Malaysia Export and Imports Chart

We previously warned that whilst there will be some sporadic spurts of stronger exports, they may not signal a meaningful recovery yet. Our view is that exports may not recover to levels seen in mid-2008 for another 2-3 years.

The YoY fall in Aug-09 exports computed continued to be led by a collapse of manufactured goods exports, weakness in commodity prices and a lower volume of commodity exports.

US workers facing record periods of unemployment, negative personal income growth in 4 of the last 6 quarters, and a sharp fall in wealth, will cut spending on the so many discretionary spending items that have formed the core of Asian exports, cannot anchor a global recovery. Restocking by businesses and

public sector spending can only provide a temporary bounce in output that must be rejoined by a consumer spending revival. A revival with conviction of investment spending by businesses is also out of the picture at this juncture with low capacity utilization globally at this juncture.

Weakening of exports accelerated in major markets. ASEAN exports accounting for 25.7% of total, fell a steeper 24.4%YoY (Jul-09: -20.1%YoY) on lower exports of electronics products, refined petroleum products and transport equipment.

Asia Export Growth League Table

Exports to China rose +0.9% YoY (Jul-09: -16.9% MoM), the first increase YoY in 10 months on gains in exports of electronics and crude oil. Exports to China were also 10.3% higher MoM. The positive YoY growth was due to a lower statistical base in Aug-08, the month when severe drops in exports to China began to be recorded in 2008. Exports to the US dropped (-26.7% YoY vs -29.0%YoY in Jul-09), also falling 7.8%MoM on lower electronics exports. The pace of drop in exports to Japan slowed (-25.0% YoY in Aug-09 vs -32.7% YoY in Jul-09) on gains in LNG and crude oil exports. The pace of drop for exports to the EU at -25.9% YoY was however, steeper compared to Jul-09′s -23.9%YoY due to palm oil as well as chemicals and chemical products exports letting up as the recession in major Euro zone economies particularly Germany.

Exports of Electronics were a shade lower MoM at RM20.57b in Aug-09 after rising for the 6th month in a row to RM20.63b in Jul-09 from RM18.6b in Jun-09 and constituted 43% (Jul-09: 42.2%) of exports although still down -13.1%YoY vs -15.6% YoY in Jul-09. Palm Oil exports making up 6.2% of exports (Jul-09: 8.1%) were down a sharper -35.3%YoY (Jun-09: -33.5% YoY) after a major MoM drop. Oil and Gas exports making up 12.5% of exports (Jun-1 09: 12.0%) fell 50% YoY, still amongst the most affected of export categories.

Chemicals and Chemical Products which contributed 6.1% of exports (Jul-09: 6.2%) fell -19.0%YoY (Jul-09: -26.3% YoY). Machinery and Appliances which made up 3.1% of exports (Jul-09: 3.6%) fell at a faster clip of -12.3%YoY (Jul-09: 10.2%YoY) and Timber Products adding up to 2.6% of exports(Jul-09:2.6%) fell

15.1%YoY(Jun-09:-16.0% YoY).

Imports at RM38.26b (Ju-09: RM40.98b) dropped by 6.6%MoM and were sharply off by 18.6%YoY (Jul-09: -16.0%YoY). Jan-09′s -30.4%YoY remains the fastest pace of annual contractions ever on record. Imports of intermediate goods made up 69.4% (Jul-09: 68.7%) of imports, and its fall on a percentage change YoY basis dampens somewhat hopes of a strong recovery, thus continuing the strong trend in preceding months that reflect the recovery in imports of raw material needs for goods to be processed for re-export. On the other hand, capital goods imported amounted to 14.3% (Jun-09: 14.8%) of imports, reflecting weaker capacity-boosting investment plans by domestic corporations that support future growth. Consumption goods made up 7.1% of imports (Jul-09: 7.2%), reflecting lower consumer spending. Consumption accounted for 65.3% of Malaysia’s real GDP in 2Q-09.

The Trade Surplus expanded again to RM9.58b (Jul-09: RM7.8b), a 22.2% jump MoM despite the MoM drop in exports. The widening of the trade gap left Aug-09′s surplus at exactly the mean YTD monthly surplus of RM9.58b. whilst it is still sharply off a peak at RM15.5b achieved in Jun-08 it is a healthy level. Whilst the trade balance dropped in Jul-09, it was read as a sign of some strength rather than weakness.

The Aug-09 data thankfully continues to hint at a V-shaped rebound after the exports slump hit a trough (see charts below). The current scenario does not yet rule out an L-shaped recovery for Malaysia although the possibility of a W-shaped recovery or a double-dip recession in the West appears small. The anchor for Malaysia’s export recovery appears to be China, but the sustainability of this source of exports recovery is thought unreliable whilst it is rising under conditions of a massive stimulus. The global economic turmoil may continue to drive further deterioration in the domestic environment.

Domestic sources of demand remain the key and steady implementation of the Stimulus Spending package is key. Our chief worry is the possibility the economy will fail to respond in a sustained manner and dismal private sector growth is observed way past the phase of aggressive public sector stimulus spending at a time when US consumers appear to be veering towards permanent frugality and Asian consumers are not ready to fill the void.

The meltdown resulted in the collapse of several large banking and financial institutions in the United States and Europe due to weakness originating from the mortgage and mortgage backed securities markets.

However in Asia, many were not too worried about the property market due to the regulated control of the banking system by their country National Bank and the well-established and matured property developers.

As a result of planned developments and sale of property, the Asian property market has remained healthy, despite the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contraction of 6.2 % in the first quarter of 2009.

As an indication of the strength of the property sector, the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) recorded higher transaction volume of some 4.0% compared with a decline of 17.8 percent in 4th quarter of 2008.

In its study, NAPIC also recorded 79,149 transactions valued at USD 4.701 billion in 1H 2009 with the Residential property sub-sector being the most dominant. Total transaction volumes were 63.8% while total transaction value was 55.1%.

The development of residential property remained promising with upward trends in the completion and starts category but dwindling numbers in new building plan approvals.

Currently, by 1H 2009, the residential property sector recorded an existing supply of 4,230,328 units with and incoming supply of 544,926 units. Planned residential supply is recorded at 669,554 units.

In the demand scenario for the residential sales performances there were lesser units that were launched into the market in the past quarters. However, sales performances during the nine months were between 70% and 85% since the first quarter of 2007.

There were also signs that the Asian property market was affected by global economic and financial crisis but the market has remained healthy overall.

Education        : University of Texas, Austin, 1983–1984

Occupation      : CEO and founder, Dell, Inc.

Net Worth       : Above $12.3 Billion (2009)

Religious         : Judaism

Spouse(s)         : Susan Dell

He’s Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Computers and one of the greatest entrepreneur of this generation. At 40 years old he’s built one of the most successful companies in the world and he’s one of the world’s youngest billionaires. The company has grown to $32 billion in 18 years. In fact, great leadership is what makes him so highly successful, not technical brain. He was at number 18 on the Forbes’s list of richest people in 2002 and 2004 respectively; while in 2003 he was on 24.

The PC business is full of rags-to-riches stories. But perhaps none is as dramatic as the rise of Dell Computer. He started off his company from his room at the University of Texas with less than $1,000. After being one year at University, he dropped out as his part-time computer business took off.

He was born on February 23, 1965. In 1984, the 19-year-old Michael Dell had a simple idea. Why not sell custom-made computers directly to customers? At the time, computer manufacturers sold their machines wholesale to retailers, who marked up the price for consumers. With about $1,000 and an unprecedented idea in the PC industry, Dell found a way to bypass the middleman and sell custom-built PCs directly to customers. Dell assembled computers from cheap surplus parts, and then created the machines to the specifications of his customers.

