For a moment, Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai’s ascent looked unstoppable. His Top Glove Corp Bhd grew bigger than Malaysia’s banks, telecommunications firms and even the state-owned electricity company during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its share price soared 450% through the first seven months of 2020, leaving high-flyers like Moderna Inc, Zoom Video Communications Inc, Peloton Interactive Inc and Carvana Co in the dust and making Lim a billionaire several times over.
KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB) said today the best is over for the Malaysian rubber glove manufacturing sector as average selling prices (ASPs) had peaked in the first half of 2021 (1H21) amid moderating demand for gloves on rising Covid-19 vaccination rates.
Maybank IB analyst Wong Wei Sum wrote in a note today that the glove sector’s earnings upcycle seems to have been cut short in anticipation of a faster-than-expected decline in glove ASPs in 2H21. The glove sector is entering a phase of declining ASP (and hence profit) trend on increased supply and rising vaccination rates. Competition is intensifying among both existing and new entrants.
KUALA LUMPUR (March 5): Maybank Investment Bank Research (Maybank IB Research) said today the worst is over for the property sector as it believes the sector should continue to be driven by a better economic outlook, historically low interest rate environment and pent-up demand.
Its analyst Wong Wei Sum said in a note that despite the reimposition of Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) and Movement Control Order (MCO) in the fourth quarter of 2020 (4Q20) to 1Q21, property sales continued to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Judging from the sales momentum in early 2021, most developers expect a better sales outlook in FY21 though it may be coming at the expense of lower margins on lower pricing, she added.