8 Ways to Woo a VC

From Inc.com
30th Nov 2012

Time to take your business to the next level? Here's how to land the cash to do it.

Sometimes, growth is almost impossible without a significant chunk of money and other resources to fuel that growth.

Could Teaming With Other Small Businesses Be the Key to Success?

From Entrepreneur.com
30th Nov 2012

In a tough economy, growing your business doesn't have to involve costly new hires or expensive acquisitions. Instead, teaming up with another small business might be your best solution.

Successful teaming relationships can help you gain experience, offer a more comprehensive service, or take on bigger contracts.

The Best Way to Win Repeat Customers

By Entrepreneur.com
29th Nov 2012

" That extra touch, the human touch, will never go unnoticed by your customers and will lead your business to lasting success. "

Is Poker a Good Metaphor for Business?

From Inc.com
29th Nov 2012

"The key lesson is to be careful not to become the prisoner of any single metaphor and always try to be a master of many."

When it comes to management, can the principles of poker be applied successfully? Beware the metaphor's blind spots.

Aaron Greenwald: Enabling Pizza Eaters Everywhere with Bold Organics

From Under30CEO.com
29th Nov 2012

“Making sure you have a differentiated product that stands out in a variety of different ways from the stuff that’s already out there.”

Success Will Come and Go, But Integrity is Forever

By Forbes.com
28th Nov 2012

" Dishonesty may provide instant gratification in the moment but it will never last. "

General election will be benchmark for investor appetite, uncertainty drives selling out

By Star Online: Business
28th Nov 2012

KUALA LUMPUR: The outcome of the upcoming general election (GE) will set the benchmark to determine the level of investor appetite, which is currently suppressed, according to Eastspring Investments Bhd chief investment officer-equities Yvonne Tan.

“Due to this uncertainty, we are already seeing some selling out mainly by local institutions but foreign investment inflows are actually quite steady.

Indonesia's wage hike will hurt Malaysian planters

By Star Online: Business
27th Nov 2012

" Indonesia's rapid increase in minimum wages will continue to erode Malaysia's attractiveness as an employment destination for foreign workers. "

Supplier, meet customer: How Chegg represents a bold new philosophy that’s changing commerce

By Pandodaily.com
25th Nov 2012

" Three big trends playing out in the digital world right now. One is about the end of ownership. The second has to do with location. But this third trend — a radical reshaping of the relationship between companies and their real customers. "

Stratified developments becoming a way of life

By Star Online: Business
24 November 2012

"As more of us live in gated and guarded developments, and high rise condominium and serviced apartments, property management is evolving to become a lucrative industry."

Crude palm oil prices are expected to recover strongly

By Star Online: Business
22 November 2012

Rabobank: The commodity’s price to recover strongly in early 2013

KUALA LUMPUR: Crude palm oil (CPO) prices are expected to recover strongly early next year on slowing production and improved demand, according to Rabobank International.

GENTING BHD - Takes up 20% stake in pharmaceutical company

By AmResearch
21 November 2012


BUY

Price: RM9.20
Fair Value: RM10.85

6 Tips for a Perfectly Timed Facebook Post

By Inc.com
20th Nov 2012

" Think like a user, not like a marketer. "

Nutella Tax on palm oil doesn’t go down well with manufacturers, consumers

By Star Online: Business
20 November 2012

IN France, the attacks against palm oil have lately come in two major forms the “Sans Huile de Palme” (palm oil free in French) logos now prominently stamped on many food cartons and the “Nutella Tax” which will see a 400% increase in tax imposed on palm oil.

Even though the tax amendment, which was approved by the French senate last week, is still up for consideration by the French lower house, the National Assembly, if it is approved, the tax for palm oil would jump to 400 euros per tonne from the current 100 euros.

Nutella is Europe's favourite breakfast chocolate and hazelnut spread with some 235,000 tonnes produced annually by Italian company Ferrero of the Ferrero Rocher chocolates fame. In France alone, it is believed about 100 million jars of Nutella are consumed yearly.

So, why is Nutella currently being singled out by several French politicans, retail chains and Western NGOs? Some quarters said it was purely due to palm oil, which makes up about 20% of Nutella's total ingredients.

Lion goes regional with Malindo

By Star Online: Business
17 November 2012

RUSDI Kirana is one of Indonesia's wealthiest people. Together with his brother Kusnan, the Kirana brothers own Lion Air and are listed by Forbes as the 34th richest individuals with a net worth of US$580mil.

But there was an air of simplicity surrounding Rusdi when he sat down to give his story to StarBizWeek. There was no phalanx of bodyguards, no designer clothes or an expensive timepiece on his wrist. Dressed ordinarily, all he had with him was a nondescript haversack.

“I walk without bodyguards because I feel nobody knows me,” he says.

He spoke about his start in the business world where as a salesman, he earned US$10 a month and was hungry every day. The interview eventually gravitated towards why he is a man that the airline industry in Malaysia needs to pay attention to.

6 buys, 7 sells for the coming 2013 recession

By MarketWatch
16 November 2012

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — The global economic crisis will not end till 2016 or later, warns IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard.

It will take “at least a decade from the beginning of the crisis for the world economy to get back to decent shape,” Blanchard said in a recent interview in Europe, according to a Reuters report.

