MALAYSIA Pacific Corp Bhd (MP Corp) looks to upgrades and development plans of its two main properties to revitalise the company.

The property development and real estate investment company plans to renovate its 22-storey Wisma MPL, along Jalan Raja Chulan.

Since the new management took over on Dec 29 last year, Wisma MPL has already seen a turnaround and gone past breakeven point, while tenancy has also improved from less than 50% to 60% currently, chief executive officer Bill Ch’ng said.

The company was in the process of refurbishing the building, which includes upgrading the electrical system, changing the finished surfaces of the building as well as renovating the toilet facilities, he told reporters. The total cost of this upgrade is estimated at more than RM2mil.

Ch’ng said the company plans further upgrades, including increasing the floor area of the building and enlarging the plot size to provide more commercial space on the lower floors.

Both these phases are pending approval from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall.

The management has also submitted plans for 8,000 houses and a 54-acre commercial township known as Lakehill Resort to be built at the company’s beleaguered Nusa Damai development in Johor Baru.

Having made a provision of RM6.04mil for liquidated ascertained damages for late delivery of housing units in the financial year to June 30, the management had recently received approval to complete the remaining 40 acres of housing.

At yesterday’s AGM, shareholders voted down two resolutions for the payment of fees to the company’s former directors.

Shareholders were advised that the company was in litigation with former directors, namely Chut Nyak Isham Nyak Ariff, Datuk Yusof Jusoh, Tengku Sharif Temenggung Perlis Syed Amir Abidin Jamalullai and Datuk Thomas Teng Poh Foh to recover deposits and penalty interest paid to persons connected to Isham and Yusof amounting RM1,855,370 plus interest.

For the financial year ended June 30, the group made a net loss of RM16.3mil on revenue of RM25.7mil. MP Corp’s shares rose 0.5 sen to 22 sen yesterday. The counter reached a six-month high of 34 sen on May 18.

Source : The Star  15/11/2005