News of the Day - 30 April 2015

Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA

• Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA to open end-May 

Travellers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) will have their very own shopping mall to spend time at, in between catching flights to destinations. The Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA Sepang will open on 30 May and is sited very near the KLIA and directly accessible from the highway. It will feature an exciting array of offerings, ranging from luxury and branded products, fashion apparels and accessories, perfumes and cosmetics, chocolates and confectionery, kids and sports wear, to household items and luggage. It will also offer a scrumptious choice of gastronomic delights and spanning 24,000 square metres of space under the first phase of its development. 

• GST on top of mobile prepaid reload value stay for now, says MCMC 

It will be impossible to bring down prices of prepaid reloads to pre-GST (Goods and Service Tax) levels immediately, due to the huge logistics involved in implementing the change, said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). For now, prices of RM10 prepaid reloads will remain at RM10.60, with 6% GST applied, clarified MCMC chairman Datuk Sri Dr Halim Shafie.

• Renewal of worker’s permit to be fully online from 2 May, says MyEG 

In a press release this evening, the Immigration Department announced that effective from 2 May 15, all foreign workers permit renewal nationwide will have to go through MyEG’s online foreign workers working permit renewal services (FWPR). The government will absorb MyEG’s RM38 FWPR fee and MyEG has agreed to give a RM3 discount on its FWPR services to the government (FWPR RM35/fee). The employers’ processing fee for its foreign workers' working permit renewal remains at RM125/transaction. 

• Maybank’s BII net profit up by 33.5% in 1Q 

Maybank’s subsidiary in Indonesia, PT Bank Internasional Tbk (BII), posted a higher profit after tax and minority interest (PATAMI) of 255.6bn rupiah (or RM80m) for the 1QFY15, up by 33.5% from 191.5bn rupiah in the same quarter last year. “The improved performance was achieved on the back of the bank’s discipline in pricing for both deposits and lending coupled with an intensified strategic cost management program implemented throughout the bank,” said Maybank. 

• YTL is still keen to pursue High Speed Rail project 

YTL Corp is still keen to pursue the development of the high-speed rail (HSR) linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore on a private sector funding model. Group MD Tan Sri Francis Yeoh had said during the large track session with more than 40 analysts and fund managers at Invest Malaysia last week it would remain fairly competitive if the rollout of the HSR project followed the private sector model. 

• Malakoff sets IPO price at RM1.80 per share 

Malaysia’s largest independent power producer, Malakoff Corporation announced a fixed institutional price and the final retail price of RM1.80 per share each for its initial public offering (IPO). Malakoff said the announcement was made in conjunction with its listing on the main market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd, which is set for 15 May 15. Malakoff is expected to raise RM2.74bn in proceeds from the listing of 1.52bn shares at a maximum indicative price of RM1.80 per share. The IPO will be the largest listing since 2012, representing up to 30.4% of Malakoff’s enlarged issue and paid-up capital.