MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Sat Apr 15, 2017 10:55 am

Sold all MUI shares. Not vested anymore

What’s going on in MUI?

BY YVONNE TAN

Stock surges over 47% with heavy turnover

The flagship of one-time corporate high-flyer Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng, the daily trading volume of MUI’s stock has ballooned from just over 200,000 shares at the beginning of the month to about 200 million shares this week.


Laura Ashley, known for its floral dresses and English-style home furnishings operates 194 owned-stores in UK, the Republic of Ireland and France as well as 252 franchised stores globally.


Metrojaya operates seven department stores and 61 speciality stores in Malaysia under various in-house brands such as Reject Shop, East India and Somerset Bay


Under its hotel division, MUI owns and operates 10 hotels in the UK and two hotels in Malaysia under the Corus and Laura Ashley brands.

The Laura Ashley brand hotels are primarily boutique hotels that display Laura Ashley’s range of products and designs. All of MUI’s hotels are understood to be revenue-generating.


MUI also has a property division whereby its flagship project is the 1990-acre Bandar Springhill township development in Port Dickson.


Based on the company’s latest financial notes, MUI’s total assets are collectively worth some RM2.10bil of which RM338.5mil comprises deposits, bank balances and cash.

Its borrowings meanwhile stand at about RM209mil, according to the latest quarterly report.


Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... on-in-mui/
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Tue Jun 06, 2017 4:11 pm

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All eyes on MUI chairman’s next move

by Supriya Surendran

April 25, 2017

THE London High Court judge’s decision on the divorce settlement of £64 million (RM352.9 million) to Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Peng’s ex-wife, Pauline Chai, two weeks ago has stirred investor interest in his flagship company, Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUI). But whether chairman and chief executive Khoo will monetise his assets to pay the settlement remains to be seen.

MUI’s shares saw a flurry of trading activity last week. The counter was the most active on Bursa Malaysia last Thursday, with a trading volume of 167.84 million shares, surpassing its 200-day average volume of 3.29 million shares.

The stock hit a two-year high of 28 sen last Tuesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM821 million. Given that the 78-year-old Khoo owns 47.67% of MUI, his stake is worth RM391 million.

“There are those who perceive the reaction of the market as a relief rally, considering that they were expecting half of his (Khoo’s) assets to be awarded to his ex-wife. So when it was reported in the UK newspapers that she was going to get a £64 million payout, there was a sense of relief among investors because that’s [about 31%] of what she had claimed he was worth, which was at least £205 million,” a market observer says.

He adds that the market probably sees that with the lengthy divorce proceedings out of the way, Khoo may be able to concentrate on his businesses and may even restructure the group.

However, these are all speculation at this point, with some even talking about an asset monetisation exercise.

“There is speculation that he may sell some of MUI’s assets as a result of the divorce settlement, but nothing is concrete yet as these are just market rumours,” the market observer says.

It is unclear at this point which of Khoo’s assets are to be apportioned to his ex-wife. According to UK newspapers, the judge who presided over the case, Justice David Bodey, has barred the reporting of confidential financial information pertaining to the case.

However, it is understood that the £64 million payout to Chai will be in cash and property.

The assets on MUI’s balance sheet consist of investments in various business segments, including retail, hotels, food and property. The hotel segment formed more than half of the group’s total assets as at June 30 last year.

The group owns and operates two hotels in Malaysia and 10 in the UK under the Corus and Laura Ashley brands. They include Corus Hotel in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, and Corus Paradise Resort in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.

The KL hotel could fetch as much as RM310 million, according to property consultant, valuer and estate agent VPC Alliance (KL) Sdn Bhd.

“With a land size of 78,458 sq ft, freehold tenure and being in a super prime location facing the KLCC development, the Corus Hotel site is indeed ripe for redevelopment and will be able to fetch a value of between RM300 million and RM310 million, based on RM3,800 to RM4,000 psf,” says VPC Alliance managing director James Wong.

