New Update On Ecofirst

I just saw an article on EcoFirst on theEdgedaily.com.

I chuckled.

I remember this one since I had blogged on it back on Sep 2007: EcoFirst (Kumpulan Emas) I was rather amazed because this company had 7 consecutive quarters of losses since changing its name from Kumpulan Emas!!!! And that was during the good times too! I guess change of name did not bring a change in fortunes!

And the quarterly earnings after that.

Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/10/2007

That would make it 9 quarters in a row! The next quarter, Ecofirst showed some profit!

Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/1/2008

However the gain was rather subjective because as the company own self stated:

• The improvement is due to recognition of gain on disposal of subsidiaries amounting to RM18.1 million

And since Ecofirst had earnings of only around 11 mil and if you minus out this disposal, Ecofirst would have showed a loss too.

And as expected, the next three quarters, Ecofirst continued to record losses!

Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 29/2/2008

Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/5/2008

Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/8/2008

Which means that since Kumpulan Emas changed its name to Ecofirst back in Jan 2006, Ecofirst had recorded losses all the way!

Truly amazing.

Anyway, back to the article on theEdgeDaily.com. It announced it had a new Executive Director and the Executive Director has came out with a rather BOLD announcement!

• 25-11-2008: Ecofirst sets 3-year target for rebound
  by Pauline Puah
  
  SUBANG JAYA: Ecofirst Consolidated Bhd will return to the black within several years if its turnaround strategy goes according to plan, said its newly-appointed executive director Tiong Kwing Hee.
  
  “With all these things (turnaround measures) in place, I would say in about two to three years’ time we should be in the black,” he told The Edge Financial Daily after the company’s AGM yesterday.
  
  Key to Tiong’s strategy is the restructuring of the group’s liabilities. Tiong said he planned to talk to financial institutions on the possibility of restructuring the group’s borrowings to a “slightly longer term”, possibly through their convertion into preference shares.
  
  As at May 31, 2008, the group’s long-term borrowings stood at RM102.2 million, while short-term borrowings amounted to RM29 million.
  
  The group changed its financial year-end to May 31 from July 31 for fiscal 2008, in which it posted a net loss of RM32.4 million in the 10 months.
  
  “(Another option) may be some form of loan stocks and a minimum coupon rate, may be a few percent to match our cash flow,” said Tiong who joined the group in September.
  
  Ecofirst’s diversified business interests include property, construction, food services and network marketing businesses. The group has been posting net losses for the past three years.
  
  As part of its turnaround strategy, the group planned to turn its South City Plaza into an “educational mall” for higher learning institutions to cater for 6,000 to 7,000 students, Tiong said.
  
  He also said the group expected to secure some projects from its ongoing negotiations with several government agencies.
  
  “We expect to get about few hundred million (government) worth of works for next year. (The amount will be) around RM300 million to RM400 million,” he said.
  
  Tiong said the group’s network marketing division had set up offices in Indonesia and the Philippines and planned to set up more offices in the region.
  
  “Hopefully by middle of next year, we will be in Vietnam and Thailand.”
  
  In near future, our turnover will be RM25 million,” he said, adding it was currently in talks with several manufacturers with “very good growth potential”.
  
  Tiong said the group would be going through operational cost cutting but denied there would be lay-offs.