Not all businesses have to maintain an online presence, unless they are public-listed entities.

Malaysian GLCs have plenty of vendors and sub cons that you cannot find any info on them apart from SSM info and maybe an office address.

Yet it doesn't in any way make them, "fake".

This is the principle of "buy things that people hate at that moment"

Exactly 7chewe

Chase those stocks that are already hot, yea you may taste instant profit, but when things turnaround, your losses can be big

Serba is now basically valued at BELOW breakup i.e. company bankrupt valuation. The upside potential is limitless

Money is made by buying stocks that no one wanted at that moment.

Money is made by buying stocks near their bottom.

Money is made in the waiting, not in the chasing.

Today Friday can maintain the gain from yesterday

Kira not bad la. A good foundation for next week

^ tu baru fanbois

Aku bukan fanbois ok

I talk facts and industry practices

When you are investing using your own money, you can trust your instincts, trust your conscience, and so on.

When you are EPF, KWAP etc, you are investing, managing other people's money. Hence there are set rules to govern their investment strategy, on what to buy and what to sell.

EPF, like most institutional investors, have rules governing their investments.

If there are POTENTIAL red flags, POTENTIAL governance issues, they have to liquidate first. Else they will kena from their internal audit. Just like how they have to sell certain stocks just because ESG scoring deteriorated. Not because the investee company are proven to have problem, or not a good investment. Just because there are doubts, they have to exit first.

@Gerrardo don't talk about different industries, but we have one common denominator - O&M and EPCC contracts

That is basically maintenance and operations.

And they keep harping on how impossible it is to maintain constant profit margins. *facepalm*

Serba is basically, in simple terms, operating a building, or a plant, on behalf of client.

Client's job to look for customer for its goods.
Risk of market price fluctuation is to be borne by client.
Customer no pay, none of Serba's business too.

Serba is, in a way, just an outsourced service provider.

Of course the margins are more or less there! It's up to them, using their economic moat, to nego for price that can give them the margins that they want.

Baca komen itu Mickey Mouse dah tau dia ni tak faham industri that Serba is operating in

bazir masa je layan troll cam tu

In conventional engineering/civil construction contracts, we have Quantity Surveyors, assessing, measuring and valuing EXACTLY how much is done, and pay the contractor according to that. I.e. you paved how many metres of road, I pay u how many metres of road's worth of $$.

Milestone Billing contracts are different. You finished lay 1 WHOLE road, I pay you one whole road's worth of $$.

To put it in simple terms.

From the viewpoint of CLIENT, why is there a need for Milestone Billing.

You, the client, you want a working, functioning product.

You don't want your contractor to spend millions on materials, labour and other costs, but the thing is NOT YET FUNCTIONING.

Let's say we are talking about a car.

You finished an engine (and it's working alraeady), I pay you an engine.
You finished the gearbox, I pay for the gearbox.
You finished the car body, I pay the car body.

I don't want to be paying for a half-finished engine. I only pay for finished PARTS/SECTIONS.

It protects the customer/client.

@bobvic96 PETRONAS contract. Guaranteed payment (unless Petronas tumbang), tapi Milestone Billing.

You take or not? Of course take? Then you kena manage your working capital accordingly.

Milestone Billing contracts, only companies with strong financial backing can take it, because the working capital requirement will kill smaller players.

But the profit margin will reward you.

This is how the industry works.

@madmatts jangan

nanti those haters say that we sengaja talk positive to "move the market" hahahahaha

@madmatts yala they think like sell mee sup at kopitiam, do 1 bowl, sell 1 bowl, get money for 1 bowl

Those big contracts can be like, you spent millions buying materials and paying sub contractors and worker wages and so on, but until and unless you finished one section and ticked all the boxes, client ain't gonna pay you even 1 sen.

Tapi, you spent all those money, accounting-wise, you CAN recognise the revenue and earnings.

Earnings =/= Cash FLow

If you guys have any friends doing LRT project now, go ask them, they can tell/show you the ballooning receivables, all thanks to one thing called

MILESTONE BILLING

You do so much, you buy so much materials and park at site, but client ain't gonna pay you until you ticked all the boxes. This is the impact of milestone billing on contractors.

Many PETRONAS contracts are on milestone billing basis too.

@bobvic96 I deem it an insult that you label me a fanboi hahaha

From beginning I have never worshipped Karim or said he is blameless or cannot be faulted or what

What I have been saying is that Serba's defences are valid defences, that is where I raised all the points like milestone billing and contract accounting (hence mismatch in earnings and cash flows), nature of EPCC and O&M contract (hence the stable profit margins), and so on

Cheers to logical reasoning

When you work in the corporate world, you need to know that there are different styles of leaders and managers.

Some, even if you are rude and/or wrong, they try to settle quietly, amiably.

Some, if you are overly assertive or rude, even if you are right or you have a point, they will stop working with you and show you the door.

@bobvic96
<<I have been audited a number of times and I have always found the auditors amiable and will provide advice if they found an issue. That advice would typically find its way into the audit report and presentation to management to demonstrate, amongst others, they are doing their job.>>

There, you proved my point (or did i misunderstand you?) when I said it before that is is NOT the norm for auditors to go direct to Audit Committee/Board, it is the norm and industry practice for auditor to go query and discuss with Management (CFO and/or CEO) first, before they go to Board level.

Also, there are many different kinds of auditors, with different temperaments.

I have met with those (rare, but there are) who raises their voice and have a shouting match with the accountant and/or CFO.

And I have also met with (well, most of them are like this) those who sit down and talk nicely and listen to you.

That is why my current stand and wild guess is that the audit team must have been rude and/or overly assertive with Karim's team, hence the breakdown in audit-client relationship.

