Yong Tai Berhad : bullish on Impression City
     
02/24/2016 | 03:12 am
KUALA LUMPUR: YONG Tai Bhd expects its RM5.4 billion project in Malacca to generate net profit margin of 20 per cent, which would help to sustain the company’s earnings in the long term.

The garment maker-turned-property developer, which has been loss- making for several years, expects to return to the black this year with contribution coming from the real estate sector.

The company, which has pockets of developments in the Klang Valley and Johor, is planning to develop Impression City on a 47.03ha site in Malacca.

The project would be developed in 11 phases and over 10 years, said its executive director Boo Kuang Loon.

Construction for Phase 1 would start in the third quarter of this year and feature retail and commercial units, said Boo at a luncheon hosted by MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd, here, yesterday.

It is expected to have a gross development value of RM1.1 billion,

The catalyst for the commercial-led Impression City is the Impression Melaka performing arts theatre, to be built on the 47.03ha site.

Construction of Impression Melaka, the jewel of the company, will start next month at a cost of RM300 million and includes land acquisition. The opening is slated for end-2017.

Boo said although Impression Melaka required a huge capital investment, the returns would be long term and attractive.

It would take two years to construct and the projected returns would start from 2018 onwards, he added.

With 15 million tourists visiting Malacca annually, Yong Tai hopes to attract at least 1.1 million visitors to Impression Melaka, with 40 per cent coming from China.

The company is also targeting visitors from Southeast Asia (30 per cent), Asia (20 per cent) and the rest from the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

“With two shows a day and tickets priced at RM120 per person, we are poised to achieve a revenue of RM140 million a year, including the sale of souvenirs and merchandise. For this business, we are targeting a profit margin of 50 per cent. This would net us a profit of around RM60 million a year.

“There are many more upsides, such as increasing the ticket prices and having up to four shows a day. This is the potential of Yong Tai in the future,” said Boo.

“For the next two years we are at the investing stage and would generate profits. But the profits would not be much to give dividends,” he said.

MELAKA ART PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL IS BACK!

Seventh Instalment Features Over 35 Global Artists to Enliven the Historic City of Melaka

The world’s largest and only site-specific art and performance festival on a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Melaka Art and Performance Festival (MAPFest), returns to Melaka for its seventh instalment from 27 to 29 November 2015. More than 35 local and international artists will muster around the vicinity of St. Paul’s Hill and transform the heritage city into a piece of art. The 3-day festival is a free and accessible event for all.

“MAPFest is a platform created for the artists. We saw tremendous growth in interest towards the arts and performing arts industry within the region over the years. We strongly believe that MAPFest will continue to pave the way in nurturing and cultivating artists for the country and the world,” said Andrew Ching, founder and producer of MAPFest.

Over the years, the festival has attracted tens of thousands of foreign and local festival-goers to the historical site.  This year, artists from Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, France, Poland, Singapore and Russia collaborates to present international quality performances from various practices of arts including dance, performing art, visual arts installation, film and music.

Andrew added that over the years, MAPFest grew into a world-renowned brand amongst the global art community. “The festival was nominated and won multiple awards by various local and international bodies. Our achievements today would not be possible without the continuous and restless support from our artists, partners and fans.”

MAPFest 2015 keeps it fresh with specialty components such as Cerita Pendik (Short Works) Visual Arts Installation, film screening as well as forums and workshops. Other highlights include collaborative performance – ‘Eulogy for The Living’, MAPPING programme, fine and contemporary arts display at local galleries around Melaka City, and a Children’s Art Festival at SMK Canossa Convent Malacca.

“The festival remains free for all and this gives the artists a freer range of expression. This was what made the festival unique. Artists freely collaborate, learn and experiment in the fundamental creative spirit. We have contemporary dancers, musicians, visual and new media artists alongside shamans from rural Java. We voice stories of transformations, rites of passages and concerns of the inner conscience. We have highly accomplished artist to work with young and emerging from all social-economic and cultural backgrounds. The profundity of themes and artistic relationships have grown, given birth to many further collaborations, networks and exchanges,” said Tony Yap, Creative Director of MAPFest.

He added that the festival is hard to fund but the wealth is beyond the entertainment and industry of spectaculars. “This is the message we get from the artists and audiences, and this is what kept us going.”

MAPFest 2015 is directed by Tony Yap in his capacity as Festival Creative Director. He was one of the principle performers with IRAA Theatre from 1989 to 1996, and has worked extensively in Australia and internationally, including the Agamemnon Festival, Colline Torinese in Italy and The Trojan Woman at the Vienna International Art Festival. As the founding Artistic Director of Mixed Company (now the Tony Yap Company) in 1993, he has made a commitment to the exploration and creation of an individual dance theatre language that is informed by psy-physical research, Asian Shamanistic Trance Dance, Butoh Voice and Visual Design.

MAPFest 2015 is produced by Arts Performance Festival Melaka Sdn Bhd, initiated by E-Plus Entertainment Productions, and supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Visit Malaysia Year 2015, Jabatan Warisan Negara, Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah (MBMB), Bandar Warisan Malaysia, Tony Yap Company, Perbadanan Muzium Melaka (PERZIM), the Australian High Commission, the Kedutaan Besar Republik Indonesia, the Embassy of France, Alliance Français de Kuala Lumpur, Estadia by Hatten, Institut Français and iM4U (Official Volunteer Platform).

For more information and updates about MAPFest 2015, please visit:

Website                         : www.melakafestival.com

Facebook                      : Melaka Art Performance Festival

Instagram                      : mapfest

Singapore Causeway Jam

Traffic at Singapore Causeway – Image from Straits Times

More Singaporeans are heading to Malaysia during the June holidays, as the exchange rate hit a new low, according to travel agencies. The ringgit stood at 2.78 against the Singapore dollar on Wednesday (Jun 10, 2015), as travel agencies reported a 10 per cent spike in bookings for Malaysia travel packages for the June holidays, as compared to last year. Travel agencies also reported that 15 per cent of the travellers made last-minute bookings for tours in Malaysia.

“We have received an increase in enquiries on travelling to Malaysia. The number of tourists heading to Malaysia has increased 10 per cent. Most of them travel to Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Langkawi and Kuching,” said Ms Rebecca Chia, marketing communication executive at Chan Brothers Travel.

Long queues were also spotted at money changers at Raffles Place on Wednesday, with some offering 2.76 ringgit for one Singapore dollar. Some money changers told Channel 8 that from end-May to June, the demand for ringgit doubled, as compared to April. Some money changers also reported that they ran out of the currency by early afternoon on Wednesday.

Analysts have predicted that the ringgit could slide further to 2.8 against the Singapore dollar this month. However, they added that there could still be a possibility for a rebound and the exchange rate would not decrease drastically in near future, depending on the performance of the greenback and oil prices. The exchange rate could also depend on Malaysia’s political situation and whether the Fed increases interest rates this year.

“You might see a bit of continued sort of weakness to some extent, largely because of the dollar’s strength,” said Mr Saktiandi Supaat, head of FX Research, Global Markets, at Maybank. “In our view, it would probably continue to some extent over the next three months, largely because of the expectations that the US data might improve significantly.” – The Straits Times.