Pelikan Warehouse Sales 2009

Pelikan should definitely send out flyers to all its shareholders about any incoming warehouses. I never aware of such an event until I accidentally saw it on TheStar newspaper yesterday night.

I've long wanted to get myself a decent Pelikan pen because my current one keeps failing on me with its loosely aligned cap.

Me and my bro reached Puchong around 9am+ then we stopped by at some restaurant to have our breakfast. PappaRich sucks because apparently there's no breakfast set. I need to fork out extra bucks by making each item order one by one. It sucks.

We arrived at Pelikan warehouse around 10:30am. They actually used their cafeteria as the venue for this sales. Well, not really as crowded as some of the warehouse sales I been to but still I'm having some hard time try to squeeze myself into some of the boothes. One of the discount bin was emptied, not sure what goodies were in there before being deserted.





You pick up the items you wanna buy, then you proceed to the check out booths. Once each item being checked into the payment list, you can move on to the payment counter and settle it once and for all. See the payment counters below?



I got myself a Pelikan Tradition R215 Rollerball Pen and a K7 pen along with some refills. It costs me near to RM300. One thing to comment is that the higher end product lines showcased during the sales are pretty limited. R215 comes with 3 years warranty.





All my looted goods are inside this picture :D



Total damage is RM600 for the day, Phew....

Pelikan to raise RM188.74m from rights issue

Written by Joseph Chin

KUALA LUMPUR: Pelikan International Corporation Bhd plans to raise RM188.74 million from a proposed renounceable rights issue. This will be on the basis of one rights share for every two existing ordinary shares held.

The company said on Wednesday, Oct 21 said the rights issue involved up to 171.58 million new shares of RM1 each at an issue price of RM1.10 each.

If fully subscribed, the proposed rights issue would increase the company's share capital from RM343 million to RM515 million.

Pelikan president and chief executive officer Loo Hooi Keat, said the group had embarked on an aggressive expansion throughout Europe and Asia in the past years, which were funded mainly by internally-generated funds and some borrowings.

"In this, we have tasted much success, demonstrated in our revenue rising from around RM500 million in FY2005 to RM1.3 billion in FY2008," he said.

Loo said Pelikan's focus in the future was to grow the group's business in the global market.

"In view of this, we hope for the rights issue to increase our share capital base to be commensurate with our increased volume of business, and more significantly, enhance our balance sheet with greater financial flexibility in our continued business expansion," he said.

On the group's prospects, Loo said: "We're optimistic this exercise will fuel the growth developed so far, and at the same time prepare us for our expansion plans in the near future."

The proposed rights issue is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2010. Maybank Investment Bank Bhd is the adviser to Pelikan's proposed rights issue.

Perkiness of the Strongest and the Confession of the Drop Out

I never expect myself to be caught in any new gadget launching midnight rush fiesta but hey everyone got their first time. It's all started with one of our colleagues yelling and shouting about the HTC Touch2 65 unit 65% discount launching event hosted at Sunway Pyramid, 9-October to 11-October-2009 on first come first serve basis. I thought it would be fun for most of our R&D personnels to hang out together late at night since he proposed that we go there around 2AM queuing up. 10-October 2AM, what the hell.. Could I end up being robbed by some hooligans? Well, I actually reached there around 2:20AM and spent like 15 mins to find the place to queue, and and I gotten myself a "virtual" number of 48, which I counted myself. Then after 30 mins, I count again and this time 53. Well well, looks like many of the queue cutters are on the move. Luckily I'm surrounded by smart fellas, literally. The guys in front of me were supplying the paper and pen and the fella right behind me was spending some efforts to make sure people who spends hours to queue got a queue number in the list. The physical number which had my name craved is #56. Wow, imagine what will be my number when it is 10am later. Anyway, I only to get my hand on the phone around 3:30PM in the afternoon, phew. that's a 13 hours effort for a RM560 Touch2 phone :D

Some hiccups during my queuing experience:

Around 5 or 6AM (Sorry, I really lost my sense of time), a family of 3, an uncle, auntie and their son I guessed making noises until almost 9AM. Wow, very persistent.
I don't really get what's the point they try to make, think it'something to do with why their name was not in the list blah blah... They retreated under the ambience of Booooo-ness of course.

Then around 10AM to 11AM, another family of auntie and her daugthers I think making some complaints like "In the flyer, it stated from 10AM, I don't care whether others queuing from what time, when I reached at 10AM I deserve one unit from the 65"... Bang Head... Joke of the Day.


My first time, turned out to be a very inspiring lesson to me.. When a person gets old and retired from work.. they really have time for non sense.

Phew!

Case study on Najibnomics

Eddy said: Freakonomics? Hell no, it's something else.



KUALA LUMPUR - THE Harvard Business School in Boston will undertake a case study on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak?s courageous and bold initiatives to tackle the financial crisis.

The case study, to be used as a subject in the core curriculum of the macro-economic module, will be a capstone on how crisis is transmitted internationally.

