New Ringgit Malaysia Notes from 2012

PETALING JAYA: The ringgit will have a new look next year, announced Bank Negara.

The new series design of Malaysian banknotes and coins would be issued for circulation in early 2012, an exercise undertaken periodically every 12 years, said the central bank in a statement yesterday.

“The theme for the design of the new currency series will include features that are distinctively Malay­sian.

“It will also have enhanced security elements in line with the latest advancements in technology for currency notes,” it said.

There will be changes for the RM1, RM5, RM10, and RM100 banknotes and 5 sen, 10 sen, 20 sen and 50 sen coins.

However, the current design of the RM50 banknote, which came out in December 2007 to commemorate Malaysia’s 50th Independence Day, will continue to remain in circulation.

“In preparation for the issuance of the new currency series, Bank Negara will be working closely with financial institutions, businesses and cash handling vendors to ensure a smooth transition,” it said.

Existing banknotes will be circulated with the new notes until the former are gradually withdrawn.

“Vendors of cash handling machines will be given six months to calibrate these to ensure public convenience for the use of the new currency,” the statement said.

To increase public awareness on the new currency series, Bank Negara said it would issue commemorative coins for the third series and unveil the new fourth series for banknotes in the third quarter of this year.

[Source : The Star Online]

Cosway Malaysia plans 3-in-1 concept store

TOKYO : Cosway Corporation Ltd plans to introduce a 3-in-1 concept at Cosway shops throughout Malaysia beginning next month with an investment of RM10 million.

Chairman and chief executive officer Al Chuah said the 3-in-1 (organic,pharmacy and Cosway products) concept would boost next year's revenue to RM2 billion compared with RM1.7 billion expected this year.

"The 3-in-1 concept is the first in the world and it is not entirely a multi-level-marketing system but will offer a retail shop concept.

"We will introduce the concept not only in Malaysia but in other countries where we operate currently.

"We decided to introduce the pharmacy-concept as it will attract a lot of customers to our shops compared with those who only walk into our shops because they know the brand," he told reporters after the launch of the 3-in-1 Cosway
shop here by Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri. 

The minister said the first concept store would not only sell pharmaceutical and organic products but also other Cosway products. Of the 2,000 products sold
in the shop, more than 400 products, are made in Malaysia.



"This is one way to export our products to Japan. With Cosway, owned by Malaysians, we can actually bring in more Malaysian products into Japan," said Ismail Sabri.

Meanwhile, Al Chuah said Cosway planned to expand their network in Japan to about 100 outlets next year with an investment of between RM30 million and RM50 million.

"We also plan to penetrate Mexico, Columbia, Russia, China and Turkey next year and would invest RM20 million in each of these markets.

Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan said he was confident the concept would be a success and compete internationally.

He said Cosway planned to export more Malaysian-made quality products which met the criteria of Japanese consumers. -- Bernama



For more information, kindly visit,

http://pharmacistsharing.blogspot.com/

Malaysia Residential property market in 2011 to remain encouraging- OSK Research

KUALA LUMPUR: The residential property market is expected to remain rather encouraging next year as consumers start to focus on affordable homes.

OSK Research Sdn Bhd said the fact that most of recent launches were of units in the high-end segment could signal that the upcycle is at its tail-end and developers were rushing to capture any remaining upside before the sentiment for such properties turns sour.

"Subsequently, we expect developers to shift to the more affordable mass-market housing segment to tap into the high demand by first-time young buyers," it said in a research note today.

The shift became more apparent recently when high-end developers such as SP Setia and Mah Sing acquired sizeable pieces of land in the Klang Valley for developing townships that offered affordable housing.

"For those which remain focused on the high-end market, we see them offering smaller housing units with the aim of making the price per unit appear more affordable," it said.

OSK maintained a "neutral" call on the property sector, on the fact that property counters tend to underperform or market perform when sentiments weaken. - Bernama

E-Cosway Pharmacy Advantage/Disadvantage for Pharmacist

Farmasi Cosway


Tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun plans to launch a new retail concept which could instantly make him the pharmacy industry’s leader.
 
The move means that Tan is making yet another bet on the healthcare sector. He is already the second largest shareholder of hospital operator TMC Life Sciences Bhd and stem cell firm Stemlife Bhd.
The gaming and property businessman wants to set up a venture called eCosway Pharmacy, which will incorporate pharmacies within Cosway stores, Berjaya Group’s direct-selling business.

According to sources, this 2-in-1 concept is expected to take off by year-end. It is understood that an existing Cosway store can add a pharmacy within its premises or an existing pharmacy may have a Cosway store. Alternatively, a new branch that incorporates both can also be set up.

Malaysia now has over 2,000 retail pharmacies which include Guardian, Vitacare and CARiNG.



