Talking Balls?

I just realised I posted footie talk on this blog!

Yeah, I am pretty nuts about that game called footie and as you can tell, I am a Man United fan.

Over the weekend, Manchester United was extremely lucky against Everton. United was gifted by that moment of madness from Pineer. How could he stuck his foot out to the back is simply beyond comprehension. And Ronaldo duly slotted in the penalty kick for his second goal of the match.

Boy, Ronaldo is having a truly wonderful season.

The following video clip is a wonderful compilation done on Ronaldo.

Season starts tonight!

Manchester United was given an exciting draw with Lyons in the Champions League last night. Trust me, it should be extremely interesting for Lyons ain't no walkover.

On the premiership front, both Manchester United and Arsenal won.

Chelsea lost the game the minute John Terry went off after a ruthless and extremely nasty tackle from Eboue. He should have been send off for it! He's terrible. A gangster on the football pitch!

In the earlier match, in my opinion, Rafa lost the plot again, handing the match to United on a platter. Rafa started on a much disguised 4-4-2 formation but it was clearly that it wasn't a 4-4-2 formation. Why does Rafa likes NOT to play to his team strength? Does he even know who is his strongest team? Kyut started alongside with Torress but Kyut was lost in the midfield. And the two wide players, were no where to be seen. And Liverpool ended playing way too narrow, right down the middle. With Anderson and Hargreaves giving extra cover to Rio and Vidic, Liverpool despite all the possession was choked right down the throat.

This weekend, Arsenal host Tottenham and United host Everton.

Arsenal should win but I am feeling strong vibes from Spurs. Spurs have kept 2 consecutive clean sheets and are playing much, much better under Juande Ramos. So I do not expect Spurs to get thrashed or whacked. Worse case, they might lose by an odd goal to Arsenal. In fact, it would not surprise me, if Spurs gets a result.

Manchester United, on the other hand host, Everton on Sunday. This is going to massive match for United. Everton is on form and they are on an amazing 13 match unbeaten form in all competition. Moyes had rested Horward, Yakubu, Arteta, Cahill and Yobo in their midweek clash against AZ Alkmar in the UEFA Cup. Two key players are Arteta and Yakubu. It's so important to see how Arteta would fare against Anderson and Hargreaves. If Arteta is contained, Everton would be contained. And that should nullify the deadly Yak attack for Yakubu has always played well against Man United in the past.

A 2-0 victory for United?

And on the side note, my most impressive player so far this season for United is Anderson. For his age his performance against Liverpool last week, was simply beyond comparison. Truly awesome! And it was great to see players like Ronaldo acknowledging his potential. ( More )

Update on EcoFirst

Here is an update to the blog posting, EcoFirst (Kumpulan Emas). Ecofirst announced its earnings on Wednesday. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/10/2007

It posted a lost of 2.4 million for the quarter.

Now if you refer to the posting EcoFirst (Kumpulan Emas), this means that this is the 8th consecutive quarterly earnings of losses posted by EcoFirst!

Now I noted that the Edge had an article on EcoFirst.

• 21-12-2007: Ecofirst expects more aggressive construction unit
  
  PETALING JAYA: Ecofirst Consolidated Bhd is expecting its construction division to move forward more aggressively next year, said its group managing director Datuk Clement Hii Chii Kok.
  
  He said the company was in the final stage of negotiations for a few key projects locally amounting to about RM250 million.
  
  “We are now focused on turning our new and existing businesses into profit generating divisions,” he said, adding that it had been less than two years since a change in the management of the company.
  
  It is currently constructing the Casa Subang Service Apartments in Subang Jaya comprising two blocks of 25-storey apartments.
  
  Speaking to The Edge Financial Daily last Wednesday, Hii said its key asset was the South City Plaza in Seri Kembangan and was looking to revamp the tenant mix and giving the property a facelift by next month.
  
  Its other main activities are in property development, food services and multi-level marketing. The property and construction division currently contributes 60% to the group’s turnover.
  
  Its subsidiary EcoFirst Hartz Sdn Bhd has a flagship Hartz restaurant in Subang Jaya, Selangor. It has a 15-year area trademark licence agreement (West Malaysia) signed in Sept 2006 with Hartz Chicken (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, the licensee of all Malaysia and Brunei rights to the marks of “Hartz Chicken Buffet.”
  
  Hii said EcoFirst, as the area sub-licensee, was looking at opening four new restaurants within a year. The ultimate licensor is Texas-based Hartz Chicken Inc. EcoFirst can sub-license Hartz Chicken Buffet restaurants to other third party.
  
  Ecofirst has also entered into a joint venture with the Johor state government to develop a 1,000-acre biotechnology driven agricultural farm in Desaru, Johor, to set up and run greenhouses and open crop farms. It is currently in the first of three phases.
  
  The JV is part of the group’s expansion into more areas of agro-biotechnology, specifically organic farming using high end and environmentally friendly technology.
  

What about MUI Ind?

Let's have a look at what MUI IND (3891) has done this decade. What I will do is a simple look at MUI Ind's yearly Q4 earnings report posted at Bursa website.

Date announced: Feb 2000. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/1999

MUI Ind made 42 million for the fiscal year. (Note: Its previous fiscal year, MUI Ind lost 562 million!)

Feb 2001. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/2000

MUI Ind lost 64 million for the fiscal year.

Feb 2002. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/2001

MUI Ind lost 17 million for the fiscal year.

Feb 2003. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/2002

MUI Ind lost a WHOPPING 981 million for the fiscal year!

Feb 2004. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/2003

MUI Ind lost 166 million for the fiscal year.

Feb 2005. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/2004

MUI Ind lost a WHOPPING 409 million for the fiscal year!

Feb 2006 Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/2005

MUI Ind lost a WHOPPING 396 million for the fiscal year!

Feb 2007. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/2006

MUI Ind lost a WHOPPING 218 million for the fiscal year!

How?

Amazed?

You reckon MUI Ind should be awarded with a record for its ability to burn so little money since 2000?

Well, if my calculator fails me not, thats about some 2.2 billion ringgit that has been .....

Update on NextNation

First blogged on Nextnation on 31st May 2007. here

Two points mentioned then..

1. Net margins show some weakness but the growth is impressive!
2. The biggest concern for me is that NextNation has an issue with its receivables and because of this, one do not really see wealth being generated in the company's cash flows despite its very impressive earnings.

