“At a time when many companies are facing a credit squeeze, the group remains financially strong with RM120mil cash and no borrowings,” added Hamad, who is also CEO of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB).
Hamad, who was appointed I-Bhd chairman last month, said PNB was the major bumiputra shareholder with an 18% stake in the company,
Although I-Bhd was still small, he noted that it made a record pre-tax profit of RM16mil last year.
He observed that I-Bhd launched i-City three years ago as it re-invented itself from a digital lifestyle products manufacturer into a developer that provides a digital work environment.
“And today, the building blocks are all coming into place,” he told reporters after the company AGM at i-City here yesterday.
In another dimension of development, it is also planned for an International Islamic Financial Hub be set up in i-City.
“In line with this, our first phase of development, which is the Cybercentre 1 Office Suite, is syariah-compliant,” Hamad said.
The establishment of Islamic financial services is part of the national agenda in which i-City has a role to play. “There are many Malaysian companies, including those within the PNB group, which are looking at this sector and I believe there are many opportunities for I-Bhd to work with them to accelerate the i-City development,” Hamad said.
On the impact of the global recession, newly-appointed CEO Lim Boon Siong said I-Bhd was reviewing and adjusting the phases to be launched in view of that.
Even so, the company is sticking to its target to complete i-City, a project with a gross development value of RM2bil by 2015.
Lim, who was appointed CEO last month, said the first phase of i-City was completed just three to four months ago. Following completion of development, tenants are being sought for the offices.
“There are a lot of enquiries. Logica of Britain, for example, is already here,” he said. AmBank Bhd has also signed up.
Signing tenancies for the rest would take longer, which was not unusual at this time, he added.
In a joint venture with the Al Rajhi banking group, 80% of i-City’s phase one was sold to the Middle Eastern group for RM95mil in July last year.
Eu Hong Chew, a non-executive director, said i-City was developed to cater to the knowledge economy and was positioned to uniquely serve such companies with multi-telco and high-speed Internet facilities.
By The Star
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment