EVENING 5: Vincent Tan obtains temporary restraining order against Kedah MB

The Edge TV

In today’s edition of Evening 5 — Tan Sri Vincent Tan has obtained a restraining order against Kedah MB Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor. Meanwhile, MACC’s Tan Sri Azam Baki is telling Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s son-in-law to stop making excuses and come back to face the music.

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:04 Perjaya Corp founder and advisor Tan Sri Vincent Tan and B Corps unit Perjaya Land

00:08 have obtained a restraining order against Kedah MB Datuk Sri Mohamad Sanosi Matno.

00:14 This prevents Sanosi from making similar defamatory remarks

00:18 relating to the Selangor Maritime Gateway Project.

00:21 Tan's counsel, Chua Kiah Lin, confirmed with The Edge that the Shah Alam High Court

00:25 allowed the ex parte injunction application earlier on Thursday.

00:29 He also said that Sanosi's legal team had already been served a copy of the order from the court.

00:34 The lawyer said the order is in effect until August 25th.

00:37 Sanosi's legal team is allowed to submit a counter to the restraining order.

00:42 The defamation suit cited by The Edge was filed at the Shah Alam High Court on August 8th

00:46 via Tan's lawyers. Tan and B Land are seeking general damages,

00:50 compensatory damages, aggravated damages and exemplary damages.

00:55 Tan, through his lawyers, claimed that Sanosi's alleged defamatory comments

00:58 imply that Tan is a corrupt person, corrupt businessman and a crony to Selangor MB Datuk Sri Amiruddin Shari.

01:05 Tan claimed that the comments imply that he had benefited directly or indirectly

01:09 or received for free a piece of 600-acre land from the Selangor State Government.

01:14 Tan further claimed that Sanosi's comments imply that he had given benefits to the Selangor State Government

01:19 for the said land and as such caused the state to incur losses of $180 million.

01:23 Tan's team said the defamatory statements are completely untrue, extreme,

01:28 vile and specious, spurious and have no basis whatsoever.

01:32 Residential sales in Peninsular Malaysia nearly quadrupled to 11,273 units in the first half

01:45 from 3,163 units in the first half of 2022,

01:49 according to a survey by the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association Malaysia.

01:54 Residential launches in Peninsular Malaysia also doubled to 14,392 units in the first half

02:01 from 7,350 units in the first half of 2022.

02:05 During the period under review, 35% of homes launched were sold.

02:10 President Datuk NK Tong said most of the new launches comprised apartments and condominiums at 7,183 units,

02:17 followed by two to three-storey terrace houses and service residences.

02:21 He elaborated that most sellable range from 300,000 and 1,000 to 500,000,

02:27 with service residences and apartments condominiums taking the lead.

02:30 ResDa's survey of 148 property developers also found that 53% of respondents reported

02:36 having unsold completed residential units as at end June,

02:40 with 47% of these completed up to 12 months ago, while 31% were beyond 36 months.

02:46 According to Tong, end financing, loan rejection, unreleased Bumi Putra lots and high price

02:51 were cited as the top three reasons for unsold completed units.

02:55 He suggested that banking institutions could consider implementing cross-subsidies

02:59 to help homebuyers own affordable homes.

03:02 Nonetheless, about 53% of respondents are planning to launch their projects in the second half,

03:07 with three-quarters of them expecting to achieve sales of up to 50% six months after the launch.

03:13 Meanwhile, most respondents had a neutral view of the business and property industry

03:17 outlook for the coming year, with increased optimism for the first half of 2024.

03:22 According to Tong, while the increase in the number of launches and sales is a positive sign

03:26 that the property market is slowly returning to normalcy,

03:29 true recovery is still out of reach as developers struggle with cost-related challenges.

03:39 Espicitea's share price closed at $0.855 on Thursday, its highest in about 15 months,

03:44 despite the real estate developer's announcement a day earlier of a 46% drop

03:49 in its net profit for the second quarter of FY2023.

03:53 The last time the counter closed above that was in May last year, when it closed at $91.3.

03:57 At $0.855, Espicitea's share price gained 8.23% or $0.65 from Wednesday's closing price at $0.79,

04:07 giving the group a market capitalization of about RM3.47 billion.

04:11 Espicitea was the fifth most actively traded stock in Bursa, Malaysia,

04:15 with a total trading volume of RM79.57 million.

04:18 According to Bloomberg, seven research firms had target prices ranging from $0.68

04:23 to RM1.20 for Espicitea. Four houses had a buy or outperform call on the stock,

04:28 followed by two hold and one underperform.

04:31 In a note, TA Securities, which has a TP of RM1.05,

04:35 believes that management's FY2023 sales target of $4.2 billion is achievable,

04:40 considering that year-to-date property sales of $2.05 billion had made up 49% of the target,

04:46 with $498 million in pending bookings.

04:49 Hong Leong IB Research expects Espicitea's finance cost to stabilize,

04:52 with the interest rate hike slightly over, as the group continues its efforts to pare down debt.

04:57 HLIB Research has a hold on the developer, but upped its target price from $0.53 to $0.77.

05:04 Magnum saw its net profit for the second quarter jump 65% year-on-year to $43.64 million,

05:14 mainly contributed by improvements at the group's gaming division.

05:18 Quarterly revenue grew 11.4% year-on-year to $537.1 million from $482.1 million previously.

05:25 It declared a second interim dividend of $0.02 per share.

05:29 Despite a drop in the number of draws to 40 from 42,

05:31 Magnum said that there was an improvement in net sales per draw,

05:35 especially the 4D jackpot game where there was a strong jackpot run during the current quarter.

05:40 For the first half, net profit improved by 38% year-on-year to $59.4 million from $43.1 million

05:47 previously, as revenue increased 10% to $1.08 billion.

05:51 On prospects, the group is cautiously optimistic on its gaming business performance for the second

05:55 half, with the hope that it will remain promising following the continued growth trend of all its

06:00 products in the past six months, notably the 4D jackpot and Magnum Life games.

06:05 Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azambaki told

06:14 Ex-PM Tan Sri Mui Denia's son-in-law, Datuk Sri Muhammad Adlan Berhan,

06:19 and a company director being sought to assist in its investigation

06:22 to just "return to Malaysia" and stop making excuses, Benama reports.

06:27 The media earlier reported that the MACC is seeking Adlan and Mansoor Saad,

06:31 a lawyer, director and shareholder of NERS, to assist in an investigation into alleged

06:36 corrupt practices related to the registration, acquisition and storage of biometric data of

06:41 foreign workers at a ministry. Berhan said that he is firm on his stance and that the

06:46 two individuals should just "come back" and face any investigation.

06:50 On August 9, Adlan, through his lawyer, said he will definitely return to Malaysia as soon as

06:54 possible to answer all questions and assist the MACC with any investigation as long as elements

07:00 of threats and persecution against him are eliminated. Mansoor also similarly denied that

07:05 he is on the run from the authorities, adding that he left the country lawfully. In a statement,

07:10 Mansoor said that the MACC's press release on August 7, seeking information about his whereabouts,

07:15 had painted him in a wrong light and revealed that the commission allegedly knows his whereabouts,

07:21 as he had made this known to one of the investigating officers.

07:24 Both Adlan and Mansoor also have an Interpol Red Notice issued against them.

Category

Transcript

Recommended