☕️ ZUS Coffee said to explore RM1 bil IPO, RM4 bil valuation

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

90% – Prior to 2022, boy band BTS accounted for that much of talent agency Hybe’s revenue. However, as the members left for South Korea’s mandatory military service, this share dropped to about 20% in 2024. Now, with every member back from military service, Hybe logged a profit after three straight quarters of losses. Sales more than doubled year-on-year in the second quarter to KRW1.44 tril (RM4.15 bil), with operating profit nearly tripling to KRW170.9 bil. Revenue and operating income hit quarterly records, with Hybe reporting a net profit of KRW109.7 bil.

USD20.3 mil (RM82.93 mil) – Cambodia’s Angkor Archaeological Park, home of the famous Angkor Wat, recorded that much in ticket sales in the first seven months of 2026. This is a 29% decline from the USD28.6 mil recorded during the same period last year. Angkor Enterprise also reported that the park drew a total of 428,233 international tourists between Jan and Jul, a 30.7% drop from the 618,771 visitors recorded in the same period in 2025. The slump was attributed to global and regional economic slowdowns, online scam concerns, and border tensions with Thailand. The situation is further exacerbated by the conflict in the Middle East, which has driven up fuel prices and disrupted global flight schedules.

35 mil – That’s how many tourists arrived in China in 2025, following China’s ramping up of an online promotion campaign that year, along with the gradual introduction of visa-free travel for citizens of 50 countries since 2023. In the first half of 2026 alone, 18 mil people arrived in China from visa-free countries, pushing overall foreign visitor arrivals up by 20%. Vietnamese and Russian arrivals surged in that period, while Japanese visitors declined following a diplomatic spat between the two countries. To maintain this growth in tourist numbers, local governments also provided funding to tourism offices, including an extra CNY2.64 mil (RM1.6 mil) for Beijing in 2026 to manage new headcount and launch online publicity projects. This represented a rare expenditure in local finances.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

The translucent clouds have descended on Malaysia
MetMalaysia National Weather and Earthquake Operations Centre (POCGN) senior director Maqrun Fadzli Mohd Fahmi said that the haze situation will remain at least for the next three to five days despite rain being forecast to occur in some places. Maqrun Fadzli said the main factor contributing to the situation is the Southwest Monsoon, which usually occurs from May to Sept, causing drier conditions and less rain, which consequently raises the risk of fires nationwide.

The situation is much worse in Sarawak, where 108 schools in Sarawak’s Serian Division have been ordered to close temporarily after Air Pollutant Index (API) readings in the area exceeded 200, the threshold classified as ‘Very Unhealthy’. The Sarawak Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability said on Wednesday that the poor air quality in Sarawak was caused by a fire at a rubbish disposal site managed by the Sibu City Council, compounded by forest fires in Sri Aman. So, do not blame the haze entirely on Indonesia, okay.

Palm oil to cool data centres? ‘Sawit mendunia’!
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has developed a palm-based cooling liquid named Sawit EcoTherm that could one day replace the use of water in cooling data centres. Dr Noor Khairin Mohd, senior research officer at the process engineering and design unit of MPOB Advanced Oleochemical Technology Division, projected that traditional water-cooling data centres could consume as much as 876 mil litres of water daily, which is equivalent to the water needs of 4 mil people. If widely adopted, immersion cooling with Sawit EcoTherm could significantly reduce the water demand of the data centre industry.

Additionally, Sawit EcoTherm, which has a higher boiling point compared to water, can even handle AI servers, which generate three to five times more heat than conventional servers. Palm oil is really the mother of all crops, from frying ayam gepuk to cooling data centres. So, what’s stopping Sawit EcoTherm from widespread use? The economics make sense, as the use of Sawit EcoTherm can eliminate the use of server fans and mechanical air conditioning (reducing operational costs by 30% - 50%), and it is cheaper than non-water-based coolant such as synthetic and petroleum-based alternatives.

