G-20’s earnings to rise 15.3% in FY10

Written by Fong Min Hun
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 00:16

PUTRAJAYA: The 20 largest government-linked companies (G-20) are expected to boost their aggregate earnings by 15.3% to RM15.24 billion in FY2010 from a forecast RM9.97 billion in FY2009, according to a statement issued by the secretariat for the Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance (PCG).

The PCG secretariat said the FY09 figures were down from FY08 owing to the economic slowdown, but should pick up next year as GLCs had “proactively taken defensive measures to weather the current global crisis”.

“As a result, gearing levels remain within limits, with the debt-to-equity ratio of non-financial G-20 companies at 48% as at June 30, 2009,” it said, adding that net interest cover was stronger than pre-GLC transformation programme levels, while cash balances remained healthy.

Government-linked investment companies (GLICs) such as Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Permodalan Nasional Bhd, along with G-20 companies, have also been key players in fiscal stimulus growth after making domestic investments worth RM13.4 billion in 1H09, the PCG secretariat said.

GLICs and G-20 were also targeting 20,559 new employees this year and an additional 6,075 hires in 1Q10. PCG said the G20 had disposed of RM1.62 billion worth of non-core assets in FY2008.

The statement was issued in conjunction with the 20th meeting of PCG here yesterday. According to the statement, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak urged GLCs to speed up their high-performance transformation programme in order to support the nation’s target of achieving developed status by 2020.

Najib identified GLCs as playing a key role in fiscal stimulus spending, but they must “be able to compete regionally and globally to support the nation’s growth”.

He said Malaysian GLCs had demonstrated resilience during the crisis with the G-20 outperforming the FBM KLCI by 2.4% since the launch of the transformation programme.

Meanwhile, the government also launched the government-GLC cross-fertilisation programme, which would see top talent from government and GLCs cross-assigned to one another.

“This talent exchange programme is expected to strengthen the capability and versatility of both the public and private sectors of this country,” Najib said at the programme’s launch here yesterday.

“It is aimed at developing a new generation of high performing leaders with strong understanding of the government’s operations and role in facilitating business.”

Forty-seven government and GLC employees were identified as the first batch to participate in the programme. The participants received their letters of undertaking from the prime minister yesterday.