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CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE
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Dear Shareholders,
2012 was by all accounts challenging for exchanges across the world.
Global financial uncertainties led to a lacklustre securities market which
in turn impacted performance. Amid this bearish scenario, however,
Bursa Malaysia rose from relative anonymity to be placed squarely in the
global investing community's spotlight during the year.
We hosted three of the world's largest IPOs and became the fourth largest
IPO destination by country. The FBM KLCI achieved an all-time high in
July and repeatedly broke its own record until year end. Financially, while
revenues dropped at most exchanges, our operating revenue increased
by 2% and net profit increased by 4%. Our performance was certainly
one of the best in the region.
 Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin bin Haji Abdullah Chairman |
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Online trading has created greater competition among bourses. In the
region, the setting up of the ASEAN Exchanges facilitates the freer flow
of capital across borders. Rather than be daunted by these changes,
however, we embrace the opportunities they present to further grow our
marketplace. In particular, we plan to leverage on the ASEAN Trading Link
to attract more retail investors to Bursa Malaysia. Our aim is to transform
into ASEAN's multinational marketplace by being not only the preferred
entry point for regional traders but also the preferred listing destination
among issuers.
Our mission is encouraged by the regional successes of a number of
homegrown companies, which serve as ideal vehicles to spread foreign
capital throughout ASEAN. We further believe that the international
community will find our regulatory environment increasingly more
inclusive. The Malaysian Government has identified the capital market as
one of the key drivers of the Economic Transformation Programme and is
committed to boosting it via enhanced capital structures.
Bursa Malaysia also stands to benefit from our corporate governance
(CG) scorecard, which is one of the best in the region, and which we
keep enhancing. This year, we aligned our Listing Requirements with
the Corporate Governance Blueprint 2011 and the Malaysian Code on
Corporate Governance 2012. Our efforts in this regard have paid off;
Malaysia's ranking in the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA)
2012 Report improved from 6th (in 2010) to 4th out of 11 Asian nations.
The World Bank, meanwhile, places us 4th among 183 countries for
investor protection.
Bursa Malaysia's success hinges to a large extent on Malaysian
companies' success. We are pleased therefore to see more large-cap
Malaysian companies emerge on widely-tracked indices such as
the MSCI. Although this meant our own exclusion from the index this
year, hence a drop in our share price, rest assured that the move is
not indicative of a weakening in our fundamentals. If anything, we are
stronger now than ever before.
Our corporate strength is reflected in our dividends. Even in these trying
times, we have been able to declare a final dividend of 13.5 sen, adding
to an interim dividend of the same amount. When we were listed in 2005,
we committed to a payout of more than 75% of our profit. We have
consistently surpassed this by a wide margin; paying out over 90% since
being listed.
While we achieved much to be proud of in 2012, we will now step up
our game even further to meet the challenges of liberalisation and
globalisation. We remain optimistic of our future, guided as we are by our
Strategic Intents to increase the vibrancy of our exchange. We also look
forward to greater regulatory enhancements to the business environment
and an increase in our market liquidity.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our shareholders for their
continuing support. I would also like to express my appreciation to fellow
Directors of the Board for guiding the Exchange during these challenging
yet exciting times. Finally, a big thank you is due to the entire team at
Bursa Malaysia for its commitment and hard work, without which we
would not have achieved the spectacular successes that we did this year.
My wish is to see all parties continue to collaborate and cooperate for,
together, we can build on the foundations that have been laid and firmly
establish Malaysia as the destination to access ASEAN's multinational
marketplace. |
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Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin bin Haji Abdullah
Chairman |
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