Said it before and will say it again

This is not a trading stock

Even analysts are not interested on it

Buy and keep for dividends and long-term capital gain

It will reward those with patience

As in, you disagree with your supplier or customer,

some would choose to sit down and talk nicely

some would choose to bang table to assert their rights

the resigned INEDs could have preferred to settle "nicely" rather than to sue

It's perfectly understandable for INEDs to disgree suing auditors, as it's not the norm (but not to say it is not allowed).

@bobvic96

<Why would KPMG staff resign when the resignation of the INEDs indicate Serba are at fault?>

Did your teachers and momma and papa teach you not to ASSuME things?

INEDs resigning could be due to them disagreeing to sue auditor, that is all.

Don't ASSuME things.

A few bilis here on i3 can move the market? Don't make me laugh til tummy ache la hahahahaha

Buy and keep under bed

Wake me up when September ends

Karim no buyback, bising

Karim buyback, ALSO bising

So high punya barking dogs

Weakness in PBB share price could be due to Indonesia Covid-19 situation?

China Communist Part don't need votes to remain in power. It can do whatever it takes to beat the virus, even if it meant offending 49% of the population.

Malaysia's political parties need votes and/or political donations to win general elections.

2 different creatures.

Sarawak vaccination progress going on smoothly too

Traders' hate.
Traders want fast momentum gain.

Investors' love.
Investors want accumulating at low PE so more future potential gain.

Bila orang diam...

Dia diam sebab dia penipu, penyamun, dan penjenayah!!!

Bila orang explain...

Dia explain sebab dia tau diri dia salah! Explanation dia tu semua tak logik!!!

Hahahahaha

@Mabel with quality holdings, can just buy and wait til next Q or dividend announcement

Day to day fluctuation worry so much for what? :)

@Mabel got load up on Ta Ann?

Glass full of water will never be able to accept a fresh pour of wine

Hahahahaha

There is a difference between auditor and industry accountant.

Auditor only know numbers and technical terms. Yala tu, in that respect maybe diorang champion.

But throw them real-life scenarios and business arrangements, they pengsan, call 999, or go to SC scream fire.

Cukup la for today, gelak sakit perut aku.

O&M
EPCC

Orang tu engineering and construction and service provider, dia gi samakan dengan syarikat yg meneroka dan korek minyak utk dijual

hahahahahahaha hopeless

Maybe I sound like playful and a bit rude

tapi kawan kita @madmatts dah try to explain nicely

tengok macamana benda tu reply?

hahahahaha

Faham tak apa tu O&M?

Operations & Maintenance

I.e. maintain plant for client

If u do O&M for palm oil company, CPO naik turun none of your biz, u setiap bulan ambik maintenance fee macam condo maintenance

If u do O&M for O&G, harga minyak tu naik turun none of your biz, u are just maintaining the plant for client

Apa lagi yg shoplot auditor ni tak faham

Apa yg susah nak maintain profit margin?

Hahahahahahahaha bodoh tahap gaban, degil tahap setan

hahahahahahahahahahaha
shoplot auditor never audited/worked for O&M company

kesian

Cannot la, I still love my bakuteh and Guinness, cannot be like Karim XD

@Uncle_Lim maybe that shoplot auditor we have here is indeed the shoplot auditor auditing Serba hahahahaha

Patutlah attitude pun sama, orang dah explain, tak nak dengar, saja nak cari gaduh hahahahaha

You see someone climb the fence u terus call polis, larut malam polis come with blaring siren, whole kampung woke up, and that neighbour of yours dimalukan di khalayak ramai.

You could just tegur, or even "oi!", whole thing resolved.

But you chose to terus call 999. Jadi gempak satu kampung larut malam. Padalah cuma jiran yg hilang kuncinya.

Standard is one thing.

Common industry practice is another thing.

It's like, law and textbook tells u, u see a person climb a house fence, you call police right away.

But in real life, you could tegur first, who knows it was just a neighbour who forgot his keys or his door lock is spoiled.

And I really ROFL at some joker who say that all Big 4 auditors are the same.

I experienced some who work late hours or even sleep at client's office
I experienced some who clock off sharp every day

I experienced some who would sit down and listen to you as you explain things
I experienced some who are more interested in lecturing you about what is "proper standard" than try to understand why you do your things your way

All auditors are same and has the same standard? Hahahahaha

From the facts available now, if I were to make an educated guess based on my experience with auditors (I have encountered before PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY, all 4 of them)

# Serba CFO and/or management langsi sama KPMG
# KPMG langsi sama Serba CFO and/or management

Either of the above, or both have occurred, hence the breakdown in client-auditor relationship.

And yes, I have fought with my auditor before. Sampai screaming at each other.

There are 2 different types of accountants or CFO.

One type will try to appease the auditor, no matter how trivial the matter, or even how rude the auditor is. Peace and harmony.

Another type will give his answer, in as detailed manner as practicable and possible, and close the topic. If the auditor still insist to cari pasal even though you have already open book and tell all, ask him/her fly kite.

@Steady Punpipi hahahahaha I'm only talking from my own PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE.

Tak sangka I buta2 tembak, kena so many, macam UPSR A, B, C or D objective questions XD

#O&M (operations and maintenance) contracts
#working-capital-heavy
#recognise the revenue based on the percentage of completion
#the invoice is based on milestones achieved
#there is always a time lag between when you spend your cash and the date of collection

Told u guys these are all industry norm

Yes, I just bought in Taliworks! Interesting, stable, safe stock this is.

CHONG Kong Hui

Buy when no one is interested

Sit back and ride the rally when interest comes back

Anyway my opinion on Ta Ann is, it's a safe stock to be with very good divvy yield. The only problem is, no big boys and mass fanfare to push up the price.