Cosway, a direct-selling company, sells its products via its vast nationwide network. Its products range from health and nutrition to skincare and kitchenware .
Cosway (M) Sdn Bhd, when contacted by Business Times to comment and provide details of this new business model, said: "Cosway regrets that we are unable to comment at this point of time".

However, work on the new venture has started.

There are advertisements placed on job sites including one on the Malaysian Franchise Association which states that eCosway Pharmacy is looking for qualified pharmacists to partner its business owners.

If this works like how a Cosway store functions, it would mean that Cosway will provide rent-free stores, free renovation, free stock-up, free equipment and pay for electricity.

The Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) president Datuk Nancy Ho said that it was aware of the business model.

"MPS is conscious about the emergence of this set-up and is finding out more about the scheme to ensure that benchmarking and quality standards of practice are upheld," Ho said.



For Tan, this is not the first pharmacy venture. In January this year, the tycoon, in his personal capacity, bought a minority stake in home-grown CaRiNG Pharmacy. It was reported that this will enable CARiNG Pharmacy to expand faster. A check on CARiNG's website shows that it has about 60 local pharmacies.

It will be interesting to note that should the move take off, it would also benefit the group when dispensing separation takes place.


Updated Information  
(From: http://pharmacistsharing.blogspot.com/)


Comparison Chart for Running Cosway Pharmacy VS Working in Independent Pharmacy/ Opening Own Pharmacy & Starting a Franchise

Working In Independent Pharmacy	Running a Free Cosway Pharmacy
Working for others	Become own boss
Getting salary	Getting salary as well (Rm5k-Rm8K)
No passive income	Passive Income ( Networking)
No profit sharing	Profit sharing up to 50%
Fix working hour	Able to arrange our time
Got EPF	No EPF (But Salary added 12-13%)
Got annual leave	No annual leave (Treat as your own business)
Learn store management skills	Learn Store management skills
Depend on salary hike or bonus which is one –off.	Passive income is unlimited through power of network.
If stop working, no money for us	If able to achieve enough passive income, able to achieve financial freedom
Able to choose outlet location	Able to choose outlet location

Opening own Pharmacy	Running a Free Cosway Pharmacy
High initial investment	No investment required
High cost like marketing/ advertisement	Marketing / advertisement done by company
Building lease or purchase cost	Cosway pays the lease
Branding may not strong	Good branding ( Established since 1979)
May work individually	Work in team ( Back up by Berjaya Corporation under Tan Sri Vincent tan)
Potential customer will be lesser	More potential customer through cosway network nationwide
Riskier	Very low risk
Price of product is less competitive	Price of product is more competitive
May work individually	Work in team ( Back up by Berjaya Corporation under Tan Sri Vincent tan)
No guarantee income	Guarantee income (Rm5k-Rm8K)
Single source of income	Multiple streams of income
Depend on active income	Achieve financial freedom through passive income

Buying a Franchise	Running a Free Cosway Pharmacy
High initial investment	No investment required
Ongoing franchise fees	No fees charged
Building lease or purchase cost	Cosway pays the lease
Limited products or services	Unlimited product range
Buying yourself a job	Create time & financial freedom
Single source of profit	Multiple streams of profit

Above comparison charts are taken from http://pharmacistsharing.blogspot.com/

Any enquiry, kindly contact/sms us at number below,
012-7334511

ASN 2011 declares income of 7.65c, bonus 1.15c per unit for Skim ASB

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 19):'' Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd, a unit of Permodalan Nasional Bhd, announced an income of 7.65 sen a unit and a bonus of 1.15 sen a unit for Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2011.

It said on Monday this income distribution was an increase of 0.15 sen a unit compared with dividend paid of 7.50 sen a unit last year.

DRB-HICOM and Volkswagen to control Proton ???

PETALING JAYA: DRB-HICOM Bhd's bid for control over Proton Holdings Bhd is likely to include the presence of Volkswagen AG at a later stage, a reliable source said.

DRB-HICOM's plan is to first secure a controlling block in Proton.

But at a later stage or second phase of the deal, DRB would divest some of its equity to Volkswagen, resulting in both parties sharing control and management in Proton, the source said.

Such a structure could make the deal more desirable, considering that it moved away from the prospects of Proton falling into the hands of a foreign party, an issue which was likely to have been part of the reasons why previous attempts by Volkswagen to buy into Proton were scuttled.

Volkswagen declined to comment while DRB-HICOM could not be reached for comment.

The market is rife with speculation that Khazanah Nasional Bhd has received a number of bids for a controlling stake in Proton. Khazanah owns 42.7% in Proton.

Another source close to the matter said Khazanah had yet to make a decision on the Proton deal and that meetings would be held this week between key stakeholders to discuss the matter.

