Thursday, July 22, 2010

#Flash* No plans to dispose of TIME Eng stake, says UEM

KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Group Bhd has no plans yet to dispose of its 45% stake in TIME ENGINEERING BHD [], but will do so if there are interested parties with substantial game plan.

Its group managing director/chief executive officer Datuk Izzadin Idris said the stake did not fit well with the company's four core businesses.

"At this point, we don't have plans to sell it. (But) Anybody will a good plan can approach us," he told a media briefing after unveiling the group's five-year strategic plan for its core businesses.

He said UEM Group would want to extract value and recover its investment in the information, communication and TECHNOLOGY [] (ICT) flagship outfit of the group.

Izzadin, however, declined to confirm or deny reports of four bidders for the TIME stake.

TIME recently exited its Practice Note 17 status.

He said the board was working out a strategy to pursue new business opportunities.

However, he was unable to elaborate on what was in store for TIME.

"ICT is not an easy sector in Malaysia or Indochina," he said, when pressed for details of the plans for TIME.

Earlier, Izzadin said UEM was not only keen to grow TIME's business but would go for acquisition to restore value.

He did not indicate if the company was in talks with any party.

"No time period just yet. We are working on the strategy. We want to pin down the strategy. There are plenty of opportunities," he said.

Izzadin said UEM would be supportive of TIME if it were to acquire a business that made sense.

Time made a pre-tax profit of RM30.65 million on revenue of RM123.9 million for the year to Dec 31, 2009.

It recorded a loss of RM15.12 million in 2008.

Its main asset is its 27.1% stake in TIME DOTCOM BHD [] (TDC), an Internet service provider.

Interestingly, its associate stake in TDC is worth more than TIME's entire market value.

On Bursa Malaysia, TIME slipped half sen to 45 sen and TDC drop one sen to 56.5 sen at at 12.30pm. ' Bernama


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