News Highlights - CIMB Group Holdings, Petronas Dagangan, Automotive Sector

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (RM7.60/share)

Hopes to finalise talks on Bank of Commerce soon

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd hopes to complete negotiations soon on its proposed acquisition of a stake in the Bank of Commerce belonging to San Miguel Corp, a diversified Philippines conglomerate. Yesterday, Group Chief Executive Datuk Seri Nazir Tun Razak said the deal presented it an opportunity to enter the market. In line with the group’s overseas expansion, Nazir added that it was eyeing the South Korea market and expanding into the Asean region which includes Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. CIMB Group recently inked an agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group for the acquisition of its Asian equities business to expand CIMB Group’s presence beyond the Asean shores. – Bernama

Petronas Dagangan Bhd (RM18.78/share)

Redesigns Kedai Mesra

Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PDB) has launched the new design for its Petronas stations, in line with its pledge to offer customers greater convenience and comfort. PDB has now pushed the bar on customer experience a notch higher by making bold and evolutionary changes in the Petronas stations by including energy-saving and safety-enhancing concepts. PDB managing director and chief executive Amir Hamzah Azizan said as PDB ramps up its retail network to attain market leadership, it is only apt that they re-image their stations in line with the growth momentum and take the lead with the latest trends. Petronas Dagangan Bhd, the national oil corporation Petronas’ retail arm, has revamped the Kedai Mesra design to provide easier access to the aisles and offer a customer-friendly layout. – Business Times

Automotive Sector

New vehicle sales down 15% in March

According to the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), sales of new vehicles in March fell by 15.3% from a year ago to 53,583 units. Sales of passenger vehicles was down to 47,106 in March compared with 56,482 last year while commercial vehicles sales dropped to 6,477 units from 6,782 a year ago. The total industry volume for the first quarter this year also recorded a fall by 12.5% to 138,544 units against the corresponding quarter last year. However, MAA said that on a month-on-month basis, the sales in March reflected an expansion for the second consecutive month this year. Sales in March was at 9,570 units or 21.7% higher than the previous month. It added that the month-on-month increase was due to positive consumer sentiment, the introduction of new models of vehicles and a longer working month. - StarBiz

Source: AmeSecurities