Over in the UK, the group’s flagship hotel is the 389-room Corus Hotel Hyde Park at Lancaster Gate, London, a historic building reported to be more than 100 years old. MUI bought it in 2001, and its net book value as at June 30 last year was RM264.26 million.

Back in September 2014, news reports emerged that Khoo was looking to sell the hotel for £200 million. However, in an Oct 1, 2014, filing with Bursa Malaysia, MUI denied the news reports.

Also part of MUI’s UK assets is Laura Ashley Hotel The Belsfield in the Lake District.

As for its retail division, the group owns 98.21% of Metrojaya Bhd and 35.17% of Laura Ashley Holdings plc. As at June 30 last year, Metrojaya, which is a leading department store chain in Malaysia, operated seven department stores and 61 speciality stores under various in-house brands — Living Quarters, Reject Shop, East India Company and Somerset Bay, to name but a few. It also operated seven Laura Ashley franchised stores in Malaysia and Singapore.

Khoo is also the chairman of London-listed Laura Ashley Holdings, which operates 194 stores in the UK, Ireland and France, and 252 franchised stores in 29 territories worldwide. The stock is trading at 14.38 pence a share, giving the company a market capitalisation of £104.6 million, which values MUI’s stake in the company at £36.8 million.

The group’s food division is engaged in the manufacture and distribution of chocolates and other confectionery under Network Foods International Ltd, which owns brands such as Tudor Gold, Crispy, Tango and Kandos.

Considering the myriad of assets that MUI has, news of asset disposal is not new. In December 2014, the group had proposed to dispose of its 69.192% stake in Pan Malaysia Holdings Bhd for RM77.12 million to renowned investor Datuk Dr Yu Kuan Chon, who is also the chairman of YNH Property Bhd.

The acquisition was widely perceived as Yu’s move to build a stockbroking business through Pan Malaysia Holdings’ 34.84%-owned Pan Malaysia Capital Bhd, which in turn owns 99.99% of stockbroking firm PM Securities Sdn Bhd.

However, the group and Yu mutually terminated the share sale agreement on Sept 12 last year due to the condition precedent not being fulfilled by the date.

MUI’s financial performance has not been great. For the six months ended Dec 31, 2016, the group reported a net loss of RM30.66 million on the back of RM213.8 million in revenue mainly due to foreign exchange losses. In 2015, the group changed its financial year end to June from December.

With no catalyst in sight, the spotlight on MUI falls back on Khoo’s high-profile divorce case. It is worth noting that apart from his publicly traded assets, Khoo would have sizeable assets held privately. Besides, some reports state that the tycoon could challenge the award to Chai. Undoubtedly, the market will be watching and waiting for Khoo’s next move.

Source: The Edge Weekly

http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/a ... -next-move
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Fri Jul 28, 2017 11:35 am

Laura Ashley heiress Angeline Khoo gives it all up for love

Daughter of Malaysian tycoon tells UK daily of her father's disapproval of the man she wished to marry and explains reason behind her parents' messy £64 million divorce.

He has been previously reported to be worth more than £440 million (RM2.47 billion), a figure that was revealed by the lawyers representing his former wife Pauline Chai during their long-drawn divorce settlement proceedings which took place in both the United Kingdom and Malaysia.


The £64 million settlement last April was less than the £100 million that Chai had wanted but more than the £9 million Khoo had offered her initially.


Source: Free Malaysia Today

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/catego ... -for-love/
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:23 am

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Malaysian party keen to buy Khoo’s MUI stake

By Toh Kar Inn

PETALING JAYA: A local party is understood to be interested in taking over Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng’s stake in Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUI), an asset-rich company with businesses in real estate, hotels, retail, financial services as well as food and confectionery.

“A strong local personality is keen on the takeover and has hired financial advisory firms to approach Khoo, who has been out of the public limelight for several years now,” said a source.

Sources said the stake could command a premium over the market price because whoever buys the stake would have control over MUI.

The share price has steadily risen in recent weeks, with the counter spiking up by 40% to 24.5 sen since Oct 27. The stock was traded on a volume of 61.13 million shares, making it the ninth most traded counter yesterday.