Nextnation announced its next earnings on June 29th. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 30/4/2007

1. Sales dropped on a q-q to 21.533 million.
2. Earnings dropped to a mere 480k.
3. Receivables is at 67.092 million
4. There goes the GROWTH stock status!

I wrote a simple posting. http://whereiszemoola.blogspot.com/2007/06/nextnation-ii.html

• Well, from an investing perspective, it's pretty ugly.

Nextnation announced its next earnings on Sept 2007. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/7/2007

1. Sales dropped on a q-q to 17.797 million
2. Earnings improved slightly to 611k.
3. Receivables is at 61.702 million

Nextnation announced its earnings last night. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/10/2007

1. Sales were flat at 17.868 million.
2. Earnings dropped to a mere 145k!!!
3. Receivables is at 56.702 million.

How?

Here is how Nextnation has performed as a stock!

PMI's rescue package

I found the following article from the Edge Weekly extremely interesting: 17 Dec 2007: Corporate: Khoo forks out RM150 mil to save PMI. My comments will be in purple fonts.

17 Dec 2007: Corporate: Khoo forks out RM150 mil to save PMI
By Risen Jayaseelan

Pan Malaysian Industries Bhd (PMI) is inching closer to extricating itself from dire straits. The plan that Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng has put in place for the PN17 status company involves him injecting more than RM150 million of his cash into it.

The money will be used to reduce PMI's debts and acquire properties that will give the company a stable income.

"Khoo is putting his money where his mouth is. PMI's restructuring is unlike others where asset injections or paper shuffling are involved. This is hard cash that is being injected in and indicates the seriousness of the owner to make things better for his company," notes an investment banker.

Last week, PMI submitted a revised restructuring plan.

"This, together with the fact that Khoo — the ultimate shareholder of the MUI group, which PMI is part of — is underwriting a share sale exercise by PMI means the restructuring plan has a high chance of being accepted by the authorities," another banker says.

The exercise involves PMI selling shares it owns in Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUI) to its (PMI's) shareholders. PMI currently has a 46.56% stake in MUI. It intends to reduce that to 20% by selling 26.56% of its stake.

( Ok... PMI is selling its stake in MUI back to PMI shareholders. This is why I find it so strange, cos PMI as stated, currently holds a 46.56% stake in MUI. Why sell it back to PMI? Why can't MUI sell it to other parties? Does PMI shareholders even want MUI shares? )

Khoo's portion alone is RM50 million, but since he is underwriting the offer, he could potentially end up spending RM154.6 million on the MUI shares.

Khoo controls 32.4% of PMI and only has a 2% direct stake in MUI. With his stake in PMI, Khoo is entitled to purchase 8.3% of MUI under the share sale agreement. If Khoo only takes up his portion, his direct stake in MUI will increase to 10.3%, and with PMI's remaining stake in MUI, he will be deemed to control about 30% of MUI.

Khoo's deemed stake in MUI could rise further and perhaps even trigger a mandatory general offer for MUI shares if PMI shareholders do not take up the offer. (This is because Khoo is underwriting PMI's offer for the sale of the shares.)

Two weeks ago, PMI announced it had secured the High Court's order for a par value and share premium reduction. Getting the court order for this is a necessary step before other aspects of PMI's restructuring can kick in.

Here's what PMI is essentially planning to do: It wants to shrink its share capital by 90% and reduce its share premium account of RM265.6 million. The next and more substantial step is to make a restricted and renounceable offer for sale of 515.4 million shares in MUI to its (PMI's) shareholders. This will be done at an indicative price of 30 sen, although it may be higher if MUI's share price appreciates closer to the fruition of the proposed sale.

Of the RM154.6 million that will be raised from the share sale, RM84 million will be used to reduce PMI's borrowings from RM207.7 million currently to RM123.7 million. If the shares are sold at a higher price, more money will be raised and more of PMI's debts will be settled.

The proposal states that RM50 million from the proceeds will be used to buy properties that will become "a new area of activity for PMI". These new properties are to generate rental income and positive returns for the group.

The first property is Menara PMI, a 15-storey building in Jalan Changkat Ceylon. Ten storeys of this building are occupied by offices while the first five storeys comprise a retail podium and two basement car parks. The building has a net lettable area of 104,011 sq ft and 87 parking bays. Almost 96% of the building has been tenanted to various companies within the MUI group. It recorded an approximate rental income of RM4 million per annum last year. The vendor of the property, another MUI group company, Pan Malaysian Holdings Bhd, acquired the building in 1994 for RM35 million. The property had a net book value of RM28.9 million as at Dec 31, 2006.

PMI is forking out another RM10 million to pay MUI Properties Bhd for 1,478 sq m of land located along Jalan Mayang, near Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. The plot lies between two high-end condominiums, Mayang Court Kondominium and D'Mayang Kondominium. MUI Properties bought the land in 1995 for RM1.9 million and the net book value of the property is RM2.4 million. Both properties have been valued by credible valuers.

However, the question is, why is PMI buying properties from within the MUI group? Could PMI not buy other land with the money it is raising?

( Again, I find it so complicating. One on hand, PMI is selling its stake in MUI to its PMI shareholders. And then, PMI is buying properties from MUI Prop. ????? Errr.... say what? I am lost here!)

A banker familiar with the proposal says as far as PMI is concerned, the properties have a lot of potential. "Hence, the source of the land shouldn't matter. What matters is Menara PMI will provide stable rental income while the land provides growth potential," he says. It is understood that the land will be used by PMI to put up a high-end condominium project, considering its strategic location. If done successfully, PMI could reap the necessary earnings to breathe life back into the company.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Anyway.... the first line, PMI is inching closer to extricating itself from dire straits.

I decided to have a peep at what PMI has done as a stock

May 2000. PMI had a Rights Issue

• Renounceable rights issue of 978,421,500 new ordinary shares of RM0.50 each with 978,421,500 warrants attached at an issue price of RM0.55 per share, payable in full upon acceptance, on the basis of one (1) new ordinary share with one (1) warrant attached for every one (1) existing ordinary share held in Pan Malaysian Industries Berhad at 5.00 p.m. on 23 June 2000

Let's look at the quarterly earnings posted at Bursa. (links are clickable)

30th May 2000: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/3/2000

PMI reported a loss of 8.596 million for its fy 2000. (previous year, it lost 222.790 million)

30th May 2001: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/3/2001

PMI reported a loss of of 96.548 million.

23rd May 2002: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/3/2002

PMI reported a loss of of 384.254 million.

