NCB
- No Claim Bonus
NCB or No Claim Bonus is one of the features of a medical
plan by one insurance company in Malaysia introduced in November 2009. Known as
Takaful Health, the medical plan also pays its customers to stay healthy
through its innovative NCB feature of up to RM500 per year, depending on the
package. Basically, it means that if the policy holder doesn’t make a claim,
they will receive money that comes from the NCB.
However when it comes to the auto
accident policy in Malaysia, motorists or vehicles owners would be quite
familiar with another similar feature. Called NCD, short for No Claim
Discount, it is a
discount given to the policyholders upon renewal of their motor insurance if no
claim is made or arises from the policy for a continuous coverage of 12 months.
The discount given is based on a fixed rate provided by Persatuan Insurans Am
Malaysia (PIAM) Motor Tariff.
In Bursa Malaysia, there is also one
company called NCB, a short abbreviation for NCB Holdings Bhd, formerly known as Northport
Corporation Bhd (NCB).
Formed in January 1999 and was restructured in August 2000 under Section 176
and 64 of the Companies Act 1965 involving Klang Container Terminal Bhd (KCT),
Klang Port Management Sdn Bhd (KPM) and Kontena Nasional Berhad (KN). Under
this exercise, KCT and KN became wholly owned subsidiaries of NCB while KPM
became a wholly owned subsidiary of KCT.
The company changed its name from
Northport Corporation Bhd to NCB Holdings Bhd in 2001. The major subsidiaries
of the group was placed under Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, which also had a name
change from its original name Klang Container Terminal Bhd and Klang Port
Management Sdn Bhd (KPM). NCB Holdings Bhd’s business activities is undertaken
by its two port subsidiaries, namely KPM and KCT and KN, its haulage/logistics
operations.
During the last decade, NCB has been
paying generous dividends to its shareholders in tandem with its consistent
profits earnings. But during the last one year, its good earnings has been
dragged down by one of its units, Kontena Nasional Berhad (KN) which has been
sinking deeper and deeper into the red.
This has effected its dividends payout
for financial year 2013. A final dividend of 4.5 sen payable on July 3, 2014
(interim of 3.5 sen paid on Oct 10, 2013) means only a total dividend of 8 sen
which must be the lowest ever payout compared to the last ten years!
NCB’s recent 1st Qtr results for
Financial year 2014 did not seen very encouraging if one is to have a close
look at its unaudited condensed consolidated statement of financial position as
at Mar 31, 2014.
Cash and bank balances is now only
RM127 million compared to the preceding quarter of RM156 million.
Trade and other receivables is RM183
million compared to Trade and other payable of RM278 million.
Borrowings (current) and (non-current)
is RM165 million and RM44 million respectively.
Am I right to say that NCB is actually
in a negative cash position which is quiet a shock to me. Years back, NCB’s
balance sheet is one to envy amongst the several port operators’ listed
companies in Malaysia.
Prior to paying out that two generous
bumper dividends in 2011 (76 sen) and 2012 (65.6 sen), NCB’s has cash of around
RM800 million. Why it paid out so much dividends is something of a mystery to
me because that was unusual of NCB’s normally reasonable dividend of 30 sen
plus range. Nevertheless after such bumper dividends payout, NCB has seen its
cash dwindling to lower and lower position.
Its main bread and butter business, the
Port Operations suffered a very severe decrease of 62.8% (profit before
taxation or PBT) for its 1st Qtr 2014. PBT dropped to RM18.2 million compared
to RM48.9 million as compared to last quarter of previous year due to (1)
higher operating expenditure (2) lower container throughput handled and (3)
Kontena Nasional Berhad (KN)'s continuous rationalization exercise. NCB merely
reported that KN's operations registered revenue of RM67.3 million which was a
decrease of 13.1% over the same quarter the previous year.