What makes Dell Computer unique is not what it sells, but rather how it sells it. Dell was first in the PC industry to pioneer the direct-selling model, a method that competitors such as Compaq and Apple Computer are only now starting to embrace. By cutting out the intermediary and creating a direct link between manufacturer and customer, Dell was able to provide customers with computers that cost less and that were more apt to meet customer needs. Prior to this there was absolutely no aspect of customization of the PC. Buying computer invariably involved the presence of a middleman. He also pioneered the industry’s first service and support programs.

Twenty-one years later, the simple idea is considered a revolution in the technology world, and it still working. Dell’s still doing essentially the same made-to-order computers directly to customers but on a scale that now brings in $18 billion a year and employs 25,000 people. Dell’s breathtaking success made him, at age 27 the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history, and Fortune magazine named his company one of the most admired firms in America, following General Electric, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. Dell has offices in over 34 countries and a presence in more than 170 countries. The company’s business clientele includes almost all the companies in the Fortune 500.The company manufactures its PCs in six locations: Texas, Tennessee, Brazil, Ireland, Malaysia, and China.

The next frontier for Dell has been the Web and once again the computer giant seems to be holding its place as a leader in the PC industry. Dell is acknowledged as the largest online commercial seller of computer systems, with $50 million per day in online sales. The value of Dell’s stock is reported to have risen almost 70,000 per cent over the past decade.

It’s important to point out that Michael Dell’s parents wanted him to stop playing with computers in college and get into medical school. But Michael Dell followed a different path. He is today credited for inspiring millions of entrepreneurs to pursue their dream of creating new innovation and not simply do what you are told to do. It’s important that we listen to ourselves and follow the path that we desire. People around us have great intentions, but many times they don’t understand the life and goals of the entrepreneur. Believe in yourself.

There are two key reasons for his continuing success. Dell Corp. is renowned for its ability to drive down prices. The products are affordable because of the company’s hold over their vendors. The other reason is that Dell has been able to leverage the power of the Internet to great advantage. Dell is the largest supplier of PCs over the Internet. He is an IT governor of the World Economic Forum and is a member of the U.S. Business Council. He is also a member of the Computer Systems Policy Project, serves on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Dell has been honored many times for his extraordinary leadership capabilities, earning the titles of “Entrepreneur of the Year” from Inc. magazine, and “Man of the Year” by PC magazine. He constantly heads the list of the world’s youngest billionaires.

Michael Dell can be painfully shy, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t charismatic. Rarely has a bad word been uttered about his personality. As ‘a visionary, leader, entrepreneur, boss, person, and manager, Michael gets nothing but praise. For good reason too; he proved that a college dropout can fulfill his dreams and succeed. Our advice though, is that unless you have visions of grandeur where you want to build a multi-billion dollar company, stay in school.

Michael Dell explained his secrets of success in an entrepreneurs’ conference in Texas, when he said “First of all, don’t start a business just because everybody else is doing it or it looks like it’s a way to make a lot of money. Start a business because you found something you really love doing and have a passion for Start a business because you found something unique that you can do betty’ than anyone else. And start a business because you really want to make a big contribution to society over a long period of time.”

Root beer is a beverage made from a combination of vanilla, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, sassafras root bark, nutmeg, anise, and molasses among other things. Each root beer has a unique recipe. Root beer constitutes about three percent of the American soft drink market. Many local brands of root beer exist and home-made root beer is made from concentrate or (rarely) from roots.

In fact, even prior to this period, root beer was served, and it was then called ‘Black Cow Mountain’ inspired by a moonlit view of Colorado’s Cow Mountain with snow on top. Kids later shortened the drink’s name to Black Cow. For those not on a diet, recipes add chocolate syrup, whipped cream and a cherry on top. But for those on a diet, ice cream can be partially replaced by skim milk and root beer with diet root beer. Root beer itself has a history that relates to the ancient practice of brewing native plants (twigs, bark, roots) as healing herbal teas.

However, that fateful drink put a delighted smile on Allen’s customers’ face and put him into business. But Allen’s drink or mix was unique – blended from the juices of 14 herbs, spices, barks and berries – and it proved very popular with the thirsty public and in 1922, Allen started a number of outlets to sell it. With the success of his first root beer stand in place called Lodi, Allen soon opened up a second stand in nearby Sacramento. It was there that what is thought to be United States‘ first ‘drive-in’ featuring ‘tray-boys’ for curb side service opened up.

Later, Allen teamed up with Frank Wright, one of his employees, and the name A & W was born. New items were added to the menu and A&W became well. Known as a fast food restaurant offering good food at low prices, and served up fast. Before long, the chain restaurant had spread out beyond the boundaries of California and soon, there wasn’t a state in America where you couldn’t find an A&W restaurant. It had become part of the American way of life.

In 1924, Allen bought Wright’s share of the business to actively pursue a franchise sales program. He had the name, A&W Root Beer and the A&W logo legally trademarked with the U.S. Patent. By 1933, the creamy beverage was such a success that Allen had over 170 franchised outlets operating in different places. To ensure uniform quality for the namesake beverage, Allen sold A&W Root Beer to concentrate exclusively to each franchise operator. His profits were derived from the sale of the concentrate and a nominal license fee.

During World War II no new restaurants were opened. Despite governmental sugar rationing (this affected supplies of bottler’s sugar, a necessary ingredient of root beer) and employee shortages (also a result of the war) most A&W units remained successful. After the war the number of A&W restaurants tripled as loans were available for private enterprise to flourish.

In 1950, with over 450 A&W’s operating nationwide, founder Roy Allen retired and sold the business to an aggressive Nebraskan named Gene Hurtz who formed the A&W Root Beer Company. The post war era – the rapidly recovering economy and popularity of the automobile provided the right environment for Hurtz’s company to prosper. Drive-in was becoming increasingly popular and A&W had the privilege of being one of the few nationally established drive-in restaurant chains. By 1960 the number of A&W’s had swelled to over 2000.

The popularity of A&W soon spread to other parts of the world and Asians had their first taste of it in 1963 when Malaysia opened its first outlet at Batu Road (now known as Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman) where it still does brisk business today. In Malaysia, there are more than 26 A&W restaurants and the company has plans to open more. The opening of new stories not only brings the great taste to more Malaysians but also provides employment as well as management opportunities to people. In fact, A&W has become a household name among Malaysians and its menu offers a wide variety of items to suit every member of the family, including the refreshing A&W Root Beer, the ever popular Coney Dog, Waffle, Curly Fries, Onion Ring and Mozza Burger which are unique products of A&W.

It was the first food chain to be opened in Malaysia. It has also gained a mention in the Malaysian Book of Record to that effect. A&W (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd was awarded the “Golden Mug Award” in recognition of its achievement for being the best managed franchisee in the world in 1996.The award was presented by A&W International President/CEO in Las Vegas, USA.

America loved the taste of A&W Root Beer. So, in 1971, United Brands formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, A&W Beverages, Inc., for the purpose of making A&W Root Beer available on the grocery shelf. First introduced in Arizona and California, the cans and bottles of A&W Root Beer was an instant success. Retailers nationwide were soon carrying the product.

Several ownership changes took place during the sixties and seventies. In 1971, United Brands formed a wholly owned subsidiary, A&W Distributing Co., for the purpose of making A&W Root Beer available on the grocery shelf. In 1974, A&W sugar-free was born along with “The Great Root Bear,” a mascot that served as a goodwill ambassador for the brand. Though the purchases and mergers plagued the expansion efforts of A&W restaurants, the root beer remained the category leader.

In October 1993, the A&W brands, excluding the restaurants, became part of Cadbury Beverages Inc. Today, the A&W brands continue under the ownership of Plano, Texas-based Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., the largest non-cola soft drink enterprise in North America and the largest subsidiary of London-based Cadbury Schweppes plc.