29th May 2003: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/3/2003

PMI reported a loss of of 510.411 million.

4th June 2003: Another rights issue: Rights Issue

• The ratio of the Rights Issue of two (2) Rights Shares for every five (5) existing ordinary shares of RM0.50 each in PMI held on the Entitlement Date as stated above is based on Scenario I (as defined below) for illustrative purposes only. The final basis of the Rights Issue will be determined immediately after the Entitlement Date depending on the number of Warrants exercised on or prior to the Entitlement Date under Scenarios I, II or III (as set out below).

21st May 2004. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/3/2004

PMI reported a loss of of 83.878 million.

20th May 2005. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/3/2005

PMI reported a profit of 102 million.

9th March 2006. PMIND-Classification as a new PN17 Company

31st May 2006. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/3/2006

PMI reported a loss of of 172 million.

30th May 2007. Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/3/2007

PMI reported a loss of of 123 million.

Not an impressive track record, yes? And if not mistaken, PMI had a rights issue back in 1998 too!

My...

Regardings Mems Again..

Here is a follow-up on the blog posting on Mems: More on Mems Restating of Its Earnings.

Read the following article posted on the Edge. 14-12-2007: Major MEMS Tech shareholder disposes of 1.8m shares

• AKN Equity Ventures Sdn Bhd, a substantial shareholder of MEMS Technology Bhd which is being investigated by the Securities Commission for possible irregularities in its financial statements, has reduced its direct shareholding by selling 1.8 million shares or a 0.27% stake in the open market.
  
  A filing with Bursa Malaysia on Dec 12 showed that after the disposals on Dec 7, 10 and 11, AKN Equity’s direct interest in the Mesdaq company was reduced to 126.9 million shares or 19.35%. The share price closed at 21, 20.5 and 20 sen respectively on the three days.
  MEMS share price tumbled 16 sen or almost 45% on Nov 28 after the company told Bursa Malaysia it could not issue the audited accounts due to concerns over certain transactions.
  
  Subsequently, the counter has been hovering between 19.5 sen and 21.5 sen with an average of 5.64 million shares traded daily.
  
  On Nov 30, the company said it was not able to issue its audited financial statements for the financial year ended July 31, 2007 for public release, within the four months from close of the financial year, which falls on Nov 30.
  
  ”The board of directors of MEMS wishes to announce that the company is not able to issue its audited financial statements by Nov 30, 2007, as the company’s external auditors have expressed concerns over certain transactions relating to revenue and property plant and equipment.
  
  ”In light of the above, and after due deliberation, the board has resolved not to recognise revenue of RM19.72 million. As a result of this, the unaudited consolidated revenue for the financial year ended July 31, 2007 will be revised to RM53.7 million.
  
  This will consequently result in the unaudited profit after tax for the financial year ended July 31, 2007 to be reduced from RM21.47 million as announced on Sept 27, 2007 to RM13.45 million,” it said.
  
  Bursa Malaysia Securities on Dec 4 rejected the company’s application for an extension of 45 days from Nov 30, 2007 to submit its audited financial statements for the financial year ended July 31, 2007 (FY07).
  
  Late last month, a SC spokesperson confirmed that the company was being investigated for possible irregularities in its financial statements.

Do you like what you see in this company?

Company restates its earnings, company major shareholders dispose their shares, company not able to submit its earnings in time. Rather terrible, isn't it?

Wrote the following on Sahamas back on Nov 28th 2007.

• All this is giving us (our stock market) such a bad name.
  
  In Mems case, yes it was not as drastic as say Megan or Transmile but over stating earnings is simply unacceptable.
  
  Consider the following...
  
  If Mems did not over-state their earnings, there would be no growth for 3 years!
  
  Without the growth, MEMS would have been rather unattractive and most of all, it would never had commanded such a rosy stock price.
  
  Just in July 2007, MEMS traded at a high of 81 sen, giving it a market valuation of 531 million.
  
  Now based on an actual earnings of 13 million, surely this 81 sen would have been an insane stock price for Mems!
  
  Now consider this. Let me flip it around.
  
  Mems is now trading at 25 sen. Its market valuation is only some 163 million.
  
  So if the market valuation now is about fair for a company making only 13 million, then Mems is worth only some 163 million.
  
  However, due to the overstated earnings, MEMS was valued as much as some 531 million!!!
  
  How?

Just for the record, Mems closed yesterday at 19 sen.

Give The World A Helping Hand

My Dearest Readers,

I have received a petition regarding OUR Earth's climate changes. I am a firm believer. Hence, I am passing on this urgent call for help!

Do sign the petition!

• I just signed an emergency petition trying to save the crucial climate change talks in Bali, Indonesia right now by telling the US, Canada and Japan to stop blocking an agreement. You can sign it here:
  
  http://www.avaaz.org/en/bali_emergency/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK
  
  Almost all countries have agreed to cut rich country carbon emissions by 2020--which scientists say is crucial to stop catastrophic global warming, and will also help bring China and the developing world onboard. But with just 24 hours left in the conference, the US and its close allies Canada and Japan have rejected any mention of such cuts.
  
  We can't let three governments hold the world hostage and block agreement on this desperate issue.
  
  There's still 24 hours left to turn this around - click below to sign the petition - it will be delivered direct to summit delegates, through stunts and in media advertisements, so our voices will actually be heard. But we need a lot of us, fast, to join in if we're going to make a difference. Just click on the link to add your name:
  
  http://www.avaaz.org/en/bali_emergency/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK
  
  
  

Do you Trust What You Read?

This blog was mentioned on the Weekly Edge: 10 Dec 2007: Corporate: Trusting 'educated' thoughts and rumblings

• 10 Dec 2007: Corporate: Trusting 'educated' thoughts and rumblings
  By Cindy Yeap
  
  Investors today have a new source to turn to when seeking information or a prognosis on, say, how much Warren Buffett's recent comments on China and South Korea have affected regional market sentiment — weblogs.
  
  More commonly known as blogs, these have evolved into something much more than an online diary in recent times.
  
  Even leading news publications like the Wall Street Journal are paying attention to weblogs, recognising their increasing appeal to an online audience. Many online news sites, including the WSJ's, have begun to tag news articles with links to related blog postings alongside associated write-ups. BusinessWeek, for instance, has an entire section dedicated to blogs on its website, where its editors post investing insights into the latest on Wall Street. The publication also invites experts from other fields to offer their perspective of subjects ranging from automotive to management trends and even the effects of climate change on business.
  But for every blog backed by a named organisation or individual, there are countless others put up by anonymous ones. The situation is probably similar in Malaysia. There is a growing group of individuals here which is well ahead of most, if not all, local news organisations when it comes to capturing an online audience via blogs.
  