Several notable names have appeared on the shareholder list. Among these shareholders, Wong Thean Soon, better known as T.S. Wong, who is the managing director and single largest shareholder of MyEG Services Bhd, stands out.

According to the financial year ended June 30, 2017 (FY17) annual report, Wong has a small stake of less than 1%.

Besides Wong, Datuk Jayakumar Paneer Selvam, said to be an investor linked to Wong, has also surfaced as a shareholder.

They could have been drawn by what they see as assets held by the company seen to be undervalued.

For example, the freehold 13-storey Corus hotel located along Jalan Ampang has a net book value of RM54.50mil while the company also holds land, both freehold and leasehold, all over the country.

These assets do not appear to have been revalued recently.

Some of MUI’s noteworthy subsidiaries include London-listed retail chain Laura Ashley plc, Malaysian retail chain Metrojaya Bhd, Corus Hotels Ltd, MUI Properties Ltd, confectionery manufacturer Network Foods International Ltd, as well as stockbroking firm PM Securities Sdn Bhd.

Laura Ashley, a UK brand synonymous with floral dresses and English-style home furnishings, has 167 stores throughout the UK and 243 franchised stores globally.

On the other hand, Metrojaya operates seven department stores and 61 specialty stores in Malaysia under various in-house brands such as Reject Shop, East India and Somerset Bay.

MUI recorded losses amounting to RM131.7mil for FY17, on the back of RM415.1mil revenue.

Only the hotel and property divisions contributed profits to the company in FY17.

As of June 30, 2017, the company has properties located across Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, with a total net book value of RM890.26mil.

Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... mui-stake/
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:00 am

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Andrew Khoo takes over as CEO of MUI

By P. Aruna

PETALING JAYA: Andrew Khoo, the son of Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng, has taken over his father’s role as CEO of Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUI).

Khoo, 78, has been redesignated as executive chairman of the asset-rich company with businesses in real estate, hotels, retail and financial services.

Andrew, 45, had previously held the position of non-independent, non-executive director at MUI for three years before resigning in August 2012.

Market observers say his return to the helm of the company could signal changes for the business, which has been viewed as an entity with much potential but no driver to sweat the assets.

Prior to the latest appointment, Andrew had most recently served as chief operating officer of Swensens, and director of group business development in ABR Holdings Ltd, Singapore.

He has also been director of corporate affairs and special assistant to the CEO in Laura Ashley Holdings plc, London and special assistant to the CEO in Corus Hotels Limited, Milton Keynes, the UK, which are among the big brands under Khoo’s business empire.

MUI has three listed companies in Malaysia and is the single largest shareholder in UK-listed Laura Ashley Ltd.

Apart from Laura Ashley, another famous name under MUI is Metrojaya.

The business empire stretches from Malaysia to London, with involvement in property development, food products, finance, fashion and retail.

Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... eo-of-mui/
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:22 am

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Guiding principles behind MUI group

Question: On taking over the helm of the business from his father

Andrew: Although it has just been six months, it feels much longer than that due to the huge responsibility that comes with the job. I feel a burden of responsibility to ensure that the group is positioned to be sustainable, and that there is longevity in the long run.

Growing up, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to be up close and personal with my father, seeing him in action during his prime years. So, I can glean a bit of knowledge from him.

My father’s advice to me is there is no shortcut to success. It is about working hard, giving full commitment to the business, even though this calls for personal sacrifices at times.

So, while staying true to those guiding principles, my management style will be a bit different. I want to move towards a performance-management culture.

I also believe in open communication and being more transparent. We want to make sure that we communicate clearly what our vision is for the group and where we are going, so that people can understand and buy into the vision.

Amid our ongoing corporate restructuring exercise, we are attempting to build the right team that can drive the business forward. I’ve brought back some of the “old guards”, those who had been with my father in the 1980s during the heydays of MUI, while taking in “new blood” to generate new ideas to help us in our business transformation because I want a mixture of the group’s rich history and the future of where we are going.


On turning around the company

Our initiative involves corporate restructuring, business transformation and deleveraging. We need to streamline the group’s business, reduce redundancies and improve efficiencies to strengthen our position in the marketplace and improve our competitiveness.

