In fact, I recommended this stock when its share price was off its peak and the share price continued sliding down. I have not benefited from the share price movements. You can see that some party is trying to push up the share price to as high as RM1.69 before the Mar qtrly result was out to entice retailers to chase it betting on a good quarterly result. Now some parties are trying to press down the share price to below RM1.50 on grounds that the Mar qtrly result was disappointing. These parties are trying to press down the share price to give impression that no corporate exercise is forthcoming in order for them to collect more mother shares and call warrants at low prices. Who is doing speculative and manipulative actions here?

GLNT, I expect people to be skeptical of the idea I put forth in my article. What I did was just to share the huge benefits of doing the corporate exercise, and with good reasoning I was making a forecast that it will happen within this year.
There is a difference between speculating and making a reasonable forecast. Traders speculate on all sorts of things eg. government to bail out Sapura Energy, Serba Dinamik will get away from court charges, steel prices will shoot up further etc.

Value investors do not speculate but make reasonable forecasts. I calculated the odds of it happening vs the risk of putting my money in AEON at current prices, and I found that the downside is very low but upside is very huge.
I am very confident that I will make good money from investing in AEON in coming months, with or without the corporate exercise as its business fundamentals are strong and rebounding fast.

Travestor, that was my own forecast from deep research and my contacts. The benefits of injecting the AEON malls into a REIT are so huge that it is a no brainer for AEON to do it sooner or later.
I am making a reasonable forecast that it will happen within this year for the reasons I stated in my 2nd article on AEON published yesterday.

Agree with you that this ESOS round again will benefit the major shareholders, directors and employees more as the exercise price is fixed lower than market price. Anyway this is what ESOS is meant for. Minority shareholders like us can only hope to ride on the same uptrend wave of the company share price, though benefit less than employees.

QL is a resilient business but expensive. AEON is resilient but cheap

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

Zhulian offers good dividend but AEON may have more surprises

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

It is time to take profit on BJFood after more than 100% surge and look at other cheaper retails play like AEON

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

AEON is a safer and bigger retails play

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

CTOS is good but expensive. Better look at AEON

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

AEON is a bigger and better retails play

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

Papajack is a good hedge against inflation and bad market, AEON too

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

Cocoaland gives consistent dividends. AEON may have more surprises

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

AEON is a better retails play

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

AEON is a better consumer bet

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

BToto gives steady dividends. AEON may give higher

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

Evergreen is good. Can look at other retails counter

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

Correction is coming to an end. Big upsides are coming

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623391222-AEON_Bhd_is_the_best_Recovery_Play_with_a_potential_RM3_00_Dividend_Win

PER at 4.5x, dividend yield of 17%-20%, strong buy

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623389325-Bplant_is_a_niche_plantation_play_with_the_biggest_upsides_and_highest_

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623389325-Bplant_is_a_niche_plantation_play_with_the_biggest_upsides_and_highest_

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-24-story-h1623389325-Bplant_is_a_niche_plantation_play_with_the_biggest_upsides_and_highest_

If you look at the ESOS from another angle, you will realise that YTL share price will shoot up soon. They quickly fixed the ESOS exercise price low before the share price shoots up.

My estimate is RM150m net profit for Q3 if Rapsol production was 9,000 b/d and RM220m if Rapsol production was 15,000 b/d

Local analysts are too slow to react or too egolistic to correct own bearish view. Some still stick to own earlier projection of average CPO price of RM4100/tonne for 2022 though actual YTD CPO prices have averaged above RM6,000/tonne

CIMB research forecast that the potential pie for digital banks will be about RM10 billion, so each digital bank may rake in annual revenue of RM2 billion each on average. With net profit to revenue ratio of 31% (eg. Ambank) to 52% (eg. Hong Leong Bank), each digital bank may potentially make a net profit of RM2.0bn x 31%-52% = RM620 million to RM1,040 million a year when matured

With Ukraine missing out on this spring seeding season for sunflower oil, the edible oil supply will be tight at least until next year end. That will only be good if Ukraine manages to plant sunflowers next spring, if not then xeee liao loh

CPO prices on Friday did not drop buy went up even after Indonesia lifted export ban, a strong indication that the world edible oil supply is extremely tight

concur with you that local IBs are blind-eyed with half of them forecasting average CPO prices of RM4,000-4,200 per tonne for 2022

I bought at even cheaper at 75 sen in 2020 now adding more at 1.50

It should be within this year when it happens

This is real and the benefits are huge. Please read the article again for more detailed info:

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-20-story-h1623331448-AEON_Bhd_is_rewarding_shareholders_with_Free_REIT_shares_worth_RM7_00_p

AEON will increase shareholders' value by RM10 billion by creating a new REIT. Just by listing up 30% stakes of the REIT (while retaining 70% majority control), AEON will see cash proceeds of RM3 billion coming in which will be handy to reduce borrowings, for future expansion and for special dividends of almost RM2.00 per share!