As a result, NCB earned merely a sen
only for its 1st Qtr 2014. How will NCB fares in the last three quarters is
still anybody's guess. How much dividends will NCB be declaring for this 2014
is seriously not a comfortable thought for dividends lover like me. Hence, I
decided to sell off my 2,000 shares of NCB at RM2.99 on June 2 for a loss of
RM416.89. (Purchase price RM6,348.89 minus Selling price RM5,932.00 = RM416.89
- LOSS). The proceeds were used to purchase 4,500 shares of Mercury at RM1.59
on the same day.
The dilemmna of investor is that one is
always in the mind of to sell or not to sell at a loss or to take profit or not
to take or to just hang on. In this instance, my conviction is that NCB will
not likely sees an uptrend in the share price provided there is recovery in
earnings and thence, the share price (already at 52-week low) is likely to
continue to remain at this depressed point.
Mercury on the other hand offers a more likely
upswing in its share price based on its consistent earnings and higher
dividends payout (normally, I see this as a good sign of the company getting
stronger over the times).
With the additional 4,500 shares
purchased, I now hold a total 36,000 shares of Mercury. Most probably, I believed that my
stakes are bigger than any of my followers or readers (who choose to join me).
Last day
today June 10 to qualify
for
Mercury's 10 sen dividend (interim)
Today is the last day to qualify for
the 10 sen dividend. You can trust me that I will be holding on to my 36,000
shares and qualify for the RM3,600 dividends and many more years to come unless
the fundamental of Mercury changes dramatically in the futures. But if Mercury
continues to "just maintain its consistent earnings" every quarterly,
I would be more than pleased to be just a shareholder and enjoy the dividends
year after year!
World Cup Soccer 2014 - International
Friendly Match
between England and Ecuador. - Really
friendly?
They called it "International
Friendly",
but do you think it is really "friendly?" Look what happened in the so-called
international friendly match between England and Ecuador last week? England's
Raheem Sterling and Ecuador captain Antonio Valencia were both sent off the
field. Sterling was booked for a violent challenge on Valencia who himself was punished
for grabbing
the neck of the
Liverpool youngster.
I wonder why those players would still
want to play "all-out" in this type of international friendly match
when there is actually no medal to be won other than some national pride. But
then why play with such tough and hard tacklings which do not result in win-win
situation for both sides. The end result is that some unfortunate talented
players suffered injuries which will rule them out of the World Cup.
Look what happened to Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain. His right knee is hurt as a result of a clash with
Ecuador's Carlo Gruezo. He is racing against time. Hope he will recover.
But for some, there is no chance at
all. Italy midfielder Riccardo Montolivo's World Cup dream came to an end when
he broke
his leg during the
friendly match against Ireland.
Germany's Marco Reus is also a doubtful starter after an ankle
injury during the
international friendly match against Armenia.
I see no
benefit for such so-called international friendly match when the outcome produces
such disastrous consequence to the players only.
World Cup Soccer 2014 - Two Great
Players Missing are ...
France
attacker Frank Ribery
will also miss the World Cup through injury. The Bayern Munich player, 31, has
been ruled out after injuring his lower back in a training session. Ribery pulled
out of the training session after complaining of pain and was later taken for
an MRI scan, which confirmed the extent of the injury.
Another great striked, Colombia's
Radamel Falcao
will not be playing in the World Cup after failing to recover from a serious
knee injury.
Falcao, who is a key player for
Colombia and scored nine goals in 13 matches in qualifying, damaged an anterior
cruciate ligament in January while playing for Monaco in the French Cup. He had
surgery but a recovery in time for the finals was always likely to be a long
shot and medical staff have decided he is not fit enough to play any meaningful
part in the tournament.
Congratulations Mr Kumaresh on your Big
Day!
One of my readers Mr Kumaresh recently got married to a beautiful
lady. Kumaresh is also an avid soccer player and is one of my regular football
players during our every Saturday and Sunday evening games. He is quiet a good
nippy player and has scored some good memorable goals in some matches. It was
through soccer that we became good friends and share common interest in
investing in Bursa Malaysia. He would be celebrating his honeymoon in Bali and
I wish him and his new bride "all the best of the best always!"