Much has changed since Roy Allen first sold root beer from his roadside stand on that hot summer day in 1919. Yet, the one thing that hasn’t changed in 85 years is that people over the world love the rich, smooth, thick-headed taste of A&W Root Beer. Clearly, A&W Root Beer has stood the test of time. And, all the credit for that goes to the genius of Roy Allen.

Died    : April 5, 1992 (aged 74)in Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.

Occupation      : Former Chairman, Wal-Mart

Net worth        : US$58.6 bn (1992 Forbes 400), $128.0 billion (2008), according to Wealthy historical figures 2008.

When a person from Berryville, Arkansas, began opening discount stores outside towns where Sam Walton ran variety stories, he saw what was coming. So, on July 2,1962, at age 44, he opened his first Wal-Mart store, in Rogers, Arkansas. Discounting had hit America in a big way.

Once committed to discounting, Walton began a fight that lasted for the rest of his life. That is to drive costs out of the merchandising system wherever they lay – in the stores, in the manufacturer’s profit margins and with the middleman – all with a view to reducing the prices down, down, and down. Using that formula, which reduced the prices drastically, Wal-Mart sales grew at a relentless pace. Walton hit the road to open stores wherever he saw opportunity. In fact, he would see the layout of the places in his low-flying airplane. When he found the right place in intersections he would touch down, buy a piece of farmland and order up another Wal-Mart store.

As the chain began to take off, Walton made major adjustments to manage the growth. Meanwhile, as early as 1966, when he had 20 stores, he attended the IBM Computer School in order to hire the smartest guy in the class who would computerize his operations. He understood the need for computerizing his merchandise control. Today, Wal-Mart’s computer database is second only to the Pentagon’s in capacity, and though he is rarely remembered that way, Walton may have been the first true information-age CEO.

To his great delight, Walton spent much of his career largely unnoticed by the public or the press. In fact, hardly anyone had ever heard of him when, in 1985, Forbes magazine determined that his 39 per cent ownership of Rd Mart’s stock made him the richest man in America. After that, the first wave 01 attention focused on Walton as a famous retailer. His extraordinary charisma had motivated hundreds of thousands of employees to believe in what Wal-Mart could accomplish, and many of them had traded the company’s stock to wealth. It was truly the American Dream.

Sam Walton was born on March 29,1918 to Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, they owned and lived on a farm until 1923.The Walton family then decided that the farm was not profitable enough to raise a family on. So, Sam and James (Sam’s younger brother born in 1921) had decided they would go back to being a Farm Loan Appraisers. Once this job started the Walton family moved out of Oklahoma and moved from town to town in Missouri. This would traumatize most children but for the Walton boys, it was no big deal. This could be seen when Sam was in 8th grade at Shelbina he became the youngest boy in the state’s history to become an Eagle Scout and this was only a stepping stone to his journey of accomplishments.

As Sam Walton grew up he was always an ambitious boy. He had to help support his family, along with his father and brother because money was lacking due to the depression. Sam’s job was to milk the family cow, bottle the milk, and then deliver the surplus to customers. He would go off to deliver newspapers afterwards. When he graduated from high school he was voted the “Most Versatile Boy” in his class. During this time it would have been easy for Sam to just give up on school and go to work full time. Seeing how his family was struggling to make ends meet, he decided he was going to stay in school and attend the University of Missouri.

As Sam grew up and anyone could see how determined he was to succeed and as time passed he went from being a poor town boy to the richest man in the world. Sam Walton had instituted 10 rules for success, and the 10th rule explains how he achieved all this. It says, “Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody is doing it one way, there is a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly the opposite direction.”

Watson did force a lot of people to change the way they made a living. His use of informational technology to cut costs quickly traveled to all kinds of companies; and his pioneering retailing concepts paved the way for a new breed of  “category killer” retailers like Barnes & Nobles.(Category killer is a term used in marketing to describe a product that has a distinct competitive advantage that competing firms find it almost impossible to operate profitably in that industry.) This wave of low- overhead selling continues to accelerate. The Internet, in fact, is its latest addition. One can only wonder what a young cyber Sam would set out to accomplish if he were just getting started now.

The company went public (1970), and thanks to a unique decentralized and Sam’s charismatic leadership and celebrated hands-on management style, it grew faster in the 1980s. In 1991 Wal-Mart became the nation’s largest retailer with 1700 stores, and he was reported by distribution system Forbes to be the richest man in the country. He was president and chief executive officer until 1988 and chairman until his death. The family business empire included Arkansas and Oklahoma banks and newspapers. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom shortly before his death in 1992. In 1999 Wal-Mart took over the ASDA group (the second largest super market chain) in the UK.

A successful scholarship at the California Institute of Technology was followed by a Masters from Stanford University and a stint at Apple Computer. It was while he was there that Sabeer Bhatia found something that would sooner than later transform his life and revolutionize the world of internet: The Hotmail had arrived!

Frustrated by a corporate e-mail system which did not allow them to communicate privately, Bhatia and his college friend and colleague Jack Smith hit upon the idea of a simple, free and secure way of talking on the net. They called it Hotmail.

Before Hotmail was launched, Bhatia worked for Apple Computer, and then a start­up company, FirePower Systems. Jack Smith, his founding partner at Hotmail, was his colleague and buddy at the two firms.

The idea for a free email company did not come out of the blue, Bhatia explained. For over a year Smith and Bhatia toyed with the idea of a Web based database server and tried to interest venture capitalists in their first venture, JavaSoft. However, realizing that the response was lukewarm, Bhatia and Smith were looking for another idea when they hit upon a Web based email server rather than a database server.

Sabeer was only 27 when he decided he was not going to work for others. He said he was making ‘money‘ when he worked for others, but he wanted to make much more than that by working for himself. He was also aware of the advice someone gave him that the biggest risk in life was not to take a risk at all.

He feared that had he continued working for others, he might not have had the guts to start something of his own. So, with Jack Smith, he decided to chase what many people in the Silicon Valley thought was a crazy idea, a free email service.

Together, the two men raised about $300,000 for their venture. While soon other free email services jumped in, Hotmail remained at the top because it was markedly different from competitors. One didn’t need to download software and install it in the computer to access the email.

It was so revolutionary that in less than two years of founding it, Bill Gates, who’s Microsoft, had its own email service, and wanted to buy Hotmail. The prudent Sabers, who had as a school boy sold sandwiches to make pocket money, took his time on the initial $160 million offer and then closed the deal at a cool $400 million.

Selling his company to Microsoft was yet another gamble for Bhatia. And, getting out of Microsoft and planning yet another venture is another daring step. While it took America Online over six years to build up its customer base, Hotmail grabbed over 11 million subscribers in just two years. “Our strength was we solved the problem that other companies created,” he had said in an earlier interview.”We did not restrict people to access their email from just the computer on which the software was installed.”

“And because we were not restrictive, there was global access for Hotmail account holders. They could do it as easily in India as here in California or any other country in the world.” Even in the digital age, someone had commented, the American Dream lives on.

Sabeer Bhatia’s innovation brought an unshakable belief in the transforming power of technology in his home country, India. No wonder, then, that 30 per cent of the software engineers in US corporations hail from India. The Times of India daily recently named him as one of the Indians of the Century, a honor which, he shares with the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad All Jinnah and Sunil Gavaskar, the famous cricketer of yesteryears.

He was raised a Hindu and in a way he was one, but he does not believe blindly in destiny. He tries to make his own destiny.”In the long run, it boils down to a simple fact,” he says, “How much of faith does one have in oneself.”

With his Ferraris and an apartment overlooking San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Sabeer Bhatia had it all. Work hard; play hard seemed to be his motto. 18-hour days in the office were complemented by a frantic social life: he told one newspaper,” from 6 p.m. Friday until Sunday, I’ll be partying in New York.”