Therefore, when AEON injects its malls into a REIT, we will straightaway see that its net profit will jump up by :
(1) RM330 million from removing the non-cash depreciation charges
(2) RM22m interest expenses every year
(3) about RM100 million of income tax payments every year
or a total increase of RM450 million per year from FY2021 of RM85m to well over RM500 million of net profit level

To resolve these issues and hence to improve on net profits and dividend payouts, the natural solution is to inject all AEON malls into a new REIT as:
(1) a REIT does not need to depreciate its assets
(2) proceeds from REIT listing will reduce borrowings to zero and save on interest expenses
(3) a REIT does not need to pay income tax as long as it distributes over 90% earnings as dividends

Why net profit has come down is due to:
(1) higher depreciation charges (from higher asset base due to mall expansion over the years)
(2) higher interest expenses (due to higher borrowings for mall expansion)
(3) high income tax rate of over 40% (due to non-deductible expenses)

While shareholders have been complaining of reducing net profit over the past 9 years from over RM230m in FY2013 to just RM85 million in FY2021, but you need to look at the more important operating cash flows and EBITDA that has increased by over 50% in past 9 years.

While we see that other competitors like Giant are making losses, AEON has been able to maintain and grow operating cash flows over the years, thanks to management efforts. You can see that its operating cash flows are so strong that AEON has managed to reduce borrowings by half from over RM900m to now just about RM450m nett debt.

Yes, AEON is facing challenges from online retail merchants as well as other traditional retailers like Tesco, but we can see that AEON management has been trying hard to defend and grow its market reach - (1) embark on digital transformation to increase online sales which have shown multiple folds of increase in past 12 months, (2) rejuvenile existing malls like Alpha Angle to improve shoppers' experience and increase retails footfalls, (3) install solar power systems at its shopping malls to save on electricity costs, (4) invite a lot more local and domestic suppliers from communities to participate in retailing of food and grocery goods in its malls, (5) increase local supplies and reduce imported goods to just 3% of supplies to contain inflation, (6) increase sales commission-based tenancy income mix from fixed tenancy income in its retail shop leasing to take advantage of rebounding retails sales of retail shop merchants in its malls, (7) raise minimum wage to RM1,500 per month for its local employees well before government directives and reduce on foreign labour employment which has become scarce and more expensive, hence reduce overall operating costs while creating more job opportunities for local communities and stronger bonds with local communities

With the hot weather now, many patrons just go inside shopping malls like AEON malls in the community for the cool and clean environment, for grocery shopping, for visiting bookstore, for lunch and dinner, for drinks, etc. You can continue locking yourself at home and buy things online but how long can you do that for? It will drive you nuts and become narrow minded.

AEON shopping malls have been enjoying resilient and high occupancy over 92% despite a temporary blip during the pandemic years. With the pandemic largely behind us, retails footfalls to shopping malls have come back. AEON malls are packed now again.

Furthermore, the jewels in AEON Bhd are its 28 shopping malls in communities and various townships. Its property management services segment registers operating cash flows of close to RM500 million a year. It is in fact the owner of the largest shopping mall footprint in Malaysia with 13.4 million square feet of lettable space, more than Mid Valley or Pavilion in terms of net lettable space as well as operating cash flows.

AEON has embarked on aggressive promotion for its online sales with same day delivery within 3 hours. Its online sales have jumped up many folds over the past 1 year and will continue to register triple digit growth for this year and next. Soon online sales may make up over 10% of total retails sales.

True that many people buy stuffs from online merchants or platforms but there are certain things you do not buy online from Shopee or Lazada. DO you buy a carton of milk or some potatoes and fresh vegetables from Lazada?

A major rerating is coming soon for AEON

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-20-story-h1623331448-AEON_Bhd_is_rewarding_shareholders_with_Free_REIT_shares_worth_RM7_00_p

A major re-rating factor is coming soon

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/dragon328/2022-05-20-story-h1623331448-AEON_Bhd_is_rewarding_shareholders_with_Free_REIT_shares_worth_RM7_00_p

Local analysts are not helping by valuing AEON at max 20x PER, while giving 50x PER to MRDIY or MyNews, and 30x-40x to Nestle or DLady

Unfortunately Bursa now is flushed with short term traders who only chase hot stocks for short term gains

At 1.50 now, AEON is the most undervalued retails stock in Bursa