  And among them are people who post discussions on the Malaysian stock market — everything from newsbytes and stock rumours to why an entire team of analysts are quitting en masse. Some of these blogs are merely opinions on business news articles and analyst reports, while others take things a step further by offering their own prognosis on the direction of the stock market and making stock picks.
  
  Some of these stock market-related blogs do have some following, going by the feedbacks posted on them. This may be because some of the stock market-related content is contributed by people who claim to be experienced in the capital market.
  
  Also, it is not just retail investors who are paying attention to these blogs. An article by a blogger who goes by the pseudonym S Dali was last week published in a widely circulated local business daily. This anonymous blogger at "Malaysia-Finance" (Malaysiafinance.blogspot.com) describes himself as an ex-analyst and ex-fund manager, with a background in accounting. His more recent blog postings include rumblings on the Chinese government's sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp, his take on Chinese coal-mining company China Shenhua and his view on the tussle for control at Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd. There are also postings from other blogs, including "Where Is Ze Moolah?" (whereiszemoolah.blogspot.com), which Dali credits as among the earliest to highlight the fact that analyst recommendations on MEMS Technology Bhd were overly optimistic.
  
  As it happened, MEMS Tech last month said it could not come up in time with its audited results for the year ended July 31, 2007, because external auditors had raised questions about certain transactions.
  
  Now, is it a good thing that more people are taking blog content seriously, especially the kind that promotes certain stocks? More importantly, should they?
  
  "I don't think it's necessarily bad to read blogs. Blogs can be good as they can be a good forum for discussions, a place for idea generation, but definitely not a place to find out which stocks to buy. Like any other piece of information, blog postings should be read with some measure of scepticism. After all, a blog is someone's opinion. Just like any other type of blog, there will be some that stand out and gain more following with time," says investment director Wong Shou Ning, who helps manage RM500 million in funds at Amara Investment Management Sdn Bhd.
  
  What's important, Wong adds, is how a reader treats the information found on these stock market-related blogs and not so much if people are paying attention.
  
  "Reading blogs is not unlike reading an analyst report from a broker. It's just that the amount of scepticism increases for a blog because you can assume that the broking house is willing to back up its report. It puts its name on the report whereas in the case of most blogs, people have no idea who is behind them. There is no assurance that the blogger has met the management of the company mentioned, or if he has done spreadsheets to analyse the necessary numbers.
  
  "When it comes to investments, you cannot take everything you read or hear at face value. It's up to you to do your own research and investigation. For fund managers, it's critical to have that kind of discipline," Wong says.
  
  An analyst with a local brokerage agrees.
  
  "I think not many licensed people will own up to reading these blogs, but there are definitely people in the industry who read them. Some postings have in the past been circulated in emails, not unlike how one would forward an interesting write-up or joke," he says.
  
  Like any other channel, there will be people who will misuse blogs to spread rumours with the intention of ramping up a stock.
  
  "Yes, some people do buy on talk (speculation) and sell on news, but it is essentially up to the reader to decide whether he can trust any information he gets. It's like the talk you hear on the street, newspaper articles quoting anonymous sources or overly bullish statements made to reporters by the management (of a company). It's just that they're now posted on someone's blog. Investors should know the distinction between fact and rumour. If they put money into a stock after reading a blog and lose money, they well deserve it. That's the consequence of not doing their homework," the analyst adds.
  
  When asked for its comments, the Securities Commission (SC) reminds investors that they should only seek investment advice and services from investment professionals who are qualified and licensed. The full list of people licensed to give investment advice is available on the SC's website, its spokesperson says.
  
  "The SC continuously conducts surveillance, monitoring and enforcement of the capital market to ensure appropriate conduct by market participants and the highest standards of investor protection. The SC takes action where there is evidence of wrongdoing," the spokesperson adds.
  
  So, essentially, there will be no shortage of information and prognosis on the Internet. The commentaries posted on the anonymous stock-market or financial blogs could well offer good insights, on top of being an entertaining read. But when it comes to putting good money into stocks, investors should always first check the facts.

Back in Jan 14th 2006, there was an article posted on Star Biz.

• Blogging about Bursa
  
  ACCOMPANYING the proliferation of online financial and investment portals is the steady accumulation of blogs and online forums that discuss the same subject, namely counters traded on Bursa Malaysia.
  
  Short for web log, a blog is essentially a website on which journal entries are posted. Both blogs and forums allow swift, unfettered discussion on a variety of subjects. Undoubtedly, the anonymity afforded by the Internet is part of its appeal, but this anonymity can easily become a two-edged sword.
  
  Perhaps the single greatest obstacle preventing many blogs or online forums from achieving credibility is the fact that their administrators conceal their identity from the public. Many observers feel that even on the odd occasion they make a point, the use of a pseudonym counts against them.
  
  “For most blogs and forums, I think the sophistication in terms of depth is lacking. I've come across many instances in which investors recommend buying certain stocks for highly personal reasons – to them it's not so much of a forum, but more of an opportunity to promote a vested interest,” says Yeoh Keat Seng, CIMB Bhd's head of private client services.
  
  He isn’t alone. The overwhelming majority of those polled by BizWeek were either unaware or dismissive of the local blogging community’s discussions about the stock market.
  
  “How reliable are they?” asks Tan Teng Boo, iCapital.biz’s managing director. It’s a good question, and is probably the one that’s on everyone’s lips.
  
  A sampling of some blogs on offer reveals that many bloggers go about their business in an orderly manner, with many collating and making available research reports from a variety of local and international research houses.
  
  However, there are a number that throw their weight behind certain stocks, either relating a personal experience or a closely-held belief that the counter’s price trend will soon see an upswing.
  
  But do they truly reflect investors’ mentality in Malaysia?
  
  “Many Malaysians are inherently suspicious of anything that comes for free,” comes one dissenting voice. “There is no harm in being aware of the information provided by such sites. I feel that most investors may use it as one of the factors in choosing to buy or sell a stock, but probably not the sole reason.”
  
  Just like so many other things, it looks like the Bursa Malaysia-related blogosphere needs to be regarded with discretion by the potential investor. Look at it as caveat emptor for the digital age.
  
