DANAVEST

(The Edge) MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd (MEASAT) today announced the successful lift-off of the LandLaunch launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan carrying the MEASAT-3a satellite into orbit.

(The Edge) Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS), which posted its first operating loss in 2 1/2 years in the first quarter, does not have any staff layoff plan although the operating environment is increasingly challenging, according to its chairman Tan Sri Munir Majid.

(Business Times) THE Malaysian insurance industry is undergoing a transformation to provide a strong foundation for a more resilient and competitive industry in support of Malaysia’s economic development agenda. Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) assistant governor, Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim, said Malaysia has implemented the risk-based capital framework this year and new product regulations. He said these developments were part of a broader move towards introducing a more principle-based regulatory regime that would allow greater flexibility for insurers to compete and improve performance.

(Business Times) HONDA Malaysia Sdn Bhd is confident of achieving its sales target of 35,000 units of vehicles for this year despite the gloomy economic outlook. Its managing director and chief executive officer Toru Takahashi said as of May this year, the company had sold 17,313 units of vehicles.

(Business Times) MALAYSIA’S real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to fall by 4.4 per cent this year before recovering to 2.2 per cent next year and 5.3 per cent in 2011, the World Bank said in its report on the global economic situation.

(Business Times) SYARIKAT Takaful Malaysia Bhd (STMB), which has RM4 billion in assets, aims to be the largest takaful insurer in the country in terms of assets within two years. Group managing director, Datuk Hassan Kamil, said currently, STMB was in second position after Etiqa Takaful Bhd, which has 400,000 policyholders.

(Business Times) MALAYSIAN stocks have risen “too far, too fast” given that corporate earnings will shrink this year, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd said in a strategy report. “The market rally has stretched valuations to levels unjustified by earnings growth,” Andrew Lee, an analyst at Maybank Investment, wrote in the report. “An economic and corporate earnings recovery is likely to be anemic.”

(Bernama) The country’s first fully-automated shipyard will be in operation at the Tanjung Agas Oil and Gas and Maritime Industrial Park here in 2013. It will be part of a RM4.8 billion project that comprises a fabrication and engineering yard, and marine repair and ship-building facilities on a 320-hectare site.

(Bernama) Sabah’s Rural Development Ministry has allocated RM370 million to implement five agropolitan projects to help farmers in rural areas. Its minister Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin said that this showed that the government was working towards improving the livelihood of the people, especially those in the rural areas.

(Bernama) The life insurance industry is still growing despite the discouraging economic condition, Life Insurance Association of Malaysia president Adnan Zain said. “The traditional life insurance business is showing a good development.

(Bernama) Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) will offer more than 70 travel fairs globally until 2010, its senior general manager, sales, Datuk Bernard Francis, said Monday. The airline will continue to aggressively push sales in the Asean region, South Asia, North Asia, Australia, the Middle East, the Americas, and South Africa, he said.

(Bernama) A total of 44,736 projects worth RM4.2 billion have been tendered for implementation under the first economic stimulus package as of June 12 this year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Monday. He said 13,365 projects worth RM1.5 billion had been completed involving small projects such as upgrading and repair works on rural roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.

(Bernama) Blue Archipelago Bhd will be exporting prawns to the European market with the setting up of a hatchery and processing factory at its farm here worth RM20 million this October. Its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Shahridan Faiez, said the processing factory will have the capacity to process 20 tonnes of fresh prawns a day.