“I don’t want to be branded Mr. Hotmail for the rest of my life”, he said recently and there is no doubt that his dynamic blend of East and West will make itself known again sooner or later.

He was chosen for the ‘Entrepreneur of the year’ award (1977) by the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and named to the “Elite 100″, the Upside magazine’s list of top trendsetters in the New Economy. He was also the recipient ofthe”TR100″award, presented by MIT to 100 young innovators who are expected to have the greatest impact on technology in the next few years, and selected by the San Jose Mercury News and POV magazine as one of the ten most successful entrepreneurs of 1998.

With annual revenues of more than $10 billion, the company is ranked 195 on ill^, Fortune 500 and was added to the Global 500 at number 441.

In fact, the visionary entrepreneur was not able to attend college. In 2000, Ii’ presented the University of St.Thomas with a gift of $50 million – the largest gift to the school’s 115 – year history and largest donation ever reported by a Minnesota College or University. Schulze has a special liking for this university; because this is the university he wanted to go but could not!

Schulze, grew up in the St. Thomas neighborhood and attended Nativity of Our Lord School, about a mile from the campus. He had intended to enroll at St. Thomas after schooling, but service in the Minnesota Air National Guard and work for his father’s electronics distribution company derailed his plans. Schulze, an entrepreneur, used all his assets to follow his dream and opened a small audio – components store, Sound of Music, in 1966. It expanded and evolved into what we know as Best Buy that today employs more than 60,000 nationwide through 354 stores in 37 states. Meanwhile, St. Thomas University awarded him an honorary doctor of laws degree in December 1998. It is Minnesota’s largest private university, and enrolls some 10,000 students.

The company is spending an estimated $80 million a year on what it is calling “customer centricity,” a massive effort to identify and serve its most profitable shoppers by rebuilding stores, adding staff and upgrading wares. Best Buy has little choice. It also has some experience in navigating through the most treacherous storms.

lo 1966, Schulze opened the Sound of Music, an audio specialty store in St Paul, Minnesota. The company grew over the following years, expanding to nine locations by 1980. In 1981, Schulze’s most successful store was destroyed by a tornado. The tornado ripped through its largest store, in St. Paul, resulting in a $200,000 loss for the year and a near – brush with bankruptcy. “We’d forgotten to buy business – interruption insurance,” says Schulze. The water – damaged goods were sold at a “best buy” sale. Not only ‘BEST BUY’ became the company’s permanent name, similar ‘Tornado Sales’ became an annual Sound of Music event. Best Buy’s first superstore opened in 1984, a carbon copy of Circuit City Stores, which was then nearly 40 times its size. A year later Best Buy went public and began a climb that sent it past its chief rival in 1995; it has enjoyed the lead ever since.

Then came the next calamity – a 1989 price war with Highland Superstores, which hurt Best Buy’s bottom line and shoved Highland into bankruptcy. Emerging from this victorious, Best Buy remodeled its stories: open ceilings, concrete floors, fluorescent tube lighting. Staff on commission gave way to hourly employees who did their best to make themselves invisible to shoppers simply wanting cheap electronics. Best Buy grew rapidly from sales of $240 million in 1987 to $7.2 billion in 1996.Who knew the digital revolution could be such a rush? Best Buy did – and it’s selling more pricey gadgets and hook up services than anybody.

It operates retail stores and commercial Web sites under the various brand names, such as Best Buy, Future Shop, Magnolia Audio Video, and Geek Squad, as well as an outlet store on e-Bay. As of July 15, 2004, the company had 619 United States Best Buy stores, 22 Magnolia Audio Video stores in the United States, 109 Future Shop stores and 19 Canadian Best Buy stores internationally. The company is based in Richfield, Minnesota.

Alma Mater     : London School of Economics

Occupation      : Entrepreneur

Net Worth       : GBP £1.29 billion

Stelios is the man who introduced low-cost flying in Britain, and today he is a big guy with a personal fortune of $650 million. But he drives to his favorite casino in Monte Carlo in a tiny, orange (his favorite color) Smart car. He does not gamble, at least not in the casino.

Stelios single-handedly built the easy Jet, the orange-liveried airline from scratch and took on the mighty British airways head on. It might have seemed a surprise move, but the seed for starting a budget airline had germinated much earlier. When Stelios was a student he went to a conference where billionaire Branson was speaking, told him his easy Jet idea and asked him to back him.

Branson was wary not only of budget airlines, but he did not like Stelios’ plan to build a base at Luton, a small town in England located 50km north of central London. Branson said no.

In 1995 Stelios launched easy Jet on his own, from Luton, using two rented 737s with the reservations number in orange on the side, crew in orange sweatshirts, and £29 one-way fares to Glasgow. He advertised as ‘fly to Scotland for the price of a pair of jeans. Cynics thought it vulgar and said no one would fly from Luton. They were wrong. Vulgar orange, along with the brand name and prices that so undercut British Airways’ three-figure fares, proved alluring even to business travelers.

The young Stelios traveled in the mid-eighties to London to study at the London School of Economics. After obtaining a masters at the London Business School in 1988, he returned to Greece to join his father’s shipping empire and the opportunity for a life of opulence and hedonism. (“hedonism” subscribes to a theory that pleasure is the highest good, or whatever causes pleasure is right.)

But two events in the early nineties changed his life. In April 1991 when he is in aged 22, was the chief executive of his father’s business, their tanker, Haven, New up off Genoa, killing five crew members and disgorging up to 50,000 tons of (oil into the sea – arguably the Mediterranean’s worst-ever ecological disaster.

The Haven disaster shaped his attitude to safety, influencing him to buy brand new Boeings as soon as he could after setting up his airline. One of his favorite mottoes is still : “if you think safety is expensive, try an accident.”

Then, in 1992, with the events of the Haven disaster still making headlines in Italian media, Stelios began to wean himself from his father’s business. He set ill his own shipping company, Stelmar Tankers. However, there was a big reluctance from his father to let Stelios go his own way. They clashed over business style, Stelios saying things like “we need computers” and his father “sticking to a very traditional style.” It marked the beginning of his flight from the gilded cage, as he has described it. He was still maintaining good relationships with his father and consulted him on important issues. He finally persuaded his father to lend him 5 million and in 1995 came to London to start easy Jet. Today, easy Jet is flying to 44 European destinations, and carries eight million people annually.

He is known as a “serial entrepreneur”, who likes to create businesses, not manage them. He would like to build the business, but does not want to deal will, stockbrokers, market analysts and the administration of it all.

For instance, in 2003, he launched easyCinema in London. It is called the world’s first no-frills cinema. Seats are booked online or by phone. The earlier you book the less you pay. From their own computers, customers print a barcode which they scan at the turnstiles to get into the theatre. There are computers in the cinema itself so that customers can book online while they are there. So there is no need for box office. Another advantage is that the movie-goers can bring their own popcorn and other eatables that are much cheaper than the prices charged by regular cinemas, and movie tickets cost only 20 dollar each.

After turning various industries upside down by launching the likes of easy Jet, easy Car and easyCinema, the Stelios’s easyGroup has now set its sights on one of the missing links in its travel to Entertainment Empire, that is accommodation. With easy affordable prices, the scheme called, easy Dorm was launched in London last year, (New York and Paris could be next, according to USA Today).

EasyDorm will concentrate on providing accommodation only, and will not offer a restaurant or other services. Bedding and toiletries will be available for purchase for those customers who do not bring their own. Rooms will consist of pre-fabricated fiberglass units (nothing to break, no dirt accumulation), and come with a shower unit, a lavatory and floor mattresses inspired by Japanese style bedding. An extra charge applies for those who choose not to clean their own room. These budget hotels would cost only $5 a night.

Stelios visits Athens to see his aging mother and sick father frequently. After all, he has to prove to his proud father that he made $1.6 billion out of the $ 5m his father gave his son, albeit reluctantly, years ago.

