A New Look for the New Year

Tan Ang Meng, CEO of F&N Holdings Bhd

Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd ushers in the New Year with a new corporate identity for its iconic F&N soft drinks brands. Unveiled as F&N Beverages Marketing Sdn Bhd (FNBM) and F&N Beverages Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (FNBMfg) or collectively known as F&N Beverages, it aims to build on is 127 year heritage to realise the group’s vision of becoming a regional, world class Total Beverage Company.

Infamous for being Malaysia’s largest soft drinks marketer and manufacturer, the group’s soft drinks division is widely recognised as a brand and a category leader with brands such as 100Plus, F&N, Seasons and Fruit Tree.

Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd Chief Executive Officer Tan Ang Meng hailed the unveiling of the new corporate identity as a major milestone for the F&N Group and the company, ensuring the relevance of the F&N brand and its commitment in delivering the company credo of “Pure Enjoyment, Pure Goodness”.

“Our new identity comes with invigoration, a new spirit and vitality to be the most pervasive supplier of a broad and diversified portfolio of quality products trusted for generations. As we move forward, we will deepen and widen our already strong brand foundation leveraging its wholesome, feel good nature that has allowed the brand and its products to lead the field in many categories.

“The unveiling of our new corporate identity also marks a “homecoming” of sorts as we now have an exclusive F&N identity for our soft drinks division. It will encompass both the marketing as well as manufacturing of our portfolio of beverages,” says Tan at the official launch of the company’s new corporate identity by Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister, Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Celcom Strengthens Its Position

Announcing its launch of the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Blackberry Storm2 smartphones at its BlackBerry Party last month, Celcom Axiata Berhad (formerly known as Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad) strengthens its position as the BlackBerry market leader in Malaysia.

Mohamed Adlan Ahmad Tajudin, Chief Corporate Office of Celcom Axiata Berhad says: “As the Blackberry market leader in Malaysia, Celcom is constantly introducing new and exciting products to ensure its customers can enjoy the mobility and connectivity benefits of BlackBerry smartphones.

“Besides continuing to deliver high quality products and services, we are also placing significant focus on managing customer satisfaction and fulfilment by expanding the BlackBerry experience from corporate customers to the mass market and in particular the youth segment.”

In conjunction with the launch, first 150 Celcom customers are rewarded with an exclusive discount of more than 50% of the brand new BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone. The response from the general public is an overwhelming one, as more than 1,000 customers lined up for a chance to be rewarded with the discount.           Celcom is also the first service provider in Malaysia to sell the BlackBerry Bold 9700. As for the BlackBerry Storm2, the touchscreen smartphone will be available February 2010 onwards.

CIMB Brings Home More Awards

2009 proved to be a great year for CIMB Islamic. It continues its winning streak by bagging more awards, with the most recent one being the “Best Overall Islamic Bank” as voted by the 5th Annual Islamic Finance News (IFN) Awards Poll 2009.

“We are honoured to have been recognised at an international level. Despite the tough economic environment, the year 2009 has been rewarding for us, as we saw strong growth of our Islamic finance business across all market segments regionally,” says Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, Group Head of Islamic Banking Division of CIMB Group and CEO of CIMB Islamic.

In addition to this award, CIMB Islamic also took home the top spots for the “Most Innovative Islamic Bank” and “Best Islamic Bank in Malaysia”. The IFN Awards Polls is known for its transparent, definitive and competitive awards that reflect the global Islamic financial markets.

Nur Nadia SM Nasimuddin, Director of Naza Hotel Management and F&B Group

A Fresh New Look for Naza Hotel

The Naza Group is certainly taking Malaysia by storm with its array of products and services. The Naza Hotel Management (NHM), a unit under the group undertook an RM18million refurbishing exercise for its hotel chain and is now rebranded as Naza Talyya Hotels. The branding exercise is in line with its growth strategy of delivering quality service, value and comfort.

“We renamed the hotels based on the idea of re-growth to bring about change to our hotel chain, which first began operations in Penang in August 2002. ‘Talyya’ is an Arabic word, and loosely translated, it means “bloom” or “blooming”,” says Nur Nadia SM Nasimuddin, Director of Naza Hotel Management (NHM) and F&B Group.

Nadia continues: “With the rebranding, we aim to offer an added freshness to our hotels. We want to offer our guests a ‘home away from home’ and a chance to enjoy the comforts of home while travelling.”

Its renovated hotels hope to thrive of the concept of ‘Comfort within Reach’ and are strategically located in Johor Bahru, Malacca and Penang. Despite the recent economic downturn, the NHM hotel chain still enjoys a steady occupancy rate of 60 to 70% throughout the year.

Naza Talyya Hotels currently owns and manages its local hotels, which contributes an estimated annual revenue of RM15million to the group.

Naza Group’s High Aims for 2010

As the official distributor of Kia and Peugeot vehicles in Malaysia, the Naza Group aims high with its target to sell 25,970 units next year. Its sales target is expected to comprise 22,000 Kia vehicles; 2,930 Peugeot vehicles and 1,040 units of the Forza.

“2010 will be an exciting year for the Naza Group. We will be launching several Kia and Peugeot models that will appeal to all segments of the market,” says SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, Joint Executive Chairman of the Naza Group.

Nasarudin also shares that the domestic economy is expected to return to growth this year. He comments that the growth will boost its business, as well as the overall automotive industry.