Even JDT needing to scale back on cost shows how difficult the football business is to operate.

Initial amount of capital is aways nice, but at some point it needs to be sustainable to function. That time has come.

JDT have done so well to uplift the standards of overall Malaysian football (have not been to the wonderful looking stadium yet). Everybody should look at this readjustment as something positive and not negative You have several sources of revenue as football club:

(1) Ticket sales. Assuming tickets are sold at RM10 and stadium has capacity of 35k, revenue if RM350k match day. That’s not enough to pay even several players’ monthly salary.

(2) TV rights. In Malaysia this is non existant. In UK even if you at bottom of EPL you’d walk away with £60m because you played Top 6 twice so you get into primetime slot.

(3) Shirt Sponsor - Again, not big in Malaysia because the league isnt as commercialised as Europe. More TV eyeballs, more sponsors want to be there

(4) Merchandising - decent sum but not big. Fans may buy kit at start of season, once but not at every match day. This is big business if you’re a club with global fanbase because demand is coming in from various geographies.

(1) Many would have experienced expensive flights since travel resumed in big way. There are several reasons for this, and it’s unlikely to normalise in near term (2) When world went into lockdown, may airlines were forced to send their aircrafts into storage at deserts (normal) to avoid paying expensive hangar charges. Very few airlines (Middle Eastern carriers) chose to keep full fleet active because they could afford it.

(1) The road towards maturing democracy is painful, but necessary. Decisions may not go as what you may want. The dominance of thumping 2/3 majority may never be seen again (2) Decisions will be slow as more check & balance comes in. The alternative is executive decisions being made with no questioning. Reality is it will be messy, and frustrating.

When the new Malaysian PM is sworn in, he needs to:

(1) appoint competent cabinet. I know this is common sense, but we have not been blessed with that over the years and quality of decision makers much to be desired about. (2) Unite the nation. Election results clearly show we are divided, worringly along religious / racial lines. Not a surprise as it’s been obvious but results vindicate it. Do national roadshow and ask what people want. Include them in process. Days of “I know best” is over.

(1) Having unity government is a political realignment that may not be bad thing. I know it’s not what people want having been conditioned along hard line, but reality of maturing Westminster system is that this will be norm rather than exception (2) It will force parties to work together towards a common good, whilst (hopefully) closing ranks, and reassessing / reflecting on their own parties shortcomings

1. When this was mooted, I had put together a team at PNB to research and help the then PH govt implement this. The team studied similar programmes globally and presented to NEAC

https://twitter.com/esshimself/status/1550297565161488384

(2) The key sticking point was the cost of providing meals to every child. I argued that we cannot be selective in meals because we dont have proper data on who is deserving or not. All or nothing.

(1) Many have pointed out similarities about Sri Lanka & Malaysia. There are some but structurally both countries are built differently and has its unique set of challenges (2) Sri Lanka (SL) has very high level of foreign denominated debt. This causes a mismatch, because its revenue is all in local currency whilst its debts are not.

Quite embrassing for PM to be attacking foreign workers for enjoying subsidies. If you wanted it to really benefit the needy, why not give petrol subsidies to those who really need it too? The question is if you wanted to do targeted subsidies you can, but you did not. As a country, Malaysia spends bulk of its revenue on operating expenditure (opex) mainly subsidies, rather than on development (capex) - the kind of stuff you need to grow the economy. Instead we are supressing prices by importing.

(1) My thoughts on currency pegging. It’so not so simple. Once you peg currency to US Dollar, you have to have supply of US dollars. Otherwise speculators will start betting against it. (2) In order to defend against speculators, we need to have (large) currency reserves. I dont think we do. Even if we do, these reserves are better left for use for other purposes.

(1) Malaysia’s track record of rescuing companies is appaling. There has been no success story. We as a country don’t attach accountability to these issues. It will be money wasted and not questioned years later (2) Petronas money should be used for national development. Not rescuing a company that has been mismanaged for many years. The issue is clear - people running it. Has nothing to do with national interest.

Having lunch at this lovely quaint restaurant ahead of derby game in Sarajevo Derby game

Factors to consider when restructuring an ailing company, especially one drowning in debts & struggling overall. The below in no particular order, as all of equal importance. (1) Board Independence - board will play a more active role during this period. This includes having strong risk, audit & remuneration committee (to align pay to success). Not a believer in transformation committee as it slows progress down

(1) The injection of highways into a trust is not a new idea. It has been mooted by various operators but nobody pulled the trigger on it. It also required a lot of govt buy in, so perhaps everybody was waiting for the first mover to do heavy lifting (2) Essentially the idea is a special purpose vehicle will be set up (acquirer) to buy the highway asset. To finance this, bonds will be raised. Would they require govt guarantee? Yes. Otherwise large institutions wont buy the bonds, without a rating

Today we announced to staff a framework for return to work policy which is based on a flexible work arrangement. It will involve mandatory vaccination for all staff returning to office (with necessary 14/28 days grace period post second jab). No vaccination, no office.

(1) Thread: Today we announced Berjaya Corp’s 3 year strategic framework beginning July 2021 onwards. The What, Why & How is detailed below as I explained to my colleagues this morning. (2) What:
- Reorganising the group to be more focused, have better capital discipline, be more cash generative and focus on sharper execution of strategies. All of which BCorp has fallen short of over the years. We must do better here.

Thread: Looking through my old notes on Indonesia, and some pretty interesting facts emerged: (1) Indonesia is the largest economy in SEA and is expected to become the seventh largest country in the world by 2030, overtaking Germany & UK. Forget ASEAN, Indonesia on its own is massive

(1) Good points thank you. We studied the entire chain from start to finish - costs (including hidden cost), maintenance etc.

Govt owns a lot of land, that will be their involvement. But let the private sector build - quicker and cost effective. With regulations & oversight.

https://twitter.com/nurguidance/status/1387903418241486848

(2) The pricing is designed to be fully furnished, with 10 years of maintenance cost & legal fees baked in. With 100% financing, no cash required upfront (this was a pain point before understandably).

(1) Affordable housing is a chronic problem globally. Much of the problem is due to pricing which does not match median income of population. (2) Better Malaysia Foundation (BMF) has recently launched a new social enterprise programme to address the home ownership issue of low-income Malaysians.

(1) Spending the next two months learning, listening, understanding & discovering Berjaya Corp. Lots to cover internally and with operating companies during this time. (2) My priorities within 3 months is to define the group (what we are), identify business verticals we want to be in, and separating core & non core. I will also put in place an Investor Relations team

(1) Thread: Well done EPF on the annual dividends. Good result amidst difficult investing conditions. EPF diversified overseas early and well, and have a good run for 15 years in some asset classes. (2) Just because rubber gloves did well does not mean dividends should be higher. Portfolio is diversified so there will be hits (technology / healthcare) and miss (leisure, tourism)

(1) Not equating all acquisition. Pointing out GLCs dont have a good track record here. But management were put target to become regional champions (which involved acquiring other companies) or total shareholder return (share price)

https://twitter.com/dzameer/status/1360538245751132162

(2) When these acquisitions were made, share price rose, due to excitement that domestic co is venturing globally. But that tapered off quickly. Buying is the easiest part in the acquisition chain, integrating it and making it work is the most difficult.