Pelaburan Mara targets RM1b income, RM20m earnings this year

KUALA LUMPUR: Pelaburan Mara Bhd (PMB), which has ventured into investment data services via new subsidiary PMB Analytics Sdn Bhd, is targeting income close to RM1 billion and earnings of more than RM20 million for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2017.
“The group’s revenue this year will be driven by our various business segments, including direct investment activities, financing activities, asset management, corporate advisory, as well as our new business unit, PMB Analytics,” its group CEO Datuk Nazim Rahman told reporters at PMB’s pre-50th anniversary celebration and PMB Analytics’ launching ceremony here yesterday.
Last year, PMB recorded a pre-tax profit and zakat of RM18.7 million, compared with RM4.7 million in 2015. The group’s revenue stood at about RM700 million in 2016, up from RM600 million in the previous year.
Nazim said the investment segment is the main revenue contributor, accounting for 60%.
PMB Analytics, which is established in partnership with a prominent Nasdaq-owned company Dorsey Wright & Associates LLC (DWA), will promote and market DWA’s investment model to corporate and institutional investors in Malaysia, Nazim said.
PMB holds a 70% stake in PMB Analytics while the remainder is owned by private entities.
“PMB Analytics holds the sole right to market DWA’s investment model in Malaysia and is expected to provide a respectable return to investment equity in the long run,” he added.
The new company will be introducing a mobile digital application to meet the demands of retail investors.
Nazim said this is in line with the group’s vision to introduce products to cater for retail investors and subsequently seek to expand within the Asean region, especially Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
He added that the company hopes to expand into China, India, Australia and New Zealand by 2020.
“We hope that with the establishment of PMB Analytics, investors will have the opportunity to benefit from the expertise of a world-renowned investment adviser.
“With rapid changes that shape our society and how we do business professionally, we are flexible enough in our business strategy to allow Pelaburan Mara to engage in financial technology. And DWA’s investment model lets us do precisely that,” Nazim said.
Nazim noted that the DWA investment model has been successfully used by several local funds and manages to generate good returns.