Died    : December 31, 1993 (aged 79) in Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.

Spouse(s)         :  Olive Cawley

Children          :  Thomas John Watson III, Jeanette Watson, Olive F. Watson, Lucinda Watson, Susan Watson, Helen Watson

Occupation      :  Business.

In 1943, 29-year-old Watson Jr. and his father were once walking around their headquarters when they found an engineer who had hooked an IBM tabulator up to an electronic gizmo the size of a footlocker. He was making payroll calculations in one-tenth the time it usually took. Thomas Watson Jr told his father, “We should put this thing on the market! Even if we only sell eight or 10, we will be able to advertise the fact that we have the world’s first commercial electronic calculator. But 10 years later he saw things differently, and IBM had launched the Model 650 Magnetic Drum Calculator. Today, with over 330,000 employees worldwide and revenues of $96 billion (figures from 2004), IBM is the largest information technology company in the world.

In 1954, the Model 650 used a magnetic drum 4 inches by 16 inches, and it could perform addition or subtraction functions in 1.6 milliseconds, multiplication in about 13 milliseconds, and division in about 17 milliseconds. IBM sometimes refers to the 650 as its first computer. Perhaps it is more accurate to call it IBM’s first commercial business computer (since the 701, also from IBM, was intended for scientific use) and the first computer to make a meaningful profit. The Model 650 became the leading commercial computer of the 1950s, leading IBM out of the desert of punch cards and into the promised land of electronic computing systems. But Watson Sr. would not live to see computers become the mainstay of his corporation; he was dying. In May 1956, at the age of 82, he retired, putting one son, Thomas Watson Jr., at the helm of IBM.

The man who built IBM into a computer giant was worried at the notion of filling his father’s shoes. But worry was a relentless motivator! Though Junior Watson joined the firm in 1937, he served in the US Air Force in the Second World War. Watson suffered bouts of depression and once burst into tears over the thought when his formidable father wanted him to join IBM and run the already famous company.”I cannot do it,” he wailed to his mother.

Thomas Watson Jr. spent his youth convinced that he had something inside. An always failing student,”Terrible Tommy;’ as he was called then, vented his frustration by playing pranks on other students and opposing the author.

In fact, he went through three schools to complete high school, and graduate, I from Brown University just because the dean was reported to be very sympathies towards him. The young playboy rated the pleasures of drinking and dancing) above those of learning.

He devoted more time to indulging his passions for flying airplanes by day and partying by night than to calling on clients of IBM. Even so, Watson filled his plan, sales quota for 1940 on the first day of that year, not because he was a talented salesman but the company faked the accounts to make him look good!

Yet 26 years later, Watson not only succeeded his father but also eventually surpassed him. IBM is now synonymous with computers, even though the company did not invent the device that would change our life, nor had it shipped a single computer before Thomas Jr. took over. How did this transformation take place? How come a man who once cried that he could not run the company, steered the same through the most successful history of computer sales in America?

World War II liberated Tom Watson Jr. from his bad habits. His success in promoting the use of flight simulators earned him a job as aide and pilot for Major General Follett Bradley, the Army Air Forces’ inspector general. Watson flew throughout Asia, Africa and the Pacific, displaying steel nerves and shrewd foresight and planning skills. He was set to fly for United Air Lines after the war when a chance conversation with Bradley changed hip course. Informed of Watson’s job plans, the general said,” Really? I always thought you’d go back and run the IBM Company. “A stunned Watson asked Bradley if he really thought he would do the job (running the IBM) well. The general replied, “Of course.” The business magnate in him was ignited by Bradley.

When he took over IBM from his father, he was convinced that the company should enter the computer market. When his father took charge of the company, it dominated the market for punch-card tabulators – forerunners of computers that performed such tasks as running payrolls and collating census data. Thomas Jr. quickly realized that its future lay in computers, not a 19th century information technology like tabulators. Even the first vacuum-tube machines could calculate 10 times as fast as IBM’s tabulators.

Watson Jr. who became president of IBM in 1952 never gave up. He recruited experts who could think ahead. Watson, who once shared his father’s volcanic temper, was now a changed person, because he feared of falling behind in the fast-changing industry. Funnily enough, he often told his employees, “the higher the monkey climbs, the more he shows his ass.”

With IBM clearly on top in the early ’60s, Watson took one of the biggest gambles in corporate history. He proposed spending more than $5 billion – about three times IBM’s revenues at the time – to develop a new line of computers that would make the company’s existing machines obsolete. The goal was to replace specialized units with a family of compatible computers that could fill every data- processing need. Customers could start with small computers and move up as their demands increased, taking their old software along with them. It was called the System/360, after the 360 degrees in a circle.

The strategy was on the verge of failure when software problems created delivery delays. Panic raced through IBM’s top echelons as rivals closed in. A desperate Watson ousted his younger brother Dick as head of engineering and manufacturing for the System/360 project. Ultimately, System/360, which revolutionized the industry, proved to be wildly successful. Its highly successful launch in 1964 was called by Fortune Magazine as ‘IBM’s $5billion Gamble.’ Following its success, IBM’s base of installed computers jumped from 11,000 in early 1964 to 35,000 in 1970, and its revenues more than doubled, to $7.5 billion. At the same time, IBM’s market value soared from about $14 billion to more than $36 billion.

A heart attack forced Watson to retire at age 57 in 1971, leaving him plenty of time for such adventures as flying across Siberia that he had made during the war. A lifelong Democrat (his father had been a Franklin Roosevelt confidant), Watson served for two years as Jimmy Carter’s ambassador to Moscow.

But perhaps his proudest achievement was to emerge from the shadow of a legendary, relentlessly demanding father. In his first five years as chairman, the younger Watson observed the anniversary of his father’s death in 1956 with a ritual. He quietly took stock of what IBM had accomplished since his father died, and then said to his wife, “That’s another year I’ve made it in his absence.“

As it continues to notch up 52-week highs, investors finally recognize this as a growth stock. We have revised our price target to 60 cent, continuing to recommend a BUY.

Seasonally, the Apr-08 quarter is the weakest quarter in a year. Yet, revenues grew 28.7%YoY and were also up 3.9% QoQ on seasonally low sales volume. The reason is that sales in the Feb-Apr 08 months last year were affected by inflation taking a severe toll on consumer spending; hence 4Q-08 sales formed a low base for comparison. Operating profits rose 76.1% YoY and 10.3% QoQ. Operating profit margins improved sharply to record levels at 19.7% compared to 14.4% in 4Q-08, a weak quarter. NTPM’s raising of product prices by 15% in Jul-09 to offset rising costs proved fortuitous as material costs subsequently fell. Net rose a strong 76.2% YoY and also 22.1% QoQ.

Operating profit margins improved from a year ago due to recycled newsprint prices continuing to fall from depressed levels in preceding quarters. But a continuing fall in subsequent FY10 quarters is not imputed in our forward forecasts.

Higher working capital requirements in inventory costs and receivables boosted net gearing, which rose from 0.15x in Apr-08 to 0.158x in Apr-09 but this has eased from 0.20X in Jan-0-9 and is manageable.

FYE Apr010, sales are forecast to continue to climb at 11.9%, driven by the full year effect of the price increase and a marginal 4% volume gain. NTPM’s dividend yield is sustainable at 5.5% after the 4-for-5 bonus issue.

Recommendation

We have raised our forecast for FY EApr010 earnings to RM51.7m, also representing

+11.9% growth. Valuation remains undemanding at 8.7X PER. The share’s defensive quality comes from its retention of an astonishing stranglehold on the facial tissue market in the country with 70% market share, and the low price stature of the product. The share price has risen 70.4% in the YTD period, but the promised yield is still at least 5.5%, at our recommended threshold yield for income stocks, giving an anticipated 12-month total return of 28%.BUY.