  Illegal advice
  
  People may often be suspicious of freebies, but the old get-rich-quick schemes seem to be as popular as ever amongst Malaysians. Slapped with a fresh coat of paint for their Internet incarnation, these schemes run the gamut from high-return, low-risk plans, to an invitation to invest in an exotic commodity or currency.
  
  In collaboration with agencies such as the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Securities Commission (SC) has also stepped up its surveillance and enforcement activities with regards to online capital markets.
  
  Last year, the SC shut down four websites that were illegally offering investment advice, following which it issued a press statement warning the public to be extremely careful when seeking investment advice and services on the Internet, as such services may be illegal and unlicensed.
  
  In a press release, the SC provided a number of warnings, including the fact that some websites may be professionally designed to resemble a legitimate business, and may even be equipped with real-time stock prices, market commentary, news, and links to other financial websites.
  
  All investment advisers require a license to operate. This point is doubly important, for despite the protection afforded by the SC with regards to securities-related laws, this protection is only available when dealing with licensed parties.

How now my dearest Brown Cow? How do you rate our local financial weblogs?

No Sell Sign?

I was just reading this Bloomberg News article posted on Dec 3rd 2007.

• Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Anybody who followed the advice of Wall Street's top-ranked analysts, none of whom would say ``sell'' for a single company in the securities industry this year, is reckoning with subprime-like losses.
  
  Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Guy Moszkowski, UBS AG's Glenn Schorr and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.'s Brad Hintz maintained either buy or hold recommendations on Bear Stearns Cos. as it fell 39 percent in 2007, the most since the firm went public in 1985. Moszkowski and Hintz had buy ratings on Morgan Stanley while the stock shed 22 percent in New York trading. Moszkowski and Schorr advised holding on to Citigroup Inc. as it dropped 40 percent.

WOW! No SELL recommendation?! And accordingly, here is why!

• ``An analyst cannot issue a sell rating because he doesn't want to lose access,'' said Tom Larsen, a former Credit Suisse Group analyst who now runs research and helps oversee $6 billion at Somerville, New Jersey-based Harding Loevner Management LP. ``It's logistically cumbersome for the buy-side to arrange its own meetings with company management, so this concierge service is very useful.''
• Instead of saying ``sell,'' analysts have stuck with ``hold'' ratings that are less likely to antagonize the senior executives they're monitoring, Larsen said. The ratio of hold recommendations has climbed to 48 percent this year from 40 percent in 2003, Bloomberg data show.
  While a ``hold'' might be enough to signal to institutional investors that a company is in decline, retail investors follow analyst recommendations literally, according to a study published in the Journal of Financial Economics in August.

And the article then highlights the recommendation made recently on Citigroup..

• `Dead Wrong'
  
  Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, was down more than 13 percent for the year when Deutsche Bank AG's Michael Mayo cut it to ``sell'' on Oct. 12. It fell 25 percent before Nov. 1, when Meredith Whitney at CIBC World Markets issued a sell rating that drove the stock down another 8 percent. Neither Mayo nor Whitney, both based in New York, responded to requests for interviews for this story.
  
  Goldman analyst William Tanona waited until Nov. 19 to downgrade Citigroup to ``sell.'' The stock has slipped 2 percent since the note was published. Tanona, based in New York, didn't respond to an interview request.
  
  The reductions by Whitney and Tanona probably were too late, said Harlow of Harlow Capital.
  
  ``I think if you look back in 18 months, these guys are going to be dead wrong,'' he said. ``They're going to have downgraded these stocks at almost the bottom of the cycle.''
  

Click here for the rest of the newsarticle: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aaQDUAN2hm5Q&refer=home

The Quarter Point Cut

I was expecting half a point. I truly was but the US Fed decided to cut only a quarter and the markets, they of course plunged, free-falling in reaction to this news. The Dow ended up losing 294 points. ( Free fall after Fed cut )

And blogger Kirk had compiled 10 quotable quotes on his latest posting: Thoughts On The Fed

• "Thinking as a trader, the most counter-intuitive outcome here would be a resumption of the Santa rally and run into year end. It's just become my favored scenario, because it seems so outlandish after the Fed news." - Alan Farley
  
  "The assumption this afternoon is surely going to be that if the market falls so much on a day the Fed cut rates, then that has to be a bad sign going forward. I see the logic there, but logic usually doesn't have much place in the stock market. Going back to 1971, I checked for any time that the S&P dropped 1% or more on a day the Fed cut. There were only five instances that popped up, and the S&P formed at least a short-term low within two days four of those times. The best bet was had by waiting for an additional 1% - 2% of downside, then buying and holding for a few days or 2% - 5% upside." - Jason Goepfert
  
  "Aside from the declines seen on the FOMC day on the first trading day following 9/11, this is the worst decline on a Fed day since 1990. We went back and found all FOMC days in which the S&P 500 fell by more than 1% to see how the market has performed going forward. The results are positive for tomorrow and the next week, but negative from now to the next Fed meeting on January 30th." - Bespoke
  
  "I'll leave the berating of the Fed to others and will spend my energy trying to deal with this market. Things look very poor going forward. The technical conditions support further downside, and the Fed was really the only good positive catalyst we had going for us. Without that, we have some end-of-the-year seasonality that may help, but that is not a sure thing by any means." - Rev Shark
  
  "Fed members are probably amazed at the market reaction, believing that they not only did what seemed right on a policy basis but something close to market expectations. Wordsmiths need to come up with synonymous phrases for "behind the curve." I am sick of it already!" - Jeff Miller
  
  "With only a quarter-point cut, we will no longer be able to forestall the bankruptcies. Banks are holding on for dear life, homebuilders the same. But their lifeline just got choked and far fewer will live because of this. Lots of times people talk about stock traders being complacent. Lots of times you hear about bullish money managers that are way too excited about stocks. But I have never heard a statement from a more bullish group of people in my life. They genuinely think that inflation remains a big problem. I am aghast." - Jim Cramer
  
  "The Fed blew it once again. They are still behind the curve. Expect the bears to enjoy the fruits of the Fed's whiff as the A.I.R. pauses. They should just let me make monetary policy. Like 2000, 2004, and 2006 when I had major disagreements with their policy, I expect they will come around too little too late." - Robert Marcin
  
  "What is just breathtaking to me is that the Fed sees balanced risks between inflation and growth. I understand that the Fed is destined to be behind the curve (because it relies on past data to dictate policy that takes time to flow through the economy), but these guys are so behind the curve that they are getting lapped." - Dan Fitzpatrick
  
