Monday 3 December 2012

YTL, why the hurry?

From the website of MSWG:

"MSWG completed the attendance of a few AGMs this week. Amongst them were AGMs for YTL Group of companies comprising meetings for YTL Land, YTL Power, YTL Corp and YTL E- Solution. The observations we noted was the speed with which the meetings were carried. It seems rushed how four (4) meetings were conducted on the same day, with very little breathing space both for shareholders and directors. The average interval between the commencement of each meeting was only an hour and seemingly there was an hour constraint imposed for all the businesses to be carried out at each AGM. The tendency is for shareholders to ask very few questions and the response could possibly be a hurried one which may be unsatisfactory. To us it was undoubtedly a whirlwind affair and rather compressed meetings.

Wouldn’t it have been better if the same meetings were spread out over an interval maybe a day each between each AGMs? It would give those attending more time to digest the details provided by the company with greater depth. The Board too would benefit as it would have more time to take questions thoughtfully. AGMs are only held once a year where shareholders get to see their directors and ask the pertinent questions. We do hope that the Board of YTL would consider such suggestion."


All were held on November 27th:
  • YTL Land at 11AM
  • YTL E-Solutions at 12PM
  • YTL Power at 2PM
  • YTL Corp at 3PM
AGMs' are only held once a year, why not give the minority shareholders a good presentation what is going on, and ample time to come with questions?

On November 26th, 3.30pm the AGM of YTL Cement was held. But since this company is delisted, I haven't read any information about it, they are not making announcements to Bursa Malaysia anymore.

This is not the first time that the YTL Group seems to have some CG issues. I don't think that the delisting of YTL Cement deserves a medal for good CG.


From CLSA "CG Watch 2012", "Companies that have seen CG deterioration":

Larger-cap companies with an institutional following that have seen CG declines include YTL Power, Genting Malaysia and Genting Berhad.
 
For many years, YTL Power had focused on regulated industries, ie, power generation and water. It has a global presence in regulated industries stretching from the UK to Australia. However it recently ventured into telecommunications, where it has no prior industry knowledge. Competition in this market is stiff and this venture has incurred large startup losses. Our scoring marks negatively for a  company that diversifies into different businesses.
 
The key concern on Genting Malaysia has been related-party transactions. In November 2008, it purchased a 10% stake in Walker Digital for US$69m from the family that controls the Genting group. In July 2010, Genting Malaysia paid Genting Singapore RM1.7bn for Genting UK. Generating positive Ebitda for Genting UK has been an uphill battle, especially with the difficult macro environment in the UK currently. There is also an issue about independence with a chairman who is also CEO, and holding the same two positions at the listed parent. Genting Berhad, meanwhile, has one of the highest ratios of director remuneration to net profit for companies in our Malaysian coverage universe at 4%, which is a drag on its score.

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