income distribution paid will be re-invested into additional units of ASN3, which will be automatically credited into the unit holders’ accounts, based on the NAV on Nov 30, 2009.

For those unit holders subscribing to the ASN3 through the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Members’ Investment Scheme, the income distribution will be credited directly into their respective accounts.

Up to yesterday, a total of 11,000 unit holders held a combined 125.5 million units of the ASN3.

The ASN3 is a variable-priced balanced fund with the objective of generating capital growth over the medium to long-term period by investing in a balanced portfolio of investments through re-investment of distribution, if any.

The ASN3 is open to all Malaysians aged 18 years and above. - Bernama

YTL Corporation Berhad (“YTL Corp”) today announced a 126.0% growth in revenue to RM3,930.1 million (US$1,155.9 mn, based on the prevailing exchange rate of US$1.00:RM3.40) for the 3 months ended 30 September 2009, compared to RM1,739.2 million (US$511.5 mn) for the preceding corresponding period ended 30 September 2008. Profit before taxation grew 59.5% to RM503.2 million (US$148.0 mn) for the first quarter of the financial year ending 30 June 2010, compared to RM315.4 million (US$92.8 mn) last year, after adjusting for the fair value gain on investment properties recognized last year amounting to RM254.5 million.


YTL Group Managing Director Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr) Francis Yeoh Sock Ping, CBE, FICE, said, “The Group has made an excellent start for the 2010 financial year with all divisions across the board registering earnings increases. In our utilities division, PowerSeraya in Singapore, the newest addition to the Group, continued to boost earnings this quarter. At 3,100 megawatts, PowerSeraya owns about 25% of Singapore’s licensed generation capacity, making it a behemoth in its operating sphere. Similarly, Wessex Water in the UK continues to reign as the top-performing water company. We continue develop our intellectual capital through enhanced plant operation and maintenance (O&M) expertise and strong financial foundations to continue to add value to these new members of the Group’s family of companies.

“Looking at the year ahead, we expect our divisions to continue to operate steadily. We also announced yesterday a rationalisation of the RM8.0 billion in hotel and retail assets currently under the Group’s control into global REIT portfolios. These assets are currently owned by the Group’s hotels division, Starhill REIT in Malaysia and Starhill Global REIT in Singapore and the rationalisation exercise is intended to streamline the operations of these entities, with Starhill REIT to be repositioned as a global hospitality REIT with new hotel and hospitality-related assets to be injected to increase its portfolio to an eventual size of RM1.6 billion.”

YTL POWER INTERNATIONAL BERHAD
1st Quarter Revenue Soars 205% to RM3.2 Billion (US$942 Million)
30% Increase in Profit Before Tax to RM319 Million (US$94 Million)
7.5% Single Tier Interim Dividend Declared

YTL Power registered a 205.3% jump in revenue for the 3 months ended 30 September 2009 to RM3,203.7 million (US$942.3 mn), due principally to the consolidation of results from PowerSeraya Limited, which YTL Power acquired in March 2009. Profit before taxation stood at RM318.9 million (US$93.8 mn) for the 3 months ended 30 September 2009, an increase of 29.7% over RM245.8 million (US$72.3 mn) for the same period last year.

The Group’s utilities now comprise the Paka and Pasir Gudang power stations in Malaysia, Wessex Water Limited in the UK, PowerSeraya Limited in Singapore, P.T. Jawa Power (a 35%-owned associate company) in Indonesia and ElectraNet Pty Ltd (a 33.5% indirect investment) in Australia.

YTL Power declared a 7.5% single tier first interim dividend for the financial year ending 30 June 2010. The book closure and payment dates for the dividend are 6 January 2010 and 21 January 2010, respectively.

YTL CEMENT BERHAD
1st Quarter Revenue Stands at RM448 Million
5% Growth in Profit Before Tax to RM106 Million
7.5% Single Tier Interim Dividend Declared

YTL Cement’s revenue for the first quarter of the financial year ending 30 June 2010 stood at RM447.6 million (US$131.6 mn), compared to RM459.0 million (US$135.0 mn) for the previous corresponding quarter ended 30 September 2008. Profit before taxation grew 4.6% to RM106.5 million (US$31.3 mn) this year, compared to RM101.8 million (US$30.0 mn) last year. The improvements in financial performance were due mainly to improved operational efficiencies and lower production costs for the period under review.

YTL Cement declared a 7.5% single tier first interim dividend for the financial year ending 30 June 2010. The book closure and payment dates for the dividend are 6 January 2010 and 21 January 2010, respectively.