We will focus on our core activities – retail, hospitality & property, and food - so that we can become stronger in those areas.

Meanwhile, we are also transforming our business to make it more lifestyle-driven. In line with this initiative, all our brands are being refreshed to adopt a lifestyle concept.

We also want to deleverage to reduce our gearing to put ourselves in a more stable footing to weather any kind of challenges ahead.


On asset rationalisation

Currently a strategic review is being undertaken, which means anything can be for sale.

Ultimately, it is a question of price. If a bidder comes in with the right price, we will consider it seriously. Our overarching goal is to pare down our debt and reduce our gearing to a comfortable level.


On potential strategic partnerships

We are open to strategic partnerships to grow our business. As long as, the group is aligned to our business goals and ethics, we don’t mind tying up and having strategic partnerships/investors so that we can grow together.


On medium to longer term goal for the company

We want to put the group in a stronger and firmer footing, and deliver value to our stakeholders.

We also want to bring back the relevance, and make MUI one of the strong corporate players in the market.


Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... gaErZMX.99
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:27 pm

For this Malaysian millionaire, Laura Ashley is still in fashion

LONDON (Aug 23): The long-time Malaysian backer of Laura Ashley Holdings Plc got a little relief on Wednesday as the shares soared on results that provided a rare ray of light for the UK purveyor of floral fashions and furniture.

The stock rose as much as 36%, but at a price of 5.88 pence is still worth only a small fraction of when the business was last in vogue with investors in the mid-1990s.

Having spent the past two decades largely treading water, some analysts wonder why millionaire chairman and main shareholder Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng has persevered with its listed status in London.

“It is unclear why the Malaysian company that controls Laura Ashley still keeps its UK listing,” Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst, said in emailed commentary, noting that by doing so the company is required to publish detailed financial results every six months.

Earnings released on Wednesday included 9.7% growth in like-for-like fashion sales in the year ended June 30, while the company also announced plans to sell a Singapore property for S$54.5 million (US$40 million) in cash.

Asked about Laura Ashley’s ownership, Chief Financial Officer and co-Chief Operating Officer Sean Anglim said Khoo has always maintained the listing, adding: “I don’t think there are any plans to change it.”

Since listing in London during the brand’s heyday in 1985, Laura Ashley has lost favor with most investors. A failed US expansion saw the share price collapse in 1996 and 1997, prompting Malaysia’s MUI Group to buy a 40% holding in April 1998. In the 20 years since then, the shares have been unable to shed their tag as a penny stock.

MUI founder Khoo was named chairman in March 1999. He and MUI collectively hold about a 61% stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Source: Bloomberg

http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/m ... ll-fashion
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:00 am

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MUI sells two hotels in UK

19 Apr 2018

by Gurmeet Kaur

The diversified group sold two of its hotels under the Corus brand in the United Kingdom, the proceeds of which went for loan repayment and working capital.

“We confirm that Corus Hotels Ltd, a subsidiary of MUI, has sold the 52-room Old Golf House Hotel in Huddlesfield, and the 40-room Imperial Crown Hotel in Halifax.


In the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2017, it made a net loss of RM8.70mil on revenue of RM108.83mil.

Total borrowings as at that period stood at RM883.46mil, while cash was at RM188.07mil.

For financial year ended June 30, 2017, net losses amounted to RM131.7mil on the back of RM415.1mil revenue.

After the disposal, MUI owns and operates six hotels in the UK and two hotels in Malaysia under the Corus brand.

Its flagship hotel in the UK is the 389-room Corus Hotel Hyde Park, which was acquired in 2001 abd carried a NBV of RM272.93mil in its 2017 annual report.

It also owns two Laura Ashley boutique hotels in the UK.

Locally, MUI’s Corus Hotel in Jalan Ampang is situated opposite the Petronas Twin Towers and carried a NBV of RM54,50mil in its books


Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... PqAxCYC.99
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:36 am

Ex-beauty queen returns to court after divorce battle with Laura Ashley boss

Nov 29, 2018

Last year a judge ruled that 80-year-old Khoo Kay Peng should hand ex-beauty queen Pauline Chai a £64 million package.

