☕️ Trees falling like MYR

Let’s start today with a poll

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

The number of US publicly traded companies fell from its peak in the late 1990s from just over 8,000+ in 1996 to about 4,600+ in 2022, though it bounced back a bit recently. Some explanations for this declining trend: regulations made it costlier for smaller companies to go public, the rise of private equity and venture capital funding delayed the need to go public and gave rise to “unicorns”, which are private companies worth than a billion dollars (1,300 new unicorns created since 2020). A 2023 research might have the best answer — mergers and acquisitions. The Manigificnet 7 ate them. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Tesla and Nvidia collectively acquired 885 companies, with Google parent Alphabet gobbling up the most at 263 companies. Tesla acquired the fewest at just 10. Most of these acquisitions were small companies, but a lot of them were not small either. Think YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Skype, Whole Foods.
View research: Dissecting the Listing Gap: Mergers, Private Equity, or Regulation?

A record number of more than 840,000 applications had been received to take part in the 2025 London Marathon, breaking last year’s record of 578,000. More than 53,000 people finished the 26.2-mile course (42.2 km) with 44 Guinness World Records broken and GBP67 mil (RM398 mil) raised for charity this year. If you are wondering how on earth so many Guinness records were broken, well, most were for playing dress-up like dressing as a traffic cone, mobile phone and emoji - view the list here. 

Batuk kering or tuberculosis (TB) has seen a concerning rise with 8,856 cases recorded nationwide as of May 4 with Sabah alone accounting for 1,944 cases (21.9%), according to Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. The highly infection, air-borne disease causes symptoms such as prolonged coughing lasting for over two weeks, fever, night sweats, lack of appetite, weight loss and bloody cough and immediate treatment is required. The minister said the government is aware that the disease was mainly brought in by foreigners who entered the country illegally, like in the case of Sabah. Dr Dzulkefly could have elaborated further on why illegal foreign immigrants were the cause to avoid giving rise to unnecessary xenophobic sentiments — or the reporter missed out on writing this explanation completely.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Driving in Klang Valley can be a risky business
Heavy rains in Klang Valley yesterday uprooted at least five trees around the city — two around the Jalan Kuchai Lama area, two in the Universiti Malaya campus and one along Jalan Pinang in the smack of the city centre. View the incident here. The tree that fell in Jalan Pinang actually hit the convoy of the Melaka Chief Minister, Ab Rauf Yusoh, who was passing through the area during heavy rain. Fortunately, the car he was travelling in was not hit and he was unharmed, according to his press secretary.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa has instructed the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to cut down high-risk trees around the city after yesterday’s incident, which happened just one week after the fatal incident on Jalan Sultan Ismail.

Kuala Kubu Baharu post-by-election analysis

1. Harapan Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election director Ng Sze Han said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition won 16 out of 18 polling districts in the by-election. Voter support for the Harapan coalition government increased across all ethnic groups. The percentage rose from 54.4% in last year’s state election to 56.57% in the by-election. Ng concluded that this victory would encourage the coalition government to continue promoting development and strive to regain all three state seats in the Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency in the next election.

2. Selangor government think tank Institut Darul Ehsan’s (IDE) analysis revealed that Perikatan Nasional (PN) is popular among the youngest cohort of voters, with 63% of those aged 18 to 24 voting for the opposition (PN). However, this wasn’t enough to swing the vote to PN because this group had the lowest voter turnout of around 53%. Although the PN party is widely believed to have a strong hold on Malay voters, the report has shown that there has been a 3% rise in Malay voters and an 8% increase in Indian voters supporting the Harapan-BN coalition. Chinese voters have remained loyal to the Madani government. The report has also highlighted that the government has gained the support of Malay voters, as they have regained control of two out of four Malay-majority voting districts that they lost in last year’s state election, namely Kg Air Jernih and Pertak.

Business

1. Paramount Corp Bhd (Paramount) acquired a minority 21.54% stake in Eco World International Bhd (EWI) in an RM170.61 mil cash deal from GuocoLand Ltd - which is controlled by Quek Leng Chan. The rationale for the acquisition is to accelerate Paramount’s overseas expansion and diversification plan. Other substantial shareholders in EWI include Liew Kee Sin (10.27% direct stake) and Leong Kok Wah (3.28% direct stake). It is estimated that Paramount may receive up to RM108 mil in dividends in 2024 and 2025 after the acquisition. Combined with bank loans, Paramount will fork out a grand total of RM12 mil of its own money for its EWI stake.

2. Bursa Malaysia has set the date of the first Malaysian carbon credits auction by Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX) — July 25, 2024. The auction involves the first Malaysia nature-based carbon credits generated by BCX through a domestic forestry project — Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project, which protects and restores 83,381 hectares of tropical forest in the Tongod and Kinabatangan districts in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah. This marks the expansion of their product offering to include local carbon credits in addition to global carbon credits.
   Just how much monetary value can a forest generate in carbon credits? Doesn’t seem like a lot — learn more here.

   Read: Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project

Shorts

1. Water disruption in Klang Valley between June 5 to 7🚰

   As part of scheduled asset maintenance and replacement works at Sungai Selangor Phase 1 water treatment plant, Selangor residents in eight regions will face temporary water disruption. The affected areas are — Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Hulu Selangor, and Kuala Selangor regions. Work will be carried out from 9am to 7pm on June 5. Water supply is expected to be restored in stages beginning at 3am on June 6 and fully restored by noon on June 7.

