Latest news with #RM73
New Straits Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Padini's Q3 earnings beat forecasts on stronger margins
KUALA LUMPUR: Padini Holdings Bhd's third-quarter (Q3) results for the financial year ending June 30, 2025 (FY25), exceeded expectations due to stronger-than-anticipated gross profit margins, said Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB). The company reported a net profit of RM73 million for Q3, bringing its cumulative nine-month profit to RM152 million. This represents 92 per cent of Maybank IB's full-year forecast and 99 per cent of consensus estimates. "The earnings beat was primarily driven by better-than-expected gross profit margins. Padini also declared a fourth interim dividend per share (DPS) of 1.8 sen and a special DPS of one sen," Maybank IB said in a note. Looking ahead, the research house expects sequential earnings to be seasonally weaker in the absence of major festivities, though the recent appreciation of the ringgit against the renminbi could offer some cushion. "We have raised our FY25 earnings forecast by five per cent to reflect stronger gross margins, while maintaining our FY26 and FY27 estimates. Rolling forward our valuation to FY26, we raise our target price to RM2.85," it said. Maybank IB maintained its 'Buy' call on Padini, citing its mass-market positioning and affordability, which make it a key beneficiary of rising consumer disposable income.
Malay Mail
01-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Less French, more African: Ivory Coast modernises street names to reflect cultural identity
ABIDJAN, May 1 — Street names in Ivory Coast's economic capital have taken on a decidedly more local flavour over the past few weeks, as African names have replaced French ones in France's former colony. The road linking the airport to Abidjan's city centre, for example, is no longer named after former French president Valerie Giscard d'Estaing, but for the man who led Ivory Coast following its independence from France in 1960, Felix Houphouet-Boigny. The old names 'weren't necessarily used by our people,' Alphonse N'Guessan, the urban planning official in charge of the project, told AFP. A name 'must reflect our history, our culture', he said. France once had a sizeable colonial presence in Africa and several of its former colonies in west Africa have sought to distance themselves from Paris. But while countries like Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali have turned their backs on ties with France following juntas coming to power there, Ivory Coast, which was under French rule from 1893 to 1960, remains a regional ally of its former ruler. It simply 'decided to modernise its system' for street names, N'Guessan said. The operation, costing US$17 million (RM73 million) and financed with help from the World Bank, is aimed at bringing 'our traffic and location systems up to international standards', he said. While the process of renaming streets in Abidjan began in 2021, it is only since March that signs with the new names have actually gone up in the city. Some 15 other towns and cities in the country will also have street names changed, with the nationwide process expected to be completed by 2030. Workers mount the news signs of Georges Amalan street in Abidjan on April 16, 2025. — AFP pic 'Who is who' The new names acknowledge Ivorian politicians, scientists, artists, athletes or concepts, and are chosen in consultation with civil society groups or local traditional chiefs, N'Guessan said. So Abidjan's Marseille Boulevard, named after the southern French port city, is now Philippe Yace Boulevard, in a salute to the parliament's first speaker. And Boulevard de France is now named after the country's first First Lady, Marie-Therese Houphouet-Boigny. 'It is important for Africans to identify with the city's development,' especially with a 'population that is becoming increasingly young', said Wayiribe Ismail Ouattara, an urban planner. A young person walking past a street named after a colonial governor 'will not have the same feeling as for someone who lived through colonisation', he said. Some 75 per cent of Ivory Coast's population is under 35. The move has been widely embraced by Abidjan residents. 'The names of the streets in Ivory Coast should belong to Ivorian revolutionaries, Ivorian politicians' so that 'in the future, we can explain to our children who is who', said Franck Herve Mansou, a 31-year-old company technician. Jean Bruce Gneple, a salesman, agreed. 'President Felix Houphouet-Boigny was and will remain in the memory of all Ivorians as the first man of Ivory Coast, so this is a tribute to him, and we are also proud of it,' he said. — AFP A general view of the new signs of Felix Houphouet-Boigny boulevard in Abidjan on April 16, 2025. — AFP pic
