☕️ Not-so-healthy Malaysia statistics: of sugar, e-cigs and alcohol

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

As the local market capitalisation crossed RM2 tril, Bursa Malaysia’s average trading value in the first 4 months of the year jumped 42% to RM2.9 bil. Bursa Malaysia also said punters investors from Sabah are underrepresented, with only 50,000 adults, or 1.5% of the over 3 mil population in Sabah having opened a Central Depository System (CDS) accounts.

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Ninja Van has become Malaysia's largest last-mile delivery company by retail points, boasting 5,500 retail stores and 200 hubs nationwide. Last September, it hit a milestone by delivering its 300 millionth parcel, a significant increase from 10 mil in March 2019. The company operates a massive 260,000 sq ft sorting facility in Shah Alam, utilises a fleet of over 7,000 vehicles, and employs around 10,000 people. Fun fact — according to MCMC’s 2022 annual report, there were 121 courier licenses as of December 2022.

Half of the top ten bestselling albums worldwide last year were South Korean, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. South Korea's pop-culture exports reached an impressive USD13 bil (RM60.8 bil) in 2022, up from just under USD5 bil in 2013, vastly outstripping North Korea's total official exports of goods and services. Despite sharing 5,000 years of history and only separating after World War II, the stark difference in their modern pop culture highlights the impact of politics on creativity.

French bakers reclaimed the record for the world’s longest baguette by baking one that stretched 140.53 meters, about 235 times longer than a traditional baguette. This culinary feat took place in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris, during an event organised by the French Confederation of Bakers and Pastry Chefs. The previous record, held by Italy since June 2019, was a 132.62-meter baguette baked in Como. Malaysians, time to do the longest roti!

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Happy teacher, happy nation
In conjunction with Teacher’s Day yesterday, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek announced a textbook of initiatives that are sure to put a smile on the faces of our teachers. Among the initiatives are:

• RM1 mil allocation to provide technology empowerment courses in artificial intelligence (AI) to 500 selected teachers. The training will be provided by the cloud-based image editor Pixlr.

• The Education Ministry is partnering with Apple Professional Learning Specialists Malaysia to train and guide 100,000 teachers to be recognised as 'Apple Teachers'.

• 1,000 selected teachers will be sent to training programs where in the end, the teachers will receive a digital professional certificate and be recognised as ‘Guru Jauhari Digital KPM’.

• Under the ‘Holiday Program for Teachers’, our educators will enjoy discounts for flight tickets, accommodation, land transport and theme parks.

• Two RM10,000 grants will be given to education service officers to write and publish about 'Tokoh Guru Madani' and 'Tokoh Kepimpinan Madani'.

• The development of a teacher wellbeing index will be done to enable the ministry to look into ways how to improve teachers’ wellbeing. The findings from the index will be tabled on May 16 next year.

May happy teachers also translate to quality teachers.

The appeal court still has not decided on Sabah’s 40% revenue legal challenge
Regarding Sabah Law Society's (SLS) attempt to seek a judicial review over an ongoing dispute relating to the 40% special grant Sabah is entitled to under the Federal Constitution, the Court of Appeal has set May 24 as the new date for the case after receiving submissions from all the parties.

So, what is the 40% special grant that Sabah is entitled to? The federal government was under ‘a constitutional duty’ to pay a special grant annually to Sabah in accordance with provisions in the Federal Constitution. The special grant, being two-fifths of the net revenue the Federal Government collected from Sabah, is commonly referred to as Sabah’s 40% entitlement. However, SLS claimed that the Federal Government is breaching its constitutional duties by only agreeing to pay RM669.8 mil to Sabah for the period between 2022 and 2026 and neglecting its responsibility to pay Sabah the 40% special grant for the previous 48 years, between 1974 to 2021.

The trial for this case has been attended by some A-list politicians. Three former Sabah chief ministers — Joseph Pairin Kitingan, Shafie Apdal, Yong Teck Lee and two MPs — Wilfred Madius Tangau (Tuaran MP), Isnara Issah Munirah (Kota Belud MP) were among the VIPs in the packed gallery of the Court of Appeal.

Not-so-healthy Malaysia news

• Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad stated that Putrajaya is initiating a war against sugar in the backdrop of the rising number of adults who are overweight or living with obesity, as revealed by the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2023 (NHMS). Based on the survey, one in six Malaysian adults or 3.6 mil people, is suffering from diabetes. One of the tactics in Putrajaya’s war against sugar is to introduce a grading system for sugar content.

• In the same NHMS survey, it stated that 45.1% of current alcohol drinkers in Malaysia are binge drinkers. So, good news for the alcohol factory beside the Federal Highway but bad news for our liver. Other worrying statistics are, that 1 in 2 individuals who drank alcohol in the past 12 months drink excessively and of those excessive drinkers, 75% were men.

• We are not done with surveys as according to another survey, the 2023 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), a survey conducted in more than 30 countries globally, including Malaysia, it was found that there was a 600% surge in electronic cigarette use in the country from 2011 to 2023. The age group that has the largest percentage of e-cigarette users are those aged between 15 and 24. Among the top three reasons for using e-cigarettes were the availability of likeable flavours, being perceived as less harmful than smoking and being more enjoyable.

Shorts

1. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior director of investigations, Hishamuddin Hashim, confirmed that a former CEO of a statutory body has been arrested for allegedly misappropriating RM1.2 bil (yes, with a b) of development funds. The suspect is accused of transferring funds from the Finance Ministry that were given to the statutory body to contractors and consultants that were unrelated to the projects between 2019 and 2021.

2. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa said that the property developer that wins the bid for a housing project tender is mandated to fork out RM40 mil to upgrade the Kampung Bohol retention pond along the Kesas Highway. Dr Zaliha also reassured the public that the retention pond’s upgrading works must be completed before any housing project could be commenced at the adjacent lands measuring 10.84ha.
   Learn: What is a retention pond and why do cities need them?

3. Socso CEO Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed issued a warning to employers that hire domestic or foreign helpers to register and contribute to the Social Security Organisation (Socso). The grace period by Socso is until May 31 and failure to register beyond that date will lead to fines of up to RM5,000. Employers can register online through the Assist Portal, visit any of the 54 Socso offices nationwide, or contact its hotline at 1-300-22-8000.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Novel use of AI - turning angry customer ‘kinder’
Japan’s third-largest telco SoftBank Corp plans to use AI-enabled software that softens the tone of customers’ voices. It aims to start testing the tech internally and externally over the next year and potentially commercialising it by the end of Mar 2026. The telco described the tech as capable of converting customers’ voices into calm conversational tones using voice processing and emotional recognition AI-enabled technology. 

Why does this matter? Harassment of staff working in the service industry has gained more awareness in recent years. In a survey of 33,000 respondents by a labour union for workers mainly in the retail and services industry, around half of them said they have experienced harassment by customers, including verbal abuses, intimidation and in some cases even demands by customers for workers to kneel and bow in apology. Getting harassed, even once, is enough to affect psychology and using AI tech to address harassment over calls would create a healthier working environment, hence improving employee retention. +1 ESG point for SoftBank. 

Grab’s P&L looking better 
Following recent cost reduction measures (i.e. slashing 1,000 jobs) and slashing technology costs in 2023, Grab is more optimistic about its 2024 performance. The ride-hailing giant raised its full-year profit forecast after reporting a higher-than-expected quarterly revenue. The company now expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) or what it calls adjusted core profit between USD250 mil — USD270 mil, compared to an earlier forecast of USD180 mil — USD200 mil, whilst projected remains unchanged at USD2.7 bil — USD2.75 bil.

Summary of its Q1 ended Mar 31 2024 performance:

1. Revenue rose 24% to USD653 mil. Its largest business segment, food delivery, saw revenue grow by 19% and ride-share business grew by 27%.

2. Net loss of USD115 mil, an improvement of 54% year-on-year from a loss of USD250 mil.

3. Adjusted core profit of USD62 mil compared to a loss of USD67 mil yoy. This marked the ninth consecutive quarter of improvement in adjusted core profit.

Grab’s market cap stands at USD14.5 bil, down two-thirds since it listed via a blank-cheque company in 2021. 
View deck: Grab Q1 2024 Earnings Call 

Capital deployment: Insurer and Bitcoin

• Warren Buffett’s latest shopping 
  Berkshire Hathaway has unveiled where it spent its USD189 nil cash pile — a USD6.7 bil stake in insurer Chubb Ltd., ending a month of suspense over its mystery position, previously kept concealed in regulatory filings. Chubb is one of the biggest property-casualty insurers in the US and operates in 54 countries globally. The conglomerate has been building its stake since 2023 but was allowed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to keep it confidential as Buffett’s purchase via Berkshire is considered more sensitive and moves markets. Chubb stock jumped nearly 10% following this news. 

• Pension fund meets Bitcoin 
  State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) disclosed a nearly USD163 mil investment in Bitcoin through the recently launched Bitcoin ETFs in the US, becoming the first state pension to publicly announce its holdings in spot Bitcoin ETFs. SWIB manages USD155.1 bil in assets, including the USD132.4 mil Wisconsin Retirement System. Relative to its asset base, this Bitcoin investment is a rounding error or just about 0.1%. Nevertheless, this is yet another small milestone in Bitcoin adoption for as pension funds, managing retirement nest eggs, tend to be more conservative in their investments. Once again, we are sharing this article here for those who are still skepticzl about Bitcoin (specifically Bitcoin, not crypto) and seeking a better understandaing of this misunderstood asset class. 

Shorts

1. Big bonus for SIA staff
   Singapore Airlines Ltd is rewarding its staff with a bonus payout of almost 8 months of salary as the carrier delivered a record USD1.98 bil annual profit in the financial year 2023/24, up 24% yoy. Emirates earlier announced a 5-month bonus after raking in a record profit of USD5.1 bil. Our dearest Malaysia Airlines Bhd parent Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd (MAG), too announced a bonus of between 2 to 5 months’ salary back in March after reporting its first annual net profit of RM766 mil since 2014. This achievement comes after our national pride burned through at least RM28 bil.
   View chart: MAG’s 2019 - 2023 financial highlights

2. Sexual misconduct allegations against magician David Copperfield
   The Guardian reported that the famous magician has been accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour by 16 women dating back to the late 1980s. Some of the alleged offences occurred when the women were under 18. Copperfield’s lawyer has denied these allegations and claimed that Copperfield is the “exact opposite” and “has a record of risking his career to help protect women from powerful predators”. The magician has won 21 Emmy Awards and holds 11 Guinness World Records.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. Ready to have your childhood shattered? Do you think Maggi is a Malaysian brand? The majority of the brands of household items we grew up with are not from Malaysia.

2. Pro investment tip — ask people who lounge on a working day which company they work for. NFA.