☕️ The short and sweet summary on Johor state election - did Johor overwhelmingly voted for BN?

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

Over 917,000 BMW vehicles in the US have been recalled to fix a faulty component that could cause a fire in the engine compartment. BMW estimates 1% of the vehicles recalled have the defect.

70% of India’s existing arsenal is Russian-made. That’s why the world’s biggest (and often proud of the fact) democracy has kept mum on President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to wipe off the map of another independent democracy, Ukraine.

200,000 applications for Bangladeshi foreign workers are being vetted by the Human Resources Ministry. The workers will be allowed for all sectors once the process is completed.

3. COVID-19 SUMMARY

• Japan is considering a fourth Covid-19 vaccine shot later in the year, contingent on the severity of the pandemic.

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has begun discussing when and how to declare the end of the pandemic. The benefactors could be drugmakers such as Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. that have agreed to allow generic competition to their Covid treatments until the pandemic ends.

Information is great, but taking action is what matters. Build a custom-build website in 30 days, in Zero to Market. The Coffee Break readers get RM600 off. Use coupon code: ‘CREMA’ when registering.

4. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. During the launch of GLC Open Day 2022, PM Sabri said the government is committed to ensuring that permanent employees of government-link companies (GLC) and government-linked investment companies (GLIC) will be paid at least RM1,500 a month, leading the way for the increase of minimum wage from current RM1,200. GLCs and GLICs comprise RM445 bil or 25% of Bursa Malaysia’s market cap and directly employ half a million people. 

2. A total of 98,607 online fraud cases involving losses totalling RM3.3 bil was reported nationwide from 2017 to 2021 -averaging RM33.47k loss per case. More than 30,000 people were detained and 25,000 of them were charged in court. Most cases involved Macau scams, online sales and purchases and love scams. In KL alone, a total of 4,340 cases of these popular scams were recorded involving losses of RM665 mil in 2021 -  averaging RM153.2k per case (no wonder Macau scams are proliferating, so lucrative). Be careful as the tax season is here and these Macau scammers are more active and on the prowl - LHDN roleplaying is their favourite character.

3. Johor state election summary:

   1. Total registered voters of 2,599,797, 1,426,573 voted - a 54.8% turnout rate.

   2. BN got back the state with a supermajority winning 40 of all the 56 seats (71.4% hit rate) it contested in.

   3. Wipe out for Pejuang and Warisan. The Mahathir factor is gone - punished by voters for the games he played?

   4. PKR contested in 20 seats and won just 1 (an improvement compared to Malacca and Sarawak state election - they got ‘telur’). 

   5. Newcomer, MUDA, contested in 7 seats and won 1. However, it shot itself in the feet in Larkin, contesting against PKR, diluting votes against BN  and ended up losing it to BN.

   6. Did Johor really vote for BN? In terms of popular votes, BN only won only 43.1% of total votes (599,753 votes for BN vs 826,820 votes against BN) but 71.4% of the total seats.

   7. Bersatu Presiden Muhyiddin Yassin says he is prepared to take full responsibility and willing to resign following PN’s disappointing performance but will leave it to the coalition’s leadership to decide on his position. 

   8. 85 candidates lose their RM5k deposit. This includes all 16 independents, all 42 of Pejuang’s candidates, 4 from Parti Bangsa Malaysia and 1 from Parti Bumiputra Perkasa Malaysia. The deposit will be forfeited if a candidate fails to obtain 12.5% or one-eighth of the votes.

4. By now, you should know whether you are successful with your Farm Fresh IPO application - but chances are slim. The public portion was oversubscribed by 18.74x. A total of 45,694 applications totalling 733.54 mil shares, with a value of RM990.28 mil were received. Including applications from eligible persons and institutional offering of RM5.23 bil, Farm Fresh has attracted as much as RM6.2 bil in capital. It will be listed on Mar 22, at a market cap of RM2.5 bil. 

5. Papajack Bhd, a licensed pawnshop operator, is set to IPO on ACE Market on Apr 1, raising RM50.1 mil and will have a market cap of RM200.4 mil upon listing. Founded in 2014, it operates 25 pawnshops across six states in Peninsular Malaysia. For some reason, its prospectus is not found or has been removed from Bursa and SC, but you can view it here on Lowyat Forum. See their revenue composition below - the majority of their topline came from the sale of collateral pledged. Pity those people who pledged their family treasure.

5. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said it is an offence for any person in Singapore to travel or try to travel to Ukraine to take up arms in the conflict there. The same applies to Singaporeans abroad. If they do so — they will be legally deemed to have committed the offence in Singapore.

2. Ukraine crisis updates:

   1. More than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted a military training base near Ukraine’s western border with NATO member Poland and killed 35 people.

   2. Meanwhile, Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians as they fled Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed thus far.

   3. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered the 16th day, satellite images showed large Russian armoured units have regrouped in the towns close to Kyiv.

3. Yuga Labs, the maker of Bored Apes Yacht Club, has acquired the rights to the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections from creator Larva Labs. CryptoPunks and Meebits NFTs belong to the owners, but the intellectual property rights of the characters had long (and controversially) been owned by the projects’ creators. Yuga Labs signalled that they would be giving full commercial rights of the NFTs to the individual holders.

4. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has identified five Chinese companies for potential delisting from US exchanges due to inadequate disclosures — Alibaba plunged as much as 10% on the news. The five companies identified by SEC were BeiGene, Yum China Holdings (operator of Pizza Hut and KFC in China), Zai Lab Limited, ACM Research, and HUTCHMED Limited.

5. After the British government sanctioned Roman Abramovich, anyone looking to buy Chelsea Football Club needs to make a proposal to the government. The club is now effectively controlled by the government and permitted to operate under strict conditions.

6. Rihanna’s lingerie company, Savage X Fenty, wants to file for a USD3 billion initial public offering (IPO). The listing could happen as soon as this year, people familiar with the matter said. The company raised USD125 million in January in a funding round led by Neuberger Berman. Rihanna definitely needs the umbrella since she’s making it rain. [NSFW GIF ahead]

6. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Cinematic shot of dogs at a daycare running out to play.

2. #throwback: Backstreet Boys @ Sungai Wang in 1996

3. The history of 7-Eleven: how it grew from a US company to become a Japanese company.