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yipyip Master	06-May-2008 23:06        yipyip About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	3Q end 31/Mar/08 FS profit   -RM$1.01mln  (vs 07) http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/VwAttachments/Att_7EAF89DFA31A1FBE48257441003D556E/$file/APS_3Q08_Announcement.pdf?openelement
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fnulnu Member	30-Sep-2007 22:18        fnulnu About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Business Times - 29 Sep 2007 Asia Pacific Strategic Investments eyes higher sales It is buying land in anticipation of rising demand for funerals CEMETERY operator Asia Pacific Strategic Investments expects higher sales this fiscal year and is looking to buy land, seeing rising demand for fancy funerals thanks to changing attitudes about death in the region. The Singapore-based firm told Reuters that it expects to double the land it owns this year. It is developing a 40 ha memorial park near the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur - where an eight-person family- sized plot goes for about US$100,000. 'We don't see it as a morbid business, we see it as providing a necessity. And people in Asia are becoming less superstitious about death, and are willing to spend more to prepare for it,' CEO and chairman Choo Yeow Ming said in an interview. In Asian societies, death is often a taboo subject. The company only became the first Singapore-listed firm to deal mainly with the dead after a reverse takeover of Seatown Corp in August. Mr Choo said that the firm wants to expand quickly and is in advanced talks to acquire a 40 ha burial site in Indonesia, and a 25 ha site in Vietnam. It expects to complete these deals by the end of this year. The firm's shares were up 2 per cent by 0917 GMT after Mr Choo's comments, against a broader Singapore index that was down 0.2 per cent. Mr Choo said that Asia Pacific Strategic, which has a market cap of US$85 million, will outperform its fiscal year to June 2007 sales of RM32 million (S$14 million), thanks to further sales of burial plots in Malaysia. Although a Malaysian burial plot in a state-run cemetery can be had for a few hundred ringgit, Mr Choo said these tend to be poorly maintained and out of the way spots. For a nominal sum, the firm will place fresh flowers on the tombstones every day. 'There's only so much governments can provide, so there's a need for a high-end, private service like ours. We want to become the leading high-end bereavement service provider in Asia,' he said. The firm is tying up a deal to sell a one ha plot to a Malaysia-based church group for RM5 million, for burying its members. It is also eyeing a retirement home site being put up for sale by the Singapore government, which Mr Choo said could be packaged with the company's funerals. To fund its expansion, Mr Choo said the firm will issue new shares in November to raise capital, after a three-month restriction by the local bourse on newly listed firms expires. He declined to give details on how much funding it needed\. \-- Reuters   Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.
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