Thesun 2009-10-22 Page16 Petra Energy Has Order Book Of Rm1b Ecm Libra

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theSun

| THURSDAY OCTOBER 22 2009

business

Petra Energy has order book of RM1b: ECM Libra KUALA LUMPUR: ECM Libra Investment Research estimates Petra Energy Bhd currently has an outstanding order book of roughly RM1 billion. This included the RM52 million contract from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd to construct the Kumang Cluster onshore tie-in at MLNG-2 and Bintulu Integrated Facilities onshore upgrading and modifications.

The contract is expected to last for one year, ECM Libra said in a research note yesterday. “Major jobs include the Sabah and Sarawak Shell RM1.1 billion contract (awarded in September last year) and smaller contracts not yet completed are two more maintenance jobs, also for Sabah and Sarawak Shell,” the research firm said. Another research firm, OSK

Research, said although the new contract merely made up about 10% of its total revenue, any additional job would be good since the company has available capacity, given the slowdown in local oil and gas activities. Saying that it has been several months since Petronas Carigali awarded contracts to the local market, OSK Research said this may be

an indication of the start in the flow of jobs. “However, we are keeping our financial year 2009-2010 earnings unchanged as we had earlier factored in potential job order replenishment for the company since the nature of its business is more stable,” it said. Although Petra Energy has market leadership in providing brownfield services in Malaysia, OSK Research

IA Group partners C&W to develop Islamic banking solution

ZULKIFLI ERSAL/THESUN

by Alyaa Alhadjri [email protected]

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s status as the region’s hub for Islamic finance will be enhanced with a newly formed partnership between IA Group Sdn Bhd (IA) and Callatay & Wouters to jointly develop, implement, support and market the Thaler Islamic Banking Solution for the region and global market. The solution, which will be available by early next year, combined Callatay & Wouters’ expertise in the core banking field with IA’s knowledge of syariah-compliance and experience in large-scale technology project implementations to provide a system that addressed a wide range of core and analytical banking activities in multiple channels. The partnership was formalised yesterday by IA chief executive officer Datuk Dr Hamzah Kassim and Callatay & Wouters global head of sales and marketing Johan Martens during a ceremony held at Shangri-La Hotel here. Hamzah said the partnership augers well with the Malaysian government’s call for more local companies to go global as Malaysia’s niche in Islamic banking industry has been recognised internationally, opening huge potential markets. ‘With Thaler on SAP (system application & products ), not only do we see a scalable end-to-end platform that is flexible enough to meet client requirements, but the real potential to develop a global solution that we could market,” said Hamzah, adding that IA and Callatay & Wouters expect RM100 million worth of implementations within three years of the solution’s introduction in Malaysia. Callatay & Wouters is a provider of core banking and multi-channel distribution solutions based in Brussels, Germany and IA is a

Malaysian management consulting, technology and outsourcing company. In his keynote address, National Economic Advisory Council chairman Senator Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz, who witnessed the signing, urged local technology companies to enhance Malaysia’s position as a market leader in Islamic finance via developing technology solutions for the sector. “Currently, the lack of active participation by home-grown technology companies see European and Indian companies selling Islamic banking and Takaful solutions to our Malaysian banks and insurance companies. “Malaysian companies need to move up the value chain and expand their market either through acquiring technology and

capability, and negotiating joint ventures. A long-term solution would be to invest in research & development,” he said. “The only way to move up is by developing our own intellectual properties and today’s partnership is an example of an effort to develop Islamic-based intellectual properties.” He said since local companies already have a good standing in providing solutions for conventional banking systems, they should take advantage of Malaysia’s position and expand into Islamic finance sector. Islamic banking sector in Malaysia has shown “phenomenal growth” in recent years and it economically represents a potential comparative advantage that should be exploited to its fullest extent.

Hamzah (left) and Johan exchange documents that formally sealed the partnership as Amirsham looks on.

said it was not “very bullish on the company until it see more long-term and big contracts awards to keep it busy for several years”. In the immediate term, the research firm believed the closest potential contract would be from the US$2.1 billion (RM7.14 billion) potential spending by ExxonMobil on the seven existing platforms located off the coast of Terengganu.

LBS Bina units’ joint-venture partner changes ownership KUALA LUMPUR: LBS Bina Group Berhad (LBGB) on Tuesday announced a change in the ownership of its wholly-owned subsidiaries Lamdeal Consolidated Development Limited’s (LCDL) and Lamdeal Golf and Country Club Limited’s (LGCCL) jointventure partner, Zhuhai Special Economic Zone Long Yi Enterprises Company (Long Yi). Zhuhai Jiuzhou Tourism Group (ZJTG), Zhuhai’s largest tourism conglomerate, has taken over ownership of Long Yi from Zhuhai City Government Assets Management Committee with immediate effect subsequent to a restructuring exercise on the state owned investments by Zhuhai city government. LBGB board of directors in a press statement said that the change does not have any impact on its paid-up capital, net assets and earnings for the financial year ending Dec 31. The change is also not expected to affect the operations of Zhuhai International Circuit Consolidated Development Limited (ZICCDL) and Zhuhai International Circuit Golf & Country Club Limited (Zicgolf) – two Sino-foreign cooperative joint-venture entities established in 1992 by LCDL and LGCCL together with Long Yi. Zicgolf owns and operates the award winning Lakewood Golf Club, Zhuhai while ZICCDL was formed to develop 197-acre located within and around the area. The share of profit between LCDL and LGCCL and their partner Long Yi respectively, is in the ratio of 60:40.

Myvi tops initial quality for new compact car KUALA LUMPUR: The Perodua Myvi has for the third time ranked highest for its initial quality in terms of new-vehicle ownership, in the compact car segment, according to J.D. Power Asia Pacific. In the same segment, Myvi was followed closely by Proton Savvy, with the Perodua Viva in tow, the marketing information services provider said of its 2009 Malaysia Initial Quality Index study. The study examines the quality of new vehicles during the first two to six months, and measures more than 200 problem symptoms covering eight vehicle components, it said in a statement here. Meanwhile, the re-designed Honda City ranked highest in the entry midsize car segment, followed by the Toyota Vios and the Proton Saga. As for the midsize car segment, the Toyota Corolla Altis was top, with the Honda Civic coming in second and the Nissan Sylphy in the third place. The Toyota Innova ranked highest in the MPV/van segment for a second consecutive year, followed by the Nissan Grand Livina and the Toyota Avanza. In the pick-up segment, the Isuzu D-max received top spot, with the Toyota Hilux as runner up and the Mitsubishi Triton in the third place. – Bernama