  "Dollars to donuts, perhaps literally, the FOMC couldn't cut fitty without invoking the wrath of foreign holders of dollar denominated assets. As it is, we're in a pretty pinch." - Todd Harrison
  
  "Boom Boom almost did the right thing. Had it spared us the pandering 1/4 point begged for by financial speculators, he would have finally shown the kind of stones that will be needed to guide us out of the current mess. Equities do not like it one bit, as well they shouldn't; the wimpy move is likely to worsen the credit environment and the financial markets as a whole could be in for a year-end pasting. So why do I suggest the Fed did the almost right thing? Because one cannot devalue its way out of a gigantic pile of debt. Companies, many companies, need to fail, go away forever, and allow those who have a business existing to once again prosper not on the back of borrowed money, but on the strength of real demand, rather than demand generated by a need to circulate make belief money. Had the Fed figured this out in 2001, by 2003 we would likely have forgotten the then recession. Instead it decided to try to fool everyone into believing that we could borrow our way into a permanent plateau of prosperity." - Fil Zucchi

And over at FinancialSense, market commentator, Frank Barbera, has penned a brilliant The End of Denial posting.

• So it is today. The US is entering a very difficult period, and investors need to be attuned to priority Number One—don’t lose valuable capital. This means being very attentive to potential risks, and looking always at both sides of the equation, and when initiating a trade, knowing in advance how much risk you plan to take, and precisely where you draw your line in the sand in order to get out. In rising markets, where the trend is strongly higher, it is easy to make money and everyone is a genius. In down markets, that algorithm is inverted, as down markets are designed to separate investors from capital, with the bottom of the downside cycle yielding the uncontrolled panic phone call to the trading desk -- “Get me out NOW!” This is the scene of despondency, desperation and capitulation which attends panic sell offs in down markets. In the chart below, we trace the human emotional side of the cycle for you, with this author’s opinion that right now, Denial marks the current stage for this cycle.
  
  
  
  Why Denial? Simply because despite the collapse of untold businesses, and the virtual shut down of key credit markets, markets have tried to look past the problems on the hope that the Fed or Powers that be would come riding to the rescue. Today’s market was significant, and all investors should take careful note. Today, was the first day that the stock market publicly questioned the Fed, in its own way saying, ‘things are really bad, so what are you going to do about it?” That is a sign of situational awareness, and that is a sign that we are moving from avoiding the recognition of the problem to confronting and peering toward the problem. Looking at the problem, the market sees fear, the next step in the down market, and for that reason, today represents a big psychological downshift for the stock market. Just how big, we cannot know, but the days ahead will tell the tale. It is been my experience in a now nearly 27 year career watching stock prices that the ‘persistency of selling’ is the key ingredient to watch over the next 5 to 10 days. Can the market bounce, can it sustain a bounce, how long can it sustain a bounce, or does it continue to crater all the way back to the November 26th lows?

And here is the Fed's statement posted at CNN: Read the Fed's statement

How now Brown Cow?

Is it really all gloom and doom with just a quarter point cut?

Suit Filed Against 2 Megan Officials

Read this news article on Business Times: SC files charges against 2 Megan Media officials

• THE Securities Commission (SC) has filed criminal charges against two former officials of diskmaker Megan Media Holdings Bhd for allegedly making false statements to Bursa Malaysia in relation to the company's revenue figures.
  
  Revenues in question totalled a staggering RM1.81 billion for various periods.
  
  Kenneth Kok Hen Sen @ Kok Liew Sen, the former financial controller of Megan Media, and Datuk Dr Mohd Adam Che Harun, the former executive chairman and director, were named in an indictment at the Sessions Court yesterday.
  
  Kok was also the special assistant to Mohd Adam during the material time of the offence.
  
  In addition to the criminal charges, the SC has obtained a warrant of arrest against the former executive director of Megan Media, George Yeo Wee Siong.
  
  The SC is seeking the assistance of Interpol to trace and arrest Yeo, who is wanted on similar charges.
  
  Kok is charged with four counts of violating section 122B(a)(bb) read together with section 122C(c) of the Securities Industry Act 1983 (SIA).
  
  The SC charged Kok with abetting Megan Media in furnishing to Bursa Malaysia false revenue figures of RM1,034,797,000 in the group's books for the year ended April 30 2006, RM230,365,000 for the period ended July 31 2006, RM238,134,000 for the period ended October 31 2006 and RM306,150,000 for the period ended January 31 2007.
  
  The SC's complaint against Mohd Adam alleges that he furnished a false statement relating to the revenue figure of RM306,150,000 for the company's financial period ended January 31 2007 under section 122B(a)(bb) read together with section 122(1) SIA.
  
  Upon conviction, the accused are liable under section 122B SIA to a fine not exceeding RM3 million, or imprisonment of not more than 10 years, or both.

Which reminded me of this blog posting posted on Aug 7th 2007, in which I blogged on Megan's Other Bossie

• KUALA LUMPUR: Megan Media Holdings Bhd executive chairman Datuk Mohd Adam Che Harun disposed of a total of 6.26 million warrants of the company between April 25 and May 4, a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Aug 3 showed.
• According to Bursa filings, Mohd Adam sold the block of warrants on the open market via five transactions, which saw his warrants holdings in Megan Media being reduced to 63,700 units or 0.09%.

The point mentioned in that blog posting was..

• Point is the transactions was DONE between April 25 and May 4 and these transactions was only recorded and announced on Aug 3rd 2007?
  Why did it take so long to file?

How?

Can you say Big?

Saw this news article posted on bloomberg:

• Derivative Trades Soar to Record $681 Trillion in Third Quarter
  
  By Hamish Risk
  
  Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Derivatives traded on exchanges surged 27 percent to a record $681 trillion in the third quarter, the biggest increase in three years, the Bank for International Settlements said.
  
  Interest-rate futures, contracts designed to speculate on or hedge against moves in borrowing rates, led the increase with a 31 percent increase to $594 trillion during the three months ended Sept. 30, the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS said today in its quarterly review. The amounts are based on the notional amount underlying the contracts.
  
  Trading surged as investors bet on losses linked to record U.S. mortgage foreclosures and policy changes by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to offset the credit slump. The Fed cut its benchmark interest rate by half a point to 4.75 percent in September, the central bank's first reduction in four years.
  
