16
business
MBSB eyes 15%
asset growth
by Jonathan Mah
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Building Society
Berhad (MBSB) targets to grow its RM7.3 bil-
lion asset by 15% this financial year.
MBSB chief executive officer Ahmad Zaini
Othman said at a press conference yesterday
that while mortgages will remain their core
business, they have a “bold and aggressive
expansion plan” set out for this year.
Key focus areas this year are personal
financing, mortgages, corporate business and
recovery & rehabilitation.
“Most primary growth (for the year)
will come from the retail ventures. We are
planning to penetrate the personal financing
market,” said Zaini.
To ensure sufficient liquidity and funding,
MBSB yesterday signed a memorandum of
understanding with Cagamas, Maybank, Af-
fin Bank and EON Bank on the securitisation
of mortgages for a RM500 million facility.
“With this facility, it will accommodate
MBSB’s business expansion, especially in its
Silver Bird expects strong
turnaround this year
SHAH ALAM: Silver Bird Group Bhd, a leading
bakery and confectionery manufacturer, says
that demand for their products will be sustained
as more consumers are looking at bread as a
replacement for rice which costs more.
This, coupled with a favourable operating
environment due to cost cutting measures and
stable wheat prices, would help the company to
return to the black this year after reporting net loss
for last two consecutive years, its group managing
director Datuk Jackson Tan, said here yesterday.
“We are definitely on track this year. With
our cost-cutting measures that have been
implemented over the last 20 over months,
manufacturing cost has gone down and ef-
ficiency has increased tremendously as well,”
Tan told reporters after the company’s annual
general meeting.
He said this year would be a much better
year as evidenced by the group posting a pre-tax
profit of RM103,000 for the first quarter ended
Jan 31, 2009, erasing a loss of RM8.472 million
in the previous corresponding period.
Elaborating, its group executive director
Derec Ching, said, “For the last two years, the
operating environment has been very harsh
with the fluctuations in wheat prices,”.
theSun | THURSDAY APRIL 30 2009
SAIFUL HIZAM MANSOR
From left: Affin Bank chief executive
officer Zulkiflee Abdul Hamid, Choy,
Halim, Zaini, Maybank corporate
banking senior executive vice-
president Tracy Ong and EON Bank
business banking head Peter Chow
at the MoU signing ceremony.
Sneaking
a peek
into the
future
pg 20
new business direction. We are also introduc-
ing more new products focusing on corporate
business and mortgages,” said MBSB chair-
man Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali.
The RM500 million is facilitated by three
banks – Maybank, which is commiting RM250
million, Affin Bank with RM150 million and
EON Bank with RM100 million -- for a tenure
of five years.
Cagamas president and chief executive
officer Steven Choy said the deal was good
for MBSB in the long term for two reasons
– cheaper funding, due to Cagamas’s position
as a serial issuer; and the five-year tenure for
the agreement, which effectively locks the
interest rate.
Regarding the impact of the economic
downturn on the business, Zaini said while
they had not seen a reduction in business,
the situation was an opportunity to refocus
business priorities.
“We are certainly more careful in ensuring
stronger risk management frameworks are in
place, and are now more selective in business
ventures.”
“But now the environment is in our favour
as wheat prices have stablised while other food
commodities such as rice have gone up by about
20-30%, making bread as an alternative.”
He also said the world has the biggest wheat
overhang over the last five years, and if the next
harvest continues to be good, a further down-
trend in wheat prices could be expected.
Besides increasing its production capacity,
the group will also continue to expand its dis-
tribution network across the country in tandem
with the distribution network expansion. “We
will continue to invest in our distribution net-
work, within the next six months we will have
about 20,000 retail points across the country
from the current 18,000 retail points,” said Tan.
While expanding their distribution network,
the group will also invest strongly in their re-
search and development to come out with more
innovative products.
Tan also said the group will spend more than
RM2 million on advertising and promotion ac-
tivities this year while also spending more than
RM1 million in research and development.
The group is a key player in the RM1 billion
fresh bakery industry which is growing at a rate
of 10% per annum. – Bernama