HAI-O-PERFORMANCE

HAI-O AIMS TO FURTHER BOOST PERFORMANCE
FROM WAN NOR AZURA MIOR ABD AZIZ

SINGAPORE, Nov 14 (Bernama) -– Hai-O Enterprise Berhad, a multi-level
marketing firm, which continues to deliver impressive results, wants to further
improve performance following remarkable achievements by its Malay and
Bumiputera entrepreneur team.
Chairman Tan Sri Osman S. Cassim said while the business environment remains
challenging, Hai-O was focused on recapturing some of the opportunities which
may have been delayed by the global economic downturn.
The company has displayed improved performance over the last three years,
with Compounded Annual Growth Rate of over 40 per cent in revenue and over 60
per cent in net profit.
For the first quarter results ended July 31, 2009, the group recorded a
higher revenue of RM148.57 million as compared to RM112.91 million in the same
quarter last year, an increase of about 32 per cent.
" We have good prospects for next year as well. We have increased our
products such as healthcare products and will further expand our business," said
Osman in an interview with BERNAMA at the Third Forbes Asia 200 Best Under A
Billion List celebrations in Singapore on Wednesday.
The company is one of eight corporations from Malaysia to clinch the
prestigious Forbes award.
" This award is given based on several criteria. Some of them are good
performance, good corporate governance, good returns to shareholders and
future prospects for the company," he said.
With the start of the direct-selling business in Indonesia in the first
quarter of next year, it would contribute further to Hai-O's
impressive results, he added.
Meanwhile, Group Managing Director Tan Kai Hee, when met at the
award ceremony, attributed the company's success to the hardwork of its 95 per
cent truly loyal Malay and Bumiputera marketing team.
He said the company hopes to produce more millionaire Bumiputera
entrepreneurs despite the challenging global economic downturn.
Of the more than 100,000 distributors registered with the company, about
10,000 to 20,000 of them are very active, he said.
" We are so lucky to have the group of Bumiputera entrepreneurs who are
sincere, honest, hardworking and always provide good service and can win over
consumers' heart," said the humble 75-year-old businessman.
He said there are also about 10 to 15 Bumiputeras who could become
millionaires within a year through their hardwork.
Tan said apart from the Hai-O Group being formally recognised for its
hardwork over the years, he believed it is also the goal pursued by other small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) country-wide.
From 2007 to 2009, the company has passed Forbes' strict selection process,
with a long-term and sustainable management concept.
" There is an old saying, " pride leads to loss while modesty brings
benefit". Therefore, we will not be complacent as we were listed by Forbes for
three consecutive years," he added. -- BERNAMA
WNA TOM

IT-PERSOFT

PERSOFT TO MEET CRITERIA FOR CYBERCENTRE STATUS IN NEXT 6 MONTHS

PETALING JAYA, Nov 13, (Bernama) -- Persoft Corp Sdn Bhd will allocate RM6
million for its subsidiary Persoft Properties Sdn Bhd to carry out an exercise
to further upgrade Persoft Tower.
Group executive director Shaiful Annuar Ahmad Shaffie said the company was
expected to fulfil the qualifying criteria for MSC Malaysia Cybercentre status
within the next six months.
Persoft Properties had received approval to be developed as an MSC Malaysia
Cybercentre from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry on Nov 9, 2009.
Shaiful Annuar said the company would use RM4.5 million out of the RM6
million allocation to enhance the building infrastructure as well as the
interior and exterior of the premises.
"This upgrading will be carried out in two phases and is expected to provide
an exceptional business environment for our tenants and ensuring continuous
sustainability and business growth," he told reporters at a briefing on Persoft
Tower, formerly known as Menara Luxor, here today.
As part of Persoft's value proposition for the Cybercentre status, Shaiful
Annuar said the company would offer an incubator venture programme to assist
information and communications technology (ICT) companies in capital funding,
technical advice and business expansion.
The company also planned to provide Microsoft training and certification
programmes as well as information technology graduate practical training for
final-year students in local universities, he said.
According to Shaiful Annuar, Persoft Properties aims to provide a
competitive world-class infrastructure and business-enabling office environment
to house more than 30 MSC Malaysia status companies by 2011, especially newly
set-up local companies.
"Today we are proud to inform that we are the first privately-owned
Bumiputera company with MSC Malaysia status and at the same time we own and
manage Persoft Tower which has been approved by the government to be developed
into a cybercentre," he said.
Persoft Properties was incorporated on Feb 16, 2007, with an authorised
capital of RM500,000 to own, manage or operate all properties belonging to the
Persoft group of companies.
Shaiful Annuar said with the completion of the MSC Malaysia Cybercentre
exercise, the company was confident of achieving a revenue growth of 20 to 25
per cent.
He said the company's total revenue stood at RM98.2 million as at Dec 31,
2008. -- BERNAMA
WNA LC

