TENAGA, MAYBANK, PUBLIC BANK & DIGI

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB MK, Hold, TP: RM7.00) says that there has been a surge in industrial and private consumer electricity demand in the past two months, which may suggest a slight pick-up in the country’s economic activities. Senior vice-president for corporate affairs Datuk Abdul Razak Majid said that electricity demand surged to 14,029MW last month,
beating last year’s record of 14,007MW last May. (BT)

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Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) (MAY MK, Buy, TP: RM6.40) has appointed Takaful Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Dr Hadenan Jalil, former banker Datuk Seri Ismail Shahudin and Southern Steel Bhd group managing director Datuk Dr Tan Tat Wai as new independent directors. The bank said the appointments, which took effect yesterday, represented a significant development in the ongoing transition and succession planning exercise implemented by the Maybank board of directors. With the new appointments, Maybank’s board now comprises eight directors, four of whom are independent nonexecutive directors. (Financial Daily)

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Public Bank Bhd (PBK MK, Buy, TP: RM9.50) and Bank of China (Malaysia) have established a yuan trade settlement service cooperation between them to facilitate Malaysia’s yuan trade settlement with China. With the tie-up, Public Bank becomes the first bank in Malaysia apart from Bank of China (Malaysia) that is ready to offer the yuan trade settlement service. The list of designated and eligible enterprises in China that are allowed to settle their cross-border transactions in yuan will be released by the People’s Bank of China soon. Public Bank’s managing director Tan Sri Tay Ah Lek said the initiative, which covers open account transactions, documentary collections, letters of credit and bank guarantees, would enable Public Bank to reach a wider spectrum of the business communities that did business with China. (Financial Daily)

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DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DiGi), unit of DiGi.Com Bhd (DIGI MK, Hold, TP: RM22.60) has changed its strategy to focus more on a market-segmented rather than a product-based strategy. In tandem with the new strategy, the telco yesterday launched its new postpaid “DG Family” and “Hit1 DiGi Prepaid” plans, which were aimed at strengthening its hold on the growing family and youth markets. “We’ve taken a segmented approach to differentiate ourselves in a very competitive market, listening very closely to our customers who’ve clearly expressed that they want more relevance and value in the products and services they need and use,” DiGi’s head of products and segment marketing Albern Murty said.(Financial Daily)
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