source: Business Times 28 April 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: Johor Corp (JCorp) will make an "important" announcement pertaining to subsidiary Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd.

Its chairman Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim, however, did not provide details, including timing of the announcement.

It was recently reported that JCorp, which is saddled with RM6 billion debts, has to settle RM3.6 billion by next year.

Rumours are rife that the company is considering selling Kulim to raise money to pay off its debts, a claim which JCorp has denied.

Kamaruzzaman spoke to reporters after Kulim's subsidiary QSR Brands Bhd's annual general meeting here yesterday.

Kamaruzzaman, who is also QSR chairman, said QSR has taken several steps to reduce the cost of material prices from affecting its business.

He said the stronger ringgit has cushioned some of the import costs.

"We have taken quite a number of measures and thankfully the strengthening of the ringgit has enabled us to offset some of the cost of the imports."

The company is looking at increasing its productivity and efficiency as well as minimising wastage, he said, without elaborating.

Kamaruzzaman said QSR is in great shape and had posted a strong set of results for its financial year ended December 31 2010 with revenue growing 10 per cent to RM3.04 billion from RM2.76 billion in 2009.

"Factors such as restaurant network expansion, more new product introductions and revenue growth resulted in higher pre-tax profit of RM266.5 million, a 15.9 per cent jump over the previous year's figures.

"The profit included a net surplus of RM6.7 million arising from the revaluation of its properties," he said.

QSR is home to brands such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut Malaysia, Rasa Mas, Ayamas, Life (sauce), Bakers Street and Zippie (mineral water).