YTL LAND & DEVELOPMENT BERHAD
51% Increase in Revenue to RM97 Million
Profit Before Tax Grows to RM10 Million

YTL Land & Development reported a 51.0% increase in revenue to RM97.2 million for the 3 months ended 30 September 2009, compared to RM64.4 million last year. Profit before taxation grew to RM9.8 million this year over RM2.1 million last year, with the growth arising mainly as a result of overwhelming sales of completed units recorded for the Waterville and Parkville developments under the Lake Edge project, as well as higher progress recognition from The Centrio, the latest phase of the Group’s iconic Pantai Hillpark development.

YTL E-SOLUTIONS BERHAD
32% Jump in Revenue to RM12.5 Million
Profit Before Tax Grows 84% to RM6 Million

YTL e-Solutions recorded a 32.1% increase in revenue to RM12.5 million for the first quarter of the financial year ending 30 June 2010, over RM9.5 million for the same period last year. Profit before tax grew 83.8% to RM6.2 million this year, compared to RM3.3 million for the previous corresponding quarter ended 30 September 2008. This was attributed mainly to maiden fee income derived from the spectrum sharing agreement relating to its 2.3 GHz Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) spectrum.

STARHILL REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST
Marginal Increase in Revenue to RM28 Million
Income for the Period Stands at RM20 Million

Starhill REIT achieved a marginal increase in revenue to RM28.1 million for the first quarter ended 30 September 2009, compared to RM27.9 million for the preceding corresponding period last year. Realised income before tax for the period stood at RM20.5 million this year compared to RM20.6 million last year.

Yesterday, Starhill REIT announced that it was embarking on a rationalisation exercise to reposition the Trust as a global hospitality REIT. The first stage of this process was the entry into a Heads of Agreement relating to the disposal of Starhill Gallery and the Trust’s parcels in Lot 10 Shopping Complex to Starhill Global REIT in Singapore. Subsequent stages will involve injections of further hotel assets into the streamlined Trust, the details of which will be determined and announced in due course.

Somebody on a bus asks a friend, "How about that stock market?"

The response: "Unbelievable." Caribbean vacationers lounging poolside check their Blackberries for stock prices.

Suburban gym members chat about the latest market gains during their morning workouts.

Welcome to the 2009 bull market - or so many people think.

They're buying up shares of everything from Google Inc. to Bank of America Corp. at a pace not seen since the 1930s.

Since March, the Dow Jones industrial average has jumped 57 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 index has gained 62 percent.

Investors are betting on a strong economic recovery. But here's the problem: Good news ahead could be bad news for the bull.

To understand why, consider the very thing that has boosted the market.

The U.S. government has spent nearly $1 trillion to stimulate the economy and the Federal Reserve has maintained a policy of keeping interest rates near zero.

Those will disappear as the economy's health improves, potentially halting the bull market by taking away what has been its crutch - sources of cheap and plentiful money.

"Pretty soon the easy money phase could be behind us," said Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors, an investment firm in Albany, New York.

The government has plunged big money into the marketplace, through tax cuts,

construction projects and other measures. At the same time, low interest rates have invigorated stocks by reducing borrowing costs and bolstering corporate profits.

The low rates have also knocked down the returns of other short-term investments, like government bonds and money-market funds.

Since people aren't getting high returns on those investments, they're buying stocks.

Stocks are risky because they don't guarantee a return, and the recent bear market shows how deeply share prices can drop.

From October 2007 through March, the Dow industrials lost 53 percent.

"The Fed is forcing everyone to take risk by buying stocks because if you don't take risk, you will be earning nothing on your money," said Ed Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research.

Yardeni said his clients, which include pension funds and institutional investors, feel like they don't have a choice but to buy stocks right now.

He sees lots of "fully invested bears" - investors who don't believe that investing in stocks makes sense right now because of the state of the economy, but they are buying anyway because they worry they might miss out on a bull run.

The Dow is trading above 10,000 for the first time since October 2008, though it is still 27 percent below its peak two years ago.

The S&P 500 has gone up almost 7 percent just this month.

Plenty of investors and analysts don't see an end to those gains, especially if the economy picks up in the coming months.

But a strong economy is just what Yardeni and some others on Wall Street say could thwart the rally should it lead to higher interest rates and waning government stimulus.

The Fed isn't expected to act soon.

The U.S. central bank has kept the target range for its bank lending rate at zero to 0.25 percent since December.

It pledged this month to keep that rate at a record low for an "extended period."

How long that really means is anyone's guess.

The Fed said in a statement after its November meeting that economic activity has "continued to pick up" and that the housing market has strengthened - a key ingredient for a sustained recovery.

But a 10.2 percent unemployment rate and weak consumer spending is still plenty worrisome to the economy's overall health.

Yardeni thinks once the Fed even begins to hint of looming changes in its interest-rate policy it will "take the steam out of this rally," he said.

"It won't take much to push this market back down."

In the past, higher rates didn't knock down stocks immediately.

The Fed cut its benchmark rate from 2001 through 2003 to stimulate growth, taking it down to a low of 1 percent, where it stayed for a year.