It will also discuss how a country that has sound fundamentals and good regulations could withstand an international crisis.

The country is known for consolidating the banking, insurance and financial institutions following the 1998 currency crisis, said the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia in a statement yesterday.

Besides highlighting Najib?s bold economic reforms, the Harvard study would also focus on the various economic liberalisation moves, measures taken to prepare the country for the Asean Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organisation negotiations, said alumni president Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam.

'Harvard will also bring to attention how the country positions itself on free trade agreements with other countries and how its economic zones are poised for further foreign direct investment attractions.

'We in the alumni are proud to be associated with such a work as the study will become part of the syllabus programme and will be taught to thousands of international students.

'Moreover, students at Harvard will hear about what the Government and Bank Negara Malaysia have done since the 1998 crisis to regulate and stabilise the economy,' said Mr Gnanalingam.

The previous case study on Malaysia published in April 2002, 'Malaysia ? Capital and Control' written by Rawi Abdelai and Laura Alfaro, has been one of Harvard?s most successful case studies.

It analysed the political economy of capital controls in Malaysia during the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis.

It has been taught in every class for the last seven years not only to Harvard Business School students taking a masters degree in business administration but also to senior managers who attended executive programmes. -- THE STAR/ANN

Xerox to Acquire ACS in $6.4 Billion Deal

Eddy said: Hmmm.. what do you think, Sir?

By KEVIN KINGSBURY

Xerox Inc. agreed to buy business-services provider Affliiated Computer Services Inc. in a deal initially valued at $6.4 billion, as the copier company follows other technology giants in increasing its services revenue.

Xerox, based in Norwalk, Conn., has suffered from declining sales of copiers and printers, and the accompanying diminishing uses of ink, toner and paper. The deal for Dallas-based ACS is expected to triple Xerox's services revenue to an estimated $10 billion next year from 2008's $3.5 billion.

The move also represents the first bold move by Xerox Chief Executive Ursula Burns, who took over on July 1. Ms. Burns called the deal "a game-changer" for her company.

Xerox's agreement comes a week after Dell Inc. agreed to buy information-technology service provider Perot Systems Corp. for $3.9 billion. The sector's recent merger activity -- which includes Hewlett-Packard Co.'s purchase last year of Electronic Data Services -- leaves Accenture PLC, Computer Sciences Corp. and Unisys Corp. as some of the larger services companies still independent.

Based on the closing prices Friday, Xerox's deal values ACS shares at $63.11 each, a 34% premium to Friday's closing price and 55 cents below the stock's record high set in February 2006. Holders would get $18.60 and 4.935 shares of Xerox for each ACS share. Xerox also will assume $2 billion of ACS debt and issue $300 million of convertible preferred stock.


ACS's purchase price is similar to the $6.2 billion offer made two years ago by Cerberus Capital Management. Some investors objected early to the proposal, reasoning that the board could get a more lucrative offer. But such a bid never materialized, and Cerberus pulled its offer, citing turmoil in credit markets.

ACS eventually requested the resignations of five independent directors.

The combined Xerox-ACS company would have $22 billion of annual revenue, $17 billion of which would come in on a recurring basis. As much as $400 million in synergies are projected to be realized in the first three years after the deal's closing, slated for the first quarter.

ACS President and CEO Lynn Blodgett said, "We also know that for ACS to expand globally and differentiate our offerings through technology, we need a partner with tremendous brand strength and leading innovation. Xerox offers that and more to bring our business to the next level while strengthening theirs."

ACS has grown over its more than 20 years into a 74,000-person company with a broad product pipeline that includes consulting. That breadth has insulated ACS from a broad downturn in information-technology spending, allowing the company to snap up smaller companies and hire new employees. It serves the commercial and government sectors through long-term contracts.

About a quarter of ACS's revenue comes from the health-care sector, which includes commercial and government contracts. At an investor day earlier this month, ACS was confident that it could increase its Medicaid contracts as well as benefit from a push for more electronic health records, according to a J.P. Morgan research note.

Xerox makes printers for offices and large-scale production, but garners most of its sales from its services businesses, which include maintenance contracts, printing supplies and lease revenues. The recession has exacerbated weak demand for printers, and results have been muted by a strong dollar as much of the 54,000-employee company's revenue comes from overseas.

Nonetheless, Xerox is perceived to be in solid shape – and certainly much stronger than the near-bankrupt condition that Anne Mulcahy assumed in July 2001 when she became CEO.

IBM to acquire analytics-software maker SPSS in all-cash deal worth $1.2B

On Tuesday July 28, 2009, 9:55 am EDT

ARMONK, N.Y. (AP) -- IBM Corp. said Tuesday it agreed to acquire SPSS Inc., a Chicago-based company that makes software to help businesses spot future trends as well as shifts in consumer patterns and behavior, for $1.2 billion.