PIPOC2009-CPO

CHOPPY TRADE EXPECTED FOR CPO PRICES TILL YEAR END
By Wan Nor Azura Mior Abd Aziz

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 (Bernama) -- The immediate term outlook for crude
palm oil prices remains bullish although a choppy trade is expected for the
commodity the rest of this year, says a market player.
Futures Broker Representative of CIMB Futures Sdn Bhd, Teoh Ghim Ming
expects CPO prices to range from RM2,150 to RM2,350 till end of the year.
"Crude palm oil market would trade and fluctuate more independently from
other commodities i.e. crude oil, metals or stock markets," Teoh said.
He said the three major factors likely to influence the price
direction of CPO futures would be the current choppy random-walk nature of crude
oil, buoyed by weakness in the dollar, and purchasing from China, India and
European countries.
Other factors could include the development of the crop in Brazil,
Argentina and Paraguay all which have experienced a drop.
"We do not know which factor will come into play. Obviously, one of
these factors will impact prices," he told Bernama after presenting his paper at
the ongoing International Palm Oil Congress 2009 (PIPOC 2009) here.
He presented a paper on "Understanding the Palm Oil Market Trend - What's
Next".
For the first quarter of next year, the objective will be to push and close
above the psychological resistance level at RM2,400 to RM2450 level.
"A success full rate above this technical hurdle will take the market into
the RM2,650 to RM2,700 zone in the fist quarter next year," Teoh said.--BERNAMA
WNA SD

PIPOC2009-PREMIUM

MARKET NEEDS TO RECOGNISE SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL, SAYS DOMPOK


KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- The premium for certified palm oil should
be at US$50 per tonne compared to US$8 dollar per tonne currently in order
to support the sustainable palm oil industry due to the costly certification
process.
In stating this, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri
Bernard Dompok said some of Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) members
who are non-producers were not fully supportive of the high premium certified
sustainable palm oil.
"At the moment there's no premium paid by the market, so the market needs to
recognise the effort of plantations companies," Dompok told reporters after
officiating the International Palm Oil Congress (PIPOC) 2009 here today.
Currently, a total planted area of 157,000 hectares in the country are
producing more than one million tonnes of palm oil which have been certified by
the RSPO.
"But the takers in the markets are not there, and I am very sad when the
plantation companies tried their best to produce it but this is not responded by
the market," Dompok said.
Malaysia and Indonesia have done very well to support the sustainable palm
oil production, according to him.
In Malaysia, close to 40 per cent of the planted areas are managed by
smallholders and as such, outreach efforts needed to be made to bring on board
this particular segment of the industry, he said.
The Malaysian oil palm industry has been actively involved in the challenge
to produce palm oil under the RSPO ambit, Dompok said.
In addition to ensuring sustainable production, the industry has also
voluntarily adopted the Code of Practices (COPs) drawn up by the Malaysian Palm
Oil Board (MPOB), he said.
The code covers the entire supply chain of oil palm and palm oil,
incorporating elements of sustainability and food safety to ensure the
production of sustainable and environmentally friendly palm oil for the global
community.
"The adoption and implementation of COPs in the palm oil supply chain is
pertinent and forms part of the industry strategy to comply with food safety and
quality requirements of importing countries," the minister said.
On another development, Dompok said the RM100 million oil palm research
facility embarked by the MPOB and plantation companies had shown encouraging
results in palm oil production.
The MPOB research has successfully generated over 400 sequences representing
90 per cent of the functional genes in oil palm, he said.
The centre was set up to help boost the oil palm industry's productivity
through a better understanding of the plant's genetic code.
In a move to acquire the latest techniques in sequencing complete oil palm
genome using new generation sequencers, the MPOB is now collaborating with South
Korea's Macrogen and US-based Orion Genomics. -- BERNAMA
WNA LC

PIPOC2009-PRODUCTION

CPO PRICES TO STAY STEADY REST OF THE YEAR


KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- Crude palm oil (CPO) prices are expected to
stay steady and rangebound for the rest of the year, said Minister of Plantation
Industries and Commodities, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, today.
While the prices of oil in the world have fluctuated in the past month, the
price of CPO has relatively been stable, at between RM2100 and RM2200 per
tonne in the last few months.
He also said CPO's current price averaged at RM2,244.50 a tonne compared
with less than RM1,700 a tonne during the period from October to December 2008.
"I don't detect any changes in the underlying conditions," said the minister
after the opening of the International Palm Oil Congress 2009 (PIPOC 2009) here
today.
Also present at the event were Chairman of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB),
Datuk Sabri Ahmad and Director-General of (MPOB), Datuk Dr Mohd Basri Wahid.
"Overall palm oil output is slightly less or similar to last year with about
four per cent drop," said Mohd Basri.
According to MPOB website, the total production of palm oil for the first
nine months of 2009 was 12.46 million tonnes compared with 12.94 million tonnes
in the corresponding period of last year, a drop by 3.6 per cent.
The total production of palm oil in 2008 meanwhile was 17.7 million tonnes,
out of which close to 85 per cent was exported, with earnings increasing to
RM65.2 billion for the year.
Palm oil exports for the first eight months of this year was also steady
despite the global economic slowdown.-- BERNAMA
WNA SD