The low rates reduced mortgage costs, feeding the housing boom, and sparked a bull market in stocks.

The Fed started to slowly raise rates in July 2004 to slow the economy and keep inflation in check.

The housing market peaked in 2006 and the stock market followed in 2007.

After that, both headed into a free fall.

Back in 1982, a sustained bull market began amid a deep recession, and the gains lasted even though the Fed began to boost rates.

There was more to lure investors back to stocks then, notes David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Canadian wealth management Gluskin Sheff.

Stock dividend yields were 6 percent then; today they are below 2 percent.

That means investors had a greater potential to generate income off their stock investments, regardless of whether prices rose or fell.

Bond yields were at double-digits and were expected to fall in 1982; today short-term bonds pay nearing nothing and yields will likely head higher.

That could make fixed-income investments more attractive.

Investors still should heed the potential danger signs of today's market, before their exuberance gets the better of them. - AP

The government, through a private financing initiative, is partnering Naza TTDI KL Metropolis Bhd to build the country's largest exhibition and convention centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The RM628 million premier convention centre, which will take the shape of a rubber seed, will be known as Matrade Centre, as it will be sited next to the existing Menara Matrade on Jalan Khidmat Usaha, off Jalan Duta.


Slated for completion in 2014, the groundbreaking ceremony is expected to take place in the first quarter of next year.

A privatisation agreement was signed between the government and Naza TTDI yesterday, witnessed by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.

Mustapa said the government is providing a land swap in the project for the centre.
"It has been estimated that in 10 years, the whole project would create a GDV (gross development value) of RM15 billion," he told a media briefing after the signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

He said Malaysia currently lags behind neighbouring countries in developing its meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) industry, but as a trading nation it needs to enhance export promotion activities.

"We have been promoting MICE in the past but we were constrainted from going for large-scale conferences of 5,000 to 10,000 participants due to space limitation."

Located along Jalan Duta, the proposed 1 million sq ft centre will be linked to Menara Matrade, and will offer a suitable venue to host major heavy industries and advanced technology exhibitions.

It will fulfil demand for ongoing events such as the Defence Services Asia Exhibition and Conference, the Malaysian International Furniture Fair, the Malaysia International Halal Showcase and the International Trade Fair Malaysia.

"Built to international standards and specifications with state-of-the-art facilities, it will further strengthen Kuala Lumpur as the choice MICE destination in the region," said Mustapa.

Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd chairman SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin said several architects, including international ones, are currently bidding for the masterplan to develop the 5.24ha site, which will include hotels and shopping malls.

He said the total gross floor area of 1 million sq ft is at par with similar exhibition centres in Thailand and Singapore.

Its three floors of exhibition hall will have a column free space of 30m to 60m wide.

On financing, he said, it will be internally sourced and tapped from domestic banks.

YTL Corp Bhd will embark on restructuring its RM8bil real estate investment trust (REIT) and its hotel portfolio.

This will rationalise the group’s retail and hotel asset portfolios by repositioning Starhill REIT as a global hospitality REIT.

It will involve the disposal of its two retail properties, Starhill Gallery and its parcels in Lot 10 to YTL Starhill Global REIT in Singapore.

“This will be followed by the injection of new hotel assets to put Starhill REIT on the path towards becoming a full-fledged international hospitality REIT,” said YTL Corporation in statement yesterday.

The disposal consideration for the retail properties is RM1.03bil that was determined based on independent valuations.


YTL Corp said after the proposed disposal, Starhill REIT would be well-positioned as a global hospitality REIT with two assets under its portfolio, namely the J.W. Marriott Hotel as well as 60 units of service apartments, four levels of commercial podiums and two levels of car parks at The Residences at the Ritz Carlton in Kuala Lumpur.

YTL Corp managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh Sock Ping said this exercise would restructure the RM8bil in retail and hotel assets under its control into two distinct REIT portfolios, namely the hospitality REIT in Malaysia and retail-centric REIT in Singapore.

“This will benefit both REITs in terms of pursuing growth and development strategies in terms in a single and focused class of assets.

“On the completion of the rationalisation, Starhill REIT in Malaysia will be transformed into a pure-play vehicle for hotel and hospitality-related assets,” said Yeoh, who is also the chief executive officer of Pintar Projek Sdn Bhd, which manages Starhill REIT.

Yeoh said hotel assets with the potential to be injected into Starhill REIT would include Pangkor Laut, Tanjong Jara and Cameron Highland resorts, Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur and the remaining part of The Residences, among others.

“From a global standpoint, we see potential for Starhill REIT to acquire high-end assets in key-international hot-spots in Bali, Saint Tropez and Phuket,” he said.

Meanwhile, Yeoh said Starhill Global REIT had embarked on the acquisition of David Jones Building in Perth, Australia.