N.Y.-based IBM said the acquisition of SPSS for $50 per share will boost its business-analytics technology, which can also be used to help reduce credit risk, increase customer loyalty and detect and prevent fraud across diverse industries, it said.

The deal represents a 42 percent premium to SPSS closing price Monday of $35.09. The news of the deal sent SPSS shares soaring in premarket trading on Tuesday, and it recently changed hands at $49.11, up $14.02, or 40 percent. IBM shares shed 46 cents to $117.17.

SPSS software predicts customer reactions, including to sales pitches and marketing campaigns. Clients include financial firms, telecommunications companies, government agencies and educational institutions.

The deal is expected to close later in the second half, subject to approval by SPSS shareholders and regulatory clearances.

Separately, IBM also said it has acquired Ounce Labs Inc., a privately held software company in Waltham, Mass., for an undisclosed amount. IBM said the company makes software that helps businesses reduce the risk and costs associated with security and compliance concerns.

Methodology Clashes?

We are all enslaved by our own dogma. Don't you agree?

I'd disagreed. Being dogmatic shouldn't be mistakenly treated as being held to facts as with stubborn to persistence. And yet facts must not be confused with common senses.

If in the entire universe, there are only 2 software development methodology and equal hordes of followers for each, can you tell which method is better? Hard to decide, ya. Most probably they are equally good or in a more negative perspective, equally worse. Survivorship bias contributes to the ill-perceived successfulness of perhaps any favored winners. Take water fall life cycle model for example, as one of the classic methods adopted in software development in past few decades, many large projects completed and rolled out but yet practitioners yelling about project failure rates. To certain extent, water fall model is proven to be a necessity for project failures and this judgement can only be made because the method had been used and tested extensively over a long period of time. The point is given two unproven, untested and possibly unknown methodology, it could be better in saving project time, if we just simply pick one and get a head start.

We now moved on to a world of unprecendented complexities and yet we are striving to simplify our understanding of "things". Many of us don't know about how a motor vehicle works, how Facebook homepage managed to show on your computer screen and so on. Despite all the simplications, we did not eliminate or reduce complexities but we now hide these nitty gritty details underneath a layer of people with professional skills. Ironically because of enormously growing complexity, even more details need to be abstracted from these professionals using friendlier tools or the hiring of "hard core" professionals. LOL.

Even better, the higher you climb on the corporate ladder, the less complex your works will be and more people are hired to manage your problems and well... complexities. Better life and higher pay :D.


Me Blabbing again...

The obligations of rating agencies

Eddy: The thoughtless following of rating agencies is just the same with a bank blindly following their internal risk models. Why you never expect to see this coming? Perhaps the followers believe that rating agencies are another group of entity with the "Too Big to Fail" nature? :D

---

By Mustapha Kamil.

Rating agencies just can't issue an opinion and then skate scot-free, says the chief investment officer of CalPERS

WHAT was said by the chief investment officer of The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) last Wednesday was interesting and somewhat made sense.

Speaking to Bloomberg and of the suit CalPERS is undertaking against rating agencies, Joseph Dear said: "They (rating agencies) just can't issue an opinion and then skate scot-free, even if they're totally wrong, which they were with respect to these securities".

CalPERS was taking action against three bond rating agencies for the US$1 billion (RM3.58 billion) loss the pension fund suffered as a result of what it calls "wildly inaccurate" risk assessments by the rating agencies. Besides CalPERS, other investors who suffered massive losses in the subprime meltdown crisis has also commenced legal actions against rating agencies.

Whatever the outcome of these litigations will be interesting as any one of them may form a precedent for future cases.

So far, there has been no known successful action taken against rating agencies.

But rating agencies are not the only ones that issue some form of advice on investments. Stockbroking firms do too when their research arms make calls on stocks.

Investment banks do too when they issue advice on corporate moves to minority shareholders and sometimes, there is a grey area where even the financial press may find itself in.

In the past, rating agencies in the US have successfully argued that they were protected by the first amendment in the American constitution, just as the press are when newspapers publish indices, as they were merely issuing opinions on securities.

But such argument is being challenged by lawyers who essentially said there is a limit to the protection the first amendment accord to the likes of rating agencies.

The American courts are clear on this, in that when a rating agency rates only securities it is hired to rate or when the agency itself participated in the structuring of the security (such as in the Collateralised Debt Obligation debacle) and if such security was privately placed instead of offered to the general public, then the protection accorded by the First Amendment would be lost.

Stockbroking firms too are expected to follow development in these suits against rating agencies closely as the outcome could have a bearing on them too. And so too would the financial press in their role in disseminating information that may assist investors make their investment decisions.

Perhaps, the absence of malice would be a strong defence on the part of rating agencies and stockbroking firms as do fair comment on the part of journalists.

But the litigations against the rating agencies have just begun and even if they succeeded in mounting a strong defence, it remains to be seen whether they can escape other charges irate investors like CalPERS may pile on them.

There are always other possible suits, including perhaps, for negligence.