This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 31, 2019 - June 6, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Lafarge Malaysia Bhd has announced the appointment of Datuk Seri Michael Yeoh Sock Siong (pic) as managing director (MD), effective today.

In a bourse filing yesterday, the cement manufacturer said Sock Siong, 58, has been redesignated as the group’s MD, from executive director previously.

Sock Siong is holding the reins simply because YTL Cement Bhd, a 98%-owned unit of YTL Corp Bhd, has acquired a 51% stake in Lafarge Malaysia. YTL Cement has also launched a mandatory general offer to Lafarge Malaysia’s minority shareholders at RM3.75 per share.

The Yeoh family, which controls the YTL group, joined Lafarge Malaysia’s board two week ago.

Sock Siong, together with his siblings Tan Sri Dr Francis Yeoh (executive chairman of YTL Corp), Datuk Yeoh Seok Kian (MD of YTL Corp), Datuk Yeoh Soo Keng and Datuk Yeoh Seok Hong were all appointed Lafarge Malaysia’s executive directors on May 17.

The cement manufacturer yesterday announced that its quarterly net loss halved to RM32.07 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 from the RM68.73 million it recorded a year ago, as it managed to lower distribution costs.

Loss per share narrowed to 3.8 sen from 8.1 sen. Quarterly revenue, however, declined marginally to RM538.7 million versus RM546.83 million previously, mainly due to lower sales from the cement segment caused by market conditions but compensated partially by higher export sales.