“It’s not yet a lost decade,” Blanchard said, “but it will surely take at least a decade from the beginning of the crisis for the world economy to get back to decent shape.”

No matter what, you can forget about a 2013 quick fix for America’s fiscal-cliff disaster. Won’t happen.

Tan rebukes Laxey and says iCapital.biz has outperformed the KLCI

By Star Online: Business
9 November 2012

PETALING JAYA: iCapital.biz Bhd founder Tan Teng Boo has refuted claims made by Laxey Partners Ltd, one of the substantial shareholders of the company, concerning the “substantial discount” that the closed-end fund was trading to its net asset value (NAV) and that its returns have underperformed the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI.

In a statement , Tan said that Laxey Partners had distorted the facts by focusing only on the short-term which was “its undeniable area of expertise.”

7 Unexpected Events That Could Blow Apart Investor Portfolios In 2013

By BusinessInsider.com
9 November 2012

The number of moving parts in the global economy and world financial markets is more apparent than ever.

In the United States, the fiscal cliff is coming into focus post-election.

And the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone continues, although it has abated somewhat in recent months.

While the fiscal cliff and the euro crisis have been consistently at the forefront of investors' minds throughout this year, there are plenty of other big risks to markets and the economy as well that haven't garnered the same attention and awareness.

Some of those risks are even to the upside.

BofA strategists Kate Moore, Michael Hartnett, Benjamin Bowler, and Swathi Putcha sent out a research note examining seven of those lesser-known "tail risks."

The team writes, "Though we believe each of the seven is a low probability event – generally a tail risk is considered a 1-in-10 chance – any one could have an outsized impact on portfolios."

Hostile takeover of iCapital.biz?

By Star Online: Business
6 November 2012

PETALING JAYA: Closed-end fund iCapital.biz Bhd, managed by seasoned fund manager Tan Teng Boo, has become the target of opportunistic investors who may embark on a hostile takeover of the company, insiders close to the matter confirmed.

European hedge fund Laxey Partners has accumulated close to 10 million shares in iCapital.biz, representing just under a 6.9% stake. Laxey has a track record of targeting listed funds that trade below their net asset values (NAVs).

It is fairly common for institutional funds that have bought stocks of closed-end funds trading at a sharp discount to their NAVs to vote for their liquidation.

PPB - Personal Analysis 3-11-12

Personal Technical Analysis
3 November 2012

Since a major sell down in PPB in late-July from around RM15.20 to find support at RM13.90 which was then violated in early-September and price has bottomed out at around RM11.90 (14+% from RM13.90 - within Cup with Handle rule of 1/3) then in the duration of mid-Sep to mid-Oct. The stock has recover to reach a peak at RM13.90 in late-October and pulled back.

There is indeed a clear chart pattern that technical analysis called "Cup with Handle" in which it starts with a bowl-like-U-shaped movement from selling down to bottoming out and rising again to formed a U shape, and is then followed by a sell-down again to form a handle.

The stock price of PPB is clearly showing this chart pattern albeit under a different situation - traditional Cup with Handle is formed with a prior rising trend while in this case PPB is facing a mid-term downtrend, but I look into it that PPB it staging a rebound that in one way or another can be considered as starting a rising trend.

If the handle did formed eventually with a rising trend again, RM13.90 would be the critical point of resistance, if it is broken then Cup with Handle pattern is proven and the price will continue for more upside.

MACD is still bullish as MACD is still above both center-line and signal-line.
RSI is slightly bearish as it is pulling back from overbought level (70).
Slow Stochastic Indicator is slightly bearish as it is pulling back from overbought level (80) too.

Critical Resistance: RM13.90

Cup with Handle (Continuation)

By StockCharts.com

The Cup with Handle is a bullish continuation pattern that marks a consolidation period followed by a breakout. It was developed by William O'Neil and introduced in his 1988 book, How to Make Money in Stocks.

As its name implies, there are two parts to the pattern: the cup and the handle. The cup forms after an advance and looks like a bowl or rounding bottom. As the cup is completed, a trading range develops on the right hand side and the handle is formed. A subsequent breakout from the handle's trading range signals a continuation of the prior advance.

AirAsia plans to be the first choice for travellers

By Star Online: Business
3 November 2012

TEN years on after taking a chance to start a low cost airline, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is sitting in a hotel room in the Westin Hotel in Busan, South Korea just after launching the Tokyo-Busan air sector that will be operated by his 49%-owned unit AirAsia Japan.

In a quiet surrounding, in contrast to his public persona and frenetic business empire, he gives an quick secession of interviews like he has done many times before.

For a man who is setting up affiliates across Asia, jet-setting to exotic destinations where the Formula 1 races are held and also appearing virtually every weekend on television while watching his Queens Park Rangers play, he is remarkably full of energy.

It was the same energy he had when he built AirAsia from two planes to 115 aircraft today, all along never wavering on the positiveness of his ebullient character. He is a man whose confidence never seems to fade.

AIRASIA - Competition coming sooner

By AmResearch
2 November 2012


HOLD

Price: RM3.05

Fair Value: RM2.80

• It was reported in a local daily this morning that Malindo is bringing forward its launch date to mid-March 2013 from earlier indication of May 2013. This follows the group’s (PT lIon Air) decision to delay the launch of Batik Air from March to end-2013 as the group intends to focus on positioning Malindo as a regional player.