(Aug 20): Johnson & Johnson went to another insider to lead the health-care giant through the pandemic, naming Joaquin Duato to replace longtime veteran Alex Gorsky. Now vice chairman of the executive committee, Duato will take the reins effective Jan. 3 and take a seat on the company’s board, J&J said in a statement late Thursday. Duato, 59, is a three-decade veteran of J&J, as is Gorsky. J&J declined to make Gorsky and Duato available for comment. “We are confident that Joaquin is uniquely qualified and the right person to lead Johnson & Johnson into the future,” Mulcahy said in a statement.

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 19): The 2021 National Day celebration at the end of this month will use high technologies in line with the new norm by complying with the strict standard operating procedures (SOP) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Viewers will get an impression as if they are watching the performances at the scene with the technologies used. “We encourage the public to stay at home and watch the National Day celebration live on all local television stations as well as on Facebook Live through Facebook Live Merdeka360 and Facebook Live Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia,” he said on the Selamat Pagi Malaysia programme on RTM today. He added that the National Day celebration would still be held despite the nation facing the Covid-19 pandemic because it is a special day for the people of Malaysia. The 2021 National Day celebration is scheduled to take place on Aug 31 at Dataran Pahlawan Negara, Putrajaya.

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has recorded 22,948 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry reported on Thursday (Aug 19). This is a new daily record, surpassing the 22,242 cases reported yesterday (Aug 18). The country’s cumulative case tally is now 1,489,460. Selangor recorded the highest number of cases at 7,175 , followed by Sabah (2,583) and Kedah (2,137). More to comeArticle type: free User access status:Join our Telegram channel to get our Evening Alerts and breaking news highlights

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KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah state assembly sitting scheduled for Aug 24 to 26 has been postponed by about a month to Sept 21 to 23, says Speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahya. However, he did not give any reason for the postponement in his statement issued on Thursday (Aug 19). In an earlier statement on Aug 9, Kadzim had said that the assembly sitting this year had to be held physically and not on a hybrid basis because of unstable telecommunications connectivity in Sabah. He said some of the main issues expected to be debated and discussed are finding a uniform procedure to hold sittings and conferences in the midst of the pandemic. Among other issues expected to be brought up are ways to improve and expand telecommunications connectivity in the state, he added.

KUALA LUMPUR: Moody’s Analytics is expecting the global real gross domestic product (GDP) to rebound 5.7 per cent in 2021, following the historic 3.6 per cent contraction in 2020. "However, global recovery will continue to be uneven across regions and the dual-track recovery will persist until the new resurgences are brought under control and the global vaccine distribution is scaled up," Moody’s Analytics said in its 'Global Outlook: Resurgence Risks to Recovery' report released today. It said the US is expected to lead the gains with a strong 6.4 per cent rebound in 2021, followed by Asia with a 6.1 per cent expansion, anchored by China’s stabilising growth and India’s turnaround in the post-restrictions phase. Conversely, African economies are likely to see slower growth at 4.3 per cent, following the record three per cent decline in 2020. Moody’s Analytics also opined that geopolitical risks would assume an important role in the post-COVID-19 recovery phase.

KUALA LUMPUR: High Court judge Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah rebuked Datuk Seri Najib Razak (pic) as the former prime minister was absent in court for his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial on Thursday (Aug 19) morning. This riled up the judge who said that Najib should have had the courtesy to attend the court proceedings first. Justice Sequerah said the trial must proceed and asked the defence team to update the court on Najib's timing with the Palace. The judge had said that he only allowed the request due to the peculiar circumstance of the country's current situation. Najib, 68, is charged with 25 counts of abuse of power and money laundering involving RM2.28bil of 1MDB funds.

And for once in my life, I feel a sense of despair. I pray for Joe because I remember that for there to be a shadow, there has to be a light. Despair is the sense that things won’t change for the better and nothing that you do will make any difference. There are many people who sit down each week and feel despair as they realise a growing inability to meet their obligations. Joe might not have been able to see it, but we owe it to ourselves to bring that world to life.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is offering a special incentive to encourage commercial customers to light up their buildings and surrounding areas with decorative lighting in conjunction with this year’s 64th Merdeka Day. "This includes commercial customers such as skyscrapers, office buildings, commercial complexes, shopping complexes, hotels, and petrol stations,” it said in a statement. The incentive rate of 20.8 sen/kWh (according to Neon & Floodlight tariff) is given for any amount of increase in electricity consumption, exceeding the average usage in three months taken from May, June, and July 2021. This special incentive will be reflected in October 2021 bill, denoted as ‘Carnival Discount’. Customers can apply via myTNB portal (www.mytnb.com.my) or at the nearest Kedai Tenaga.