However, there are sustainability concerns as some would fear that the widespread use of palm-based coolant can lead to clearing of virgin forest for new palm plantations, as pointed out by Badrul Azhar Md Sharif, an associate professor from the forestry and environment faculty in Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Anyways, health advice from a data centre perspective:

Sabah state government sues EY for RM2 bil
Sabah-based group of parties - the Sabah government, along with its Chief Minister, state-owned Sabah Development Bhd and SDB Corporation Sdn Bhd, filed a civil suit recently against accounting firm Ernst & Young PLT (EY). The suit is related to alleged negligence conducted by EY in the planning and audit of SDB accounts between the financial years ended Dec 31 in 2011 and 2022. The group is seeking a staggering compensation of over RM2 bil from EY, not including punitive and exemplary damages, interest, and legal costs.

As a comparison, Deloitte only paid RM324 mil in 2021 to the Malaysian Government to resolve all claims related to their fiduciary duties on auditing the accounts of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and SRC International Sdn Bhd (SRC).

The plaintiff claimed that EY’s failure to undertake a proper audit and come up with an accurate report led them to provide financial support to SDB on terms which would not have been given had the true financial position been known. The plaintiff added that SDB would have initiated aggressive recovery of non-performing loans (NPLs) if EY did their job properly. SDB acts as an investor and strategic funding vehicle for major socio-economic development programs across Sabah, funded by Sabah’s public resources. How bad is the NPL? A staggering 70%. What’s even worse than a 70% default rate? NPL on a total loan portfolio of RM7 bil.

Shorts:

1. Former Auditor-General claimed Tabung Haji RCI snubbed her testimony
   Madinah Mohamad, who was the Auditor-General from 2017 to 2019, said that the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Tabung Haji failed to secure her testimony. She alleged that she came to the proceedings at the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) but was never called in to give a statement. She was denied the chance to defend herself, which the RCI report criticised her office for a lack of firmness during certain periods. Even Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman questioned why Madinah’s testimony was not included, given that she was the auditor-general at the time.

2. ZUS Coffee plans RM1 bil IPO, at RM4 bil valuation
   Sources said Zuspresso Sdn Bhd, owner of the ZUS Coffee brand, is mulling to list its Malaysian business and raise at least RM1 bil, valuing the company at RM4 bil. An offer might take place on Bursa Malaysia as soon as mid-2027. If Zus sticks to its current growth plans, it will remain the country's largest coffee chain with 600 outlets in the country (it opened its 1,000th store throughout Southeast Asia in 2025). For peer comparison, Oriental Kopi Holdings Bhd and Empire Premium Food Bhd have market values of RM2.1 bil and RM1.1 bil, respectively.

3. Accused murderer says sorry
   The 15-year-old boy who was accused of murdering a female student at a secondary school in Bandar Utama expressed remorse over the incident while testifying in the High Court here yesterday. During the trial, the defence team is relying on the ‘mentally ill’ argument to defend the accused. One of the key witnesses during the trial, Dr Ian Lloyd Anthony from Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, testified that the teenager had suffered from delusions and mental illness for about five years, which triggered during the pandemic. The teenager’s schoolmates said that they had never seen his face until the day of the incident, and the accused was always known as ‘the boy who always wears the mask’.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

War! What is it good for?
Israel’s “ecocide” - attack on South Lebanon’s natural environment
Firefighters and residents of south Lebanon have accused the Israeli military of lighting wildfires in the region, with environmental groups saying the fires in recent weeks were part of a longstanding Israeli practice of targeting Lebanon’s natural environment. Israel has been hitting olive groves and agricultural lands in the nearly two months since the June 17 ceasefire that mostly ended fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Back in summer 2024, Israeli troops used medieval catapults to fling flaming debris over its border wall with Lebanon, and Israeli drones were seen carrying hoses that doused forests in flammable materials. In Feb, health and environmental experts raised the alarm when Israel dropped herbicides linked to cancer on farms in south Lebanon. Besides the environmental and health consequences of these fires, residents of south Lebanon have mourned the loss of the green spaces in the villages where they grew up.

Israel’s default solution is to just to kill anything that gets in its way.

USS Abraham Lincoln sailors bearing the mental brunt of the Iran war
An intensifying mental health crisis is unfolding onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, as its 5,000 sailors and marines endure a record-breaking deployment at sea due to the war with Iran. Military papers Navy Times and Stars and Stripes reported that there have been multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard as poor conditions and mental stress on the Lincoln reach the breaking point. The crew is in its ninth month at sea and has spent 250 days consecutively without making land – a record for an aircraft carrier in modern times. The mental health challenges faced by active-duty US navy personnel are well known. Study showed that the unique stress factors faced by sailors on deployments commonly include loud noises, lack of rest, and inadequate mental and physical healthcare.

Climate
Record heatwaves sweep across Asia
East Asia is going through a punishing summer, as record heat swept through the countries of South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. Potato farmers in South Korea reported potatoes coming out soft and collapsing, “like boiled potatoes”, spoiled by heat. A city in south-eastern South Korea recorded a temperature of 42.5C, the highest recorded in the country since modern weather observations began in 1904. In neighbouring Japan, temperatures reached 40C or higher at multiple locations and the country recorded its first ever “kokushobi”, or “cruelly hot day”.

In Hong Kong, its observatory posted an official temperature of 36.9C, the highest recorded there since records began in 1884. Meanwhile, in China’s western Xinjiang region, a weather station recorded a 50C reading in Jul and North Korea reported a run of tropical nights in Pyongyang, with temperatures failing to fall below 25C.

Singapore studies USD500 mil fund to climate-proof food system
Singapore is exploring a proposal to raise about USD500 mil (RM2.04 bil) for a fund to boost climate resilience in Southeast Asia’s supply chains. The plan would see the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS - Singapore’s BNM) establish an adaptation fund focused on protecting sectors like agriculture and aquaculture from the impacts of extreme weather and global warming, with the development finance institutions and private capital sources targeted to deliver the funding.

Warmer temperatures and drought fuelled by a hotter planet are disrupting growing periods for fruits and vegetables, reducing yields and increasing food spoilage globally. Boosting resilience for farms and fisheries is seen as crucial in Southeast Asia, which produces more than a quarter of the world’s rice and where fish accounts for more than half of animal protein consumption. It’s time for Malaysia to up the food security game too.

Shorts:

1. Josh Kushner, Bob Iger bought LA Lakers for record USD12.5 bil
   Popular basketball club Los Angeles Lakers has now been sold to venture capitalists Josh Kushner (brother to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law) and former Disney CEO Bob Iger for a record price of USD12.5 bil (RM51.08 bil). Billionaire Mark Walter purchased a majority stake in the NBA team last year in a deal that valued the club at USD10 bil. The record deal comes just weeks after Kushner emerged as a central ⁠figure in a controversial private equity plan involving global football governing body FIFA.

2. Brazil orders Discord to suspend livestreams after teen’s suicide
   Brazil authorities has ordered social network platform Discord to suspend its livestreams and accused it of failing to protect children, after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly incited to commit suicide during a broadcast. Discord said it had investigated and removed the invite-only group involved in the case and continued to co-operate with law enforcement. Brazil has sought to boost protections for children online in recent months, obliging platforms to link the accounts of users under age 16 to their parents’ accounts, and verifying users’ age.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

This weekend, enjoy nature

1. A rare eclipse happened in Europe on 12 Aug, with Spain experiencing its first total eclipse in over a century. Spanish Olympic skateboarder timed his epic stunt with the solar eclipse, calling it the ‘move of his life’. Another insane video here of the eclipse. The transition gives me goosebumps.

2. So surreal that I would just pass it off as AI - tornado on a lake, with a rainbow. Somewhere in Alberta, Canada.

3. Nearer to home - somewhere in Tioman, hanging off a cliff, enjoying the stunning forest and sea view.

Have a good weekend folks!