PIPOC2009-PALMOIL

MPOB AND ORION COMPLETE SEQUENCING OF THREE OIL PALM GENOMES


KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and
Orion Genomics today announced that a consortium co-led by the Advanced
Biotechnology and Breeding Centre has sequenced three oil palm genomes from two
palm species, an important food and biofuel crop.
This genome sequencing effort provides a comprehensive genetic blueprint of
E.oleifera and E.guineensis, including the pisifera and dura palms, they said.
MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Mohd Basri Wahid said knowledge of the
genomic sequence of these oil palm varieties enabled researchers to understand
genetic differences between trees for more resistant to disease than usual.
"Our goal in completing the oil palm genome sequence is to dramatically
improve oil yields both for the production of food, feed and fuel," he said at
the plenary session on "Sequencing the Oil Palm Genome: The Beginning" at the
International Palm Oil Congress 2009 here today.
Oil palm plantations on average produce 3.9 tonnes of oil per hectare per
year, nearly 10 times more than other productive oil-bearing crops, Mohd Basri
said.
Therefore, it has the potential to meet growing demand for food and
renewable fuel, he said.
Used in cooking oil, margarine, baked goods and other foods, palm oil is the
most consumed edible oil in the world.
It feeds more than three billion people in 150 countries worldwide and is
also a common ingredient in soaps and cosmetics.
Last year, Malaysia produced 17.7 million tonnes of crude palm oil and
exported RM65.2 billion (US$17.6 billion) worth of palm oil products.
New technologies are now enabling palm oil to be transformed into biodiesel,
a promising renewable fuel.
MPOB and Orion Genomics, along with Mogene LC, also unveiled plans to study
the epigenetic make-up of oil palm next year in an effort to improve yields.
Epigenetics is the study of the pattern of chemical groups that influence
whether specific genes are turned on or off, said Orion Genomics' president and
chief executive officer Nathan Lakey.
"We theorise that by studying oil palm epigenetics, we may be able to help
to speed the development of varieties of oil palm that produce more oil, rapidly
increasing the per acre efficiency of this crop, which already is the single
largest producer of edible oils worldwide," he said. -- BERNAMA
WNA LC

MAHATHIR-TAKAFUL

DR M RECEIVES TOKOH TAKAFUL AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO TAKAFUL INDUSTRY


KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad was conferred "Tokoh Takaful Award" at the Malaysian Takaful Association
inaugural Dinner and Awards Nite 2009 in recognition of his outstanding
contribution to the takaful industry.
Dr Mahathir has been instrumental in ensuring the takaful industry received
strong support from the government and this support has remained to this day.
" We owe much to Tun Mahathir as in October 1982, barely a year after coming
into office as the fourth Prime Minister, a special task force was formed to
explore the viability of an islamic insurance company in Malaysia," said
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah when speaking at the
event.
Dr Mahathir had passed on a legacy to the Malaysian Islamic financial industry,
said Malaysian Takaful Association Chairman Datuk Syed Moheed Syed Kamarulzaman.
He said Dr Mahathir was also a multi-skilled individual and a strategist in his
own sense, making him the perfect candidate to receive the award.
WNA MSL TOM

MALAYSIA-TAKAFUL

HELP ENSURE NATION'S POSITION AS LEADING TAKAFUL PROVIDER REMAINS INTACT: AHMAD HUSNI

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- The takaful industry should take meaningful
and effective steps to ensure that the country's position as a leading global
takaful provider remains intact, said Minister of Finance II, Datuk Seri Ahmad
Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah.
"The global takaful landscape will change at an accelerated rate in the next
five years and the growth potentials are too irrestitable for any player to
ignore," he said at the Malaysian Takaful Association Dinner & Awards Nite 2009
here today.
He said Malaysia has seen a compound annual growth rate of 39 per cent
between 2005 and 2007.
"It is estimated that global gross takaful contributions will touch US$8
billion by 2012," he said.
Ahmad Husni said the current financial crisis has brought forth concerns to
financial institutions across the globe, including the takaful operators.
"However, the Islamic financial system has proven to be resilient and immune
to the cancerous malignant credit products that were the root cause of the
current credit crisis," he said.
Syed Moheed said takaful operators have an important role to promote
innovation, equipping their business strategies with research and development
and design new innovative products and services.
" Innovation is the key to increase progression and sustaining growth
in the industry," he said.
The takaful industry witnessed positive response and confidence based on
growth in the last decade as Malaysians from all walks of life, religions and
races are receptive towards takaful, he added. -- BERNAMA
WNA MSL TOM

