Global business solutions

- A + A LONDON (May 24): Food protectionism is on the rise in the developing world as governments try to safeguard local supplies, and the effects are threatening to spill over into richer economies. Countries are restricting exports to cope with high prices that have been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. Malaysia just announced a ban on chicken exports, causing consternation in Singapore, which gets a third of its supplies from there. India has moved to curb wheat and sugar shipments, Indonesia has limited palm oil sales, and some other nations have issued grain quotas. The poorest countries are most vulnerable to surging food prices and shortages, but wealthier economies are not immune. For example, almost 10 million Britons cut back on food in April amid a cost-of-living crisis. US restaurants are shrinking the size of their portions, while France has pledged to issue food vouchers to some households. "Lower-income households in the UK and the US are … [Read more...] about Rising global food protectionism risks worsening inflation woes

Photo by Shahril Basri/The Edge - A + A KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd on Tuesday (May 24) to accelerate digital transformation for Malaysia's public services. Under the MoU, the parties will create joint offerings with products, services and solutions that drive data-led transformation in Malaysia's public services and government-linked companies. "The collaboration allows joint development of products and services by leveraging technologies and capabilities in the space of analytics, big data, artificial intelligence and enterprise resource planning," DNeX said in a statement. In a bourse filing on Tuesday, the parties including DNeX's entity Innovation Associates Consulting Sdn Bhd (iAC) said the collaboration intends to drive Malaysia's economic growth in high value areas such as digital, cloud, and Industry 4.0. The MoU is valid for 36 months from Tuesday and … [Read more...] about DNeX inks MoU with Accenture to speed digital transformation in public sector

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on May 16, 2022 - May 22, 2022. - A + A COMMODITIES may still be riding an upward trend, but metal prices have melted to pre-Russia-Ukraine conflict levels. Aluminium, for one, has seen year-to-date gains erased on demand headwinds, especially the slowdown in China’s manufacturing activity due to Covid-19 lockdowns. Since surging past US$3,800 a tonne in March this year — the highest in more than 13 years — aluminium prices have retreated 30% to a five-month low of US$2,700 a tonne. Copper prices have also contracted to a more than seven-month low of US$9,000 a tonne as at last Thursday on fears of a global economic slowdown. Attributing the fall to a strong US dollar and weak Chinese demand, Fitch Solutions expects further weakening in metal prices in the second quarter before stabilising in the second half of the year. Local analysts are not overly concerned about softer aluminium prices as they … [Read more...] about Trailing demand a temporary blip for aluminium players

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): Malakoff Corp Bhd’s net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY22) fell by 15.82% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM50.88 million, from RM60.44 million. The lower net profit was due to lower contribution from Tanjung Bin Energy Sdn Bhd (TBE), resulting from the plant outage caused by low-pressure turbine blade failure, coupled with higher depreciation charges, according to the company’s filing with the bourse on Tuesday (May 24). As a result, earnings per share decreased to 1.04 sen, from 1.24 sen previously. In contrast, its quarterly revenue grew 39.42% to RM1.88 billion, from RM1.35 billion. The increase in revenue was primarily due to higher energy payments recorded from Tanjung Bin Power Sdn Bhd and TBE, given the higher Applicable Coal Price during the period under review. In a separate statement, Malakoff said its overseas investments achieved a share of profit totalling RM47.4 million, an increase of 70.5% from … [Read more...] about Malakoff’s 1Q net profit down 16% y-o-y, despite higher revenue