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Two corporate earnings news worth noting, one in fashion retail and another banking industry. Other than Bonia, another local company in the fashion retail industry that make it to top spots: Padini’s net profit to grow at 9.4% three-year CAGR , 7 November 2011 For the financial year ended June 30, 2011, Padini posted a higher net profit of RM75.3 million against RM60.97 million in the previous year. http://www.thesundaily.my/news/201332 New stores to drive Padini’s earnings , 25 January 2012 Padini plans to open five stores next year comprising three concept outlets and two Brands outlets. The concept stores will be in Setia City Mall in Shah Alam, Paradigm in Kelana Jaya, and Jusco in Ipoh. The Setia City Mall and Paradigm will also have Brands stores. Currently, Padini has a total of 235 outlets. Chan said the company expects to spend RM15 million for the new stores, including the installation of IT systems. In the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2011, Padini's n...

The Samsung tablet ads is creatively put on the front page of The Sun Daily newspaper (Tuesday, January 31, 2012 issue). Another "built-in" ads example is the "Ho Chak!" programme at TV8 which introduces nice foods to audience. In the recent episode on air (29th January, 2012) in 8TV, where one of the sponsor is Proton Inspira, there is a scene where the lady host told the guy to drive slowly to their destination, where the guy replied "don't worry. I have this auto cruise function here" and a scene showing the car's feature. Somehow the scenes go like this: 女：哎哟，你不要驾这样快可以吗？ Lady: aiyo, can't you just drive slowly? 男：放心，我有 Autocruise function, 这样就不会超速了！ Guy: Don't worry, I am using the autocruise function, I won't speed! And then they arrived at the restaurant to continue on introducing nice food... You can watch the full episode at Tonton: http://www.tonton.com.my/#/home/channels/8TV/ho_chakss222...

Bottom line: investments in Apple's ecosystem are paying off. In June, 2010 Apple said it paid developers $1 billion for applications. In October, 2011 at the iPhone 4S launch, Apple stated it had sold 250 million iOS devices and that the App Store had seen a total of 18 billion downloads, paying out over $3 billion to developers. In January, 2012, Apple is pushing its cumulative payouts to developers above $4 billion. You can check out detailed milestones and chart showing downloads and available apps on the app store over time, since the App Store was opened in 2008 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/App_Store_(iOS) Simple applications such as Little Buddha, iFart, Popcorn Maker can make your apps virally known worldwide, with huge potential making good passive income, where your investment pay offs. For example, the developer of iFart, Joel Comm, has been pretty forthcoming with sales figures, and on his blog he noted that over Christmas Eve and Christmas day, mo...

An abuse of the word "serviced apartment" More and more property types are being ambiguously marketed as both residential and commercial, with titles such as SOHO (small office, home office), SOVO (small office, versatile office), SOFO (small office, flexible office), lifestyle suites, serviced residences and serviced suites, among others. Many of these projects' brochures depict young working professionals in suits toting briefcases, next to images of double beds, saunas, barbeque areas and jacuzzi. You may heard sales pitch like this: "Our units are like condos but we call them serviced apartments because we have 100 units of shop lots on the ground floor". However, if there's no management, rental return, housekeeping services or security policy, and it wasn't fully furnished either, this is somehow misrepresentation. Serviced Apartment The homeowner must understand the original concept was like with Micasa in KL. It's a commercially ru...

2011 was a year of shopping transactions with major purchases such as Pavilion Mall being bought by the Pavilion REIT for RM2,390 per sq ft, The Gardens Mall by Krisassets Holdings Berhad at RM1,025 per sq ft, as well as the yet unconcluded purchase of Bangsar Shopping Centre. An older shopping centre - The Mall (which was bought over last year by Sunway REIT together with Putra Place for RM513.95 million) - also being upgraded. Johor Premium Outlets "JPO has been a sellout. For brands like Levi's, Fossil, Esprit, and many others, this is their best shop in their country now. It's better than KLCC, even on a per sq ft basis." says CB Richard Ellis (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd's managing director, Allan Soo. More Johor Premium Outlet images: https://picasaweb.google.com/110957824161464689337/JohorPremiumOutlet A factory outlet in Kuala Lumpur? You can't put it in the city because it would be too close to what they call in-line stores and that would kill them. ...