Najib’s counsel Rahmat Hazlan told the judge that his client had been summoned to the palace this morning, but Justice Sequerah was not happy to hear about Najib's absence. “He and 114 other MPs have been summoned to the Palace to confirm their support for Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri. An infuriated Justice Sequerah then replied that Najib should have come to court to inform the judge of his need to see the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. I will be back in 10 minutes and I want to know exactly what time he will be meeting the King. I may not even stop at 4pm today," Sequerah told the lawyer before standing down for a short break.

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares in Berjaya Food Bhd (BFood) rose over 5.7% after it reported earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations. BFood posted a net profit of RM14.27mil in the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2021 against a net loss of RM30.16mil a year ago. For the full year ended June 30, BFood posted a net profit of RM47.36mil on revenue of RM717.27mil. AmInvestment Bank Research said BFood’s FY21’s net profit of RM47.4mil came in within its forecasts but exceeded consensus expectations. “FY21 earnings exceeded expectations on a successful business rationalisation and cost-optimisation efforts, as well as robust sales driven by alternative channels.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd could continue to see strong earnings in the final quarter of the year on the back of firm CPO prices although this could be partially offset by higher taxation and a weaker downstream segment.Following an expectation-beating performance, Kenanga Research said it expects the plantations group's upstream segment to continue to perform given the expected improvements in fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production and firm 4QFY21 CPO prices.The research house raised its FY21-22 earnings forecast by 19%-5% on its projected FY21-22 realised CPO price of RM3,250-2,950 per metric tonne. "Maintain 'outperform' but with a lower TP of RM23.60 (from RM24.00), based on a rolled-over FY22E PER of 20x (from 22x), reflecting -1.0SD valuation on additional ~10% ESG discount," it said.In 3QFY21, KLK recorded a core net profit of RM392mil, which brought 9MFY21 core net profit to RM960mil.This was above Kenanga's and consensus expectations at 83% and 79% of their full-year estimates respecrively.9MFY21 FFB output of 2.84 million per metric tonne accounted for 72% of Kenanga's full-year estimate.

TOKYO: SoftBank Group Corp sold roughly US$14bil (RM59.34bil) worth of listed stocks last quarter, nearly triple the amount in the previous period, as the company increases pace of investment in technology startups. SoftBank’s founder Masayoshi Son, (pic) known for his reluctance to cash in on investments, is signalling a new appetite for exits to finance the accelerating pace of deal-making at his Vision Fund investment arm. Son also doubled the pot for Vision Fund 2, where the company is a sole investor, to US$40bil (RM169.52bil) since the end of March. Bloomberg estimated the amount of money it got through multiplying the number of shares sold by the average price of each stock during the quarter. Separately, the Vision Fund disposed of almost 5.6 million shares of Guardant Health Inc, a California-based biotech company, and 23.4 million shares of Chinese online property platform KE Holdings Inc.

IS a barren year for oil industry deal activity finally coming to an end? So far there’s been US$86bil (RM364bil) of takeovers announced, pending or completed, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. If things continue at those rates through December, it will be one of the most lacklustre years for energy deal-making in two decades. Saudi Arabian Oil Co is finally growing close to an equity swap with Reliance Industries Ltd after years of gestation, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg this week. Take the Reliance-Aramco deal, which is expected to see the world’s largest oil company swap between 1% and 2% of its equity for a 20% share in the largest refinery.

Prizes galore: Foo, Kor and Ho are the lucky winners of the Star Media Group 50 Days of Giveaways Contest. “My wife and I have been entering the contest daily since early August,” said Foo. A 58-year-old grandfather’s perseverance in entering the contest also paid off when he won a brand new 55” TV. Kor Kim Cheong from Ampang, Selangor, was overjoyed when he was informed that he had won the Panasonic 4K Smart TV worth RM3,739 in the contest’s second series. Sponsors for the 50 Days of Giveaways are Mazda, Panasonic, Honor, Sunway Hotels & Resorts, Canon, Shopee, BOH, Wellous, SASA, Habib, Citizen, Bank Rakyat and Popular.