Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh
KUCHING: Analysts laud the appointment of Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh has been appointed as Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) new chairman effective May 11 this year.
Bakke is currently the chairman of Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) since July 1, 2019. Prior to that, he was the acting group chief executive officer (CEO) and president of Sime Darby in July 2010 and later confirmed in the position in November 2010.
Following the demerger of Sime Darby Group in November 2017, he was appointed executive deputy chairman and managing director of Sime Darby Plantation until his retirement at the end of June 2019.
Before joining Sime Darby in July 2010, Bakke was the group managing director of Felda Holdings in 2005 and subsequently, the group president and CEO of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) in January 2009.
Starting his career in Malaysia as an audit senior at Ernst and Young, he later progressed to the role of group managing director and CEO of Lembaga Tabung Haji from 2001 to 2005 and served as the chairman of Bank Islam Malaysia from April 2008 to July 2010.
“While Bakke has not been involved in a telco operation with his prior years of professional experience, we are positive on his appointment,” said AmInvestment Bank Bhd (AmInvestment Bank) yesterday.
“We also understand that the authorities have not been pressuring broadband operators to cut rates further for this year, in contrast to the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan which aimed to reduce entry-level packages to one per cent of gross national income, implying RM40 per month.”
Meanwhile, Datuk Noor Kamarul, who was appointed managing director/CEO in June last year, is realigning TM’s priorities by focusing on higher income yielding sites for broadband expansion and introducing more competitive products.
“Operational costs are expected to continue to improve, following the 16 per cent year on year
(y-o-y) drop to RM10 billion in FY19 due to the group’s Performance Improvement Programme).
However, TM’s FY20 earnings before interest and tax is expected to reach only RM1.4 billion versus RM1.6 billion in FY19 due to higher capex rollouts in tandem with the group’s network improvement efforts.
“With our FY20F earnings declining by 17 per cent y-o-y, we expect TM’s 1QFY20 results, scheduled on May 21, to be within expectations,” AmInvestment Bank added.