Price of commodities pulled back after rallying making new highs this year amid concerns about global demand which seems to hit a snag as inflation rises. The price of Crude oil closes below US$60 per barrel after staying above US$70 for a few weeks early June.

The price of Crude Palm Oil in the futures market fell 25% in a month from RM2,700.00  to RM2,000 per metric ton. Price of Gold fell as well from US$980 per ounce to USS910.

To add salt the wound in the market sentiment, the increasing H1N1 flu outbreak has become a great cause of concern if companies have to slow down production if employees are being infected. The market finally fell on-month after increasing for three consecutive months. The KLCI closed at 1,067.76 points on the 10th of July, 15.21 points or 1.4% lower than the previous month. The KLCI traded relatively more volatile in a trading range between 1,028.14  and  1,095.91 points last month.

Trading volume was relatively lower. Daily average trading volume fell from 2 billion shares to 1 billion shares on-month. This reflects the weak market sentiment.

As compared to other Asian markets, the Malaysian market is still one of the most defensive market, and notice that the western markets are the weakest performers even for the past 6 months.

The uptrend is still intact as the KLCI is still above the mid and long term 60-and 90-day moving average. The KLCI has tested the short term 30-day average twice and is now below this average market momentum is much weaker as compared to last month. The KLCI is only 7.7 percent above the long term 90 day moving, average (90-SMA) which is currently at 990 points. The difference in the previous month is 11%.

The momentum of the current up trend is getting weaker. The bears have started to take some grip in the market. Momentum indicators like the 14-day

RSI, 14-day Momentum and MACD have heels making new lows since last month. The indicator values are currently near the middle mark whirls separates the bulls and bears dominance. It has been favoring the bulls since end of March this year. The leading Ichimoku Cloud indicator has started to contract as well which means that the uptrend support is getting weaker, but does not sign a major bearish reversal yet at least for the next one month.

The Bollinger Bands which were expanding has also started to contract and this simply means that the KLCI is trading near its 20-day average. The mid­term swing of the Barros Swing indicator shows a lower swing high. The swings were higher since March. The weekly Average True Range (ATR) indicator has also declined almost half on-month. All these volatility indicators are suggesting a weaker momentum.

Conclusion

There were some weak technical indications last month that urges investors and trades to trade cautiously and in the past few weeks, the technical indicators have started to show stronger signs of the market getting more bearish.

Last month, I mentioned that the market may test the next resistance at 1,160 points but with heavy resistance and the KLCI did find strong resistance at 1,095 points. The probability of the KLCI testing the next resistance level has become thin. We may see a start of a bearish trend, as long as the KLCI remains below the 1,160 resistance level.

Expecting the KLCI to go into one more bear rally to complete the price cycle in the 3. or 4′ quarter and we already in the third. The forecast for KLCI is 700 points and is only valid IF the KLCI stays below 1.160 points. I have written my analysis about the price cycle in my previous two articles. Stay out of the market and if you have large positions, liquidate some of them and get them back when price gets lower.

Died     : April 7, 1947 (aged 83) in Fair Lane, Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.

Occupation      : Business, Engineering

Net Worth       : above $188.1 billion, according to Wealthy historical figures 2008, based on information from Forbes – February 2008.

Religious         : Protestant Episcopal

Spouse(s)         : Clara Jane Bryant

Children          : Edsel Ford

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do. And, before everything else, getting toady is the secret of success. Driven by a vision of a new technology, rejecting Formal education, and instead trusting in his native brilliance, he built an empire that made him a folk hero of sorts. A popular symbol of the new era that his ingenuity had helped creates Henry Ford to revere more than Bill Gates.

Henry Ford was born in July 30, 1863 in Wayne County, Michigan. He was the son of Irish immigrants, William and Mary Ford, who had settled on a farm in Dearborn. In addition to helping his father with the harvest, Ford also attended school in a one-room schoolhouse. However, Ford disliked both school and farm life, and at age 16, he walked to Detroit in search of employment.

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. So, Ford was employed as an apprentice in a machine shop, where he learned about the internal combustion engine. After several years of learning his trade, Ford returned to the family farm and worked part-time for the Westinghouse Engine Company. Ford set up a small machine shop on the farm and began tinkering with engines and machines.

During this time, Ford fell in love with Clara Bryant, whom he married in 1888. Several years later in 1891, Ford and his wife moved back to Detroit when Ford was made chief engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. (Edison became close friend with Henry Ford and the two often vacationed together mid had adjoining winter homes in Florida.) The position required Ford to be on- tall 24 hours a day, but the irregular hours allowed him time to experiment. This event signified a conscious decision on Ford’s part to dedicate his life to industrial pursuits. His promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893 gave him enough time and money to devote attention to his personal experiments on internal combustion engines.

Ford knew a business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of own self-propelled vehicle, the Quadricycle. The Quadricycle had four wire wheels that looked like heavy bicycle wheels, was steered with a tiller like a boat, and had only two forward speeds with no reverse.

Henry Ford realized his dream of producing an automobile that was reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient with the introduction of the Model T in 1908. This vehicle initiated a new era in personal transportation. It was easy to operate, maintain, and handle on rough roads, and it immediately became a huge success initially it took 14 hours to assemble a Model T car. By improving his mass production methods, Ford reduced this to 1 hour 33 minutes. This lowered the, overall cost of each car and enabled Ford to undercut the price of other cars in the market.

Between 1908 and 1916 the selling price of the Model T fell from $1,000 to $360.Through it all, the key to Ford’s success, was his right understanding that the health of his company rested on  consumers spending, not saving, their money. “Buy a Ford and Spend the Difference!” was the slogan Ford himself penned to sell the Model T.

In 1913, Ford began using standardized interchangeable parts and assembly line techniques in his plant. Although Ford neither originated nor was the first to employ such practices, he was chiefly responsible for their general adoption and for the consequent great expansion of American industry and the raising of the American standard of living. The introduction of the moving assembly line revolutionized automobile production by significantly reducing assembly time per vehicle, thus lowering costs. Ford’s production of Model Is made his company the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Over the next 19 years, Ford built 15,000,000 automobiles with the Model “T” engine, the longest run of any single model apart from the Volkswagen Beetle.

During the next several years, Ford continued to fine-tune his passenger vehicles; In addition, he built racing cars and even drove them himself. However, Ford’s successes were not without problems. Soon after the incorporation of the Ford Motor Company, Ford was threatened by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers. Ford often said that when everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. After years of legal battles, Ford won his case in 1911, which made it possible for more people to become automobile manufacturers.

Ford was able to market the Model T to the general public because of his advanced production technology. As a result, more automobiles were made available at a lower cost. Ford also instituted the $5.00 a day minimum wage, which he claimed increased productivity. The quote that “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success,” is attributed to Ford.

He handed over the presidency to his grandson, Henry Ford II. Ford died at his home on April 7, 1947. Although Ford was not the first to build a self-propelled vehicle with a gasoline engine, he was, however, one of several automotive pioneers who helped his country become a nation of motorists. Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.

Died    : December 15, 1966 (aged 65) in Burbank, California, U.S.

Occupation      : Film producer, Co-founder of The Walt Disney Company, formerly known as Walt Disney Productions

Spouse(s)         : Lillian Bounds (1925-1966)

Walt Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and animator. One of the most well-known motion picture producers in the world, Disney was also the cartoon artist of comic books and newspaper-comic strips, the creator of an American-based theme park called Disneyland, and is the co-founder with his brother Roy O.Disney of Walt Disney Company. He created the most famous Mickey Mouse, wearing red shorts and yellow shoes, and the mouse has evolved from being simply a character in cartoons to become one of the most recognizable symbols in the world.