2. Senior citizens could get free influenza shots beginning in 2025
   Under the National Immunisation Programme (NIP), the Health Ministry is considering providing free vaccinations against influenza to those aged 65 and above from 2025 on an annual basis. Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said his ministry is waiting for the Finance Ministry’s green light. Zulkefly announced that starting from the end of this year, the ministry will provide free tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis combination vaccines to pregnant mothers to protect newborns from pertussis, also known as whooping cough.

3. Johor seems to favour of ART over LRT
   The estimated cost for implementing Light Rail Transit (LRT) infrastructure in Johor is projected at RM16.7 bil, significantly higher than the RM7 bil estimated for Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) infrastructure. Transport, Infrastructure and Communications state executive councillor Mohd Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the state wants the transport system to be completed by the end of December 2026, as this coincides with the start date of the Rapid Transit System (RTS) operation that connects Bukit Chagar to Woodlands, Singapore.
   Watch Sarawak’s first ART in action here.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Israel: Diplomatic slap by neighbour, soldiers attacked by nature
Israel’s neighbour Egypt has formally joined South Africa in its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) due to escalating Israeli aggression against Palestinian civilians. Turkey and Colombia had earlier joined South Africa’s case too. A former director of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Egypt’s move as an “unbelievable diplomatic blow to Israel” and stressed that Israel would have to take this seriously. If their main funder, Uncle Sam, could not even control them, doubt a complaint to the ICJ would make a difference. Apart from this diplomatic slap, Israel’s military had to face the wrath of wasps. 12 Israeli soldiers were injured after being attacked by a swarm of wasps in the southern Gaza Strip when a tank accidentally disturbed a nest.

Geologist finally uncovered where the Mona Lisa was painted
Geologist and Renaissance art historian Ann Pizzorusso believes she has finally solved the mystery in one of the world’s most famous paintings, the Mona Lisa. Combining her expertise in geology and historical art, she is confident that Leonardo painted several recognisable features of Lecco on the shores of Lake Como in the Lombardy region of northern Italy - check out the scenic lake here. The debate on the landscape behind the Mona Lisa has been going on endlessly among art historians. Theories have included a 2011 claim that a bridge and a road in the Mona Lisa belong to Bobbio, a small town in northern Italy, and a 2023 finding that Leonardo had painted a bridge in the province of Arezzo. But has anyone ever found out who Mona Lisa actually is?

News from our southern neighbour

• KPMG, Deloitte Singapore to raise salaries for employees
  2 of the Big 4 in Singapore will be committing to increasing salaries. KPMG said it will be committing SGD100 mil (RM349.5 mil) to make salary adjustments, technology and learning for its over 3,500 employees over the next five years. Of this amount, SGD30 mil will “substantially benefit” staff up to the manager level from October.

  Deloitte will increase the starting pay by up to 20% for graduates joining as first-year audit associates with a starting salary of SGD4,500 per month (RM15.7k) effective Sep 1. Deloitte is committing SGD62 mil to nurture audit talents within the employees’ first five years with the firm. These announcements coincided with the release of a report by the Accountancy Workforce Review Committee set up by the Ministry of Finance to address ways to increase the supply of high-quality accounting talent.

• Singapore’s new leadership era begins
  Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong will step down today after heading the city-state for nearly 20 years. He will be succeeded by Deputy PM and Minister of Finance Lawrence Wong. Another individual is getting a huge promotion - Gan Kim Yong, the current Minister of Trade and Industry. He retains his existing portfolio and will be promoted to be the Deputy PM and the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) board of directors.

Shorts

1. Roaring Kitty is back sending GameStop stock soaring
   If you recall the 2021 meme stock-mania, the man who inadvertently kickstarted it is back. Keith Gil’s (aka Roaring Kitty) whose X account has long been dormant posted an image of a man leaning forward with a game controller. Traders interpreted that to mean Gill is back to action, sending GameStop’s stock price on a monster rally, up by 110% and causing losses to short-sellers to the tune of USD1 bil. The stock famously soared more than 2,000% (20x) in early 2021 during the meme-stock frenzy. There’s a movie on Netflix called Dumb Money about Roaring Kitty and his GameStop trade in 2021 — watch trailer here. 

2. Who’s gonna succeed Apple CEO Tim Cook?

   Warren Buffett and Singapore got their successors. For Apple and Tim Cook, it’s still uncertain who’s going to take over the USD2.86 tril tech behemoth. Bloomberg reported that Cook, who is a billionaire virtue of being an Apple employee, will not leave for at least the next 3 years. Cook told Dua Lipa on her podcast that he hoped his successor would be an internal hire. Read on here to see some of the potential internal candidates that could replace Cook. 

3. Emirates’ profit flying high 

   Dubai’s Emirates Airlines reported on Monday its full-year profit for the financial year ending Mar 2024, up more than 60% at USD4.69 bil on revenue of USD33 bil, which rose by 13% year-on-year. Its seat capacity was up 21.4%, flying 51.9 mil passengers during this period. Staff will get a sweet bonus equivalent to about 20 weeks’ salary (~5 months).
   View: Emirates Group announces 2023/24 results

5. FOR YOUR EYE

1. Answer: Pikachu & Rakan-rakan

2. If you are having a smoke whilst reading this, smoking is good. Watch the below explaining the benefits of smoking cigarettes. It gets darker.