True and Fair View of Utusan Malaysia’s financial position

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Sep 20, 2010

There is no apparent income from disposal of property which is not subject to income tax…so I have no idea how Utusan can have tax free income of RM24 million over 2 years.

By Lee Wee Tak

Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad is a listed company on the Bursa Saham Malaysia hence its annual accounts and reports are open for public viewing.

I need not mention that Utusan Malaysia is UMNO’s mouth piece as confirmed by the top 30 shareholders listing as per its annual reports and accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2009.

The top shareholders include:-

1. RHB Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd
(Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu or UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) 55,113,956 shares (49.78%) – exceeding the bare NEP minimum target of 30%

2. Nilam Setar (M) Sdn Bhd 16,343,000 shares (14.76% )
……..

5. TA Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd (Pledged Securities Account for Chua Eng Ho Waa @ Chua Eng Wah) 879,900 shares (0.79%)
…….

8. Meng Hin Holdings Sdn Bhd 345,600 shares (0.31%)
9. The Teaw Kee 340,900 shares (0.31%)
10. Cheah Yee Lin 314,500 shares (0.28%)
11. Tan Jin Tuan 291,200 shares (0.26%)

I can see that even some people from Utusan’s usual punching bag did not mind investing in Utusan Malaysia. Good business is good business. Perhaps the public should not take what Utusan says too seriously?

After all, we also pay good money to watch powerful movies knowing that the plot delivered are far from reality of life.

According to the Chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Hashim Ahmad Makaruddin’s statement:
——————————————————————————————-
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
Group

For the financial year under review, the Group recorded total
revenue of RM348.6 million, lower by 6.7% against the previous
year’s revenue of RM373.8 million. The lower revenue is mainly
due to the decline in contribution from advertising. Despite
this, a more effective cost management saw only a slight drop
in pre-tax profit from RM7.8 million in 2008 to RM7.3 million
for the financial year under review.

———————————————————————————————-

The “other expenses” in consolidated income statement decreased from RM53,732,825 in 2008 to RM44,253,718 in 2009. However, if you look at the individual holding company level, the “ other expense” actually ballooned up to RM74,563,651 in 2009, up from RM48,854,351 in 2008.