He became interested in personalizing animal’s character after carelessly killing a small owl as a young boy. He felt deeply sorry and guilty and vowed never again to kill a living creature. Disney worked as a paperboy as a youth.

At age 16, during World War I, he lied about his age to join the American Red Cross. He soon returned home, where he won a scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute. There, he met a fellow animator, Ub Iwerks. The two soon set up their own company. In the early 20s, they made a series of animated shorts for the Newman theater chain, entitled “Newman’s Laugh-O-Grams’.’ Their company soon went bankrupt, however. The two then went to Hollywood in 1923.

They started work on a new series, about a live-action little girl who journeys to a world of animated characters. Entitled the “Alice Comedies”  they were distributed by Margaret Winkler. Walt was backed up financially by Winkler and his brother Roy. Hundreds of “Alice Comedies” were produced between 1923 and 1927, before they lost popularity.

Walt then started work on a series around a new animated character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. This series was successful, but in 1928, Walt discovered that Margaret Winkler and her husband, Charles Mintz, had stolen the rights to the character away from him. They’d also stolen all his animators, except for Ub Iwerks. While taking the train home, Walt started scribbling on a piece of paper. The result of these scribbles was a mouse named Mickey. With only Walt and Ub to animate, and Walt’s wife Lilly and Roy’s wife Edna to ink in the animation cells, three Mickey Mouse cartoons were quickly produced. The first two didn’t sell, so Walt added synchronized sound to the last one, Steamboat Willie (1928), and it was immediately picked up. It became the first cartoon to use synchronize sound. With Walt as the voice of Mickey, it premiered to great success.

Many more cartoons followed. Walt was now in the big time, but he didn’t stop creating new ideas. In 1929, he created the ‘Silly Symphonies, a cartoon series that didn’t have a continuous character. They were another success. One of them, Flowers and Trees (1932), was the first cartoon to be produced in color and the first cartoon to win an Oscar; another, Three Little Pigs. The Silly Symphonies stopped coming out in 1939, but Mickey and friends, (including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and plenty more), were still going strong and still very popular.

In 1934, Walt started work on another new idea: a cartoon that ran the length of a feature film. Everyone in Hollywood was calling it “Disney’s Folly; but Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was anything but, winning critical raves, the adoration of the public, and one big and seven little special Oscars for Walt. Now Walt listed animated features among his ever-growing list of accomplishments.

While continuing to produce cartoon shorts, he also started producing more of the animated features. Pinnochio (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942) were all successes; In the mid-40s, he began producing “packaged features; essentially a group of shorts put together to run feature length, but by 1950 he was back with animated features that stuck to one story, with Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953). In 1950, he also started producing live-action films, with Treasure Island (1950). These began taking on greater importance throughout the 50s and 60s, but Walt continued to produce animated features, including Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). In 1955, he even opened a theme park in southern California: Disneyland. It was a place where children and their parents could take rides, just explore, and meet the familiar animated characters, all in a clean, safe environment. It was another great success.

Walt also became one of the first producers of films to venture into television, with his series “Disneyland” (1954) which he began in 1954 to promote his theme park. He also produced “The Mickey Mouse Club” (1955) and “Zorro” (1957).To top it all off, Walt came out with the lavish musical fantasy Mary Poppins (1964), which mixed live-action with animation. It is considered by many to be his magnum opus. Even after that, Walt continued to forge onward, with plans to build a new theme park and an experimental prototype city in Florida. He never did finish those plans, however; in 1966, he contracted lung cancer. He died in December at age 65. But not even his death, it seemed, could stop him. Roy carried on plans to build the Florida theme park, and it premiered in 1971 under the name Walt Disney World. What’s more, his company continues to flourish, still producing animated and live-action films and overseeing the still-growing empire started by one man: Walt Disney, who will never be forgotten.

President Jimmy Carter once said, “Mickey Mouse is the symbol of goodwill, surpassing all languages and cultures. When one sees Mickey Mouse, they see happiness.” When Disney was in the fifth grade, he memorized the Gettysburg address (Abraham Lincoln’s greatest speech in the American history during the American civil war in 1863) and surprised everyone by arriving at school dressed as Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of United States. His costume consisted of his father’s old hat and a homemade beard. Little wonder that years later when his studio created the first fully functioning audio-animatronics human figure for the 1964 New York World Fair, the figure looked like Abraham Lincoln.

Walt Disney holds the record of winning the most Academy (Oscar) Awards: 32, a feat that is impossible to beat. The Mickey Mouse logo now identifies an institution whose $22 billion in annual sales make it the world’s largest media company. But it is important to remember what Walt Disney said once, “I hope we will never lose sight of one thing that it was all started by a mouse.”

The local official acknowledged that because the local medium income social stratum accommodation basic solution, possibly withdraws from the stage center after the suitable room. Expert had reflected that Shijiazhuang promotes this year first batch after the suitable room, over a thousand sets of bitter experiences abandon buy. Expert pointed out that surpasses the national stipulation after the suitable room profit 3%, causes the fixed price super elevation.

The local related department responds said that although development enterprise for its subordinate enterprise, but this batch after suitable room price sensibly, also has not discovered the false report phenomenon, therefore is impossible to reduce prices. This year first batch meets coldly after suitable Shijiazhuang promotes this year first batch after the suitable room, suffers abandons buys the crisis.

According to expert introduced that this city first batch after the suitable branch is two estates, respectively be peaceful park two issue and Nanling plot, located at this city urban district most side on. Others said that beginning the peaceful park two issues and the Nanling plot, the altogether more than 3000 sets of housing, Shanghai buys already the dew weak sign.

Two plot even prices decide as 2680 Yuan/square meters, part of estates have even amounted to 2800 Yuan/square meters, only compared to neighbor ordinary commercial housing low 200 Yuan to 400 Yuan, the peaceful park two issues supply 2389 anterooms publicly, only then 1070 household Shanghai bought, arranges the number to elect Fang Zheyou to be short 333 households. Nanling plot Shen Gouzhe reflected that also has abandons buys.

This batch are referred to after the suitable room profit exceeding the allowed figure pointed out that “Shi Jiazhai Character (2009) Economy is suitable home price instrument of ratification” according to the Shijiazhuang Price Bureau, the peaceful park two issue of volume fractions are 2.5, the soil-rent value according to 1,500,000/Chinese acres, the financial cost according to 6% annual interest rate computation, the government charge part calculated according to 100 Yuan/square meters, its item cost approximately is: Land cost 900 Yuan/square meters, Jianan cost 1000 Yuan/square meters, in addition expenses and so on earlier period design, reconnaissance, project total cost approximately 2280 Yuan/square meters.

But present’s selling price is 2680 Yuan/square meters, the project profit margin is 17.5%. Stipulated according to the country, developer when development after suitable room, the profit do not surpass 3%. Except the last year building materials price high factor, the present profit was still a suspect to exceed the allowed figure.

But in May, this city real estate department’s data demonstrated that multi-layered commercial housing even price 3117 Yuan, after suitable room even price 2116 Yuan. Contrasts the above price, expert believed that the Department concerned is in “hits after the suitable room advertisement, sells the commercial housing the price.” expert disclosed that peaceful park two phase of development enterprise – Shijiazhuang lives in contentment the property development management limited company, is this city housing safeguard and the real estate administrative bureau subordinate enterprise, such “the fathers and sons relations” possibly pushed the high house price.

Expert said that buying homes contract provision: The vendee is suitable the room to this set of economies to have the limited property right, do not carry on the hiring management. Such suitable room price has been too economical to the developer. Although, Nanling plot developer by no means housing administration bureau subordinate enterprise, but because the price is too high, this plot Shen Gouzhe and peaceful park two issue of Shen Gouzhe the abatement claim, and requests to be clear about the property right question.