  ``The turbulence in financial markets led to the busiest trading on record,'' BIS analysts Ryan Stever, Christian Upper and Goetz von Peter wrote in the report.
  
  Trading in stock index futures and options rose 19 percent to a record $81 trillion in the third quarter, as investors speculated on whether the credit-market losses would spread to the equity markets. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ad71potU0EbM&refer=home
  

USD$681 Trillion.

My oh my.

Blaine Lourd: The Evolution of An Investor

Here's one truly fantastic reading material for the weekend, The Evolution of an Investor ( The link to this article was posted on The Kirk Report ). Article was written by Michael Lewis who penned Liars Poker.

Here are some snippet of what's stuff written..

• "Seven months in at Lehman, I was one of the top rookie producers," Blaine says, "but every stock I bought went down." His ability to be wrong about the direction of an individual stock was uncanny, even to him. At first, he didn’t understand why his customers didn’t fire him, but soon he came to take their inertia for granted. "It was amazing, the gullibility of the investor," he says. "When you got a new customer, all you needed to do was get three trades out of him. Because one of them is going to work. But you have to get the second one done before the first one goes bad."
  
  It wasn't exactly the career he’d hoped for. Once, he confessed to his boss his misgivings about the performance of his customers' portfolios. His boss told him point-blank, "Blaine, you're confused about your job." A fellow broker added, "Your job is to turn your clients' net worth into your own." Blaine wrote that down in his journal.

Blaine quit his job at Lehmans...

• He quit Lehman Brothers and took a job at the Los Angeles office of Bear Stearns. But Bear wasn’t any better. He says he was pressured to make transactions rather than give good advice. The stories he told himself to feel better about his career became less and less plausible. The nicest thing he could say about himself was that he hadn’t broken the law. He hadn’t bankrupted anyone or anything like that. But when he stepped back from his job and really looked at it, he realized that a huge amount of his time and energy went into making people feel happy about his advice when they should have been furious. The problem was the constant tension between company and client, caused by the firm’s inability to know what the market or any particular stock was going to do next. “I always thought there was going to be a place where the client wouldn’t be compromised and the broker wouldn’t be compromised,” he says. “But it was the same everywhere. It was all about getting people to transact.” And these weren’t bucket shops; they were Wall Street’s most distinguished firms.

Niagara Falls... loved how it was told.

• Back in the old days, when investors believed that they were paying for some mysterious wisdom, the buildings housing Wall Street firms were stone on the outside and dark wood on the inside. Now that investors have learned to fear what they can’t see, the firms are in buildings made of as much glass as can be incorporated into a structure without compromising its ability to stand. The day I arrive at D.F.A.'s offices, I find 150 financial advisers in a glass box, waiting to be educated in a seminar that lays out the D.F.A. way. The coffee and pastries are free, the men and women wear suits, and the conference room has the antiseptic feel of any other 21st-century firm. But the atmosphere is entirely different from Wall Street. There’s no chitchat about the market, even though it has been bouncing around wildly. Instead, two speakers discuss how, knowing what we now know, anyone could present himself as a stock-picking guru. "If you put a thousand people in barrels and push them over Niagara Falls," one of them says, "some of them will survive. And if you take those guys and push them over again, some of them will survive. And they’ll write books about how to survive being pushed over Niagara Falls in a barrel."

Waking up to the lie and Winning the Loser's Game

• Blaine bought the book—it's actually called Winning the Loser's Game —and took it with him to Aspen on his Christmas vacation. There, on the first page, he read "Investment management, as traditionally practiced, is based on a single basic belief: Professional investment managers can beat the market. That premise appears to be false."Ellis, who had spent 30 years advising Wall Street firms, went on with charts, graphs, and more evidence than he needed to convince Blaine of the truth of that statement. The problem wasn't Blaine; the problem wasn't even the firms he worked for. The problem was the entire edifice of modern Wall Street, in which some people—brokers, analysts, mutual fund managers, hedge fund managers—presented themselves as experts and were paid fantastic sums of money for their expertise. But essentially, Ellis argued, there was no such thing as financial expertise. "I read this book," Blaine says, "and I thought, My whole life is a lie, and everyone around me is facilitating this lie."

I guess and I should stop here. Do give the rest of the article a read, The Evolution of an Investor

Cheers and Happy Weekend Shopping!

Tougher Action Proposed Against Dishonest Directors

Published on the BTimes: Tougher measures proposed against dishonest directors

• One of the recommendations is that criminal sanctions be imposed for the contravention of directors' duties that are accompanied by fraud or dishonesty.
  
  If directors had failed in their duties but there was no fraud or dishonesty, the regulators should be able to then initiate civil proceedings against them, the CLSC proposed.
  
  It also recommended that regulators be given a general power to initiate civil proceedings in its own name on behalf of the company if it appears to be in the public's interest to do so.

WOW. Christmas came early. I love this proposal but dear Santa, could you ensure that this is more than a proposal? Am I asking too little if I ask for stringent enforcement of the proposal?

What a great way to start the morning.

The gloom caused by the continuous rain did not help either and this news article was simply the tonic I am looking for. Reminds me of one this favorite rock song of mine by the legendary rock group Boston. (wasn't it 1976 when the song was released?)

I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away ...

Here's the video I loved the best posted at Youtube.

Profiting From Our Mistake(s)

I have been spending times reading back my own notes. Stuff that I had written some many years ago.

Here's something I wrote back in May 2004 in a closed forum.

Enjoy!

Quote:

• If a man didn't make mistakes he'd own the world in a month. But if he didn't profit by his mistakes he wouldn't own a blessed thing.
  
  - Edwin Lefevre - Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

May 2003. This is probably where I would say the current (KLSE) rally had started. A good year has passed us by and it is probably a wise thing to reminiscence this past one year.

( Wait ... wait....... do not take this posting for granted. Firstly, this is not an exercise in vanity, ok? Yeah, this ain't another discussion on what is the best strategy or the best way to make money in the market. Yes, this is not a posting debating who is correct and who is wrong! Ok? )

Yes, during the past one year, I have seen so many various strategies applied in the market in an attempt to make money. Some punted and simply whacked the market, some whacked simply based on hot-air, some used various trading techniques and skills, which included trading in a short term basis, scalping, tape reading, swinging and day trading, while some others traded on a longer term basis based on Market Timing or cycles, and some simply invested in the market - yeah the buy and hold long, long buggers, and then we have the more technical savvy techno canSLIMers, traders/investors who combine ta/fa in their strategy and then there were some who simply bought and prayed hard-hard!