Mr Justice Bodey ruled that 80-year-old Khoo Kay Peng, who is based in Malaysia and is non-executive chairman of Laura Ashley Holdings, should hand Pauline Chai, who was Miss Malaysia 1969, 40% of a marital asset kitty of around £160 million.

Lawyers discussed issues relating to arrangements for the payment of a lump sum of around £40 million which was part of the £64 million package.

The judge said they had been fighting in courts in England and Malaysia for at least three years and had run up nearly £9 million in lawyers’ bills in England alone.


Source: Shropshires Star

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk- ... hley-boss/
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Re: MUI / Khoo Kay Peng

Postby winston » Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:48 am

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MUI's new chairman: If it makes sense to sell assets, we'll do it

by Supriya Surendran

December 14, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 14): Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUI)'s new executive chairman Andrew Khoo Boo Yeow, who is the second oldest son of its former chairman Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng, says he will consider selling the group's assets, even its prized ones, if it makes business sense.

This would differ from the stance of his father. The senior Khoo has in the past been reported to have been sentimental about the group's assets, in particular the group's flagship Corus Hotel in London's Hyde Park.

"I come from a different generation, so to me I am not so attached. My business approach is I like to be more objective, so I will have to look at what is best for the group, if it makes sense to sell we will sell, or if it makes sense to build particular a business we will do it.

"But you know, anything can be sold for a price if the right offer comes along, so we should not be too attached to assets," he told reporters at a news conference today.

When asked if he saw an urgent need to sell assets to raise cash for MUI, Andrew said there isn't, but shared that the group's goal is to have a gearing level below 0.5 times. As of June 30, 2018 the group's gearing ratio is at 1.12 times.

The group's net assets per share as of June 30, 2018 is 18 sen, while its share price at time of writing is at 15.5 sen.

MUI's businesses include retail, hotels, food, property and financial services. The group owns and operates hotels in Malaysia and the UK under the Corus and Laura Ashley brands. They include the Corus Hotel in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, and Corus Paradise Resort in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.

As for its retail division, the group owns 98.21% of Metrojaya Bhd and 35.17% of London-listed Laura Ashley Holdings plc.

"Let me break it down, there is going to be three strategic thrusts for the group, with the first being corporate and capital restructuring, which is already underway for 12 to 18 months, and we have another two years to go.

The corporate and capital restructuring is to make sure we are more streamlined, more focused, [and] more efficient in what we want to do. It may mean things like [asking ourselves] how many listed companies do we want and how many dormant companies do we want to wind up.

"We want to rationalise our assets, (which) means that we are more focused in what we want to do, and the second part to that is we want to develerage. So we want to pare down our borrowings, and that will make us stronger.

"The third part will be our business transformation. To transform the entire business as we look to the future," he said.

On what he means by business transformation, Andrew says "he does not want to do any business, which has no meaning".

"I want to transform the business to become more lifestyle driven. We are doing that with our existing brands, but we are bringing in new brands such as Baker & Cook which is a lifestyle bakery; we will bring that into Metrojaya and to our Corus hotels too, hopefully.

"For Laura Ashely, we are working on Laura Ashley spa, Laura Ashley hotels, everything we do would have a lifestyle focus," he said.

Part of its transformation is incorporating e-commerce for its Metrojaya stores.

"For us we are just starting the e-commerce journey, we recognise a need to go into e-commerce but we have to do it the right way with the right partners. We have started to look at partners in the last few months.

Metrojaya currently has an e-commerce presence through third party websites [such as Lazada], but we can't just rely on that, we need our own platform as well, as well as social media and digital marketing, it's a whole ecosystem.

"Laura Ashley is already doing it, and they are doing it well, e-commerce makes up 25% of their sales," he said.

On whether MUI can be a dividend stock once it restructures its operations, Andrew says that it is the intention.

Source: The Edge

http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/m ... well-do-it
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