The Pricing department calls the price superior commercial housing. However, the local related department believed that above after the suitable room fixed price, the ratio is close to the commercial housing to have the price superiority. Shijiazhuang Price Bureau management charge place Department Head provides on July 25 the refresh data demonstrated that is apart from the peaceful park two contract 300 meter estate prices respectively is: Bright sun blue city present room 3700 Yuan/square meters, Phoenix forward delivery housing 4200 Yuan/square meters. Sun Kexin said that when the Pricing department initially fixed a price, the reference constructing housing cost is a standard, but non-peripheral commercial housing price.

The Shijiazhuang Price Bureau cost investigation team shows An Yuan two issue of constructing housing cost audit report showed that the peaceful park plot B area housing cost (including tax) is not each square meter 2348.59 Yuan, the C area housing cost (does not contain tax) is each square meter 2473.77 Yuan. Shen Gouzhe believed that if by this computation, the B area and the C area housing profit also surpasses 13%.

The real estate management department acknowledged that the fixed price is high According to the local media reported that in June, this city commercial housing even price 3300 Yuan, but reporter not yet obtains this menstruation suitable Fang Junjia. Regarding this, the Shijiazhuang housing safeguard and real estate administrative bureau Assistant Commissioner Xiao Xiangbao acknowledged that this time promoted was formerly higher than after the suitable room fixed price, “the volume fraction was low, the building materials cost rise, was the fixed price high principal factor”.

Expert acknowledged that the peaceful park two phase of development enterprises are firmly in the bureau the subordinate enterprise, “, but I may say responsible, this project has implemented the public tender, if has the evidence to demonstrate that some people increase the cost intentionally, we will pursue the responsibility severely.”

Moreover, regarding the limited property right view, expert explained that Shijiazhuang rented the housing and the economy inexpensively is suitable the housing administrative center to explain said that limited property right i.e., if after obtaining the house property right, might transfer immediately, only want passed through the government price department to handle jointly with the real estate management department fixed price, sold for tallies after the suitable room purchase condition family.

Expert said that after 2007, Shijiazhuang fulfils exactly these stipulations, the contract has not indicated the house-owner to have the right of inheritance, has the negligence truly. On July 27, the Shijiazhuang Audit bureau manages in the construction mouth to indicate specially appointed that the Hebei Province audit hall is reexamining this batch after the suitable room construction cost, “the result has not come out”.

Should one refinance their home loans, the answer is simple — if there are net savings to lower monthly repayments and save money in the long run as well as flexibility in cash flow management.

Many are still hesitant to do so as they believe their loan is still within the 5-year or above lock-in period, they cannot go about refinancing their loans. However, the reality of the situation is the opposite; homeowners can still refinance their homes even during the lock-in period.

What homeowners need to know is that in view of the low interest rate and competitive home loan products on offer especially with zero moving cost, exploring refinancing is worthwhile even if within lock-in period. In reality, one could also generate savings by refinancing one’s home loan.

Should I Refinance My Housing Loan Now?

The next question is why should homeowners go through the motions of refinancing, which is something they rather not worry about after buying their dream home?

For one thing, they get interest rate reduction. By reducing the interest rates, one benefits from a lower monthly repayment to ease one’s financial burden. Alternatively, the lower monthly commitment enables one to maximize the money set aside for any investment opportunity. In addition to this, if your home market value has increased substantially, you may refinance and cash out to fulfill your current needs or consolidate your higher interest debts to save on interest.

The Best Option Available?

In order to maximize one’s benefit from refinancing a home loan, it is best to fully understand one’s short-term and long-term financial plans and to choose an option that gives maximum value and returns with minimum risks.

Homeowners are advised to always compare home loans on the features offered to have a better idea of what you will be getting. For instance, many banks have zero refinancing costs packages and flexible products, which allow you to deposit your savings to offset on interest with flexibility of withdrawal.

However, homeowners should always review and choose some loan that matches his or her financial plan or economic management of income against expenditures. One has to always bear in mind that a flexible product is beneficial only if one can utilize the facility of deposit to offset on the interest. Otherwise, it would serve as a conventional loan where it defeats the purpose and a person could be paying higher interest rate plus fees and charges.

Residence        :  London, England, UK

Nationality      :  British

Occupation      :  Chairman of Virgin Group

Net worth        :  above$2.5 billion

Spouse(s)         : Joan Templeman (1989–present), Kristen Tomassi (1972–1979), divorced

Children          : Holly Branson ,Sam Branson

Richard’s parents continually set him challenges, because they were determined to make him independent. When Richard was four years old, his mother would stop the car a few miles from their house and made him find his own way home across the fields. When he was 12 years of age, one early morning, his mom packed some sandwiches and an apple and told Richard to cycle to Bournemouth that was fifty miles away from his home. There was no water in the pack and his mother told him to find it along the way. Richard’s mother thought such exercises would teach her son the importance of stamina and a sense of direction. Richard says he had no idea how he passed the test, but he walked into the kitchen the next day like a conquering hero, feeling tremendously proud of his marathon bike ride and expecting a huge welcome.

‘Well done, Ricky,’ his mom greeted him in the kitchen, where she was chopping onions. ‘Was that fun? Now, could you run along to the vicar’s? He’s got some log to be chopped, and I told him that you’d be back any minute!’

When Richard was five, during a family holiday vacation, his Auntie Joyce, had bet him ten shillings that he couldn’t learn to swim by the end of the fortnight. He spent hours in the sea trying to swim against the freezing-cold waves, but by the last day he still couldn’t do it. He just splashed along with one foot hopping on the bottom. He’d lunge forward and crash beneath the waves before spluttering up to the surface trying not to swallow the sea water.

‘Never mind, Ricky,’ Auntie Joyce said. ‘There’s always next year.’ But he determined not to wait that long. He doubted if she would remember it the next year. On their last day, as they drove along he saw a river. ‘Daddy, can you stop the car, please?’ he said. This river was his last chance: he was sure that he could swim and win Auntie Joyce’s ten shillings.

He pulled off his clothes and ran down to the riverbank in his underpants. He didn’t dare to stop in case anyone changed their mind. He braced himself and jumped forward against the current, and came back above the surface taking a deep breath. He swam across the surface of the river successfully. After all, he had to win the ten shillings!

No wonder, Richard crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada in January 1991 in a hot-air balloon, the furthest distance of 4,767 miles and he broke all existing records, with speeds of up to 245 miles per hour.

In 1970 he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and not long after he opened a record shop in Oxford Street, London. During 1972 a recording studio was built in Oxfordshire, and the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded “Tubular Bells” which was released in 1973.This album went on to sell over 5 million copies! Since then many household names, including Belinda Carlisle, Genesis, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson and The Rolling Stones have helped to make Virgin Music one of the top six record companies in the world. The equity of Virgin Music Group – record labels, music publishing, and recording studios was sold to EMI in 1992 in a $1 billion deal.

The Virgin Group has now expanded into international music Mega stores, air travel, mobile, financial, retail, music, internet, drinks, rail, hotels and leisure, with around 200 companies in over 30 countries.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways, formed in 1984, is now the second largest British long haul international airline and operates a fleet of Boeing 747 and Airbus A340 aircraft to New York, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Delhi, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Shanghai and the Caribbean. The airline, which carries one million passengers annually, is based on the concept of offering a competitive and high quality Upper Class, Premium Economy and Economy service. The airline has won many major awards, including Airline of the Year Award several times.

In 1997 Virgin took over Britain’s two most run-down rail franchises, Cross-Country and the West Coast Main Line. In 2002, the combined sales of the different Virgin holding companies exceeded ELI-billion. In addition to his own business activity, Richard is a trustee of several charities including the Virgin Healthcare Foundation a leading healthcare charity which was responsible for the launch of a health education campaign relating to AIDS in 1987.

In December 1999, Richard Branson was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Millennium New Year’s Honors List for “Services To Entrepreneurship”