For me, I believe that it's rather paramount that one develops to understand fully what one have and have not done correctly in the stock market and perhaps the most importing thing at this point of time is, are we gonna profit from our past mistake(s)?

Take a look at us. The index is still up a good 100 pts plus since last May (2003). Just how exactly are we doing?

Good, bad or so-so?

Is there something wrong in our system? Are we 'playing the game' correctly or are we in the need to go on a Holy Grail search for the best method?

Now, for the holy grail searchers, those switch hitters who moves from one system to another in search for the best method, the biggest problem and the biggest risk is simply time.

Mistakes cost money and what if one takes too long to discover our mistakes?

Each system/strategy has got its own winning point and its weak point. And this the holy grail seekers greatest risk. Finding, testing and discovering each strategy takes time and lots of mistakes will occur along the way.

And of course, the ultimate question would be: could one ultimately find the best ever technique?

Is there ever a 100% fool proof strategy? What if it takes you too long a time to find it? And what if there isn't such a thing as a perfect strategy?

Ahhh... how now Brown Cow?

Profiting from our mistake(s). This is I think is the ultimate key. Be it if you are an investor or you are a trader. So the alternative is to take a good review of what we have done and what we have not done correctly the past year. Look at our own methods. Can we avoid repeating the same mistake or we doomed to make the same mistake again? Are we even using the technique correctly? (remember the argument of where they said the system is usually correct, it is the user of the system which is wrong!) Or even to the more extreme, is do we acknowledge the flaws in our own system? And lastly, is our current system really a no-hoper?

how?

~~~~

Bursa Malaysia is now at 1442.73. At its highest ever.

So just how are we all doing?

Are we still searching for the Holy Grail?

Have we profited from our past mistake(s)?

~~~~

As the above was written in a forum posting, I did write another posting...

• Yeah, realizing and admitting our mistakes is very important as I have witnessed folks who are stubbornly steadfast in insisting that they were always right and they just blamed their poor fortunes on irrational stuff like poor luck.
  
  Anyway, it does look like switching stocks is kinda popular, ain't it? The most popular switch is selling the top gainers - or selling a stock after it appreciates a certain percentage, and a switch is made into a stock that have not performed yet. Now assuming that our judgement and stock selections are correct, what exactly are we doing? What exactly is such a strategy suggesting and what exactly is the weakness in such system? Well it looks to me that we are limiting the gains in the top gainer stock. And when we switch to one and it fails, then what we have done is rather silly because we have sold out our star performer and bought a stock that might turn out to be a non-perfomer into our piggy bank.
  
  Just immagine, footie, say u are Arsene Wenger and the best perfomer in the team is Va-va-room (T.Henry), could u immagine if Arsene sold Va-va-room and purchase a non performing striker such as Diego Forlan??!! lol... lol ..... ridiculously silly ain't it? Yup, this is the very basic risk. We limit the performance of our star performers and we switch to one, which we may not know if it will perform, or not. However, if it works out, aren't we a genius? And of course the common argument for switching is that one is protecting one's profits.... (ROFLMAO!!!)
  
  Then there are those who switch or rather they get rid of them poor performers in their portfolio. Would it work? It might and if does work out, then great. However, what if one witch to another stock that will perform even worse? It could happen, couldn't it?
  
  And every time we switches, one tends to sacrifice a little on the quality and the price one pays for their investments. Yes, one tend to pay a slightly higher PE for their switched stock and perhaps one opts for a more lesser quality stock, and when one does this too often, when the 'so-called game ends', ie the market rally ends, what does one ultimately ends up with? Can u imagine the chain of events? Isn't there a strong likely hood that one ends up with a basket of poorer quality stocks, purchased at a higher price? (And I would guess the best advice here is not too switch too often, rite? )
  
  As u can tell from my biased writing, I am not a switcher and I admit I am very much against switching. However, I would very much like to hear from anyone who has developed and maintain a strong winning strategy in switching stocks.
  Anyone willing to share?
  

MP Tech

Blogged on this stock several times.

7th Sept 2006: MP Tech

• The Board of Directors wish to announce that it has discovered certain financial irregularities which maybe fraudulant. These discoveries were made by Special Committe set-up by the Board in March 2006 and headed by Dato' Krishna Kumar, the Company's Independant Director.

And i made the following comments:

• How ironic cause MP Tech started reporting losses in its quarterly earnings reported in Oct 2005 and has since posted 4 consecutive quarterly losses (totalling some 33.7 million!!)!!!!So now the discovery of certain financial irregularities which maybe fraudulant????

Updated the posting on 22nd Jan 2007: Update on MP Tech

• I remember this one hor... this bugger took over Kelanamas Industries Bhd listing under a restructuring exercise back in 2004 and then it started playing funky music by announcing it was diversifying into the cement business... AHEM... and then that was not all... back in June 2005...

Four days later, MP Tech announced its quarterly earnings and I made the following posting: MP Technology announced its Quarterly Earnings. Quarterly losses totalled 133.274 million!

It was truly amazing because MP Tech announced then too that the financial position of the company was insolvent.

In today's Star Biz, the following article caught my attention: PN 17 firms to be delisted, removed

• PN 17 firms to be delisted, removed
  
  KUALA LUMPUR: The securities of three Practice Note 17 companies – FA Peninsular Bhd, MP Technology Resources Bhd (MP Tech) Syarikat Kayu Wangi Bhd (SKW) – will be delisted and removed from the official list of Bursa Malaysia on Dec 13.
  
  Bursa said in a statement FA Peninsular would be delisted for failure to make the requisite announcement of its regularisation plans by Nov 30.
  
  It said MP Tech would be delisted for failure to submit its regularisation plan to the Securities Commission (SC) and other relevant authorities for approval by Sept 25.
  
  For SKW, it would be delisted as the SC had, vide its letters dated Aug 9 and Nov 6, rejected its regularisation plan and its appeal against the rejection respectively.
  
  “For MP Tech and SKW, another reason for the delisting is that both companies do not have adequate level of financial conditions to warrant continued listings,” it said.
  
  Bursa said upon the delisting of the companies, they would continue to exist but as an unlisted entities. – Bernama

So what more can I say about MP Tech?

Got listed via RTO of Kelanamas in 2004. Insolvent by Jan 2007. To be delisted on Dec 2007!

Now value destruction or what!!

And I would like to know how MP Tech managed to get listed via the RTO Kelanamas!