The source also said there was a possibility that the sale of the stake in Proton might be called off temporarily.

“Whatever the case, there is likely to be more clarity within the next few weeks on whether a deal is going to take place,” said the source.

Khazanah was in negotiations with Volkswagen AG, but the talks broke down in late 2007.

DRB-HICOM had previously approached Proton in 2009 and formally submitted a bid to buy 32% of Proton shares.

After the talks with Proton broke down, Volkswagen partnered instead with DRB-HICOM in late 2010 to assemble and manufacture Volkswagen vehicles in Malaysia.

Proton shares have been actively traded in recent days on speculation that Khazanah was poised to divest its stake inthe national carmaker.

Some insiders reckoned that bidders might only be interested to own less than 33% stake in Proton, which meant that minority shareholders would not get bought out in the deal.

Volkswagen's involvement in Proton may also make DRB-HICOM's deal more attractive, considering that analysts have stated that what Proton needed was a partnership with an established auto manufacturer with technological capabilities.

Bursa Malaysia: Small caps may underperform market in 2012

PETALING JAYA: The small-cap sector, which continued to fumble in the recent third-quarter results season, could underperform the market next year if the flight to safety accelerates.

According to CIMB Research, if the global economy continued to deteriorate over the next few months, it was likely that the small-cap sector would underperform relative to the big caps because of the flight to quality.

“Furthermore, the long-term technical indicators for the FBM Small Cap Index (SCI) suggests that the index will consolidate in 2012,” it said in a report yesterday.

CIMB Research said that while there was no denying that small-cap valuations were cheap, investors currently had a small appetite for risk.

“The sector’s average calendar year 2012 price earning ratio (PE) of 9 times looks attractive, being at a 30% discount to the FTSE Bursa Malaysia (FBM) KLCI’s PE ratio. The small-cap sector usually trades at discounts of between 25% and 35% to the FBM KLCI.

“But we think that the discount could widen if the flight to quality accelerates over the next few months,” it said.

The SCI is lagging behind the FBM KLCI, having fallen 8.5% at the end of November compared to a 2% decline for the FBM KLCI. The SCI peaked in early 2011 and has been sliding gradually since then.

But, from the end of September, the SCI’s recovery has been a little stronger than the FBM KLCI’s, at 11% compared to 7% for the FBM KLCI.

“We also note a lot of retail interest in selected penny stocks over the past two months,” it said.

A research house head told StarBiz that if the market was flat for some time (two to three weeks), then there could be selected interest in small-cap counters, but if the market was generally on an uptrend, then the whole small-cap sector could be attractive.

“Usually after a month of the big-cap rally, interest would shift to small caps.

“But, I do not foresee this to happen in the first six months of next year,” he said, adding that the limelight for first few months of 2012 would be on the big caps.

CIMB Research said one of the main reasons for the small-cap sector’s underperformance this year was result misses.

“The best quarter for small-cap stocks was in the third quarter 2010 (calendar year). Since then, corporate results have been deteriorating,” said CIMB Research.

In the recent third-quarter 2011 results season, CIMB Research said none of its small-cap stocks beat its expectations and 53% fell short of expectations, worse than the 35% ratio of underachievers in 2Q11.

“We still see no signs of a turnaround. In fact, earnings could worsen in 2012,” it said.

“Generally, the managements of small-cap companies are finding it challenging managing their companies, given the extreme volatility in raw material prices and also the forex market. The economic slowdown in the United States and Europe also has both a direct and indirect economic impact on these companies,” it said.

Malaysia Civil servants to get up to 13% pay rise from Jan 2011

PUTRAJAYA: A new civil service remuneration scheme has been unveiled giving government employees a pay rise of 7% to 13% effective Jan 1.

Public Service director-general Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah said the increments for the civil servants would be based on four principles: hierarchy: talent and experience; their position and subject matter expertise; and their performance.

He said the increments would be performance-based, which also means that if the top civil servants do not do enough to merit bonuses, there would be no pay rise for them either.

The performance of the top-level civil servants will be evaluated through their Key Performance Indicators.

Citing an example of how a top management officer would be paid, he said a doctor with a salary range of between RM4,431 and RM6,439 is now eligible for a salary of between RM4,520 and RM8,840. However, the doctor will not immediately move to the new maximum rate if he is currently earning RM6,439.

He will instead earn a similar salary and continue to enjoy increments of up to RM8,840 (37% higher than the previous ceiling) even before he is promoted to the next grade.

Giving an example for the lower category staff, he said: “If a driver earns between RM1,222.51 and RM1,882 under the current scheme, he can earn between RM1,245 and RM2,965 under the new scheme.”