The two pieces of information necessary for you to understand what SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) / PIPA (Protect IP Act) are all about and how they are going to destroy our personal liberties: Click image to enlarge. PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo . "We oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet," a Google spokesperson said Tuesday. Related: INFOGRAPHIC: Everything You Need to Know About SOPA http://www.wealthwire.com/news/liberty/2539?r=1 Final Step to Fascism? National Defense Authorization Act Passes The key takeaway from this kafkaesque law is not its specific provisions or complete decimation of civil liberties, but the fact that this war was never declared on a nation or tangible enemy. It is a war against an abstract idea, therefore there is no enemy to step down and no chance for this war to end. So ...

This is the follow up info on the case of Kodak , The Case of RIM (Black Berry), IBM and General Electric . The point of these case studies is about the march of technology , and how important it is to be able to adapt with the times. Kodak and The March of Technology For the case of Kodak, although it's sad to see an industry pioneer bite the dust, competition is brutal - better companies have emerged with better products and services at lower prices - it was digital technology that destroyed Kodak's market share . Ironically, it was Kodak that invented the digital camera nearly 40 years ago, yet it could not keep in step. The fear of self-cannibalisation allowed newcomers to come in and eat their lunch, and by the time it realised it had to play the digital game, it was too late to catch up. However, its Japanese competitor, Fujifilm - also an old company - which aggressively rode the digital wave has got a market capitalisation of US$12.6 billion today. So the l...

There are 2 part in this article, first would be the presentation of statistics log, and the second part of it some elaboration on the numbers. First, take a look at the journey of Terimee Facebook Fans Page towards 10,000 fans: The overall project started on 1st October, 2011, as covered in 我和我的小三 6/1/12 - 7,169 like this, 2,924 talking about this (~41% of fans count is in active status) 7/1/12 - 7,646 like this, 3,879 talking about this (~51% of fans count is in active status) 9/1/12 - 7,825 like this, 5,212 talking about this (~67% of fans count is in active status) 12/1/12 - 8,307 like this, 5,640 talking about this (~68% of fans count is in active status) 17/1/12 - 10,000 like this, 6,723 talking about this (~68% of fans count is in active status) Below are some screen shots made from time to time in support of above mentioned figures: Lessons From Terimee Online Campaign Though the info we have here may not be the full picture and most likely on...

“给我 5 千块，我帮你投资，然后每个月还你 134 块钱，还 5 年。要吗？” 是否有市场上那种 money game 的感觉哩？但这回（绝对）不同，它可是馬來西亞人民信托計劃（SARA 1Malaysia），一个在政府經過完善規劃後才推出的计划，而參與者每月回酬也是經過仔細計算後得出，並非憑空許下承諾。 在这项计划下，月入低過3千令吉的家庭可以使用本身的5千令吉申請一個馬來西亞人民信托計劃，投資在有保證回酬的一個馬來西亞信托基金（AS1M），將可享有每月134令吉回酬。 “如果民眾向指定銀行貸款5千令吉申請一個馬來西亞人民信托基金，在扣除每月攤還84令吉予銀行貸款後，每月依然有50令吉的回酬（5年回酬3千令吉）。” 針對每月134令吉的回酬，林祥才表示 這其實是紅利形式 。 你看，我们政府多么关心人民，没有钱投资还想办法找管道借给你，这不等于变相每个月给你 50 令吉吗？详情请看 林祥才：一馬人民信托完善規劃‧每月回酬非空承諾 这则新闻。 诚如 关于钱，你不能不懂得基本知识 里提到的，有时候，合法与非法投资之间，还真不过是即得利益者们政治势力与实力上的一种距离。 有趣的是，隔天就有一篇有意思的报道，标题为 “活到老， 忙到老？”，而且文章顶上居然还是一副博彩横幅广告： 有点讽刺味道，却是事实。 財務永續的重要性雖不容質疑，但就更廣義而言，永續也涵蓋物品及服務層面，這意味除了經濟成長外，我們還需要確保市場具備飽滿的生產力，提供充足的物品和服務，否則金錢根本派不上用場。 http://biz.sinchew-i.com/node/55924 http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/233527

想象看，有一间银行每天早上在您的户口存入 86，400，并且在每天晚上取消您没有花掉的余额。 我们都有一间这样的银行，它叫做时间。 每天早上，它汇入86，400 秒。每天晚上，它取消我们无法妥善利用的部分。 许多人都投诉“时间紧逼”。我们要如何善用时间？我们要如何节省更多时间？ 实际上，我们每天都获得同样的24小时。问题并不在于节省或利用，而是我们如何明智地投资时间。 成功人士都能妥善利用每一天。他们聪明的把时间投资在一项能协助自己以及他人发掘及发挥自己的潜能的事业。 随着时间的推进，成功者目睹他们的投资茁壮成长。 好好利用每一天，这样您就可指望您的投资成长。 Steve Van Andel & Doug DeVos Alticor 机构主席

