Saturday, Jan 04, 2003
Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad (MARC) has assigned Islamic corporate debt ratings of MARC-1ID/AAAID (Islamic Debt) to Sime Darby Berhad’s (Sime Darby) proposed RM1,500 million Al-Murabahah Commercial Papers/Medium Term Notes (CP/MTN).
The corporate debt ratings of Sime Darby reflect the diversity of the Group’s business, its solid capitalization, strong cash flow position and exceptional financial flexibility.
Founded in 1910, Sime Darby is one of the first local companies to venture into the plantations business. Besides plantations, the Group is also a major player in tyre manufacturing, motor vehicle distribution, heavy equipment distribution, property, energy, general trading, services and others, with operations in Malaysia and many other countries such as Hong Kong, PRC, Singapore and Australia. The diversity of the Group’s business has placed Sime Darby as one of Malaysia’s and Southeast Asia’s largest multinationals and conglomerates.
The motor vehicle and heavy equipment distribution business segments are the major contributors to the Group’s revenue and profitability. While the trend is likely to continue in the near to medium term, MARC believes that the energy and plantations business segments are also expected to emerge as major contributors to the Group’s revenue and profitability, going forward.
Sime’s proposed Al-Murabahah CP/MTN totalling RM1.5 billion will be mainly utilized to finance the acquisition of assets, refinance existing borrowings and finance working capital.
For FYE 2002, the Group registered a 2% increase in its total revenue to RM12.05 billion. Correspondingly, pre-tax profit also grew by 1.6% to RM1.15 billion, aided by growth in the property and general trading, services & others segments. Operating profit margin improved to 9.0% in FYE 2002 from 8.3% in FYE 2001. About 39.8% and 61.4% of the Sime Darby Group’s revenue and pre-tax profit were derived from its Malaysian operations. Contributions from overseas were mainly from Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.
The Group’s cash flow protection measures remained strong despite the drop in the after tax cash flow from operations (CFO) to RM537.9 million in FYE 2002 (FYE 2001: RM772.3 million), mainly due to the increase in working capital funding requirements. Accordingly, the Group’s CFO interest coverage slipped to 11.49 times against the increase in funding costs.
The Group’s solid capitalization is based upon its huge shareholders’ funds of RM7.2 billion as at FYE 2002. The debt leverage for the Group stood at a low 0.13 times in FYE 2002 (FYE 2001: 0.10 times). Financial flexibility is exceptional, drawn from the Group’s large market capitalization, strong cash flow position and a comfortable level of unutilized credit lines, which are denominated in numerous different currencies.
The corporate debt ratings of Sime Darby reflect the diversity of the Group’s business, its solid capitalization, strong cash flow position and exceptional financial flexibility.
Founded in 1910, Sime Darby is one of the first local companies to venture into the plantations business. Besides plantations, the Group is also a major player in tyre manufacturing, motor vehicle distribution, heavy equipment distribution, property, energy, general trading, services and others, with operations in Malaysia and many other countries such as Hong Kong, PRC, Singapore and Australia. The diversity of the Group’s business has placed Sime Darby as one of Malaysia’s and Southeast Asia’s largest multinationals and conglomerates.
The motor vehicle and heavy equipment distribution business segments are the major contributors to the Group’s revenue and profitability. While the trend is likely to continue in the near to medium term, MARC believes that the energy and plantations business segments are also expected to emerge as major contributors to the Group’s revenue and profitability, going forward.
Sime’s proposed Al-Murabahah CP/MTN totalling RM1.5 billion will be mainly utilized to finance the acquisition of assets, refinance existing borrowings and finance working capital.
For FYE 2002, the Group registered a 2% increase in its total revenue to RM12.05 billion. Correspondingly, pre-tax profit also grew by 1.6% to RM1.15 billion, aided by growth in the property and general trading, services & others segments. Operating profit margin improved to 9.0% in FYE 2002 from 8.3% in FYE 2001. About 39.8% and 61.4% of the Sime Darby Group’s revenue and pre-tax profit were derived from its Malaysian operations. Contributions from overseas were mainly from Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.
The Group’s cash flow protection measures remained strong despite the drop in the after tax cash flow from operations (CFO) to RM537.9 million in FYE 2002 (FYE 2001: RM772.3 million), mainly due to the increase in working capital funding requirements. Accordingly, the Group’s CFO interest coverage slipped to 11.49 times against the increase in funding costs.
The Group’s solid capitalization is based upon its huge shareholders’ funds of RM7.2 billion as at FYE 2002. The debt leverage for the Group stood at a low 0.13 times in FYE 2002 (FYE 2001: 0.10 times). Financial flexibility is exceptional, drawn from the Group’s large market capitalization, strong cash flow position and a comfortable level of unutilized credit lines, which are denominated in numerous different currencies.