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High yield oil palm plantations in <b>Sabah</b> to boost FGV earnings <b>...</b> Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah

High yield oil palm plantations in <b>Sabah</b> to boost FGV earnings <b>...</b>

Posted: 04 Apr 2014 10:07 AM PDT

KUCHING: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd's (FGV) earnings is expected to receive a boost from its high-yielding oil palm plantations in Sabah.

Analysts believed that the company's matured oil palm plantation in Lahad Datu, Sabah will contribute higher fresh fruit bunches (FFB) yield to the company, thus translating into higher sales and better future earnings.

Following a company's visit, the research division of MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research) said the acquisition of Pontian United Plantations Bhd's (PUP) palm oil estates in Sabah last year has helped FGV to improve its earnings due to the improvement in the tree age profiles.

The research firm noted that 78 per cent of PUP's 16,718 hectares landbank is planted with prime aged trees and the average age of PUP's trees is about 17 years.

Hence, MIDF Research said FGV is targeting to achieve higher FFB yield of 24.7 metric tonne per hectare in 2014 whilst its FFB yield between 2009 to 2014 was 23.7 metric tonne per hectare.

Going forward, MIDF Research forecast that FGV's FFB yield for its estates in Sabah to be the highest in the industry.

Additionally, the research firm observed that the acquisition of PUP's palm oil estates in Sabah will certainly be an earnings catalyst for FGV group.

Meanwhile, the research arm of CIMB Investment Bank Bhd (CIMB Research) in a report said that it is confident of a good pick-up in FFB production for FGV from May onwards.

The research firm noted FGV's FFB yields in Sabah were above the average production yield of other estates in Sabah in the past five years following the acquisition of PUP's palm oil estates in Lahad Datu in July last year.

CIMB Research pointed out that FGV's oil palm estate in Sabah before the acquisition of PUP has a size of 105,546 hectares, which is the largest block of palm oil estates in Malaysia and one of the largest in the world.

Post acquistion, CIMB Research observed that FGV has increased its Sabah estates under its control by 22 per cent and its total planted area by four per cent to 337,487 hectares.

Therefore, with larger plantation landbank coupled with higher FFB yield and better crude palm oil (CPO) prices, analysts are confident that the company's earnings will remain healthy in the near future.

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RM1.4 billion disbursed for <b>Sabah</b> Development Corridor projects <b>...</b>

Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:19 PM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Disbursements for projects in the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) for the 2008-2014 period under the Ninth and Tenth Malaysia Plans are currently at RM1.4 billion.

This is 85.3 per cent of the total federal government allocation of RM1.634 billion received by the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) as at the end of February this year.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said by the first quarter of 2014, RM128 billion in investments had been planned and committed to, and of this, about RM38 billion had been realised.

"This is also since the launch of the SDC in 2008.

"We are expecting the investment momentum in the SDC to continue gathering pace, especially with the attention of global investors shifting to Asia, and economic recovery in the United States and the European Union," he said this in his opening remarks at the 15th meeting of members of Sedia at its office here yesterday.

Musa, who also Sabah Finance Minister and Sedia chairman, added that the authority had been in operation for five years and almost all of the SDC flagship projects are taking shape.

He called on implementing agencies to ensure that development projects are carried out according to schedule, meet the desired quality and produce the targeted outcome.

"This will not only win the confidence of the people on the seriousness of the government in developing the state, but also do the same among investors to expedite the Economic Transformation Programme," he said.

Musa added domestic investments are playing a critical role in ensuring the success of the SDC.

"It is indeed timely that the federal and state governments are giving emphasis to the participation of domestic investors, including the development of Bumiputera entrepreneurs, SMEs and start-ups.

"I am pleased to note that Sedia has launched several initiatives to support the development of SMEs and start-ups.

"Sedia has been collaborating with Teraju through the TERAJU@SDC programme to support Bumiputera entrepreneurs.

"It has also worked closely with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation for 1Agro-SAIP programme and with agencies under its umbrella such as Biotech Corp, MIMOS, Agro-Biotechnology and Sirim to further boost knowledge-intensive initiatives," he added.

In the oil, gas and energy sector, Musa said Petronas has been a major driver of SDC projects with investments in a gas-fired power plant, the Sabah Ammonia and Urea (Samur) in Sipitang, Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal and the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline project.

"Other major domestic investors include Suria Capital Holdings Bhd, Warisan Harta Sabah Sdn Bhd, Sawit Kinabalu Bhd, Innoprise Corporation, Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) and the Sabah Land Development Board," he added. – Bernama

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<b>Sabah</b> no longer haven for cheap labour – SEDIA – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:29 AM PDT

by Nancy Lai. Posted on March 25, 2014, Tuesday

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA) chief executive Datuk Dr Mohd Yaakub Johari yesterday disclosed that Sabah had passed the development stage where the state attracted investments due to the availability of cheap labour.

"We need to recognize that our ability to transform into a high income economy will depend on our ability to generate adequate human capital and an adaptable labour force with higher skills, talent, expertise and knowledge.

"Sabah indeed can no longer be a haven for cheap labour," he said at the SDC Innovation Public Forum jointly organised by the Institute for Development Studies Sabah (IDS) and SEDIA.

Mohd Yaakub in his speech also said that according to the Department of Statistics, unemployment in Sabah was relatively low at about 5.4 per cent in 2012.

"There were only about 85,300 unemployed citizens in Sabah in 2012. This is indeed a small figure in comparison to the number of foreign labour in Sabah, especially those in the plantation and construction sectors.

"What is very much needed now is to locate where these unemployed citizens are and ascertain their qualifications as well as skills level to enable them to be trained so that they could provide a pool of human capital geared to drive the economic transformation program," he pointed out.

According to him, to meet the human capital requirement of Sabah, SEDIA has been undertaking a concerted effort to visit and discuss with higher learning institutions locally as well as overseas on academic and research and development collaborations as well as enticing these higher learning institutions to consider setting up campuses in Sabah in particular to meet investor requirements in SDC projects in line with the Key Focus areas.

This initiative will be further intensified as SEDIA embarks on the third and final phase of SDC with emphasis on accelerating sustainable growth through the provision of adaptable human capital and dedicated infrastructure, he stressed.

Mohd Yaakub said that the key focus areas during the second phase of SDC following the alignment with the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) under the ETP are tourism, palm oil, agriculture, oil and gas, education and manufacturing/logistics.

In addition, he disclosed five focus areas have been identified to turn greater Kota Kinabalu into a strong, vibrant and liveable city.

These include the development and modernization of Kota Kinabalu into a lifestyle hub with more tourism attractions, improvement in mobility and travel, boosting the public and private healthcare which will help stimulate health tourism and improvement of early childcare education, he said.

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Ford <b>Sabah</b> quest for five day expedition - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:50 PM PDT

Tutong: The quest was flagged off yesterday by the Premier Automobiles Sdn Bhd (PASB) Marketing Manager, Adeline Ng, ©BRUDIRECT.COM reported.

The convoy is led by PASB Sales Manager Teng Chee How with 16 4×4 Ford vehicles from Ranger and Everest models, going to Kota Kinabalu while also stopping by at places like Tawau, Sandakan and Lahad Batu before returning back on Friday March 21.

60 participants have joined in including the staff and Ford owners along with their families.

The quest is one of PASB's initiatives to maintain strong relationship with its customers.

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