THIS ARE JUST CASE STUDIES. Some backgrounds of the projects: Damansara Foresta A large development of up to 3,000 apartments on 42 acres of land. Amenities planned for this development include an abundance of nature trails, tree houses, lookout points and even a flying fox facility and tea house. "We could only build on the Grade 1 and Grade 2 slopes, so about half of the rest of the footprint, on grade 3 slopes or more, remains as greenery," said developer Land and General Berhad's head of sales and marketing, Lim Kok Yee. The units in the first block of this Bandar Sri Damansara hillside development ranged in size from 1,426 to 1,610 sq ft. Prices ranged from RM644,000 to RM923,000, or RM450 to RM570 per sq ft. Follow up news: L&G to launch gated project this year Managing director Low Gay Teck said the ongoing developments include the Damansara Foresta condominium in Bandar Sri Damansara with a gross development value (GDV) of RM700 million, commercial...

Puteri Harbour is a mixed hotel, retail and entertainment complex along the Johor coastline. The 275.2ha development combines entertainment and culture with the experience of waterfront living and dining in a natural setting. Family Entertainment Centre The Family Entertainment Centre (FEC, at Puteri Harbour, Johor) is a four-storey indoor theme park which will be home to the first Hello Kitty Town in southern Asia, is 80 per cent complete. Besides Hello Kitty Town, FEC will house popular global children’s characters under The Little Big Club, showcasing Thomas and Friends, Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, Bob the Builder, Pingu the Penguin and Angelina Ballerina. Besides the Hello Kitty character as well as My Melody and Little Twin Stars, Hello Kitty Town offers Hello Kitty merchandises, stage shows, songs and dance as well as the Hello Kitty Tea Party. It will introduce a unique Malaysian touch with the opening of LAT’s World, conceptualised by popular local cartoonist L...

While one of the brand carried by Dang's Fashion is planning to enter Parkson, it would be interesting to take a look into Parkson's business and their strategy. Continuous rebranding or store remodelling the key to strong sales growth "Our customers are now buying more. While the price per item has gone up, the value per transaction has also gone up, which in turn led to higher productivity per sq m . That’s why our same store like-for-like sales growth is strong. And we are the only one (retailer) who consistently upgrades and frequently remodels our stores because we have the resources to do so, " said Datuk Alfred Cheng, Parkson Retail Group Ltd group managing director. "When we first made changes to our store in KLCC in 2004/2005, we saw sales drop off immediately in the first six to seven months before it started picking up. That’s because the profile of our customers changed and it was not a Parkson that people were used to seeing. Today, we have man...

In the case of Kodak , we had seen how an old company could be wiped out by changes, if they refused to change accordingly. Here, we will study another two similar companies, yet with different outcome. RIM - Research In Motion The provider of the BlackBerry, gadget that is quite popular among business people. Take a look at the excerpt. The problem with technology is that it is forever changing. RIM should have learnt the lessons suffered by many. Remember IBM? Well they used to rely on their mainframe business. Except there are only so many mainframes that can be sold. And there are only a limited number of companies which could invest in a mainframe. It was not until Louis Gerstner became CEO that the company realised that to survive, it had to find another business that would be sustainable and offset the significant drop in hardware sales. Cue services. Now IBM is unrecognisable from the organisation that Gerstner inherited. But it is much more profitable. General Elect...

"Look, I am independent, I am fair. Now, let's play." An election has much more to do with what is unseen and shrouded from public attention. It involves the mobilising of massive funds, goods and machinery, volunteers (or paid staff, which also depends on financial resources) and other "friendly donations". How constituencies are delineated, and how well-cleaned-up voter rolls are, all have a huge impact on electoral outcomes. As one of the millions of citizens who are aghast that this great country is being divided by selfish individuals and groups, this is my humble suggestion. We had enough of the fighting. It has taken its toll both physically and monetarily on the people and the nation. The time has come for all good men and women to come to the aid of the country to work out schemes which create a better quality of life for all citizens irrespective of their race, creed, colour or religion. We had enough of name-calling, play acting, subversion, ac...