Thank goodness Velesto bagged a US$38mil contract recently. I am trusting the management to be more aggressive to win more, especially from Petronas. If price of crude oil rises further, it will be a bonus for oil and gas counters. Wishing the best of luck to all.

Hi Azmini, I am not a sifu here ya? Rather i am just an ordinary shareholder to Velesto trying to find out if there're any leads to this counter. I am also very concerned as you are as i invested in Velesto trusting the management to do a turnaround after the restructuring and rights issue exercise. However, my concerns starts to turn into anxiety when the price dropped to 18cents a share. Sigh... However external feelings aside, I noted their latest quarter report is showing some improvement by narrowing their losses. Another bright side is Petronas has just revealed their activity outlook for 2019 in which they may require 16-18 jack-up rigs to increase production. It is definitely going to be a positive news to Velesto. I am expecting Velesto to work harder to increase their Jack-up rigs utilization rates. The opportunity is given by Petronas now. However, looking at the price of oil now, i will imagine their future operating margin may be squeezed as well. My opinion to this is, if i am already invested (sitting on paper losses now), i must as well hold for the long term waiting for the price of oil to recover to at least USD$75-80 per barrel to see a handsome operating profits for Velesto.

Just my 2 sen thoughts, and yes, i am sitting on paper losses now.

Darksoul thanks for your kind words. I am actually here to also learn from all of you on your views to KTC. I am also concerned about something that i may have overlooked about KTC. I must thank all of you for sharing your kind views and i am hopeful we can make money together from the market. :)

Getonwithit, i share the same frustrations with you and yongch, to be honest. I can understand the external market sentiments are not good and very bearish thus affecting our local equities. However, it is frustrating to note Dexter Lau keeps making errors running the business, tax computations, failure to note overdue receivables, impairment to returned goods (even write-off) due to the shut down of retailers and others. Even though he presented his reasons for this unfortunate events, but it should not be happening since he is actually relatively highly paid. We would expect him to have better foresight and management. In addition, he is considerably young compared with his peers so there can be doubt on his experience to manage all that. So, i do agree with you.

Having said that, i still remain invested because the business is supposedly a resilient one which deals with consumer goods and the brand under their stable are strong names. I am making a peer comparison between KTC and Harisons (both in east malaysia) and should KTC also benchmark against Harison, there is much potential for KTC to grow. In fact, since they are aggressively growing, i will give them more time to show their worth and value. Investing is all about finding either a raw diamond that takes time to shine (but might also be a piece of useless stone) or finding a high carat diamond that is way under-priced. Like many here, i am hoping KTC is a valued raw diamond.

On VS, i am not a shareholder but i am following this company. What I am trying to look at is if there are bright prospects for me to enter. However, i need to look through their financial statements and read up on any analysts reports (i ignore the "buy", "sell" and "TP" calls) to understand their business strategy and outlook. My only main concern is that they may depend on one large customer for their sales. It can be a risk there.

I think we need to realise that the 10 year cycle phenomena will always come with a major crisis or correction cycle. The 1987, 1997-98, 2007-08 and potentially 2018-2019 which we are entering soon. I lived long enough to see all those crisis/recession period and for every of those events comes along with strong economic recovery. Guys, maybe some of you were not born yet during those events and maybe some of you have forgotten what it was like during those period that the pain you feel now seems so unreal. This is not a local issue, if you care to read the papers, the world market started to see some corrections due to many external events such as Trade War, Collapse of Crude Oil prices, The China's economic slowing momentum, Brexit in early 2019, Rising interest rates in the US despite the reducing yield curve between long and short term treasuries, and so many more! And despite all this, you want to expect KLSE to shoot to the sky thinking all is good and dandy?? Blaming the govt, blaming the analysts, blaming the gurus, blaming the fortune-tellers?? Time to wake up to world events guys!

Getonwithit, i have held it since 2015

Yungcrystal, this will be very subjective as price is what ppl (investors) are willing to pay for value of something. Value, will more often be tied to company's revenue, earnings, debt level and cash flow. Some may even seek external benefits for value such as Dividends, Free Warrants, Bonus Issue, etc. Business-wise, KTC's earnings has only started to show a positive trend against the previous quarters which they were in the red. However, despite that, their they showed a topline growth in which revenue grows from quarter to quarter. For long term investors that bought into KTC and still holding their shares, they would have a long term view of business growth is visible. Many will argue that KTC's main weaknesses are negative cash flow, relatively higher gearing and mistakes made in the past. Those arguments are also valid, which is why we see their share price being punished to very low levels. However, lessons are learnt, changes to top management are made and last 2 quarters we are seeing turnaround in earnings from red to black. What remains now will be their cash flow management and gearing level. Thus, it is too early to say if their price will rise in next few months, at least i will need to see next few quarter results to see improvement in the above.

Huatexpert, thanks for sharing the news on Petronas Outlook Activity 2019. Definitely good piece of news for Jack-up rigs owners. Quite a number of rig owners in Malaysia, like velesto, sapura, perisai, etc. Velesto will need to try and push out their rigs more aggressively. Appears that Sapura is more aggressive and winning many more contracts in the same field. Velesto needs to achieve rig utilization rate of 85% for it to be back in the black (at the current operating margins).

Generally many executive directors tend to pay themselves ridiculously high, even when companies are not performing. What concerns me the most with respect to KTC is actually the amount of debt to equity ratio (in general term, the gearing ratio). As per the annual report 2018, page 112, it is stated as at 30 June 2018, their gearing ratio stood at 255%! In my opinion, i will regard that as being relatively very high. I can understand if for that year they have made losses due to write-offs, earlier termination of contracts with some agencies, closure of govt convenience stores resulting return of goods to be either impaired or written-off but i hope they will be able to manage their receivables and take care of the debt level. The increase in debt level are mostly banker's acceptance, overdraft, etc which are mainly indicative of cash flow management not effective enough (Long credit terms to creditors but short credit terms from debtors).

Looking at Q1 for 2019 quarter report, i observe some improvements to the cash flow management and i hope the management can continue to show better improvements and hopefully see positive cash balances from operations rather than financing activities.

After reading their quarterly statements ending Sept 2018, on page 11, they are going to use the proceeds of the remaining 6 million as working capital primarily focusing on their bakery products in Sarawak. It was intended to be used to acquire warehouses in Sibu, Kuching and Miri. However, since they have already acquired Popular Trading Sdn Bhd for 6 mil using internally generated funds, they don't need to acquire additional spaces in the above mentioned locations. Perhaps, that is why they are re-allocating the proceeds to working capital. If they really are going to use the proceeds to improve their bakery line, adding new production line or increase marketing activity, then generally i am ok. However, i would love to see improvements from that section in the next quarter or so. Hopefully, it works out well moving forward.

If we look into their financial statements, they have narrowed down their net loss comparing to previous year. 9 months cumulative period for Sept 2018 is also showed a narrower loss compared with 9 months cumulative period for Sept 2017. Cash flow wise, they have shown operating profits against operating losses in previous year. Much of the free cash flow was used to repay bank borrowings which should be an obligation to reduce debt. If Velesto can win more contracts to utilize more of their rigs, it will be better. I believe next quarter should be better as earnings from Naga 4 should be reflected then. My 2 sen thoughts.

Even though cash flow still looks unimpressive but comparing it end June 2018, it’s a big improvement. They are managing cash flow now. Hopefully next quarter will be better.

Short selling is now legal. However, it is only limited to intra day.