RSPO-OUTLOOK

RSPO SEES BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL
By Wan Nor Azura Mior Abd Aziz

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 (Bernama) -- The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
(RSPO) sees a brighter future for palm oil following its sixth general assembly
held here.
According to RSPO secretary-general Dr Vengeta Rao, the assembly has paved a
progressive path for members to work towards a brighter future for the industry.
He said the RSPO would continue to commit to the principles of integrity and
transparency, and engagement with all stakeholders in achieving sustainability
in agricultural practice.
The RSPO is a global initiative on sustainable palm oil with the aim of
promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm oil through cooperation within
the supply chain and open dialogue between its stakeholders.
Rao said the proposed resolutions by GAPKI or Gabungan Pengusaha Kelapa
Sawit Indonesia and Malaysian Palm Oil Association for the RSPO to commission a
working group to establish a system to share the cost of certification for
smallholders had been well accepted.
Members have also agreed to commission a working group to establish a system
to share the certification and verification costs on new plantings currently
borne by growers, he told reporters after the meeting here today.
It has also accepted the establishment of a working group to provide
recommendations on how to deal with existing plantations on peatlands, as
proposed by Wetlands International, he said.
"By the eighth RSPO meeting next year, the executive board will have to
develop the terms of reference for the committee and appoint its members," he
added.
The committee will be tasked with developing business models for sustainable
options for current oil palm plantations on peatlands, Rao said.
This, he said, will include exploring water management regimes appropriate
to reduce emissions and mechanism to facilitate restoration of peatlands. --
BERNAMA
WNA LC

MALAYSIA-RSPO

MALAYSIA-RSPO
MALAYSIA NEEDS TO PLAY ITS ROLES IN RSPO
By Wan Nor Azura Mior Abd Aziz
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia needs to play its roles correctly
in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and has a choice of walking
away from the RSPO process if it is going to undermine the palm oil industry.
RSPO secretary-general Dr Vengeta Rao, in stating this, said the country
could benefit from the roundtable process as it was meant to improve the
environment and to improve productivity in agriculture.
"However, if it allows itself to be bullied, of course you would be
bullied," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the 7th Roundtable Meeting on
Sustainable Palm Oil here today.
"Because Malaysia was part of the formation, to leave it, you should give a
reason. It is not that you cannot leave the RSPO, you can leave the RSPO," he
said.
However, Malaysia could walk away from the RSPO process if it felt that its
views were ignored and the requirements set unfair to the industry, he added.
He was asked to comment on a report that western environmental
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were like schoolyard bullies, taking
advantage of palm oil producing countries.
The report quoted Don D'Cruz, a specialist who spent a decade fighting NGO
campaigns, as saying that the RSPO process, although good-intentioned, was
likely to cause a great deal of damage to the palm oil industry in countries
like Malaysia and Indonesia.
Rao said if there were matters in RSPO unfair or unreasonable to Malaysia,
such as non-tariff barriers, the country has to make its view clear before
deciding to walk away from the roundtable.
With this, other stakeholders would have an opportunity to consider whether
something could be done to resolve the issue, he said.
According to Rao, all stakeholders are concerned about the palm oil
industry.
"Indeed at the 6th roundtable, the Indonesian delegation walked away during
the general assembly but Indonesia remained as a member of RSPO as all parties
concerned have agreed to compromise," he said.
RSPO is a non-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven sectors
of the palm oil industry, comprising palm oil producers, processors and traders,
consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental and
nature conservation non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and social or
developmental NGOs.
Aim of the association is to develop and implement global standards for
sustainable palm oil.
Rao said Malaysia as a producer may not be happy with the RSPO but as a
global supplier, it cannot decide on its own how it will produce palm oil.
He agreed that the RSPO process was costly, saying that to be a member of
RSPO required two thousand euros a year.
He added that RSPO members are also required to pay between US$1 and US$3
per hectare to obtain the RSPO certification.
Rao said the cost, however, would also depend on the company's size and its
business volume.
"They will also need to pay the auditor, and with the RSPO certification,
their palm oil will be at higher price," he said.
On whether the RSPO was created out of a desire by western food
multinationals to head off what they viewed as an inevitable campaign on
palm oil, Rao said western food multinationals are important as they are large
buyers.
However, the global palm oil market is not only focusing on western food
multinationals as there are other markets for the industry, he said. -- BERNAMA
WNA LC